FULLERS HISTORY OF THE HOLY WAR CHARLES WHITT1NCHAM CH1SWICK // THE* HISTORY- OF- THE •HOLY- WAR- •BY-THOM AS-FULLER- •D-D \\ OF THE LONDON WILLIAM PICKERING 1840 UN IV TO THE HONOURABLE EDWARD MONTAGU, SON AND HEIR TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDWARD LORD MONTAGU OF BOUGHTON. SIR JOHN POWLET, SON AND HEIR TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN LORD POWLET OF HINTON ST. GEORGE. WHEN I observe the several alterations in nobility, I find four principal actors on the theatres of great families ; the beginner, advancer, V" continuer, and ruiner. The beginner is he who by his \ virtues refineth himself from the dross of the vulgar, and layeth the foundation of his house : an excellent workman indeed, as who not only bringeth his tools, but maketh his materials. The advancer, who im- proveth the patrimony of honour he receiveth ; and what his father found glass and made crystal, he findeth crystal and maketh it pearl. The continuer, who keepeth his nobility alive, and passeth it along, neither marring nor mending it ; but sendeth it to his son as he received it from his father. The ruiner, who basely degenerateth from his ancestors ; so that in him nobi- lity hath run so far from its first starting, that it is tired : and whilst he liveth he is no better than his grandfather's tomb ; without, carved over with honour- able titles ; within, full of emptiness, or what is worse, corruption. Now to apply. You cannot be beginners of your families ; that care was cared for, before your nurses were chosen, or your cradles provided. Your fathers, b 182138 vi EPISTLE DEDICATORY. though of late years fixed in a higher sphere, were bright stars long before. None can go on in our English chronicles, but they must meet with a Mon- tagu and a Powlet, either in peace in their gowns, or in war in their armour. Yea, when I go backward by the streams of your paternal nobility (not to speak of the tributary brooks of their matches), I can never find the first fountain ; and hope none shall ever find the last fall. For as for the ruiners of houses, I should rend that thought out with my heart, if it should con- ceive that of you. Nay, let me tell you, if you be but bare continuers of your honour, you deceive both the desires and hopes of your friends. Good is not good when proceeding from them from whom far better is expected. Your youthful virtues are so promising, that you cannot come off in your riper age with credit, with- out performing what may redound to the advancing of the honour of your family, and without building your houses one story higher in the English history. Now knowT, next religion, there is nothing accom- plkheth a man more than learning. Learning in a lord is as a diamond in gold. And if you fear to hurt your tender hands with thorny school-questions, there is no danger in meddling wTith history, which is a velvet study, and recreation work. What a pity is it to see a proper gentleman to have such a crick in his neck that he cannot look backward ! yet no better is he who cannot see behind him the actions which long since were performed. History maketh a young man to be old, without either wrinkles or gray hairs ; pri- vileging him with the experience of age, without either the infirmities or inconveniences thereof. Yea, it not only maketh things past, present ; but enableth one to make a rational conjecture of things to come. For this \vorld afFordeth no new accidents, but in the same sense wherein we call it a new moon, which is the old one in another shape, and yet no other than what hath been formerly. Old actions return again, furbished over with some new and different circum- stances. ft EPISTLE DEDICATORY. r amongst all particular histories (I may say) is more£ej2£EaLthan this of the Holy War, which I present to your honours. Some will condemn me tor an ill husband, in lavishing two noble patrons on one book, whereas, one of them might have served to have patronised many volumes. But first, I did it in the weak expression of my thankfulness unto you, being deeply indebted to you both ; and I thought it dishonesty to pay all to one creditor, and none to another : and therefore conceived it best, to share my estate jointly betwixt you, as far forth as it would extend. Secondly, considering the weakness of this work, now being to walk abroad in the world, I thought it must be led by both arms, and needed a double supporter. And now I am sure this Holy War, which was unhappy heretofore, when acted, will be happy hereafter, now written and related, because dedicated to your honours. So resteth Your honours' in all service THOMAS FULLER. BROAD-WINDSOR, March 6, 1639. TO THE READER. IN this work I can challenge nothing to myself, but the composing of it. The materials were found to my hand ; which if any historian will make, let him not be commended for wit, but shamed for falsehood. If every where I have not charged the margin with the author's names, it is either because the story is author for itself (I mean, generally received), or to avoid the often citing of the same place. Where I could not go abroad myself, there I have taken air at the window, and have cited authors on others' citations ; yet so that the stream may direct to the fountain. If the reader may reap in few hours what cost me more months, just cause have I to rejoice, and he (I hope) none to complain. Thus may the faults of this book redound to myself, the profit to others, the glory to God. TO HIS WORTHY AND LEARNED FRIEND, MR. THOMAS FULLER, UPON HIS EXCELLENTLY COMPOSED HISTORY OF THE HOLY WAR. CAPTAIN of arts, in this thy Holy War My muse desires to be thy trumpeter, In thy just praise to spend a blast or two, For this is all that she (poor thing) can do. Peter the Hermit, like an angry owl, Would needs go tight all armed in his cowl. What, had the holy man nought else to do, But thus to lose his blood and credit too ? Seeking to win Christ's sepulchre, God wot, He found his own ; this was the ground he got. Except he got more ground, when he one day Besieging Antioch fiercely ran away. Much wiser was the Pope : at home he stayed, And made the world believe he wept and prayed. Meanwhile (behold the fruit of feigned tears) He sets the world together by the ears. His head serves him, whilst others use their hands : Whilst princes lose their lives, he gets their lands. To win the Holy Land what need kings roam ? The pope can make a Holy Land at home By making it his own : then for a fashion, 'Tis said to come by Constantine's donation. For all this fox-craft, I have leave (I hope) To think my friend far wiser than the pope And hermit both : he deals in holy wars, Not as a stickler in those fruitless jars, But a composer rather : hence this book ; Whereon whilst I with greedy eyes do look, Methinks I travel through the Holy Land, Viewing the sacred objects on each hand. Here mounts (methinks), like Olivet, brave sense ; There flows a Jordan of pure eloquence : A temple rich in ornament I find Presented here to my admiring mind. Strange force of Art! the ruined holy city Breeds admiration in me now, not pity. To testify her liking, here my muse Makes solemn vows, as holy pilgrims use. I vow, dear friend, the Holy War is here Far better writ than ever fought elsewhere. Thousands have fought and died : but all this while, I vow, there nothing triumphs but thy style. Thy wit hath vanquished barbarfsm more Than ever Godfrey's valour did before. Might I but choose, I rather would by far Be author of thy book than of that war. Let others fight ; I vow to read thy works, Prizing thy ink before the blood of Turks. J. BOOTH, B.D.C.C.C. ON THE TITLE OF THIS BOOK. HOW comes stern war to be accounted holy, By nature fierce, complexion melancholy ? I'll tell you how : sh' has been at Rome of late, And gained an indulgence to expiate Her massacres ; and by the pope's command Sh' has been a pilgrim to the Holy Land, Where freeing Christians by a sacred plot, She for her pains this epithet hath got. H. ATKINS. NOR need Jerusalem, that holy mother, Envy old Troy ; since she has found another To write her battles, and her wars rehearse In prose as elegant as Homer's verse. Let Sueton's name august as Caesar's be ; Curtius more worlds than Alexander see ; Let Joseph in his country's siege survive, And Phoenix-like in his own ashes thrive : Thy work great Fuller, will outlive their glory, And make thy memory sacred as thy story. Thy style is clear and white : thy very name Speaks pureness, and adds lustre to the frame. All men could wish, nay long, the world would jar, So thou'dst be pleased to write, compose the War. H. HLTTON, M. A. C. Jes. TO MY FRIEND MR. THOMAS FULLER, ON HIS BOOK " THE HOLY WAR." "V1THILE of thy book I speak, friend, I'll think on W Thy Jordan for my purest Helicon ; And for biforked Parnassus, I will set My fancy on the sacred Olivet. XI Tis holy ground which now my measured feet Must tread on ; then (as in due right 'tis meet) Let them be bare and plain ; for quainter art May sacrifice to thee without a heart ; And while it praiseth this thy work, may preach His glory, rather than thy merit's reach. Here, reader, thou mayst judge and well compare Who most in madness, Jew or Roman, share : This not so blind, yet in the clearest day Does stumble still on stocks, on stones, on clay ; The other will in bright and highest noon Choose still to walk by glimmering light o' th' moon. Here thou mayst represented see the right Between our earthly flesh and heavenly Sp'rit. Lo, how the Turk doth drive with flaming sword, Salvation from him and God's holy word, As once the angel did rebellious vice With Adam force from blessed paradise. And this in style diamond-like doth shine, Which firmest parts and clearest do combine, And o'er the sad ground of the Jewish story As light embroidery explays its glory. The temple razed and ruined seems more high In his strong phrase, than when it kissed the sky. And as the viper, by those precious tears Which Phaeton bemoaned, of amber wears A rich (though fatal) coat; so here enclosed With words so rare, so splendent, so composed, E'en Mahomet has found a tomb, which shall Last when the fainting loadstone lets him fall. HENRY VINTENER. TO HIS OLD FRIEND MR. FULLER. I LOVE no wars, I love no jars, Nor strife's fire : May discords cease ; Let's live in peace ; This I desire. If it must be Wars we must see So (fates conspire), May we not feel The force of steel ; This I desire. Xll But in thy book When I do look And it admire ; Let war be there, But peace elsewhere ; This I desire. THO. JACKSON. TO HIS WORTHY FRIEND MR. THOMAS FULLER, ON HIS BOOK " THE HOLY WAR." THERE'S not a story, friend, in thy book told, But's a jewel ; each line a thread of gold. Though war sound harsh, and doth our minds affright, Yet clothed in well-wrought language 't doth delight. Such is thy gilded phrase, I joy to read In thee massacres, and to see men bleed. Oft have I seen in hangings on a wall The ruins of great Troy, and Priam's fall ; A story in itself so full of woe, Twould make the Grecian weep that was the foe ; But being wrought in arras, and made gay Writh rich embroidery, 't makes th' beholder say, I like it well ; this flame, that scar is good ; And then commend : this wound, that stream of blood. Things in themselves distasteful, are by art Made pleasant, and do much delight the heart. Such is thy book ; though it of blood relate And horrid war, whose very name we hate, Yet clad in arras-language and thy phrase, Doth not affright, but with delight amaze, And with such power upon our senses seize, That 't makes war dreadful in itself, to please. WILLIAM JOHNSON, Q. Coll. TO HIS DEAR FRIEND MR. FULLER. WE need not now those zealous votaries meet, Or pilgrims turn ; but on our verses' feet. Thy quill hath winged the earth ; the Holy Land Doth visit us, commanded by thy hand. If envy make thy labours prove thy loss, No marvel if a crusade wear the cross. CLEMENT BRETTON, Sidn. Coll. THE HISTORY OF THE HOLY WAR. BOOK I. CHAPTER I. — The Destruction of the City and Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans, under the Conduct of Titus. WHEN the Jews had made the full measure of their sins run over, by putting to death the Lord of Life [A. D. 34], God's judgments (as they deserved, and our Saviour foretold) quickly overtook them ; for a mighty army of the Romans besieged and sacked the city of Jerusalem [72], wherein by fire, famine, sword, civil discord, and foreign force1, eleven hundred thousand were put to death. An incredible number it seemeth : yet it cometh within the compass of our belief, if we consider that the siege began at the time of the passover, when in a manner all Judea was enclosed in Jerusalem, all private synagogues doing then their duties to the mother temple; so that the city then had more guests than inhabitants. Thus the passover, first2 instituted by God in mercy to save the Israelites from death, was now used by him in justice to hasten their destruction, and to gather the nation into a bundle to be cast into the fire of his anger. Besides those who were slain, ninety- seven thousand were taken captives; and they who had bought our Saviour for thirty pence3 were themselves sold thirty for a penny. The general of the Romans in this action was Titus, son to Vespasian the emperor : a prince so good, that he was styled the Darling of Mankind4 for 1 Josephus, lib. 7, Belli Jud. Gr. c. 45, Lat. c. 17. '- Exod. xii. 13. 3 Adricom. in Actis A post. fol. 282, credo, ex Hegesippo. 4 Suetonius in Tito. B 2 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 132 his sweet and loving nature (and pity it was so good a stock had not been better grafted), so virtuously disposed, that he may justly be counted the glory of all Pagans, and shame of most Christians. He laboured what lay in his power to have saved the temple, and many therein ; but the Jews, by their obstinacy and desperateness, made themselves in- capable of any mercy. Then was the temple itself made a sacrifice, and burnt to ashes ; and of that stately structure, which drew the apostles' admiration, not a stone left upon a stone. The walls of the city (more shaken with the sins of the Jews defending them, than with the battering rams of the Romans assaulting them) were levelled to the ground ; only three towers left standing, to witness the great strength of the place, and greater valour of the Romans who con- quered it. But whilst this storm fell on the unbelieving Jews, it was calm amongst the Christians ; who, warned by Christ's predictions, and many other prodigies, fled betimes out of the city to Pella (a private place beyond Jordan), which served them instead of a little Zoar, to save them from the imminent destruction5. CHAP. II. — How Judea was dispeopled of Jews by Adrian the Emperor. rj^HREESCORE years after [132], Adrian the emperor JL rebuilt the city of Jerusalem, changing the situation somewhat westward, and the name thereof to yElia. To despite the Christians, he built a temple x over our Saviour's grave, with the images of Jupiter and Venus; another at Bethlehem, to Adonis her minion : and to enrage the Jews, did engrave swine over the gates of the city : who, storming at the profanation of their land, brake into open rebellion, but were subdued by Julius Severus, the emperor's lieute- nant, an experienced captain, and many thousands slain, with Bencochab, their counterfeit Messias (for so he termed himself), that is, the son of a star, usurping that prophecy, Out of Jacob shall a star arise a ; though he proved but a fading comet, whose blazing portended the ruin of that nation. The captives, by order from Adrian, were trans- ported into Spain ; the country laid waste, which parted with her people and fruitfulness both together. Indeed pilgrims to this day here and there light on parcels of rich ground in Palestine ; which God may seem to have left, 5 Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. 3, c. 5. 1 Hieron. torn. 1, p. 104. 2 Num. xxiv. 17. A.D. 132 THE HOLY WAR. 3 that men may taste the former sweetness of the land, before it was soured for the people's sins ; and that they may guess the goodness of the cloth by the fineness of the shreds. But it is barren for the generality : the streams of milk and honey, wherewith once it flowed, are now drained dry ; and the whole face of the land looketh sad3, not so much for want of dressing, as because God hath frowned on it. Yet great was the oversight of Adrian, thus totally to unpeople a province, and to bequeath it to foxes and leopards. Though his memory vras excellent, yet here he forgot the old Romans' rule, who, to prevent desolations, where they rooted out the natives, planted in colonies of their own people. And surely the country recovered not a competency of inhabitants for some hundred years after. For though many pilgrims came thither in after ages, yet they came rather to visit than to dwell ; and such as remained there, most embracing single lives, were no breeders for posterity. If any say that Adrian did wilfully neglect this land, and prostitute it to ruin for the rebellion of the people ; yet all account it small policy in him, in punishing the Jews, to hurt his own empire, and by this vastation to leave fair and clear footing for foreign enemies to fasten on this coun- try, and from thence to invade the neighbouring dominions : as, after, the Persians and Saracens easily overran and dispeopled Palestine; and no wonder if a thin meadow were quickly mown. But to return to the Jews, such stragglers of them, not considerable in number, as escaped this banishment into Spain (for few hands reap so clean as to leave no gleanings), were forbidden to enter into Jerusa- lem, or so much as to behold it from any rise or advantage of ground. Yet they obtained4 of the after emperors, once a year (namely, on the tenth of August, whereon their city was taken), to go in and bewail the destruction of their temple and people, bargaining with the soldiers who waited on them, to give so much for so long abiding there ; and if they exceeded the time they conditioned for, they must stretch their purses to a higher rate : so that (as St. Hierome noteth) they who bought Christ's blood were then glad to buy their own tears. 3 Sand. Trav. p. 145. 4 Hieron. torn. 6, p. 256. 4 THE HISTORY OF CHAP. III. — Of the present ivoful Condition of the Jews; and of the small Hope and *great RinderanceS of their Conversion. nnilUS the main body of the Jews was brought into JL Spain, and yet they stretched their out-limbs into every country ; so that it was as hard to find a populous city without a common sink, as without a company of Jews. They grew fat on the barest pasture, by usury and brokage ; though often squeezed by those Christians amongst whom they lived, counting them dogs, and therefore easily finding a stick to beat them. And always in any tumult, when the fence of order was broken, the Jews lay next harms : as at the coronation of Richard the First, when the English made great feasts, but the pillaged Jews paid the shot. At last, for their many villanies (as falsifying of coin, poisoning of springs, crucifying of Chiistian children) they were slain in some places *, and finally banished out of others ; out of England, A. D. 1 291 , by Edward the First ; France, 1307, by Philip the Fair; Spain, 1492, by Ferdi- nand; Portugal, 1497, by Emmanuel "L. But had these two latter kings banished all Jewish blood out of their countries, they must have emptied the veins of their best subjects, as descended from them. Still they are found in great numbers in Turkey, chiefly in Salonichi, where they enjoy the freest slavery : and they who in our Saviour's time so scorned publicans, are now most employed in that office, to be the Turks' tollgatherers3 ; likewise in the popish parts of Germany; in Poland, the Pantheon of all religions; and Amsterdam may be forfeited to the king of Spain, when she cannot show a pattern of this as of all other sects. Lastly, they are thick in the pope's dominions, where they are kept as a testimony of the truth of the Scriptures, and foil to Christianity, but chiefly in pretence to convert them. But his holiness's converting faculty worketh the strongest at the greatest distance; for the Indians he turneth to his religion, and these Jews he converted! to his profit. Some are of opinion of the general calling of the Jews ; and no doubt those who dissent from them in their judgments, con- cur in their wishes and desires. Yet are there three grand hinderances of their conversion : first, the offence taken and given by the papists among whom they live, by their wor- 1 Minister Cosmogr. p. 457. 2 Polvd. Virg. p. 327. 3 Sandys' Trav. p. 146. A. D.326 THE HOLY WAR. 5 shiping of images, the Jews being zealots in the -second commandment : secondly, because on their conversion they must renounce all their goods as ill gotten4; and they will scarce enter in at the door of our church, when first they must climb over so high a threshold : lastly, they are debarred from the use of the New Testament, the means of their salvation. Arid thus we leave them in a state most pitiful, and little pitied. CHAP. IV* — Of' the flourish ing Church in Judea under Con- stantine. Julian's Success in building the Temple. ADRIAN'S profanation of Jerusalem lasted one hundred and eighty years, as St. Hierome counteth it x : during which time the Christians, under the ten persecutions, had scarce a leap-year of peace and quiet, and yet bare all with invincible patience ; yea, some were too ambitious of mar- tyrdom, and rather wooed than waited for their own deaths* At last, Constantine (a Britain by birth, as all authors agree1, save one or two late wrangling Grecians, who deserve to be arraigned for felony, for robbing our land of that due honour) stanched the issue of blood wherewith the church had long been troubled, and brought her into acquaintance with peace and prosperity [326]. Then Helen, his mother (no less famous amongst the Christians for her piety, than the ancient Helen amongst Pagans for her beauty), travelled to Jerusalem ; zeal made her scarce sensible of her age, being eighty years old ; and there she purged Mount Calvary and Bethlehem of idolatry ; then built in the places of Christ's birth and burial, and elsewhere in Palestine, many most stately and sumptuous churches. And because she visited the stable and manger of our Saviour's nativity, Jews and Pagans slander her to have been stabularia3, an ostleress, or a she stable groom: the same nickname which since impudent papists (not for the same reason, but with as little truth) put on reverend Cranmer5, archbishop of Canterbury. But these dead flies were not able to corrupt the sweet ointment of her name, fragrant to posterity ; and as a father6 writeth of her, Bona stabularia, qua maluit testimari stercoraria ut Christum 4 P. Heylin, Microcos. in Palestine/p« 570, Sir Ed. Sandys' Survey of the West. 1 Epist. ad Paulinum, torn. 1, p. 104« 2 Camden, Brit. p. 51. 3 Ambros. cont. in Theodosium. * Fox, Martyrol. p. 1860. 6 Ambros. ibid* 6 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 363 lucrifaceret. To her is ascribed the finding out of the cross, the memory whereof is celebrated the third of May : and from that time the church flourished in Palestine, being as well provided of able bishops, as they of liberal maintenance. 363]. Afterwards Julian, going about to confute God, befooled himself and many Jews. This apostate studied to invent engines to beat down Christianity : yet all the vapours of his brain could not cloud so bright a sun. He gave the Jews liberty (not so much out of love to them as hatred to Christians), with money and materials, to build again their temple, hoping, by raising it, to ruin the truth of Christ's prophecy. Hither6 flocked the Jews, with spades and mattocks ^of silver, to clear the foundation; the women carried away the rubbish in their laps, and contributed all their jewels and ornaments to advance the work. But a sudden tempest7 made them desist, which carried away their tools and materials, with balls of fire which scorched the most adventurous of the builders. Thus they who sought to put out the truth of Christ's words, by snuffing it made it burn the brighter. But the wonder of this wonder was, that the hearts of the Jews, and of him who set them on work, were hardened by obstinacy to be so miracle-proof that all this made no impression on them. Yet afterwards8 the Christians, in the place where Solomon's temple was, built a stately church; but not in opposition to God, or with intent to reestablish Jewish rites, but in humility, and for the exercise of Christian religion : which church was long after the seat of the patriarch. But for fear to exceed the commission of an historian (who with the outward senses may only bring in the species, and barely relate facts, not with the common sense pass verdict or censure on them); I would say, they had better have built in some other place (especially having room enough besides), and left this floor, where the temple stood, alone to her desolations. Yea, God seemeth not so well contented with this their act, the Christians being often beaten out of that church; and at this day9 whosoever (though casually) entereth therein, must either forfeit his life or renounce his religion. 6 Ammianus Marcel, lib. 23, sub initio. 7 Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. 3, cap. 20. Theodoret, lib. 3, cap. 20. Sozom. lib. 5, cap. 22. . 8 Adricom. Descript. Terras Sanctae, p. 158. 9 Sand. Trav. p. 192. A. D. 628 THE HOLY WAR. 7 CHAP. V. — Syria conquered by Chosroes ; Chosroes, by Heraclius the Grecian Emperor, THE next remarkable alteration happened under Phocas the emperor, who (saith Tyrius ") had a nature answer- ing his name, which signifieth a seal, or sea-calf; for as that fish (little better than a monster) useth lazily to lie sleeping and sunning itself on the shore, so this careless usurper minded nothing but his own ease and pleasure, till at last he was slain by Heraclius, his successor [610]; as seldom tyrants' corpses have any other balm at their burial than their own blood. Phocas's negligence betrayed the empire to foreign foes [615], and invited Chosroes, the Persian, to invade it, who, with a great army, subdued Syria and Jerusalem. A conquest little honourable, as made against small resistance, and used with less modera- tion ; for, besides many other cruelties, he sold many thou- sands of Christians to the Jews, their old enemies2, who, in revenge of their former grudge, put them not only to drudgery, but to torture. Chosroes, to grace his triumph, carried the cross away with him, forced all the Christians in Persia to turn Nestorians3, and demanded of Heraclius, the Grecian emperor, that he should renounce his religion, and worship the sun4. Thus we see how lightheaded this Pagan did talk, being stark drunk with pride. But the Christian emperor, entering Persia with great forces, quelled at last this vaunting Sennacherib ; for to him might he well be compared, for pride, cruelty, blasphemous demands, and the manner of his death, being also slain by Siroes, one of his sons [628]. Heraclius, returning, took Jerusalem in his way, and there restored 5 the cross (counted a precious jewel) to the temple of the sepulchre, the cabinet whence it had been violently taken away ; and, in memorial thereof, instituted, on the fourteenth of September, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Yet6 some make the celebration thereof of greater antiquity ; and the Grecians write, that Chrysostom (a hundred years before) died on the day called the Exaltation of the Cross. This, if it be true, and not antedated by a prolepsis, then Heraclius gave the lustre (not first original) to this festival, and scoured bright an old holy-day with a new solemnity. 1 Belli Sacri, lib. 23, cap. 21. 2 Theophanes in Aunal. 3 Paulus Diaconus, Miscel. lib. 18. 4 Cedrenus. 5 Tyrius, Bell. Sacr. lib. 23, cap. 20. 6 Baron. Mart. 1 4 Sept. 8 THE HISTORY OF A.D.636 CHAP. VI.— Of the Deluge of the Saracens in Syria, the Causes of the far spreading of Mahometan ism. BUT the sins of the eastern countries, and chiefly their damnable heresies, hastened God's judgments upon them. In these western parts, heresies, like an angle, caught single persons ; which in Asia, like a drag-net, took whole provinces. The staid and settled wits of Europe were not easily removed out of the old road and track of religion, whilst the active and nimble heads of the east were more desirous of novelties, more cunning to invent distinctions to cozen themselves with, more fluent in lan- guage to express their conceits, as always errors grow the fastest in hot brains. Hence it came to pass, that Mel- chites, Maronites, Nestorians, Eutycheans, Jacobites, over- spread these parts, maintaining their pestilent tenets with all obstinacy, which is that dead flesh which maketh the green wound of an error fester by degrees into the old sore of an heresy. Then was it just with God to suffer them, who would not be convinced with Christian counsels, to be subdued by the Pagans' sword : for though Chosroes had not long a settled government in Palestine, but, as a land flood, came and went away quickly, yet the Saracens, who shortly followed, as standing water, drowned all for a long continuance [636]. These1, under Haumer, Prince of Arabia, took Jerusalem, conquered Syria, and propa- gated the doctrine of Mahomet round about. It may justly seem admirable how that >enseless religion should gain so much ground on Christianity ; especially having neither real substance in her doctrine, nor winning behaviour in her ceremonies to allure professors. For what is- it but the scum of Judaism and Paganism sod together, and here and there strewed over with a spice of Christianity ? As Mahomet's tomb, so many sentences in his Alcoran seem to hang by some secret loadstone, which draweth together their gaping independences with a mystical cohe- rence, or otherwise they are flat nonsense. Yet this wonder of the spreading of this leprosy is lessened, if we consider that, besides the general causes of the growing of all errors (namely, the gangrene-like nature of evil, and the justice of God to deliver them over to believe lies who will not obey the truth), Mahometauism hath raised itself to this height by some peculiar advantages : first, by permitting much 1 Tyrius, Bell. Sacr. lib. 1, p. 2. A. D. 800 THE HOLY WAR. 9 carnal liberty to the professors (as having many wives), and no wonder if they get fish enough that use that bait : secondly, by promising a paradise of sensual pleasure here- after, wherewith flesh and blood is more affected (as falling under her experience) than with hope of any spiritual delights : thirdly, by prohibiting of disputes, and suppress- ing of all learning ; and thus Mahomet made his shop dark on purpose, that he might vent any wares : lastly, this religion had never made her own passage so fast and so far, if the sword had not cut the way before her, as commonly the conquered follow, for the most part, the religion of the conquerors. By this means that cursed doctrine hath so improved itself, that it may outvie with professors the church of Rome, which boasteth so much of her latitude and extent; though from thence to infer that her faith is the best, is falsely to conclude the fineness of the cloth from the largeness of the measure. Now the condition of the Christians under these Saracens was as uncertain as April weather. Sometimes they enjoyed the liberty and public exercise of their religion : and to give the Mahometans their due, they are generally good fellows in this point, and Christians amongst them may keep their consciences free, if their tongues be fettered not to oppose the doctrine of Mahomet. Sometimes they were under fierce and cruel affliction, their bishops and ministers forced to fly from their places were kept very poor, as always the clergy under persecution count that God gives them living enough, when hi gives them their lives. Tyrius* men- tioneth one memorable massacre, which they narrowly escaped : for a spiteful and malicious Saracen had secretly defiled one of their mosques in Jerusalem ; which deed being imputed to the poor Christians, they were all pre- sently dragged to the place of execution to be put to death, when behold a young man, a zealous Christian, by an offi- cious lie (the most lawful of all unlawful things), confessed himself alone to be guilty of the fact, and so, being killed by exquisite torments, saved the lives of many innocents. In memory of which act, the Christians in Jerusalem kept a constant solemnity, and once a year triumphantly marched, with palms in their hands, into the city, to perpetuate the remembrance of this deliverance [800], The longest vaca- tion from persecution they enjoyed was when Charles 3 was Emperor of the West, surnamed the Great ; a surname 8 Lib. 1, cap. 5. 3 Tyrius, lib. 1, cap. 3. 10 THE HISTORY OF A.D.800 which he did not steal, but justly win and deserve; not like Pompey, who got the title of the Great, though, as Caesar4 observed, he gained his chief fame for martial feats by conquering the weak and cowardly Bithynians. But this Charles, loved of his friends, feared of his foes, sub- dued the strong and lusty Lombards : yet did he not Chris- tianity more good by his war, than by his peace concluded with Aaron, emperor of the Saracens, under whom the Christians in Palestine obtained many privileges and much prosperity ; though this weather was too fair to last long. CHAP. VIL— The Original and Increase of the Turks; their conquering the Saracens, and taking of Jerusalem. BUT the Christians in Palestine afterward changed their masters, though not their condition, being subdued by the Turks. It will be worth our and the reader's pains to inquire into the original of this nation, especially because, (as the river Nilus) they are famous and well known for their overflowing stream, though hidden and obscure for their fountain. Whence they first came, authors only do agree in disagreeing : but most probably it is out of Scythia, Pomponius Mela1 reckoning them among the inhabitants of that country nigh the river Tanais. This Scythia (since called Tartaria) was a virgin country, never forced by foreign arms; for the monarchs who counted themselves conquerors of the world (by a large synecdoche taking a sixth part for the whole) never subdued it. Alex- ander sent some troops to assault Naura and Gabaza, two out-counties thereof, as an earnest that the rest of his army should follow : but hearing how these were welcomed, willingly lost his earnest, and disposed of his army other- wise. The Roman eagles flew not thus far, and though heard of, were never seen here. The reason that made the Turks leave their native soil was the barrenness thereof; and therefore the poet2" maketh famine (which sometimes travelleth abroad into other countries) here to have her constant habitation. And yet, no doubt, so vast a country would maintain her people, if the wildness thereof were tamed with husbandry : but the people (scorning that their ground should be better civilized than themselves) never manure it, and had rather provide their bread with the sword than with the plough. Other partial causes might 4 Suetonius, in Caesare. 1 Lib. 1, cap. ult. 2 Ovid. 8 Metam. A. D. 1060 THE HOLY WAR. 11 share in these Turks' removal ; but the cause of causes was the justice of God, to suffer this unregarded people to grow into the terror of the world for the punishment of Christians : and we may justly hope, that when the correc- tion is done, the rod shall be burnt ; especially finding already their force to abate, being at this day stopped with the half kingdom of Hungary, who formerly could not be stayed by the whole empire of Greece. 844J. The first step these Turks took out of their own country was into Turcomania3, a northern part of Armenia, conquered and so called by them ; where they lived like the Scythian nomades, always wandering, yet always in their way, none claiming a propriety in the land as his, all defending the common interest therein as theirs. The next step was into Persia, whither they were called to assist Mahomet, the Saracen sultan, against his enemies ; where taking notice of their own strength, the Saracens' cowardice, and the pleasure of Persia, they, under Tangro* lipix their first king, overcame that large dominion4 [1030], Then did the Turks take upon them the Mahometan religion, and, having conquered the Saracens by their valour, were themselves subdued by the Saracen superstition : an acci- dent more memorable, because not easily to be paralleled (excepting King Amaziah5, who having taken Edom was took with the idolatry thereof), because conquerors com- monly bring their religion into the places they subdue, and not take it thence. Their third large stride was into Babylon, the caliph whereof they overcame. And shortly after, under Cutlu- muses their second king, they won Mesopotamia, the greatest part of Syria, and the city of Jerusalem6 [1060] . Meantime whilst these vultures (Turks and Saracens) pecked out each other's eyes, the Christians (if they had husbanded this occasion) might much have advantaged themselves, and might have recovered their health by these contrary poisons expelling each other. But the Grecian emperors, given over to pleasure and covetousness, regarded not their own good, till at last the Turks devoured them; as (God will- ing) shall be showed hereafter. As for those Christians who lived in Palestine under the Turks, they had no lease of their safety, but were tenants at will for their lives and goods to these tyrants : though it rained not downright, yet the storm a Sabell. Enn. 9, lib. 2. 4 Knolles, Tur. Hist. p. 4, 5 2 Chron. xxv. 14. 6 Tyrius, lib. 1, cap. 7. 12 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1094 of persecution hung over their heads ; their minds were ever in torture, being on the rack of continual fear and suspense; and Simon himself was no better than an honour- able slave, though patriarch of Jerusalem, as appeareth by his letters of complaint7. CHAP. VIII.— The. Character of Peter the Hermit. His soliciting the Holy War. The Council at Clermont, and the Success thereof. IT happened there came a pilgrim to Jerusalem called Peter, a hermit, bom at Amiens, in France, one of a contemptible person ; his silly looks carried in them a despair of any worth, and yet (as commonly the richest mines lie under the basest and barrenest surface of ground) he had a quick apprehension, eloquent tongue, and, what got him the greatest repute, was accounted very religious. With him Simon, the patriarch of Jerusalem, often treated, concerning the present miseries of the Christians under the Turks; what hope of amendment; and how the matter might secretly be contrived, that the princes in Europe might assist and relieve them. Peter, moved with the patriarch's persuasions, the equity and honourableness of the cause, and chiefly with a vision (as they say) from heaven * (wherein our Saviour himself appointed him his legate, with a commission to negotiate the Christian cause), took the whole business upon him [1094], and travelled to Rome, to consult with Pope Urban the Second about the advancing of so pious a design. Now, though many cry up this hermit to have been so precious a piece of holiness, yet some1 suspect him to be little better than a counterfeit, and a cloak-father for a plot of the pope's begetting ; because the pope alone was the gainer by this great adventure, and all other princes of Europe, if they cast up their audit, shall find themselves losers: this with some is a presumption that this cunning mer- chant first secretly employed this hermit to be his factor, and to go to Jerusalem to set on foot so beneficial a trade for the Romish church. As for the apparition of our Saviour, one may wonder that the world should see most visions when it was most blind ; and that that age, most barren in learning, should be most fruitful in revelations. And surely had 7 Knolles, Tur. Hist. p. 13. » Tyrius, lib. 1. cap. 12. 2 Ursperg. Chron, p. 227. Quern tamen postea multi hypo- critam fuisse dicebant. ,.D. 1095 THE HOLY WAR. 13 'eter been truly inspired by God, and moved by his Spirit 3 begin this war, he would not have apostated from his mrpose : so mortified a man would not have feared death n a good cause, as he did afterwards, and basely ran away t Antioch3. For when the siege grew hot, his devotion rew cold ; he found a difference betwixt a voluntary fast ^ his cell, and a necessary and indispensable famine in a amp ; so that being well hunger-pinched, this cunning ompanion, who was the trumpet to sound a march to others, ecretly sounded a retreat to himself, ran away from the est of the Christians, and was shamefully brought back gain for a fugitive4. ^But to return to Pope Urban, who was zealous in the ause to further it, and called a council at Clermont, in ''ranee [1095], where met many princes and prelates, to fhom he made a long oration5. Authors differ in the nould, but they agree in the metal, that it was to this ffect : — First, he bemoaned the miseries of the Christians n Asia, and the vastation of those holy places. Jerusalem, /hich was once the joy of the whole earth, was now become rie grief of all good men. The chapel of Christ's concep- ion, at Nazareth ; birth, at Bethlehem ; burial, on Mount Calvary; ascension, on Mount Olivet; once the fountains of >iety, were now become the sinks of all profaneness. Next, e encouraged the princes in the council to take arms against tiose infidels, and6 to break their bonds in sunder, and to ast their cords far from them, and (as it is written) to cast ut the handmaid and her children. Otherwise, if they /ould not help to quench their neighbours' houses, they lust expect the speedy burning of their own, and that these arbarous nations would quickly overrun all Europe, Now D set an edge on their courage, he promised to all that rent this voyage a full remission of their sins and penance iere, and the enjoying heaven hereafter. ( Lastly, thus con- luded7 ;-— " Gird your swords to your thighs, O ye men f might. It is our parts to pray, yours to fight ; ours with closes to hold up unwearied hands to God, yours to stretch orth the sword against these children of Amalek. Amen." 3 Sabell. Enn. 9, lib. 3, col. 357. Et JEtnilius, Digest. Franc. i. 123, in Philippe I. 4 Ut desertor signorum, fratrum commilitonumque proditor. 5 Sabell. Enn. 9, lib. 3. Tyrius, lib. 1, cap. 15. Baron, nno 1095. W. Malmsb. lib. 4, cap. 1. All have several set 'rations. 6 Baronius, in anno 1095, col. 688. 7 Baronius, in anno 1096, col. 691. 14 THE HISTORY OF A.D.1095 It is above belief with what cheerfulness this motion, meeting with an active and religious world, was generally entertained ; so that the whole assembly cried out8, " God \\iK.r. i it :" a speech which was afterwards used as a fortu- nate watchword in their most dangerous designs. Then took mariy of them a cross of red cloth on their right shoul- der, as a badge of their devotion; and to gain the favour- able assistance of the Virgin Mary to make this war the more happy, her office9 was instituted, containing certain prayers, which at canonical hours were to be made unto her. If fame, which hath told many a lie of others, be not herein belied herself, the things concluded in this council were the same night reported at impossible distance in the utmost parts of Christendom. What spiritual intelligencers there should be, or what echoes in the hollow arch of this world should so quickly resound news from the one side thereof to the other, belongeth not to us to dispute. Yet we find the overthrow 10 of Perseus brought out of Macedon to Rome in four days ; and fame (mounted no doubt on some Pegasus), in Domitian's time, brought a report two thousand five hundred miles in one day. CHAP. IX. — Arguments for the Lawfulness of the Holy War. IT is stiffly canvassed betwixt learned men, whether this war was lawful or not. The reasons for the affirmative are fetched either from piety or policy ; and of the former sort are these. 1. All the earth is God's land let out to tenants; but Judea was properly his demesnes, which he kept long in his own hands for himself and his children. Now though the infidels had since violently usurped it, yet no prescription of time could prejudice the title of the King of Heaven, but that now the Christians might be God's champions to re- cover his interest. 2. Religion bindeth men to relieve their brethren in dis-* tress, especially when they implore their help, as now the Christians in Syria did * ; whose entreaties in this case sounded commands in the ears of such as were piously dis-i posed. 3. The Turks, by their blasphemies and reproaches against God and our Saviour, had disinherited and divested 8 Sabell. Enn. 9, lib. 3, page 354. 9 Baronius, torn. 11, p. 692. 10 Livius, lib. 45. 1 Tyrius, lib. 1, cap. 11. ,.D. 1095 T±(E HOLY WAR. 15 hemselves of all their right to their lands ; and the Chris- ians, as the next undoubted heirs, might seize on the for- eiture. 4. This war would advance and increase the patrimony f religion, by propagating the gospel, and converting of nfidels. If any object that religion is not to be beaten into len with the dint of sword ; yet it may be lawful to open le way by force, for instruction, catechising, and such ther gentle means to follow after. 5. The beholding of those sacred places in Palestine fould much heighten the adventurers' devotion, and make le most frozen heart to melt into pious meditations. 6. This enterprise1 was furthered by the persuasions of undry godly men, St. Bernard and others. Now though a ring spirit may delude the prophets of Ahab, yet none rill be so uncharitable as to think God would suffer his. wn Micaiah to be deceived. 6. God 3 set his hand to this war, and approved it by lany miracles which he wrought in this expedition, and 'hich are so confidently and generally reported by credit- worthy writers, that he himself is a miracle that will not be* eve them. Neither want there arguments derived from policy. 1 . Palestine was a parcel of the Roman empire, though ince won by the Saracens; and though the Emperor of Jonstantinople could not recover his right, yet did he al- ways continue his claim, and now (as appeared4 by his mers read in the Placentine council) Alexius requested lese princes of the west to assist him in the recovery hereof. 2. A preventive war, grounded on a just fear of an in- asion, is lawful ; but such was this holy war. And be- ause most stress is laid on this argument, as the main upporter of the cause, we will examine and prove the parts lereof. Though umbrages and light jealousies, created by cow- rdly fancies, be too narrow to build a fair quarrel on, etthe lawfulness of a preventive war, founded on just fear, 5 warranted by reason and the practice of all wise nations, n such a case, it is folly to do as country fellows in a fence chool, never ward a blow till it be past ; but it is best to be Beforehand with the enemy, lest the medicine come too late * Bellarm. lib. 3, de Rom. Pont. cap. 17. 3 Ibidem. 4 Baronius, torn. 11, p. 687. 16 THE HISTORY <)F A. D. 1095 for the malady. In such dangers to play an after game is rather a shift than a policy, especially seeing war is a tragedy which always destroyeth the stage whereon it is acted. It is the most advised way not to wait for the enemy, but to seek him out in his own country. Now, that the Mahometans (under whom the Turks and Saracens are comprehended, differing in nation, agreeing in religion and spite against Christians) were now justly to be feared, cannot be denied. . So vast was the appetite of their sword, that it had already devoured Asia, and now reserved Grecia for the second course. The Bosporus was too narrow a ditch, and the empire of Grecia too low a hedge, to fence the Pagans out of West Christendom ; yea, the Saracens had lately wasted Italy5, pillaged and burned many churches near Rome itself, conquered Spain, inroaded Aquitain, and possessed some islands in the midland-sea. The case, therefore, standing thus, this holy war was both lawful and necessary ; which like unto a sharp pike in the boss of a buckler, though it had a mixture of offend ing, yet it was chiefly of a defensive nature, to which all preventive wars are justly reduced. Lastly, this war would be the sewer of Christendom, and drain all discords out of it. For active men, like millstones in motion, if they have no other grist to grind, will set fire one on another. Europe at this time surfeited with people, and many of them were of stirring natures, who counted themselves undone when they were out of doing, and there- fore they employed themselves in mutual jars and conten- tions; but now this holy war will make up all breaches, and unite all their forces against the common foe of Chris^ tianity. CHAP, X. — Reasons against the Holy War. YET all these reasons prevail not so forcibly, but that many are of the contrary opinion1, and count this war both needless and unlawful, induced thereunto with these or the like arguments. J . When the Jews were no longer God's people, Judea was no longer God's land by any peculiar approbation ; but on the other side, God stamped on that country- an in- 5 Sabeil. Enu. 9, lib. 3, p. 354. 1 Job. Cammanus, De Jure Majest. Thes. 22. Et Albert Aqu. Chro. Hieros, lib. 4, cap. 28. Et Reineccius in Prref. Hist. Orient. A.D. 1095 THE HOLY WAR. 17 delible character of desolation, and so scorched it with his anger that it will never change colour, though Christians should wash it with their blood. It is labour in vain, there- fore, for any to endeavour to reestablish a flourishing king- dom in a blasted country; and let none ever look to reap any harvest who sow that land which God will have to lie fallow. 2. Grant the Turks were no better than dogs, yet were they lb be let alone in their own kennel. They and the Saracens, their predecessors, had now enjoyed Palestine four hundred and sixty years : prescription long enough to solder the most cracked title, and not only to corroborate but to create a right. Yea, God himself may seem herein to allow their title, by suffering them so long peaceably to enjoy it. 3. To visit those places in Jerusalem (the theatre of so many mysteries and miracles) was as useless as difficult, and might be superstitious if any went (as it is to be feared too many did) with placing transcendent holiness in that place, and with a wooden devotion to the material cross. The angel z sent the women away from looking into the sepulchre with He is risen, he is not here ; and thereby did dehort them and us from burying our affections in Christ's grave, but rather to seek him where he was to be found. At this day a gracious heart maketh every place a Jerusa- lem, where God may as well and as acceptably be wor- shiped. St. Hilarion3, though he lived in Palestine, saw Jerusalem but once, and then only because he might not seem to neglect the holy places for their nearness and vici- nity. And St. Hierom (though himself lived at Bethlehem) dissuaded Paulinus from coming thither, for the pains would be above the profit. 4. Lastly, this war was a quicksand to swallow treasure, and of a hot digestion to devour valiant men ; no good, much evil, came thereby : and the Christians that went out to seek an enemy in Asia, brought one thence, to the danger of all Europe, and the loss of a fair part thereof. For though Car eat successibus opto, Quisquis ab eventufucta not and a putat : may he never speed, Who from the issue censures of the deed : 2 Matt, xxviii. 6. 3 Hieroa. torn. 1, p. 103, in Epist. ad Paulinum. c 18 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 1095 and though an argument fetched from the success is but a cipher in itself, yet it increaseth a number when joined with others. These reasons have moved the most moderate4' and re- fined papists, and all protestants generally, in their judg- ments to fight against this holy war. But as for the opinion of Bibliander (who therein stands without company) if Bel- larmine hath truly reported it5, it is as far from reason as charity; namely, that these Christians that went to fight against the Saracens were the very army of Gog and Ma- gog spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel 6. Yet must we not here forget, that such as at this time went to Jerusalem (whether ridiculously or blasphemously, or both, let others judge) did carry a goose before them7, pretending it to be the Holy Ghost. CHAP. XI. — The private Ends and Profits of the Pope, which he is charged by Authors to have had in this Holy War. IT is enough with some to make it suspicious that there were some sinister ends in this war, because Gregory the Seventh, otherwise called Hildebrand (and by Luther Larva diaboli1}, the worst of all that sat in that chair, first began it; but death preventing him, Urban the Second (whom Cardinal Benno called Turban % for troubling the whole world) effected it. And though the pretences were pious and plausible, yet no doubt the thoughts of his holi- ness began where other men's ended, and he had a privy project beyond the public design : First, to reduce the Grecians into subjection to himself3, with their three patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Con- stantinople ; and to make the eastern church a chapel of eas e to the mother church of Rome. Secondly, this war was the pope's house of correction, whither he sent his sturdy and stubborn enemies to be tamed. Such high-spirited men whom he either feared or suspected, he condemned to this employment, as to an honourable banishment ; and as Saul being afraid of David sent him to fight against the Philistines, that so he might fall by their sword ; so the pope had this cleanly and un- 4 Vide Besoldum, De Regibus Hieros. p. 99, et sequentibus. 5 Lib. 3, De Rom. Pon. cap. 17. 6 Ezek. xxxviii. 3. 7 Aventinus, lib. 5, Annal. l In bis Chronology. 2 Balaeus, in Rom. Pont, in Urban. 2. 3 Mat. Dress. De Bello Sacr. cited by Lampadius Mellifu-. histor. part 3, p. 266. A. D. 1095 THE HOLY WAR. 19 suspected conveyance to rid away those he hated4, by send- ing them against infidels. This appeared most plainly in the matter of the emperor himself, whom he sent from home, that so he might rob his house in his absence. At the be- ginning of this war the pope's temporal power in Italy was very slender, because the emperor's dominions did gird him close and hard on all sides ; .but soon after he grew within short time without all measure, and did lurch a castle here, gain a city there, from the emperor, while he was employed in Palestine ; so that by the time that the Christians had lost all in Syria, the emperor has lost all in Italy ; his domi- nions there being either swallowed up by Peter's patrimony, or by private princes and upstart free states, which as so many splinters flew out of the broken empire. Thirdly, hereby the pope determined on his side the gain- fullest controversy that ever was in Christendom. This was about the investiture of bishops, whether the right lay in the pope or in secular princes. Now his holiness diverted this question out of princes' heads by opening an issue another way, and gave vent to the activity of their spirits in this martial employment, and in the mean time quietly went away without any corrival, concluding the controversy for his own profit. Lastly, he got a mass of money by it. He had the office to bear the bag, and what was put into it, as contributed to this action from pious people, and expended but some few drops of the showers he received. Guess the rest of his griping tricks from this one which Matth. Paris reporteth5. First, he prompted many people in England unfit for arms to take upon them to vow to go to the holy war, and this was done by the exhortation and preaching of the friars. This done, he compelled and forced those votaries (whose purses were more useful for this service than their persons) to commute their journey into money, the payment whereof should be as meritorious as their pilgrimage. And thus scraped he a mass of coin from such silly people as thought themselves cleansed of their sins when they were wiped of their money, and who, having made themselves slaves to the pope by their rash vow, were glad to buy their liberty at his price. 4 See Daniel, in Henry the Third, p. 141. 5 Hist. Angl. pp. 702 et 703, Diversis muscipulis simplicem Dei populum substantial sua moliebatur Komaua curia privare, nihil petens nisi aurum et argentum. 20 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 1095 As the pope, so most of the clergy improved their estates by this war ; for the secular princes who went this voyage sold or mortgaged most of their means (selling for gold to purchase with steel and iron), and the clergy were generally their chapmen. For they advised these undertakers, seeing this action was for Christ and his church, rather to make over their estates to spiritual men, of whom they might again redeem the same, and from whom they should be sure to find the fairest dealing, than to laymen. Godfrey, duke of Bouillon6, sold that dukedom to the bishop of Liege; and the castle of Sartensy and Monsa, to the bishop of Verdun. Baldwin, his brother, sold him the city of Ver- dun. Yea, by these sales the third part7 of the best feoffs in France came to be possessed by the clergy, who made good bargains for themselves, and had the conscience to buy earth cheap, and to sell heaven dear. Yea, this voyage laid the foundation of their temporal greatness, till at last, the daughter devoured the mother, and wealth impaired religion. CHAP. XII. — The Quality and Condition of those People who undertook the War. IT is not to be expected that all should be fish which is caught in a drag-net, neither that all should be good and religious people who were adventurers in an action of so large a capacity as this war was. We must in charity allow, that many of them were truly zealous and went with pious intents. These were like to those of whom Bellar- mine speaketh, who had no fault prater nimiam sanctitutem, too much sanctity, which a learned man ' interpreted! too much superstition. But besides these well-meaning people, there went also a rabble-rout, rather for company than con- science. Debtors1 took this voyage on them as an acquit- tance from their debts, to the defrauding of their creditors ; servants counted the conditions of their service cancelled by it, going away against their masters' will ; thieves and mur- derers took upon them the cross, to escape the gallows ; adul- terers did penance in their armour. A lamentable case that the devil's black guard should be God's soldiers ! And no wonder if the success was as bad as some of the adven- 6 jEmilius, De Gest. Fran. p. 109. 7 Daniel, in Henry the First, p. 49. 1 Whitaker, De Eccl. Contro. 2, cap. 11. 2 Albert, Aquin. Chron. Hierosol. lib. 1, cap. 2. A. D. 1095 THE HOLY WAR. 21 turers, especially seeing they retained their old conditions under anew climate. 3And (as if this voyage had been like to repentance, never too soon nor too late for any to begin) not only green striplings unripe for war, but also decayed men to whom age had given a writ of ease, became sol- diers ; and those who at home should have waited on their own graves, went far to visit Christ's sepulchre. And which was more, women (as if they would make the tale of the Amazons truth) went with weapons in men's clothes; a behaviour at the best immodest, and modesty being the case of chastity, it is to be feared that where the case is broken, the jewel is lost. This enterprise was also the mother of much nonresidence ; many prelates and friars (fitter to handle a penknife than a sword) left their con- vents and pastoral charges to follow this business. The total sum of those pilgrim soldiers amounted to three hun- dred thousand, and some writers4 do double that number. No doubt the Christians' army had been greater if it had been less, for the belly was too big for the head ; and the medley of nations did rather burden than strengthen it. Besides, the army was like a cloth of many colours, and more seams ; which seams, though they were curiously drawn up for the present, yet after long? wearing began to be seen, and at last brake out into open rents. CHAP. XIII. — The Adventurers sorted according to their several Nations. THE Fiench. Dutch, Italian, and English were the four elemental nations whereof this army was compounded : of these the French were predominant ; they were the cape merchants in this adventure. That nimble nation first apprehended the project, and eagerly prosecuted it. As their language wanteth one proper word to express stand, so their natures mislike a settled, fixed posture, and delight in motion and agitation of business ; yea, France (as being then best at leisure) contributed more soldiers to this war than all Christendom besides. The signal men were — Hugh, surnamed le Grand, brother to the king of France ; Godfrey, duke of Bouillon; Baldwin, and Eustace, his younger brother ; Stephen, earl of Blois, father to Stephen, afterwards king of England; Reimund, earl of Toulouse ; Robert, earl of Flanders ; Hugh, earl of St. Paul ; Bald- 3 Tyrius, lib. 1, cap. 16. 4 Malmesb. lib. 4, p. 133. 22 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1095 win de Burge, with many more ; besides of the clergy, Aimar, bishop of Puiand legate to the pope; and William, bishop of Orange. Germany is slandered to have sent none to this war at this first voyage ; and that other pilgrims, passing through that country, were mocked by the Dutch, and called fools for their pains '. It is true, the German adventurers in number answered not the largeness and populousness of their coun- try ; for Henry, the emperor (a prince whom the pope long hacked at, and hewed him off at last), being desirous to go this voyage % was tied up at home with civil discords. Yet we find a competency of soldiers of that nation, besides those under Godescalcus a priest, Emmicho the Rhene- grave, and Count Herman, their leaders. But though Ger- many was backward at the first, yet afterwards it proved the main Atlas of the war; that nation, like a heavy bell, was long a raising, but being got up made a loud sound. Italy sent few out of her heart and middle provinces nigh Rome. The pope was loath to adventure his darlings into danger; those white boys were to stay at home with his holiness their tender father: wherefore he dispensed with them for going3, as knowing how to use their help nearer, and to greater profit. Peter's patrimony must as well be looked to, as Christ's sepulchre. But though the pope would spend none of his own fuel, he burnt the best stakes of the emperor's hedge, and furthered the imperial party to consume itself in this tedious war. Out of the furthermost parts of Italy, Boemund, prince of Tarentum, and Tancred, his nephew (both of the Norman seed, though growing on the Apulian soil), led an army of twelve thou- sand men ; and Lombardy was also very liberal of her sol- diers towards this expedition. England4 (the pope's packhorse in that age, which seldom rested in the stable when there was any work to be done) sent many brave men under Robert, duke of Normandy, brother to William Rufus; as Beauchamp, and others whose names are lost. Neither surely did the Irishmen's feet stick in their bogs, though we find no particular mention of their achievements. Spain had other use for her swords against the Saracens 1 Centurist. ex Ursperg. cent. 11, col. 416. 2 Pantaleon, De viris Ger. part 2, p. 139. 3 Daniel, in Will, the Second, p. 49. 4 Daniel, ut prius. A.D 1095 THE HOLY WAR. 23 at home, and therefore sent none of her men abroad. As one saith5, the Spaniards did follow their own holy war, a work more necessary, and no less honourable. Thus they acted the same part, though not on the same stage, with our pilgrims, as being also employed in fight against the infidels. Poland had the same excuse for not much appearing clean through this war; because she lieth bordering on the Tartars in herappendant country of Lithuania, and therefore was busied in making good her frontiers. Besides, no won- der if Prussia, Lithuania, and Livonia were not up in this service, for it was scarce break of day with them, and the sun of the gospel was newly (if at all) risen in those parts. Yea, Poland was so far from sending men hither, that she fetched them from hence6, and afterwards implored the aid of the Teutonic order, who came out of Palestine to assist her against her enemies. Hungary might bring filling-stones to this building, but few foundation or corner-stones, and at this time had no commander of note in this action. Scotland also presented us not with any remarkable piece of service which her men performed in all this war. It was not want of devotion, which was hot enough in that cold country ; rather we may impute it to want of shipping, that country being little powerful at sea, or (which is most pro- bable) the actions of this nation are hidden, as wrapped up in the bundle with some others ; I should guess under the French, but the intimacy of those two people is of a far later date. Denmark and Norway, near acquainted with the Arctic pole, though they lagged the last (and may therein be ex- cused because of the length of the way), were sharers in the honour of this employment, and performed good sea- service. Sweden either acted not at all, or else had a very short part in this business. That country being a separatist, be- cause of her remote situation, had little communion with other parts of Europe. And indeed histories are mute of Sweden, but that of late Gustavus's victory hath put a tongue into them, and hath made that country famous to all pos- terity. 5 ^milius, de Gest. Fran. p. 109. 6 Munstur, Cosmogr. 24 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1096 CHAP. XIV. — The sad Beginning of the War. THEIR first setting forth [March 8, 1096] was checked with bad success. For Walter Sensaver, a nobleman (but what countryman it is unknown), who * had more of the sail of valour than ballast of judgment, led forth an ill- grown and unproportioned army, with many thousand foot, and eight horsemen only *. But we must not think that this fowl should fly far, whose wings were so short, and train so long. His men were routed and slain by the Bul- garians, and he himself, through many miseries, scarce re- covered Constantinople. Peter the Hermit3, with his army, went further to meet his own destruction. For after many difficulties, having crossed the Bosporus, they came into Asia, and there found some cities forsaken by the Turks, their inhabitants. This they imputed to their enemies' fear, which proceeded from their policy; and, therefore, being more greedy to pillage than careful to fortify the places they took, hunted after preys so long, till they became one them- selves [July]. Hugh, brother to the king of France, with his surname of the Great, had as little success as the former ; his army being quickly abridged by the furious Bulgarians in their passage, and he brought prisoner to Constantinople4. Besides these, one Gotescalcus, a priest, a wolf in sheep's clothing, and Emmicho, a tyrant prince near the Rhine, led forth a rout of wicked people, who car- ried the badge of the cross, and served the devil under Christ's livery, killing and pillaging the poor Jews and other people in Germany as they went5. This made Colo- man, king of Hungary, not only deny them passage through his country (and no wonder if he was loath to lodge those guests who were likely to rob their host), but also put most of them to the sword. Some suspected these beginnings to be but the bad breakfast to a worse dinner ; and therefore, abandoning their resolutions, returned home : others, little moved hereat, conceived these first defeats to be but the clarifying of the Christian army from the dregs of base and ruder people. 1 Malmesh. 1. 4, p. 133. 2 Calvisius, p. 893, in anno 1096. 3 ^Emilias, De Gest. Fran. p. 111. 4 Malmesb. 1. 4, p. 135. 4 Urspergens. pp. 227 et 228. A. D. 1096 THE HOLY WAR. 25 CHAP. XV. — The Pilgrims' Arrival at Constantinople, Enter- tainment, and Departure. BUT now (to speak in my author's phrase1), the chaff being winnowed with this fan out of God's floor, the good grain began to appear. Godfrey, duke of Bouillon, set forth, and marched through Hungary [Aug. 15] with an army of civil and well-conditioned soldiers; so also did Boemund, Reimund, and Robert the Norman, whose setting forth bear divers dates ; and they embraced several courses through sundry countries; but the first rendezvous where all met was at Constantinople. Dec. 23.] This was no pleasant prospect to Alexius, the Grecian emperor, to see the sea full of ships, the shore of soldiers. He had gotten the empire by bad practices (by deposing and cloistering Nicephorus, his predecessor), and an ill conscience needeth no enemy but itself; for now he affrighteth himself with the fancy that these pilgrims were so many pioneers come to undermine him. Yea, heseemeth to have entailed his jealousies on all his successors, who never cordially affected this war, but suspected that these western Christians made but a false blow at Jerusalem, and meant to hit Constantinople. But though he had a storm in his heart, yet he made all fair weather in his face ; and finding these his guests so strong that they could command their own welcome, he entertained them rather for fear than love. At last it was covenanted betwixt them2, that what countries or cities soever (Jerusalem alone excepted) once belonging to this Grecian empire should be recovered by these Latins, should all be restored to Alexius; in lieu whereof he was to furnish them with armour, shipping, and all other warlike necessaries. Thus might that emperor 3 have much improved his estate by these adventures; but he (like those who cannot see their own good for too stead- fast looking on it), by his over carefulness and causeless suspicion, deprived himself of this benefit, and implunged himself in much just hatred for his unjust dealing and treachery. Polybius, though a Grecian himself, yet thus painteth out his countrymen amongst the Greeks4 : — " If one should lend a talent, though he should have for it ten 1 Urspergens. p. 233. 5 M. Paris, p. 38. 3 ^Emilius, De Gest. Fran. p. 112. 4 Lib. 6. Vide Erasmum in Adagio. Gracajides. 26 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1096 bonds, ten seals, and twice as many witnesses, yet the borrower will not keep his credit/' It seems Alexius was one of this same faith, who, though so solemnly engaged on his honour to perform this agreement so advantageous to himself, most unprincelike brake his word, and molested these pilgrims afterwards. Some question the discretion of these princes in this agreement5, to bargain to purchase Alexius's profit with their blood, and conceive that they much undervalued them- selves in swearing homage unto him ; which only Robert, earl of Flanders6 (remembering that he was free born and bred), refused to do. Yet they may herein be partly ex- cused, for they apprehended it of absolute necessity to gain this emperor's favour, on what price soever, because his country was the highway through which they must pass. Besides, their zeal to be at their journey's end made them insensible of any future disadvantages, so be it they might have but present expedition to the place they were bound for. And we may also think that Alexius's liberal gifts had great efficacy in this matter, to win these princes to his own desires. CHAP. XVI.— The Estate of Asia. Siege and Taking of Nice. Turks overthrown in Battle. AT our last mentioning of the Turks and their victories, we left them possessed of Jerusalem and the greater part of Syria : but since they have thrived better, and won the lesser Asia from the Grecian emperor. Indeed, those emperors with their own hands lifted up the Turks into their throne, and caused them thus speedily to conquer. For giving themselves over to pleasure, they gave little counte- nance, and less maintenance, to men of service and action; whereby the martial sparks in noble spirits were quenched; and no wonder if virtue did wither where it was not watered with reward. Secondly, out of covetousness the emperors unfurnished their frontiers of garrisons, and laid them open to invasions ; a notorious solecism in policy : for if doors in private houses are to be locked, much more frontiers in kingdoms. Neither did it a little advantage the Turks' proceedings that the Grecian empire fell to Eudoxia, a woman, and her children in minority, too weak pilots to steer so great a state in the tempest of war. And though after other changes it fell to Alexius, one whose personal abilities were not to be excepted against, yet he being to- 4 M. Paris, p. 38. 6 Malmesb. 137. A. D. 1097 THE HOLY WAR. 27 tally busied at home, to maintain his title against home-bred foes, had no leisure to make any effectual resistance against foreign enemies. Nor did the death of Cutlen-Muses, their king, any whit prejudice the Turkish proceedings ; for Solyman, his son, succeeded him, a prince no less famous for his clemency than his conquests ; as victory, to generous minds, is only an inducement to moderation. In this case, under the tyranny of the Turks stood Asia the Less ; and though there were many Christians in every city, yet these being disarmed, had no other weapons than those of the primitive church, tears and prayers. But now these western pilgrims, arriving there, besiege the city of Nice with an army as glorious as ever the sun beheld [May 14, 1097]. This city was equally beholden to nature and art for her strength, and was formerly famous for the first general council, called there by Con- stantine against Arius, wherein were assembled three hundred and eighteen bishops. The pilgrims had a Lom- bard for their engineer ; the neighbouring wood afforded them materials, whereof they made many warlike instru- ments, and hoped speedily to conquer the city. But breathed deer are not so quickly caught. The Turks within, being experienced soldiers, defeated their enterprises. And here one might have seen art promising herself the victory, and suddenly meeting with counterart, which mastered her. The lake Ascanius, whereon the city stood, having an out- let into the sea, much advantaged the besieged, whereby they fetched victuals from the country, till at last that pas- sage was locked up by the Grecian fleet. Soon after the city was surrendered [June 20], on composition that the inhabitants' lives and goods should be untouched ; whereat the soldiers, who hitherto hoped for the spoil, now seeing themselves spoiled of their hope, showed no small discon- tentment. Solyman's wife and young children were taken prisoners, and the city (according to the agreement) was delivered to Tatinus, the Grecian admiral, in behalf of Alexius, his master. From hence the Christians set forward to the vale of Dogorgan, when behold Solyman with all his might fell upon them, and there followed a cruel battle, fought with much courage and variety of success. A cloud of arrows darkened the sky, which was quickly dissolved into a shower of blood. The Christians had many disadvantages, for their enemies were three to one, and valour itself may be pressed to death under the weight of multitude. The season 28 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1097 was unseasonable ; the scorching of the sun much annoying these northern people, whilst the Turks had bodies of proof against the heat. Besides, the Christians' horses, affrighted with the barbarous sounds of the Turkish drums, were alto- gether unserviceable. However, they bravely maintained their fight by the special valour and wisdom of their leaders (amongst whom Boemund, and Hugh, brother to the Ijing of France, deserved high commendations), till at last, find- ing themselves overmatched, they began to guard their heads with their heels, and fairly ran away. When in came Robert the Norman, in the very opportunity of opportunity '. Much he encouraged them with his words, more with his valour, slaying three principal Turks with his own hands. This sight so inspirited the Christians, that coming in on fresh, they obtained a most glorious victory. Two thou- sand on their side were slain, whereof William the brother of Tancred, Godfrey de Mont, and Robert of Paris, were of special note. But far greater was the slaughter of their enemies, especially after that Godfrey of Bouillon, who had been absent all the battle, came in with his army : yet they wanted a hammer to drive the victory home to the head, having no horses to make the pursuit1. Solyman, flying away, burned all as he went ; and, to prop up his credit, gave it out that he had gotten the day, pleasing himself to be a conqueror in report This great battle was fought July 1st, though some make it many days after; yea, so great is the variety of historians in their dates, that every one may seem to have a several clock of time, which they set faster or slower at their own pleasure ; but as long as they agree in the main, we need not be much moved with their petty dissensions. CHAP. XVII. — The Siege and Taking of Antioch. Corboran overcome in Fight. Of Christ's Spear, and of holy Fraud. FROM hence, with invincible industry and patience, they bored a passage through valleys, up mountains, over rivers, taking as they went the famous cities Iconium, Heraclea, Tarsus, and conquering all the country of Cili- cia. This good success much puffed them up3 ; God, there- fore, to cure them of the pleurisy of pride, did let them blood with the long and costly siege of Antioch. This city, watered by the river Orontes, and called Reblath of the 1 M. Paris, p. 42, et H. Hunting, lib. 7, p. 374. 2 W. Malmesb. p. 138. 3 Urspergens. p. 233. A. D. 1098 THE HOLY WAR. 29 Hebrews, was built by Seleucus Nicanor, and enlarged by Antiochus. Compassed it was with a double wall, one of square stone, the other of brick, strengthened with four mndred and sixty towers, and had a castle on the east rather to be admired than assaulted. Here the professors of our faith were first named Christians2", and here St. Peter first sat bishop, whose fair church was a patriarchal seat for many hundred years after. Before this city the pilgrims' army encamped [Oct. 21], and strongly besieged it; but the Turks within manfully defending themselves under Auxianus, their captain, frustrated their hopes of taking it by force. The siege grew long, and victuals short, in the Christians' camp; and now Peter the Hermit3, being brought to the touchstone, discovered what base metal he was of, ran away with some other of good note, and were fetched back again, and bound with a new oath to prosecute the war. At last, one within the city (though authors agree neither of his name nor religion, some making him a Turk, others a Christian ; some calling him Pyrrhus, some Hemir- pherrus, others Emipher) in the dead of the night betrayed the city to Boemund [June 3, 1098]. The Christians issuing in, and exasperated with the length of the siege, so remembered what they had suffered, that they forgot what they had to do, killing promiscuously Christian citizens with Turks4. Thus passions, like heavy bodies down steep hills, once in motion move themselves, and know no ground but the bottom. Antioch, thus taken, was offered to Alexius the emperor, but he refused it, suspecting some deceit in the tender; as bad men measure other men's minds by the crooked rule of their own. Hereupon it was bestowed on Boemund; though this place, dearly purchased, was not long quietly possessed ; for Corboran, the Turkish general, came with a vast army of Persian forces, and besieged the Christians in the city, so that they were brought into a great strait be- twixt death and death, hunger within and their foes without. Many secretly stole away, whereat the rest were no whit discomfited, counting the loss of cowards to be gain to an army. At last they generally resolved rather to lose their lives by wholesale on the point of the sword, than to retail them out by famine, which is the worst of tyrants, and 2 Acts xi. 26. 3 Sabell. Enn. 9, lib. 5, p. 357. Et ^Emilius, in Philip the First, p. 123. 4 P. ^mil. p. 127. 30 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1098 murdereth men in state, whilst they die in not dying. It did not a little encourage them, that they found in the church of St. Peter that lance wherewith our Saviour's body was pierced5. They highly prized this military relic of Christ, as if by wounding of him it had got virtue to wound his enemies, and counted it a pawn of certain vic- tory. Whether this spear was truly found, or whether it was but invented to cozen men with, we will not dispute. However, it wrought much with these pilgrims, for conceit oftentimes doeth things above conceit, especially when the imagination apprehendeth something founded in religion. Marching forth in several armies, they manfully fell upon their enemies [June 28], and being armed with despair to escape, they sought to sell their lives at the dearest rate. Valour doth swell when it is crushed betwixt extremities, and then oftentimes goeth beyond herself in her achievements. This day, by God's blessing on their courage, they got a noble conquest. Some saw St. George in the air with an army of white horses righting for them 6 ; but these, no doubt, did look through the spectacles of fancy. And yet, though we should reject this apparition, we need not play the Ori- gens with the story of St. George, and change all the literal sense into an allegory of Christ and his church ; for it is improbable that our English nation, amongst so many saints that were, would choose one that was not, to be their patron, especially seeing the world, in that age, had rather a glut than famine of saints. And here let me advertise the reader, once for all, not to expect that 1 should set down those many miracles7 where- with authors who write this war so lard their stories, that it will choke the belief of any discreet man to swallow them. As the intent of these writers was pious, to gain credit and converts to the Christian faith, so the prosecuting of -their project must be condemned, in thinking to grace the gospel in reporting such absurd falsities. But let us know that heaven hath a pillory, whereon fraus pia herself shall be punished ; and rather let us leave religion to her native plainness, than hang her ears with counterfeit pearls. The pride of the Turks being abated in this battle, and 5 Tyrius, lib. 6, cap. 14. 6 TNI. Paris, in Gulielmo secundo, p. 57. 7 Munclus senescens patitur phamasias falsorum miraculo- rum ; propterea suut nunc babenda miracula valde suspecta. — Gerson. A.D. 1098 THE HOLY WAR. 31 one hundred thousand of them being slain, the Christians grew mightily insolent, and forgot to return to God the honour of the victory; whereupon followed a great mortality, and fifty thousand died in few days. Whether this proceeded from the climate (the bodies of Europe not being friends with the air of Asia, till use by degrees reconcileth them), or whether it was caused by their intemperance : for after long fasting they would not measure their stomachs by the standard of physic, and dieting themselves till nature by degrees could digest the meat; but by surfeiting digged their graves with their own teeth. And now we are come to the skirts and borders of Pales- tine. Wherefore as heralds use to blazon the field before they meddle with the charge, so let us describe the land before we relate the actions done therein. If in bowling they must needs throw wide which know not the green or alley whereon they play, much more must they miss the truth in story who are unacquainted with that country whereon the discourse proceedeth. Briefly, therefore, of the Holy Land ; as not intending to make a large and wide I description of so short and narrow a country. S,CHAP. XVIII.— A Pisgah-sight, or short Survey of Pales- tine in general; and how it might maintain one million three hundred thousand Men. PALESTINE is bounded on the north with Mount Liba- nus; west, with the Midland Sea; south, with the ((wilderness of Paran, parting it from Egypt; and east, with • I the mountains of Gilead and the river of Arnon. To give it tithe most favourable dimensions : from the foot of Libanus , I to Beersheba, north and south, may be allowed two hundred and ten miles; and from Ramoth-gilead to Endor, east and r [west, seventy ; which is the constant breadth of the country. llln which compass, in David's time, were maintained thir- teen hundred thousand men1, besides women, children, and j (impotent persons ; and yet the tribes of Benjamin2 and Levi were not reckoned. True this must needs be, for Truth hath id it ; yet it is wonderful. For though the United Pro- inces in the Low Countries maintain as many people in as little a plot of ground, yet they feed not on home-bred food, but have Poland for their granary, the British ocean for (their fishpond, High Germany for their wine-cellar, and by •the benefit of their harbours unlock the storehouses of all 2 Sam. xxiv. 9. 2 1 Chron. xxi. 6. 32 THE HISTORY OF other countries. It fared not thus with the Jews, whose own country fed them all. And yet the seeming impos- sibility of so many kept in so small a land will be abated if we consider these particulars : — 1. People in those hot countries had not so hot appetites for the quantity of the meat eaten, nor gluttonous palates for the variety of it. 2. The country rising and falling into hills and vales, gained many acres of ground, whereof no notice is taken in a map, for therein all things presented are conceived to be in piano : and so the land was far roomier than the scale of miles doth make it. 3. They had pasturage to feed their cattle in, in out- countries beyond Palestine. Thus the tribe of Reuben3 grazed their cattle eastward, even to the river Euphrates. 4. Lastly, the soil was transcendently fruitful, as ap- peareth by that great bunch of grapes4 carried by two men. For though many a man hath not been able to bear wine, it is much that one should be laden with one cluster of grapes. If any object against the fruitfulness of this country, that there were many wildernesses therein, as those of Maon, Ziph, Carrael, Gibeon, Judah, and these must needs cut large thongs out of so narrow a hide : it is answered, that these wildernesses took up no great space, as probably being no bigger than our least forests in England. As for the greater deserts, we must not conceive them to lie wholly waste, but that they were but thinly inhabited ; for we find six cities, with their villages, in the wilderness of Judah5. Principal commodities of this country were, 1 . Balm, which wholly failed 6 not long after our Saviour's passion ; whether because the type was to cease when the truth was come, or because that land was unworthy to have so sovereign bodily physic grow in her, where the Physician of the soul was put to death. 2. Honey, and that either distilled by bees, those little chymists (and the pasture they fed on was never a whit the barer for their biting), or else rained down from heaven, as that which Jonathan tasted 7, when his sweet meat had like to have had sour sauce, and to have cost him his life. Besides these, milk, oil, nuts, almouds, dates, figs, olives 3 1 Chron. v. 9, 10. * Num. xiii. 23. 5 Joshua, xv. 61 6 Munster, in Terra sancta, p. 1017, et in y£gypt. p. 1135. 7 1 Sam.xiv. 27. THE HOLY WAR. 33 so that we may boldly say, no country had better sauce and better meat, having fowl, fish in sea, lakes, and rivers; flesh of sheep, goats, bucks, and kine. Mines of gold and silver, with pearls and precious stones, Judea rather had not than wanted; either because God would not have his people proud or covetous, or because these are not essential to man's life, or because nature bestovveth these commodities in recompense on barren countries. Horses they had none, but what they bought out of Egypt for service, using asses for burden, oxen for drawing, and mules for travel. And for many hundred years they used no horses in battle, till David took some from Hada- dezer8. The greatest inconvenience of the land was that it had wild beasts ; and their sheep were not securely folded like ours in England, which stand more in danger of men than wolves. The chief river of the country was Jordan, over which the Israelites passed on foot; afterwards Elijah made a bridge over it with his cloak, and our Saviour washed the water hereof, by being baptized in it. This ariseth from the springs of Jor and Dan ; whence, running south, he enlargeth himself, first into the waters of Merom, then into the lake of Genesareth or Tiberias ; and hence, recovering his stream, as if sensible of his sad fate, and desirous to defer what he cannot avoid, he fetcheth many turnings and windings, but all will not excuse him from falling into the Dead Sea. Authors are very fruitful on the barrenness of this sea (where Sodom once stood), writing how on the banks thereof grow those hypocrite apples and well com- plexioned dust (the true emblems of the false pleasures of this world) which touched fall to ashes. CHA.P. XIX. — Galilee described. PALESTINE contained four provinces : Galilee, on the north; Trachonitis, beyond Jordan, on the east; Judea, on the south; and Samaria, in the middle. Galilee was divided into the upper and lower. The upper (called also Galilee of the Gentiles, because it bordered on them) comprehended the tribes of Asher and Naphtali. . Asher entertaineth us with these observables : — 1. Mis- rephothmajim *, the Nantwich of Palestine, where salt was boiled. 2. Sarepta, where Elijah multiplied the widow!s 8 V Sana, viii. 4, ' Josh. xi. 8. 34 THE HISTORY OF oil. 3. Tyre, anciently the royal exchange of the world; but of this (as of Sidon and Ptolemais) largely hereafter. 4. Ephek, whose walls falling down gave both the death and gravestones to twenty-seven thousand of Benhadad's soldiers. 5. Cana the Great, whereof was that woman whose daughter Christ dispossessed of a devil. 6. Belus, a rivulet famous for its glassy sand. 7. Mount Libanus, whether so called (as our Albion) from his snowy top, or from frankincense growing thereon. Naphtali with these: — 1. Abel-beth-maacha. In this borough Sheba, that vermin, earthed himself, till a woman's wisdom threw his head over the walls : and pity it was those walls should have stood, if they had been too high to throw a traitor's head over them. 2. Harosheth, the city of Sisera, who, for all his commanding of nine hundred iron chariots, was slain with one iron nail. 3. Capernaum, where Christ healed the centurion's servant, and not far off fed an army, of guests with five loaves and two fishes ; so that if we con- sider what they ate, we may wonder that they left any thing ; if what they left, that they ate any thing. 4. Kedesh, a city of refuge, whither they were to fly that killed men unawares. As for those who formerly privileged sanctu- aries in England, where the worst traitors and wilfulest murderers were secure from punishment, they rather pro- pounded Romulus than Moses for their president. 5. Rib- lah, where King Zedekiah (more unhappy that he saw so long, than that he was blind so soon) had his eyes put out, after he had beheld the slaughter of his sons. 6. Cesarea- Philippi, the chief city of Decapolis, which was a small territory on both sides of Jordan, so called of ten cities it contained ; though authors wonderfully differ in reckoning up. 7. Christ's mount, so named because it was his pulpit, as the whole law was his text, when he made that famous sermon on the mount. This Sun of Righteousness, which had all Palestine for his zodiac, the twelve tribes for his signs, stayed longest here and in Zebulun ; and, as St. Hie- rome observeth1, as these two tribes were first carried into captivity, so redemption was first preached in these coun- tries. Lower Galilee consisted of Zebulun and Issachar. Zebu- lun presenteth us with Nain, where our Saviour raised the widow's son, so that she was twice a mother, yet had but one child. 2. Cana the Less, where he showed the virginity 2 In 4 Mat. THE HOLY WAR. 35 of his miracles at a marriage, turning water into wine. 3. Bethulia, where Judith struck off Holofernes's head, though some since have struck off that story, not only from canonical scripture, but from truth. 4. Bethsaida, up- braided by Christ, famous for her great means, great ingra- titude, great punishment. 5. Nazareth, where our Saviour had his conception and education. 6. Tiberias, so called by Herod the tetrarch, in the honour of Tiberius. 7. Mount Carmel, the Jewish Parnassus, where the prophets were so conversant 8. Tabor, where our Saviour was transfigured, the earnest of his future glory. 9. The river Kishon, God's besom to sweep away Sisera's great army. In Issachar we find Tarichea, taken with great difficulty by Vespasian. 2. Shunem, where Elisha was so often entertained by an honourable woman. And, as if this land had been thirsty of blood, here in this tribe were fought the battles of Gideon against the Midianites, Jehu against Jehoram, Saul against the Philistines upon Mount Gilboa. David therefore cursed that mountain, that neither dew nor rain should fall on it. But of late, some English travellers climbing this mountain were well wetted, David not cursing it by a prophetical spirit, but in a poetical rapture. CHAP. XX. — The Description of Samaria. SAMARIA contained half Manasses on this side Jordan, and the tribe of Ephraim. In the former we met with Bethshean, on the walls whereof the Philistines hanged Saul's body. 2. Tirzah, where Zimri (whose only goodness was, that he reigned but seven days) burned himself and the king's palace. 3. Thebez, where Abimelech, prodigal of his life, but niggardly of his reputation, not so pained with his death, as angry with his killer (because a woman), would needs be killed again by his armour-bearer. 4. Me- giddo, where Josiah, that bright sun, set in a cloud, engaging himself in a needless quarrel, wherein he was slain. 5. Cesarea-Stratonis, where Herod was eaten up with worms. 6. Jezreel, a royal city of the kings of Israel, nigh which lay the vineyard, or rather blood-yard, of Naboth. Ephraim was adorned with Samaria, the chief city of Israel, which at this day showeth more ruins than Jerusa- lem. 2. Shiloh, where the ark was long leiger; and where Eli, heart-broken with bad news, brake his neck with a fall. 3. Sichem, where Dinah bought the satisfying of her curiosity with the loss of her chastity. And, as if the ground here were stained with perfidiousness, here Simeon 26 THE HISTOE Y OF and Levi killed the Sichemites, Joseph was sold by hii brethren, Abimelech usurped the government, the ten tribe; revolted from Rehoboam. 4. Mount Ephraim, a ridge o hills crossing this country. 5. Gerizzim and Ebal, tw< mountains : the blessings were pronounced on the one, ane the curses on the other. CHAP. XXI. — Judea surveyed. JUDEA comprised the tribes of Benjamin, Dan, Simeon and Judah. Benjamin flourished with Gilgal, when Joshua circumcised the Israelites. They hitherto had beei fellow-commoners with the angels, feeding on manna, whicl here ceased ; God withdrawing miracles where he afford e< means. 2. Gibeon, whose inhabitants cozened Joshua wit] a pass of false-dated antiquity : who would have though that clouted shoes could have covered so much subtilty Here Joshua sent his mandate to the sun to stand still, am to wait on him whilst he conquered his enemies. 3. Not where Doeg, more cruel than the king's cattle he kepi slew eighty-five priests, as innocent as their ephods wer white. 4. Jericho, whose walls were battered down wit the sound of rams' horns. 5. Bethel, where God appearei to Jacob. 6. Ai, where the Israelites were slain for th sacrilege of Achan. Dan had these memorables : — 1. Joppa, a safe harboui where Jonah fled from God's service. 2. Ashdod, c Azotus, where Dagon did twice homage to the ark, nc only falling bare, but putting off his head and hands, i Gath, a seminary of giants, where Goliath was born. < Ekron, where Beelzebub, the God of flies, had a nest c temple. 5. Timnath, where Judah committed incest wit Tamar, but betrayed himself by his own tokens, and be: himself with his own staff. Hence Samson fetched his wif whose epithalamium proved the dirge to so many Philistine 6. Modin, where the Maccabees were buried. 7. Sore the chief, if not only rivulet of this tribe. Entering on the south coasts of Simeon, we light Askelon, where Herod was born. 2. Gaza, chief of tl five satrapies of the Philistines, the gates whereof Sams< carried away ; and hither being sent for to make sport in tl house of Dagon, acted such a tragedy that plucked dov the stage, slew himself and all the spectators. 3. Mo inland, Ziklag, assigned by Achish to David. 4. Bf( sheba and Gerar, where Abraham and Isaac lived me constantly, near unto the brook of Besor. THE HOLY WAR. 37 The tribe of Judah was the greatest of all, so that Simeon and Dan did feed on the reversion thereof, and received those cities which originally belonged to this royal tribe. Memorable herein were, 1. Hebron, the land whereof was given to Caleb, because he and Joshua consented not to the false verdict which the jury of spies brought in against the Jand of Canaan. 2. Nigh, in the cave of Machpelah, the patriarchs were buried ; whose bodies took livery and seizin in behalf of their posterity, which were to possess the whole land. 3. Kirjath-sepher or Debir, an ancient univer- sity of the Canaanites : for though. Parnassus was only in Greece, yet the Muses were not confined to that country. 4. Tekoa, where -Amos was born, fetched from the herds- men to feed God's sheep; and to dress his vine, from gathering wild figs. 5. Zoar, Lot's refuge, near to which his wife, for one farewell glance at Sodom, was turned into a pillar of salt, to season us to measure a sin by the infinite- ness of God who forbiddeth it. Adjoining is Lot's cave, where he, affecting solitariness, had too much company of his own daughters. 6. Carmel, where Nabal lived, as rich as foolish ; but those grains of wisdom which were wanting in him were found overweight in his wife. Here Uzziah pastured his cattle, a king, yet delighted in husbandry ; as thrift is the fuel of magnificence. 7. Bethlehem, where our Saviour was born. 8. Jerusalem, whereof afterwards. CHAP. XXII.— Of Trachonitis. WE want one adequate word of a country to express the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasses beyond Jordan. Trachonitis cometh the nearest, so called because it riseth up in sharp hills, which are known to Ptolemy by the name of Hippus ; to Strabo, of Trachones ; but in Scripture, of Mount Hermon, or Gilead. Reuben, though disinherited of the birthright, had this honour of an elder brother, that he was first provided for. ;His chief places, Heshbon and Medeba, and Macherus, the strongest inland city in that part of the world. Mount Abarim, a chain of hills, the highest whereof was Nebo ; the top cliff of Nebo, Pisgah, whence Moses viewed the land : hereabouts the angel buried him, and also buried his grave, lest it should occasion idolatry. The river Arnon parteth this tribe from Moab. In Gad, we find Peniel, where Jacob wrestled with God, lost a sinew, but got a blessing : Jabesh-gilead, where Saul was buried : Ramoth-gilead, where Ahab was slain : Roge- 38 THE HISTORY OF lim, the manor of Barzillai, superannuated to be a courtier : Mahanaim, where the angels appeared to Jacob : the forest of Ephraim, where that execution was done by Jephthah on the Ephraimites, for not pronouncing that heavy aspira- tion in Shibboleth : the river Jabbok. In Manasses, Edrei, the city of Og, on whose giant-like proportion the rabbins have more giant-like lies : Gadara, whose inhabitants loved their swine better than their Saviour. They that desire to be further informed of Canaan, let them spare pains to strike fire, and light their candle at Sir Walter Raleigh's torch. CHAP. XXIII.— The Description of the City of Jerusalem; the Observables within and about her. TERUSALEM, by the often change of her fortunes, hath «J somewhat altered her situation, having hitched herself, more north-westward. For the mountain of Calvary, which formerly she shut out of her gates, as the infamous place of execution, she now embraceth within her walls as her most venerable monument. On the south of Jerusalem (once part of her, now ex- cluded) lieth Mount Sion, famous anciently for the palace of David : on the east, Mount Olivet, parted with the vale of Jehoshaphat; which (some will have) shall be the hall for the great assizes of the world at the day of judgment, whilst others more modestly conceive that the place as well as the time is concealed. On the west, the hill of Gihon : and on the north, it is indifferent plain. The monuments which are still extant, to be seen without or within the city, are reducible to one of these three ranks: — 1. Certainly true; as the mountains compassing it, which are standards too great and too heavy for either time or war to remove ; and such also are some eminent particu- lars of some places, which constant tradition, without rup- ture, hath entailed on posterity. 2. Of a mixed nature; where the text is true, but superstition and fancy have commented on it. 3. Stark lies, without a rag of proba- bility to hide their shame ; where the believer is as foolish as the inventor impudent. We will bundle them together, and let the reader sort them at his discretion : for it is as hard to fit the throats as to please the palates of men ; and that will choke one man's belief which another will swallow as easily credible. Neither let any censure this discourse as a parenthesis to this history, seeing that to see these THE HOLY WAR. 39 relics was one principal motive with many to undertake this pilgrimage. To begin without the city, on the south, there remain the ruins of David's palace, too near to which was Uriah's house ; and the fountain * is still showed where Bathsheba's washing of her body occasioned the fouling of her soul. Next, David's tomb is to be seen, wherein he was buried : his monument was enriched with a mass of treasure, saith Josephus; out of which Hircanus, eight hundred and fifty years after, took three thousand talents. But surely David, who despised riches in his life, was not covetous after his death : and I am sure they are his own words, that Man shall carry nothing away with him, neither shall his great pomp follow him 2>. Thirdly, Aceldama, that burying-place for strangers ; and the grave, that every where hath a good stomach, hath here a boulimia, or greedy worm, for it will devour the flesh of a corpse in forty-eight hours. Fourthly, Absalom's pillar, which he built to continue his memory, though he might have saved that cost, having eternized his infamy by his unnatural rebellion. Fifthly, the houses of Annas and Caiaphas, to pass by others of inferior note. On the east, first, Mount Olivet, from whence our Saviour took his rise into heaven. The chapel of Ascension, of an eight-square round, mounted on three degrees, still chal- lengeth great reverence ; and there the footsteps of our Saviour are still to be seen, which cannot be covered over. Secondly, the fig-tree which Christ cursed ; for he who spake many, here wrought a parable; this whole tree being but the bark, and Christ under it cursing the fruitless profession of the Jews. Thirdly, the place where St. Stephen was stoned ; and the stones thereabouts are overgrown with a red rust, which is (forsooth) the very blood of that holy martyr. Fourthly, the place where Judas surprised our Saviour, and he fell down on a stone, in which the print of his elbows and feet are still to be seen. Fifthly, the sepulchre of the blessed Virgin ; whose body, after it had been three days buried, was carried up by the angels into heaven ; and she let fall her girdle to St. Thomas3, that his weak faith might be swaddled therewith; otherwise he who in the point of Christ's resurrection would have no creed, except he made his own articles, and put his finger into his side, would no doubt hardly have believed the Virgin's assump- 1 Morison's Trav. part 1, p. 226. a Psalm xlix. 17. 3 Sandys, p. 190. 40 THE HISTOR Y OF tion. With this legend we may couple another, which, though distant in place, will be believed both together: they show at Bethlehem4" a little hole over the place where our Saviour was born, through which the star which con- ducted the wise men fell down to the ground. But who will not conclude but there was a vertigo in his head, who first made a star subject to the falling sickness ? Sixthly, the vale of Hinnom or Tophet, in which wise Solomon, befooled by his wives, built a temple to Moloch. Seventhly, Cedron, a brook so often mentioned in Scripture. The west and north sides of Jerusalem were not so happily planted with sacred monuments; and we find none thereon which grew to any eminency. We will now lead the reader into Jerusalem ; where, first, on Mount Moriah (the place where Isaac was offered, though not sacrificed), stood Solomon's temple, destroyed by the Chaldeans, rebuilt by Zorobabel ; afterward Herod, reedified it so stately (saith Josephus) that it exceeded Solomon's temple ; if his words exceed not the truth. But no wonder if he that never saw the sun, dare say that the moon is the most glorious light in the heavens. Secondly, Solomon's palace, which was thirteen years in building5, whereas the temple was finished in seven6: not that he bestowed more cost and pains (because more time) on his own than on God's house ; but rather he plied God's work more thoroughly, and entertained then more builders; so that, contrary to the proverb, church work went on the most speedily. Thirdly, the house of the forest of Lebanon, which was (as appeareth by cprnparing the text) forty cubits longer, and thirty cubits broader than the temple itself. But no doubt the Holy Spirit, speaking of holy buildings, meaneth the great cubit of the sanctuary; but in other houses, the ordinary or common cubit. It was called the house of Lebanon, because hard by it Solomon planted a grove7, the abridgment of the great forest; so that the pleasures of spacious Lebanon were here written in a less character. Fourthly, Pilate's palace, and the common hall, where the Judge of the world was condemned to death. Fifthly, the pool of Bethesda, the waters whereof, troubled by the angel, were a punpharmacon to him that 4 Bidulph's Trav. p. 130, and Morison's, part 1, p. 227. 5 1 Kings, vii. 1. 6 1 Kings, vi. 38. Vide Tremel. in locum. " Adricom. ex Hieron. p. 153. THE HOLY WAR. 41 first got into them. Here was a spital built with five porches, the mercy of God being seconded by the charity of man ; God gave the cure, men built the harbour for impo- tent persons. Sixthly, the house of Dives, the rich glutton : and therefore (saith Adricomius8) it was no parable: but may we not retort his words ? It was a parable, and there- fore this is none of Dives's house. Sure I am, Theophy- lact is against the literal sense thereof, and saith, they think foolishly that think otherwise9. But my discourse hasteth to Mount Calvary, which at this day hath almost engrossed all reverence to itself. It is called Calvary, Golgotha, or the place of a scull, either because the hill is rolled and rounded up in the fashion of a man's head10 (as Pen11 in the British tongue signifieth both a head and a copped hill), or because here the bodies of such as were executed were cast. As for that conceit, that Adam's scull should here be found, it is confuted by St. Hierome, who will have him buried at Hebron. Neither is it likely, if the Jews had a tradition that the father of man- kind had here been interred, that they would have made his sepulchre their Tyburn, where malefactors were put to death, and the charnel-house where their bones were scat- tered. Over our Saviour's grave stood a stately church, built, say some, by Helen, say others, by Constantine; but we will not set mother and son at variance; it might be she built it at his cost. In this church are many monuments, as the pillar whereunto Christ was bound when scourged, wherein red spots of dusky-veined marble usurped the honour to be counted Christ's blood". Secondly, a great cleft in the rock, which was rent in sunder at the passion, whereby the bad thief was divided from Christ (the sign of his spiritual separation), and they say it reacheth to the centre of the earth : a thing hard to confute. Thirdly, cer- tain pillars, which, being in a. dark place under ground, are said miraculously to weep for our Saviour's sufferings. But I refer those who desire the criticisms of those places, without going thither, to read our English travellers ; for in this case, as good wares and far cheaper pennyworths are bought at the second hand. To conclude our description of Palestine, let none con- 8 Theatr. Terr. Sanct. 153. 9 ai/OTjrwe, Comment, in 16 Luc. 10 Illyricus, in 27 Matth. 11 Camden's Brit, in Buckinghamshire. 12 Bridenb. De Domin. Sepulchro. 42 THE HISTORY OF ceive that God forgot the Levites in division of the land because they had no entire country allotted unto them Their portion was as large as any, though paid in severa sums ; they had forty-eight cities, with their suburbs, tithes first-fruits, free-offerings; being better provided for thar many English ministers, who may preach of hospitality tc their people, but cannot go to the cost to practise their owr doctrine. A TABLE SHOWING THE VARIETY OF PLACES* NAMES IN PALESTINE. In the Old Testa- At Christ's In St. Hie- At this ment, time. rome's time. day. 1. Azzah. Gaza. Constantia. Gazra'3. 2. Japho. Joppa. Jaffa1*. 3. Ramah. Arimathea. Ramma15. 4. Shechem. Sychar. Neapolis. Pelosa16. 5. 6. Capharsala- Lydda. Diospolis. ma. Antipatris. Assur17. 7. Zarephath. Sarepta. Saphet18. 8. Emmaus. Nicopolis. 9. Bethsan. Scythopolis. 10. Tzor. Tyrus. Sur'9. /Laish. 11 /Dan J Cesarea-Philip- 1 1 ,\ .LJalJ • \ • -r\ ~r* i- *»/> ) I pi. Paneas. Belma20. (Leshem. 12. Jerusalem. Hierosolyma. ^.lia. Cuds". 13. Samaria. Samaria. Sebaste. 14. Cinnereth". Tiberias. Saffet*3. 15. Accho. Ptolemais. Acre. 16. Gath. Dio-Cesarea. Ybilin2-*. 17. Dammesek. Damascus. Sham2'5. 18. Arnon. Areopolis. Petra16. 19. Rabbah. Philadelphia. 20. Waters of Semochonite Merom. lake. Houle2-7. 13 Sandys, p. 149. u Adricom. p. 23. 15 Morison, p. 216. 16 Raleigh, p. 311. 17 Adricom. p. 70. 1S Raleigh, p. 283. 19 Sandys, p. 216. 20 Raleigh, p. 291. 21 Sandys, p. 155. 22 Adricom. p. 143. 23 Sandys, p. 212. ^ Adricom. p. 22. 25 Bidulph, p. 94. 26 Adricom. p. 32. 27 Sandys, p. 212. A. D. 1099. THE HOLY WAR. 43 CHAP. XXIV. — The Siege and Taking of Jerusalem. BY this time cold weather (the best besom to sweep the chambers of the air) had well cleared the Christians' camp from infection : and now their devotion moved the swifter, being come near to the centre thereof, the city of Jerusalem. Forward they set, and take the city of Marrha [Dec. 11, 1098], and employ themselves in securing the country about them, that so they might clear the way as they went [1099]. Neither did the discords betwixt Rei- mund and Boemund much delay their proceedings, being in some measure seasonably compounded ; as was also the sea battle betwixt the Pisans and Venetians. For the Vene- tians seeing on the Pisans the cognizance of the cross1, the uncounterfeited passport that they wear for the holy war, suffered them safely to go on, though otherwise they were their deadly enemies ; yea, and set five thousand of them at liberty, whom they had taken captive. The pilgrims kept their Easter at Tripolie [April 10], Whitsuntide by Cesarea-Statonis [May 29], taking many places in their passage ; and at last came to Jerusalem. Discovering the city afar off, it was a pretty sight to behold the harmony in the difference of expressing their joy; how they clothed the same passion with diverse gestures ; some prostrate, some kneeling, some weeping; all had much ado to manage so great a gladness. Then began they the siege of the city on the north [June 6] (being scarce assault- able on any other side, by reason of steep and broken rocks), and continued it with great valour. On the fourth day after [June 10], they had taken it but for want of scaling-ladders. But a far greater want was the defect of water, the springs being either stopped up or poisoned by the Turks ; so that they fetched water five miles off2'. As for the brook Cedron, it was dried up, as having no sub- sistence of itself, but merely depending on the benevo- lence of winter waters, which Mount Olivet bestoweth upon it. Admiral Coligni was wont to say, He that will well paint the beast war, must first begin to shape the belly ; meaning that a good general must first provide victuals for an army : yea, let him remember the bladder in the beast's belly, as well as the guts, and take order for moisture more especially than for meat itself; thirst, in northern bodies, being more insupportable than famine : quickly will their 1 Sabellicus, Enn. 9, lib. 3, p. 3o7. 2 ^milius, p. 135. 44 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1099! courage be cooled, who have no moisture to cool their hearts. As for the Christians' want of ladders, that was quickly supplied ; for the Genoans arriving with a fleet in Palestine, brought most curious engineers, who framed a wooden tower, and all other artificial instruments. For we must not think that the world was at a loss for war tools before the brood of guns was hatched : it had the battering- ram3, first found out by Epeus, at the taking of Troy; the balista, to discharge great stones, invented by the Pheni- cians ; the catapulta, being a sling of mighty strength, whereof the Syrians were authors; and perchance King Uzziah first made it4 ; for we find him very dexterous and happy in devising such things. And although these bear- whelps were but rude and unshaped at the first, yet art did lick them afterwards, and they got more teeth and sharper- nails by degrees ; so that every age set them forth in a new edition, corrected and amended. But these and many more voluminous engines (for the ram alone had a hundred men to manage it) are now virtually epitomized in the cannon. And though some may say, that the finding of guns hath been the losing of many men's lives, yet it will appear that battles now are fought with more expedition, and victory standeth not so long a neuter, before she express herself on one side or other. But these guns have shot my discourse from the siege of Jerusalem. To return thither again. By this time, in the space of a month5 [July 11 J, the Genoans had finished their engines which they built seven miles off6 ; for nearer there grew no stick of bigness. I will not say, that since our Saviour was hanged on a tree, the land about that city hath been cursed with a barrenness of wood. And now, for a preparative, that their courage might work the better, they began with a fast and a solemn procession about Mount Olivet [July 12]. Next day they gave a fierce assault [July 1 3] ; yea, women played the men7, and fought most valiantly in armour. But they within being forty thousand strong, well victualled and appointed, made stout resistance, till the night (accounted but a foe for her friendship) umpired betwixt them, and abruptly put an end to their fight in the midst of their courage. 3 Plin. ]Vat. Hist. lib. 7, cap. 56. 4 2 Cbron. xxvi. 15. 5 M. Paris, p. 63. 6 P. .tmilius, p. 135 ; and Tyrius, lib. 8, cap. 6. 7 Tyrius, lib. 8, cap. 13. ..D. 1099 THE HOLY WAR. 45 When the first light brought news of a morning, they on fresh; the rather, because they had intercepted a letter8 bed to the legs of a dove (it being the fashion of that ountry both to write and send their letters with the win^s f a fowl 9), wherein the Persian emperor promised present uccours to the besieged. The Turks cased the outside of heir walls with bags of chaff, straw, and such like pliable matter, which conquered the engines of the Christians by ielding unto them. As for one sturdy engine whose force -ould not be tamed, they brought two old witches on the walls to enchant it10; but the spirit thereof was too strong or their spells, so that both of them were miserably slain n the place. The day following [July 15], Duke Godfrey11 fired much combustible matter, the smoke whereof (the light ause of a heavy effect), driven with the wind, blinded the 'urks' eyes ; and under the protection thereof the Christians ntered the city, Godfrey himself first footing the walls, and hen his brother Eustace. The Turks retired to Solomon's emple (so called because built in the same place), there to ake the farewell of their lives. In a desperate conflict there, he foremost of the Christians were miserably slain, thrust upon he weapons of their enemies by their fellows that followed hem. The pavement so swam, that none could go but either through a rivulet of blood, or over a bridge of dead >odies. Valour was not wanting in the Turks, but super- atively abundant in the Christians, till night made them eave off. Next morning mercy was proclaimed to all those hat would lay down their weapons ; for though blood be he best sauce for victory, yet must it not be more than the meat. Thus was Jerusalem won by the Christians, and wenty thousand Turks therein slain12, on the 15th of July, being Friday, about three of the clock in the afternoon. Tyrius * 3 fmdeth a great mystery in the time, because Adam was created on a Friday, and on the same day and hour our Saviour suffered. But these synchronisms, as when they are natural they are pretty and pleasing, so when violently wrested, nothing more poor and ridiculous. Then many Christians [July 18], who all this while had ived in Jerusalem in most lamentable slavery, being glad 8 P. ^Emilius, p. 136. p The manner set down at large, Bidulph's Trav. p. 43. lu Tyrins, lib. 8, cap. 15. n Idem, lib. 8, cap. 18. la AI. Paris, p. 65. 13 Lib. 8, c. 18. 46 THE HOLY WAR. to lurk in secret (as truth oftentimes seeketh corners, as fearing her judge, though never as suspecting her cause) came forth joyfully, welcomed and embraced these the pro- curers of their liberty. Three days after it was concluded, as a necessary piece of severity for their defence14, to put all the Turks in Jeru- salem to death ; which was accordingly performed without favour to age or sex. The pretence was for fear of treason in them, if the emperor of Persia should besiege the city. And some slew them with the same zeal wherewith Saul slew the Gibeonites, and thought it unfit that these goats should live in the sheep's pasture. But noble Tancred was highly displeased hereat, because done in cold blood, it being no slip of an extemporary passion, but a studied and premeditated act; and that against pardon proclaimed, many of them having compounded and paid for their lives and liberty. Besides, the execution was merciless, upon sucking children, whose not speaking spake for them ; and on women, whose weakness is a shield to defend them against a valiant man. To conclude : severity hot in the fourth degree, is little better than poison, and becometh cruelty itself; and this act seemeth to be of the same nature. 14 Besoldus, De Regibus Hierosol. ex variis auctoribus, p. 119. BOOK II. 'HAP. I. — Robert the Norman refuseth the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Godfrey of Bouillon chosen King. His Parentage, Education, and Virtues. EIGHT days after Jerusalem was won, they proceeded to the election of a king [July 23, 1099]; but they lad so much choice that they had no choice at all ; so many princes there were, and so equally eminent, that ustice herself must suspend her verdict, not knowing /hich of them best deserved the crown. Yet it was their Measure to pitch on Robert the Norman as on the man of n'ghest descent, being son to a king; for great Hugh of France was already returned home, pretending the colic ; hough some impute it to cowardliness, and make the dis- ase not in his bowels, but his heart. Robert refused this honourable proffer1 ; whether because had an eye to the kingdom of England now void by the death of William Rufus, or because he accounted Jeru- salem would be incumbered with continual war. But he who would not take the crown with the cross, was fain to ake the cross without the crown, and never thrived after- wards in any thing he undertook *. Thus they who refuse irhat God fairly carveth for them, do never after cut well or themselves. He lived to see much misery, and felt more, having his eyes put out by King Henry's brother ; and at last found rest (when buried) in the new cathedral church of Gloucester, under a wooden monument3, bearing setter proportion to his low fortunes than high birth. And since, in the same choir, he hath got the company of another prince as unfortunate as himself, King Edward the Second. They go on to a second choice ; and that they may know the natures of the princes the better, their servants were examined on oath to confess their masters' faults. The servants of Godfrey of Bouillon protested their master's only fault was this4, that when matins were done he would stay so long in the church, to know of the priest the mean- 1 P. ^mylius, p. 137. 2 Henry Hunting, lib. 7, p. 377. 3 Camden, Brit. p. 255. 4 Tyrius, lib. 9, cap. 12. 48 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1099 ing of every image and picture, that dinner at home was spoiled by his long tarrying. All admired hereat, that this man's worst vice should be so great a virtue, and unani- mously chose him their king. He accepted the place, but refused the solemnity thereof, and would not wear a crown of gold there, where the Saviour of mankind had worn a crown of thorns. He was son to Eustace, duke of Bouillon, and Ida his wife, daughter and heir to Godfrey, duke of Lorraine ; born, saith Tyrius5, at Boulogne, a town in Champagne, on the English sea, which he mistaketh for Bouillon, up higher in the continent, near the country of Luxembourg. Such slips are incident to the pens of the best authors ; yea, we may see Canterbury mistaken for Cambridge, not only in Mun- ster6, but even in all our own printed statute-books in the twelfth of Richard the Second7. He was brought up in that school of valour, the court of Henry the Fourth the emperor. Whilst he lived there, there happened an intri- cate suit betwixt him and another prince about title of land j and because judges could not untie the knot, it was con- cluded the two princes should cut it asunder with theii sword in a combat. Godfrey was very unwilling to fight8, not that he was the worse soldier, but the better Christian ; he made the demur not in his courage, but in his conscience ; as conceiving any private title for land not ground enough for a duel: yea, we may observe generally, that they who long most to fight duels are the first that surfeit of them. Notwithstanding, he yielded to the tyranny of custom, and after the fashion of the country entered the lists ; when, at the first encounter, his sword brake, but he struck his adversary down with the hilt, yet so that he saved his life, and gained his own inheritance. Another parallel act ol his valour was when being standard-bearer to the emperor, he with the imperial ensign killed Rodulphus, the duke oi Saxony, in single fight, and fed the eagle on the bowels ol that arch-rebel. His soul was enriched with many virtues, but the most orient of all was his humility, which took all men's affections without resistance ; and though one saith. take away ambition, and you take away the spurs of a sol- dier ; yet Godfrey, without those spurs, rode on most tri- umphantly. 5 Lib. 9, cap, 5. 6 Lib. 2, Cosmog. p. 50. 7 As Caius proveth it plainly out of \\alsingham. 8 Quantum potuit renitebalur, Tyrius, lib. 9, cap. 7. A. D. 1099 THE HOLY WAR. 49 !HAP. II. — The establishing of ecclesiastical Affairs, and Patriarchs in Antioch and Jerusalem. The Numerosity of Palestine Bishops. BUT now let us leave the helmets, and look on the mitres, and consider the ordering of ecclesiastical affairs. For the commonwealth is a ring, the church the diamond ; both well set together, receive, and return lustre each on other. As soon as Antioch was taken, one Bernard reverend prelate) was made patriarch there with general consent. But more stir was there about that place in Jeru- salem ; for first Arnulphus, a worthless and vicious man, was by popular faction lifted up into the patriarch's chair1; 3ut with much ado was avoided, and Dabert, archbishop of Pisa, substituted in his room : one very wise and politic, an excellent bookman in reading of men, and otherwise well studied, especially as that age went, wherein a medi- ocrity was an eminency in learning. But he was infected with the humour of the clergy of that age, who counted themselves to want room except they justled with princes. As for Arnulphus, he never ceased to trouble and molest this Dabert ; and as a firebrand smoketh most when out of the chimney, so he after his displacing was most turbulent and unquiet, ever sitting on his skirts that sat in the patri- arch's chair, till after mafcy changes he struggled himself again into the place. Under these patriarchs many archbishops and bishops were appointed, in the very places (as near as might be) where they were before the Saracens overrunning the coun- try, and good maintenance assigned to most of them. But at this time bishops were set too thick for all to grow great, and Palestine fed too many cathedral churches to have them generally fat. Lydda% Jamnia, and Joppa, three episcopal towns, were within four miles one of another. Yea, Tyrius3 makes fourteen bishops under the archbishop of Tyre, twenty under the archbishop of Caesarea, under the archbishop of Scythopolis nine, twelve under the arch- bishop of Kabbah, besides twenty-five suffragan churches, which it seems were immediately depending on the patri- arch of Jerusalem, without subordination to any archbishop. Surely many of these bishops (to use Bishop Langham's 1 Fatuo populo suffragia incousulta ministrante. Tyrius, lib. 9, cap. 4. 8 VideTabulas Adricomii. 3 Lib. 14, cap. 12. E 50 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1099 expression4-) had high racks, but poor mangers. Neither let it stagger the reader if in that catalogue of Tyrius he light on many bishops' seats which are not to be found in Mercator, Ortelius, or any other geographer, for some of them were such poor places that they were ashamed to appear in a map, and fall so much under a geographer's notice that they fall not under it. For in that age bishops had their sees at poor and contemptible villages (as here in England, before the Conquest, who would suspect Sunning in Berkshire, or Dorchester, near Oxford, to have had cathedral churches?) till in the days of William the First bishops removed their seats to the principal towns in the shire5. CHAP. III. — The Saracens conquered at Askelon. MAHOMET'S tomb hung not so strong but now it began to shake, and was likely to fall. These vic- tories of the Christians gave a deadly wound to that religion. Wherefore the Saracens combined themselves with the Turks to assist them, there being betwixt these two nations, I will not say an unity, but a conspiracy in the same super- stition, so that therein they were like a nest of hornets, stir one and anger all. Wherefore coming out of Egypt under Ammiravissus, their general, at Askelon they gave the Christians battle [Aug. 12]. But God sent such a qualm of cowardliness over the hearts of these infidels, that a hundred thousand of them were quickly slain, so that it was rather an execution than a fight ; and their rich tents, which seemed to be the exchequer of the east country, spoiled 6 ; so that the pilgrims knew not how to value the wealth they found in them. This victory obtained, such pilgrims as were disposed to return addressed themselves for their country ; and these merchants for honour went home, having made a gainful adventure. Those that remained were advanced to signories in the land, as Tancred was made governor of Galilee. Nor will it be amiss to insert this story : Peter, bishop of Anagnia, in Italy, was purposed here to lead his life with- out taking care for his charge, when behold St. Magnus7, patron of that church, appeared to him in a vision, pre- tending himself to be a young man who had left his wife at 4 In the Archbishops of Cant. p. 143. 5 Fox, Marfyrolog. p. 173. 6 Tyrius, lib. 9, cap. 12. 7 Baronius out of Brunus in anno 1099. A. D. 1099 THE HOLY WAR. 51 home, and was come to live in Jerusalem. " Fie," said Peter to him, " go home again to your wife ; whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." " Why, then," replied St. Magnus, " have you left your church a widow in Italy, and live here so far from her company ?" This vision, though calculated for this one bishop, did generally serve for all the nonresidents which posted hither, and who paid not the lawful debt to their con- science, whilst by needless bonds they engaged themselves to their own will-worship. For though souls of men be light, because immaterial, yet they may prove a heavy burden to these careless pastors who were to answer for them. After the return of these pilgrims, the heat of the Chris- tians' victories in Syria was somewhat allayed : for Boe- mund 8 prince of Antioch, marching into Mesopotamia, was taken prisoner, and Godfrey besieging the city of Antipatris, then called Assur, though hitherto he had been always a conqueror, was fain to depart with disgrace. So small a remora may stay that ship which saileth with the fairest gale of success. CHAP. IV. — The Original and Increase of the Hospitallers; their degenerating through Wealth into Luxury. \ BOUT this time, under Gerard their first master, began JTjL the order of Knights-hospitallers ' . Indeed more anci- ently there were hospitallers in Jerusalem ; but these were no knights : they had a kind of order, but no honour annexed to it ; but were pure alms-men, whose house was founded, and they maintained, by the charity of the merchants of Amalphia, a city in Italy. But now they had more stately buildings assigned unto them, their house dedicated to St. John of Jerusalem ; Knights-hospitallers and those of St. John of Jerusalem being both the same ; although learned Dr. Ridley * maketh them two distinct orders, for which our great antiquary3 doth justly reprove him. But such an error is venial ; and it is a greater fault rigidly to censure, than to commit a small oversight. The one showeth himself man, in mistaking; the other no man, in not pardoning a light mistake. 8 Tyrius, lib. 9, cap. 20. Idem, lib. 9, cap. 19. 1 Hospinian. De Orig. Mon. p. 165. 2 In his View of Civil Law, p. 159. 3 Mr. Selden, in his preface of Tithes, p. 6. 52 THE HISTORY OF A.D.1099 To make one capable of the highest order of this knight- hood (for their servitors and priests might be of an inferior rank4) the party must thus be qualified: eighteen years old at the least; of an able body ; not descended of Jewish or Turkish parents; no bastard, except bastard to a prince, there being honour in that dishonour, as there is light in the very spots of the moon. Descended he must be of worshipful parentage. They wore a red belt with a white cross ; and on a black cloak the white cross of Jerusalem, which is a cross crossed, or five crosses together, in memory of our Saviour's five wounds. Yet was there some difference betwixt their habit in peace and in war. Their profession was to fight against infidels, and to secure pilgrims coming to the sepulchre ; and they vowed poverty, chastity, and obedience. Reimundus de Podio, their second master, made some additional to their profession, as, They must receive the sacrament thrice a year, hear mass once a day if pos- sible ; they were to be no merchants, no usurers, to fight no private duels, to stand neuters, and to take no side, if the princes in Christendom should fall out5. But it is given to most religious orders, to be clear in the spring, and miry in the stream. These Hospitallers after- wards getting wealth, unlaced themselves from the strictness of their first institution, and grew loose into all licentious- ness. What was their obedience to their master, but rebellion against the patriarch their first patron? as shall be showed hereafter. What was their poverty but a cozenage of the world, whilst their order sued in forma pauperis, and yet had nineteen thousand manors in Christen- dom belonging unto them6? Neither will it be scandaluw magnatum to their lordships, to say what St. Bernard7 speaketh of their chastity, how they lived inter scorta et epulas, betwixt bawds and banquets. And no wonder if their forced virginity was the mother of much uncleanness ; for commonly those who vow not to go the highway of God's ordinance, do haunt base and unwarrantable by-paths. I will not forestall the history, to show how these Hospi- tallers were afterwards knights of Rhodes, and at this day of Malta, but will conclude with the ceremonies used at their creation, because much material stuff no doubt may be picked out of their formalities. 4 Hospinian. De Orig. Mon. p. 165. 5 Hospinian. ut prius. 6 Camd. Brit. p. 311. 7 Cited by Volaterian. A. D. 1099 THE HOLY WAR. 53 There is delivered them, 1. a sword8, in token that they must be valiant ; 2. with a cross hilt, their valour must defend religion; 3. with this sword they are struck three times over the shoulders, to teach them patiently to suffer for Christ; 4. they must wipe the sword, their life must be undented ; 5. gilt spurs are put on them, because they are to scorn wealth at their heels; 6. and then they take a taper in their hands, for they are to lighten others by their exemplary lives ; 7. and so go to hear mass, where we leave them. At the same time knights of the sepulchre were also ordained, which for their original and profession are like to these Knights-hospitallers9. The order continueth to this day. The padre guardian of Jerusalem maketh them of such as have seen the sepulchre ; they should be gentle- men by birth, but the padre carrieth a chancery in his bosom, to mitigate the rigour of this common law, and will admit of him that bringeth fat enough, though no blood ; as of late he made an apothecary of Aleppo of that honour ; so that there the sword of knighthood is denied to none who bring a good sheath with them, and have a purse to pay soundly for it. CHAP. V. — The Scuffling betwixt the King and Patriarch about the City of Jerusalem. The Issue thereof. NOT long after, there was started a controversy of great consequence betwixt the king and patriarch ; the patriarch claiming the cities of Jerusalem and Joppa, with the appurtenances ; the king refusing to surrender them. The patriarch pleaded, that these places anciently be- longed to his predecessors. He set before the king the heinousness of sacrilege, how great a sin it was when princes, who should be nursing fathers and suckle the church, shall suck from it; and showed how the common- wealth may grow fat, but never healthful, by feeding on the church's goods. On the other side the king alleged, that the Christian princes had now purchased Jerusalem with their blood, and bestowed it on him; that the patriarch's overgrown title was drowned in this late conquest, from which, as from a new foundation, all must build their claims who challenge any right to any part in that city. Secondly, he pleaded, it was unreasonable that the king of Jerusalem 8 Sand. Trav. p. 229. 9 Idem, p. 159. 54 THE HISTORY OF A.D.1099 should have nothing in Jerusalem (as at this day the Roman emperor is a very cipher, without power or profit in Rome) and should live rather as a sojourner than a prince in his royal city, confined to an airy title, whilst the patriarch should have all the command. To this the patriarch answered, that the Christians' new conquest could not cancel his ancient right, which was enjoyed even under the Saracens; that this voyage was principally undertaken for advancing the church, and not to restore her only to her liberty, and withhold from her her lands, so that in this respect she should find better usage from her foes than from her children. If we mistake not, the chief pinch of the cause lieth on the patriarch's proof, that the lands he demanded formerly belonged to his predecessors ; and we find him to fail in the main issue of the matter. True it was, that for the last thirty years, the patriarchs, on condition they should repair and fortify the walls of Jerusalem, were possessed of a fourth part of the city, even by grant from Bomensor the emperor of the Saracens, in the year of our Lord 1063. But that ever he had the whole city, either by this or by any previous grant, it appeareth not in Tyrius, who saith moreover1, We wonder for what reason the lord patriarch should raise this controversy against Duke Godfrey. Let me add, that this our author is above exception ; for being both a politic statesman and pious prelate, no doubt his pen striketh the true and even stroke betwixt king and patriarch. Besides, he might well see the truth of this matter, writing in a well proportioned distance of time from it. Those who live too near the stories they write, oftentimes willingly mistake through partiality; and those who live too far off, are mistaken by uncertainties, the foot- steps of truth being almost worn out with time. But to return to Godfrey, who though unwilling at first, yet afterwards not only on Candlemas day restored to the patriarch the fourth part of the city, but also on the Easter following gave him all Jerusalem, Joppa, and whatsoever he demanded ; conditionally that the king should hold it of the patriarch till such time as he could conquer Babylon, or some other royal city fit for him to keep his court in. If in the mean time Godfrey died without issue, the patri- arch was to have it presently delivered unto him. We will be more charitable than those, that say that the 1 Lib. 9, cap. 16. A.D. 1099 THE HOLY WAR. .55 patriarch herein did bewitch and bemad Godfrey to make this large donation to him, by torturing his conscience at the confession of his sins2. Only we may question the discretion of this prince in giving a gift of so large a size ; for Charity's eyes must be open as well as her hands; though she giveth away her branches, not to part with the root. And let the reader observe, that Godfrey at the time of this his bountiful grant lay on his death-bed, sick of that irrecoverable disease which ended him. How easily may importunity stamp any impression on those whom desperate sickness hath softened ! And if the sturdiest man nigh death may be affrighted into good works for fear of purga- tory, no wonder if devout Godfrey were pliable to any demand. Pierce Plowman 3 maketh a witty wonder, why friars should covet rather to confess and bury, than to christen children ; intimating it proceeded from covetous- ness, there being gain to be gotten by the one, none by the other. And this was the age wherein the convents got their best living by the dying, which made them (contrary to all other people) most to worship the sun setting. CHAP. VI. — Godfrey's Death and Burial. AUTHORS differ on the death of this noble king, some making him to die of that long wasting sickness, others of the plague1. It may be the plague took him out of the hands of that lingering disease, and quickly cut off what that had been long in fretting. He died July the 18th, having reigned one year wanting five days. A prince valiant, pious, bountiful to the church ; for, besides what he gave to the patriarch, he founded canons in the Temple of the Sepulchre, and a' monastery in the vale of Jehosha- phat. We would say his death was very unseasonable (leaving the orphan state not only in its minority, but in its infancy), but that that fruit which to man's apprehension is blown down green and untimely, is gathered full ripe in God's providence. He was buried in the Temple of the Sepulchre, where his tomb is unviolated at this day, whether out of a religion the Turks bear to the place, or out of honour to his memory, or out of a valiant scorn to fight against dead bones ; or perchance the Turks are minded as John king 2 Centuriatores, centur. 12, col. 490. De schism. 3 In his Pass. 11. ' P. ^Emilius, lib. 5. 56 THE HISTORY OF A. D.I 100 of England was, who being wished by a courtier to untomb the bones of one who whilst he was living had been his great enemy, " Oh no," said King John, " would all mine enemies were as honourably buried !" CHAP. VII. — Baldwin chosen King. He keepeth Jerusalem in despite of the Patriarch. GODFREY being dead, the Christians with a joint consent despatched an embassy to Baldwin his bro- ther [11 00], count of Edessa (a city in Arabia1, the lord whereof had adopted this Baldwin to be his heir) entreated him to accept of the kingdom ; which honourable offer he courteously embraced. A prince whose body nature cut of the largest size, being, like Saul% higher by the head than his subjects. And though the Goths had a law always to choose a short thick man for their king3, yet surely a goodly stature is most majestical. His hair and beard brown, face fair, with an eagle's nose ; which in the Persian kings was anciently observed as a mark of magnanimity4-. Bred he was a scholar, entered into orders, and was prebendary in the churches of Rheims, Liege, and Cambray 5 ; but afterwards turned secular prince, as our Ethelwolf, who exchanged the mitre of Winchester for the crown of England6. Yet Baldwin put not off his scholarship with his habit, but made good use thereof in his reign. For though bookish- ness may unactive, yet learning doth accomplish a prince, and maketh him sway his sceptre the steadier. He was properly the first king of Jerusalem (his brother Godfrey never accounted more than a duke) and was crowned on Christmas day [Dec. 25]. The reason that made him assume the name of a king was thereby to strike the greater terror into the Pagans7. Thus our kings of England from the days of King John were styled but lords of Ireland, till Henry VIII. first entitled himself king, because lord was slighted by the seditious rebels8. As for that religious scruple which Godfrey made, to wear a crown of gold where Christ wore one of thorns, Baldwin easily dispensed therewith. And surely in these things the 1 Plin. lib. 5, cap. 24. 2 Tyrius, lib. 10, cap. 2. 3 Munst. Cosraog. lib. 3, p. 264. 4 Pantal. in Vita Caroli V. 5 Tyrius, lib. 10, cap. 1. 6 Fox, Martyrol. p. 136. 7 Munst. Cosmog. p. 1008. 8 Camden, Brit. p. 732. A. D. 1102 THE HOLY WAR. 57 mind is all ; a crown might be refused with pride, and worn with humility. But before his coronation there was a tough bickering about the city of Jerusalem. Dabert the patriarch, on the death of Godfrey, devoured Jerusalem and the tower of David in his hope, but coming to take possession, found the place too hot for him. For Gamier earl of Gretz, in the behalf of King Baldwin (who was not as yet returned from Edessa) manned it against him. But so it happened, that this valiant earl died three days after, which by Dabert was counted a just judgment of God upon him for his sacrilege 9. Now though it be piety to impute all events to God's hand, yet to say that this man's death was for such a sin, showeth too much presumption towards God, and too little charity towards our neighbour. Indeed if sudden death had singled out this earl alone, it had somewhat favoured their censure ; but there was then a general mortality in the city which swept away thousands10; and which is most material, what this patriarch interpreted sacrilege, others accounted loyalty to his sovereign. As for that donation of the city of Jerusalem, and tower of David, which Godfrey gave to the patriarch, some thought that this gift overthrew itself with its own greatness, being so immoderately large ; others supposed it was but a personal act of Godfrey, and therefore died with the giver, as con- ceiving his successors not obliged to perform it, because it was unreasonable that a prince should in such sort fetter and restrain those who should come after him. Sure it is, that Baldwin having both the stronger sword, and possession of the city, kept it perforce, whilst the patriarch took that leave which is allowed to losers, to talk, chafe, and com- plain; sending his bemoaning letters to Boemund prince of Antioch11, inviting him to take arms, and by violence to recover the church's right; but from him received the useless assistance of his pity, and that was all. CHAP. VIII.— The Church Story during this King's Reign. A Chain of successive Patriarchs — Dabertus, Ebremarus, Gibelline, and Arnulphus. Their several Characters. \ FTERWARDS, this breach betwixt the king and -/A. patriarch was made up by the mediation of some friends [1 102] ; but the skin only was drawn over, not dead 9 Tyrius, lib. 10, cap. 4. 11 Tyrius, lib. 10. Ursperg, p. 236. 58 THE HISTORY OF A.D.1103 flesh drawn out of the wound, and Arnulphus (whom we mentioned before), discontented for his loss of the patriarch's place, still kept the sore raw betwixt them. At last Dabertus the patriarch was fain to flee to Antioch, where he had plentiful maintenance allowed him by Bernard, patriarch of that see [1103]. But he was too high in the instep to wear another man's shoes, and conceived himself to be but in a charitable prison whilst he lived on another's benevolence. Wherefore hence he hasted to Rome1, com- plained to the pope, and received from his holiness a command to King Baldwin to be reestablished in the patriarch's place ; but returning home died by the way at Messina in Sicily, being accounted seven years patriarch, four at home, and three in banishment. 1107.] Whilst Dabertus was thrust out, one Ebremarus was made patriarch against his will by King Baldwin. A holy and devout man, but he had more of the dove than the serpent, and was none of the deepest reach. He, hear- ing that he was complained of to the pope for his irregular election, posted to Rome to excuse himself, showing he was chosen against his will ; and though preferment may not be snatched, it needs not be thrust away. But all would not do ; it was enough to put him out, because the king put him in. Wherefore he was commanded to return home, and to wait the definitive sentence, which Gibellinus archbishop of Aries, and the pope's legate, should pronounce in the matter. Gibellinus, coming to Jerusalem, concluded the election of Ebremarus to be illegal and void, and was himself chosen patriarch in his place, and the other in reverence of his piety made archbishop of Caesarea. And though Ar- nulphus (the firebrand of this church), desired the patri- arch s place for himself, yet was he better content with Gibellinus's election, because he was a thorough old man, and hoped that candle would quickly go out that was in the socket. To this Gibellinus King Baldwin granted, that all places which he or his successors should win, should be subject to his jurisdiction21; and this also was confirmed by Pope Paschal II. But Bernard, patriarch of Antioch, found himself much aggrieved hereat3, because many of these cities, by the ancient canon of the council of Nice, were 1 Tyrius, lib. 11, cap. 4. 3 Baronius in anno 1108. 2 Idem, lib. 11, cap. 28. A. D. 1112 THE HOLY WAR. 59 subject to his church. At last the pope took the matter into his hand, and stroked the angry patriarch of Antioch into gentleness with good language. He showed, how since the council of Nice the country had got a new face ; ancient mountains were buried, rivers drowned in oblivion, and they new christened with other names ; yea, the deluge of the Saracens' tyranny had washed away the bounds of the church's jurisdictions, that now they knew not their own severals, where Mahometanism so long had made all common and waste. He desired him therefore to be con- tented with this new division of their jurisdictions, especially because it was reasonable, that the king of Jerusalem and his successors should dispose of those places, which they should win with their own swords. Bernard, perceiving hereby how his holiness stood affected in the business, contented his conscience that he had set his title on foot, and then quietly let it fall to the ground, as counting it no policy to show his teeth where he durst not bite. Gibellinus never laid claim to the city of Jerusalem, whether it was because in thankfulness for this large eccle- siastical power which King Baldwin had bestowed upon him, or that his old age was too weak to strive with so strong an adversary. He sat four years in his chair, and Arnulphus, thinking he went too slow to the grave, is suspected to have given him something to have mended his pace, and was himself substituted in his room by the especial favour of King Baldwin. 1112]. This Arnulphus was called mala corona, as if all vices met in him to dance a round. And no wonder if the king, being himself wantonly disposed, advanced such a man; for generally, loose patrons cannot abide to be pinched and pent with over-strict chaplains. Besides, it was policy in him to choose such a patriarch as was liable to exceptions for his vicious life, that so if he began to bark against the king, his mouth might be quickly stopped. Arnulphus was as quiet as a lamb, and durst never challenge his interest in Jerusalem from Godfrey's donation, as fearing to wrestle with the king, who had him on the hip, and could out him at pleasure for his bad manners. Amongst other vices he was a great church robber, who to make Emmelor his niece a princess, and to marry Eustace prince of Sidon, gave her the city of Jericho for her dowry, and lands belonging to his see worth five thousand crowns yearly. And though papists may pretend that marriage causeth covetousness in the clergy, yet we shall find when 60 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1101 the prelacy were constrained to a single life, that their nephews ate more church bread than now the children of married ministers. Yea, some popes not only fed their bastards with church milk, but even cut off the church's breasts for their pompous and magnificent maintenance. And thus having dispatched the story of the church in this king's reign, we come now to handle the business of the commonwealth entirely by itself. CHAP. IX. — A mountain-like Army of new Adventurers, after long and hard Travail, delivered^ of a Mouse. Alexius' & Treachery. THE fame of the good success in Palestine, summoned a new supply of other pilgrims out of Christendom [1101]. Germany, and other places which were sparing at the first voyage, made now amends with double liberality. The chief adventurers were, Guelpho duke of Bavaria (who formerly had been a great champion of the popes against Henry the emperor, and from him they of the papal faction were denominated Guelphes ', in distinction from the impe- rial party which were called Gibellines). Hugh brother to the king of France, and Stephen, earl of Blois (both which had much suffered in their reputation for deserting their fellows in the former expedition, and therefore they sought to unstain their credits by going again. Stephen earl of Burgundy, William duke of Aquitain, Frederick count of Bogen, Hugh brother to the earl of Toulouse, besides many great prelates, Diemo archbishop of Salzburg, the bishops of Millain and Pavie % which led fifty thousand out of Lombardy, the total sum amounting to two hundred and fifty thousand. All stood on the tiptoes of expectation to see what so great an army would achieve ; men commonly measuring victories by the multitudes of the soldiers. 'But they did nothing memorable, save only that so many went so far to do nothing. Their sufferings are more famous than their deeds, being so consumed with plague, famine, and the sword, that Conrad abbot of Ursperg, who went and wrote this voyage, believeth that not a thousand of all these came into Palestine3, and those so poor that their bones would scarce hold together, so that they were fitter to be sent into an hospital than to march into the field, having nothing about them wherewith to affright their 1 Pantal. De Hist. Germ, part 2, p. 151. 2 Ursperg. p. 237. 3 In Chronico, p. 239. A.D. 1101 THE HOLY WAR. 61 enemies, except it were the ghost-like ghastliness of their famished faces. The army that came out of Lornbardy were so eaten up by the swords of the Turks, that no frag- ments of them were left, nor news to be heard what was become of them ; and no wonder, being led by prelates unexperienced in martial affairs, which though perchance great clerks, were now to turn over a new leaf, which they had no skill to read. Luther was wont to say4, that he would be unwilling to be a soldier in that army where priests were captains, because the church, and not the camp, was their proper place ; whereas going to war, they willingly outed themselves of God's protection, being out of their vocation. But the main matter which made this whole voyage miscarry in her travail, was the treachery of the midwife through whose hands it was to pass. For Alexius the Grecian emperor feared, lest betwixt the Latins in the east in Palestine, and west in Europe, as betwixt two mill- stones, his empire lying in the midst should be ground to powder. Whereupon, as these pilgrims went through his country, he did them all possible mischief, still under the pretence of kindness, (what hinderer to a false helper?) calling the chief captains of the army his sons, but they found it true, the more courtesy, the more craft. Yea, this deep dissembler would put off his vizard in private, and profess to his friends that he delighted as much to see the Turks and these Christians in battle, as to see mastiff dogs fight together5 ; and that which side soever lost, yet he himself would be a gainer6. But when they had passed Grecia, and had crossed the Bosporus (otherwise called the arm of St. George), enter- ing into the dominion of the Turks, they were for thirty days exposed a mark to their arrows. And though this ?reat multitude was never stabbed with any mortal defeat in a set battle, yet they consumed away by degrees, the cowardly Turks striking them when their hands were pinioned up in the straits of unknown passages. The generals bestrewed the country about with their corpses. Great Hugh of France was buried at Tarsus in Cilicia ; duke Guelpho, at Paphos in Cyprus; Diemo the arch- bishop of Salzburg saw his own heart cut out7, and was 4 Cited by Lampad. Mellif. Histor. part 3, p. 268. 5 Bwoldus. 6 P. ^Emilius, p. 140. 7 Munst. Cosmog. p. 640. 62 THE HISTORY OF A.D.H. martyred by the Turks at Chorazin 8 ; and God (saith ir. author) manifested by the event, that the war was ni pleasing unto him. CHAP. X. — Antipatris and Ctesarea won by the Christian* The Variety of King Baldwin's Success. MEANTIME Ring Baldwin was employed with bette success in Palestine; for hitherto Joppa was th< only port the Christians had ; but now by the assistance o the Genoan fleet (who for their pains were to have a thirc part of the spoil, and a whole street to themselves of even city they took1), Baldwin won most considerable haven-, along the Midland Sea. He began with Antipatris, t( ransom the Christian honour which was mortgaged here because Godfrey was driven away from hence ; and nc wonder, having no shipping z, whereas that army \vhicF takes a strong harbour, otter-like, must swim at sea as wel as go on ground. Next he took Caesarea-Stratonis, built and so named the honour of Caesar Augustus, by Herod the Great, whc so politicly poised himself3, that he sat upright whilst th< wheel of fortune turned round under him. Let Antony win, let Augustus win, all one to him ; by contrary wind he sailed to his own ends. Caesarea taken, Baldwin a Rhamula put the Turks to a great overthrow. But see the chance of war; few days after at the san place he received a great defeat by the infidels, wherein besides many others, the two Stephens, earls of Burgund and Blois, were slain. This was the first great overthrow the Christians suffered in Palestine, and needs must blow be grievous to them who were not used to be beaten. Th king was reported slain, but fame deserved to be pardonec for so good a lie, which for the present much disheartene the Christians, a great part of the soldiers' courage being! wrapped up in the life of the general. Baronius (as bold as any Bethshemite to pry into the arki of God's secrets4) saith, this was a just punishment on Baldwin for detaining the church's goods5. But to leave hidden things to God, the apparent cause of his overthrow was his own rashness6, being desirous to engross all the 8 Ursperg. p. 238. » Tyrius, lib. 10, cap. 14. 2 Tyrius, lib. 9, cap. 18. 3 Josephus. 4 1 Sam. vi. 5 In Annal. Eccles. anno 1100, et rursus, anno 1104. 0 Tyrius, lib. 10, cap. 20. 1104 THE HOLY WAR. 63 it alone, without sending for succours and supplies from neighbours. He assaulted his numerous enemies with andful of men, and so brake himself, with covetousness purchase more honour than he could pay for. And in he discovered his want of judgment, being indeed an arrow well feathered, but with a blunt pile ; he swift, but did not sink deep. Thus his credit lay eding, but he quickly stanched it. The Pagans, little peeling to be reencountered, gave themselves over to th and jollity (as security oftentimes maketh the sword all out of their hands from whom no force could wrest when Baldwin coming on them with fresh soldiers, ttuck them with the back blows of an unexpected enemy, *|ich always pierce the deepest, routed them and put m to the flight. This his victory followed so suddenly r his overthrow, that some mention not the overthrow all, but the victory only ; as that good horseman is rce perceived to be thrown, that quickly recovereth the die. , XL — The Conquest of sundry fair Havens by the Christians. Ptolemais, etc. 7HILST the king was thus busied in battle [1102], Tancred prince of Galilee was not idle, but enlarged Christian dominions with the taking of Apamea and icea. These cities in Celosyria were built by Antio- s1, and they agreed so well together, that they were i [led sisters ; and as in concord, so in condition they went d in hand, being now both conquered together, tolemais next stooped to the Christian yoke [1104], named from Ptolemeus Philometer king of Egypt ; a city edj the Mediterranean, of a triangular form, having two es washed with the sea, the third regarding the champion. Genoan galleys being seventy in number, did the main vice in conquering, and had granted them for their ard large profits from the harbour, a church to them- ves, and jurisdiction over a fourth part of the city. This lemais was afterwards the very seat of the holy war. t me mind the reader of a Latin proverb, Lis Ptole- ica* ; that is, a long and constant strife, so called, from _|olemais, a froward old woman who was never out of angling. But may not the proverb as well be verified 1 Tyrius, lib. 10, cap. 23. Idem, cap. 28. 2 Vide Erasm. Adag. 64 THE HISTORY OF A.D.1107{ of this city, in which there was ninescore years' fighting against the Turks ? With worse success did Baldwin count of Edessa, and Earl Joceline besiege Charran in Mesopotamia3 ; for when it was ready to be surrendered, the Christian captains fell j out amongst themselves, were defeated by the Pagans, and | the two forenamed earls taken prisoners. This Charran is famous for Abraham's living, and his father Terah's dying there4; and in the same place rich Crassus the Roman vomited up the sacrilegious goods he had devoured of the temple of Jerusalem, and had his army overthrown5. Nor here may we overpass, how Boemund prince of Antioch, with a great navy, spoiled the harbours of Grecia [llOTj, to be revenged of treacherous Alexius the emperor. Volun- taries for this service he had enough6, all desiring to have a lash at the dog in the manger, and every man's hand itching to throw a cudgel at him ; who like a nut tree must be manured by beating, or else would never bear fruit ; yet on some conditions an agreement at last was made betwixt them 7. To return to Palestine. The next city that felt the victorious arms of the Christians was Biblus ; a good haven, and built by Heveus, the sixth son of Canaan. Here Adonis was anciently worshiped, whose untimely death by a boar Venus so much bemoaned ; and the fable is moralized, when lust lamenteth the loss of beauty con- sumed by age. Nor did Tripoli hold out long after [1109] ; so called, because jointly built by the Tyrians, Sidonians, and Aradites. And Berytus (since Barutus) accompanied her neighbour, and both of them were yielded unto the Christians. The king created one Bertram, a well-deserving nobleman, earl of Tripoli, who did homage to the king for his place, which was accounted a title of great honour, as being one of the four tetrarchies of the kingdom of Jeru- salem. CHAP. XII. — The Description of Sidon and Tyre ; the one taken, the other besieged in vain, by Baldivin, 1110. SIDON is the most ancient city of Phoenicia ; and though the proud Grecians counted all Barbarians besides them- selves, yet Phoenicia was the schoolmistress of Grecia, and first taught her her alphabet. For Cadmus, a Phoenician 3 Tyrius, lib. 10, cap. 30. 4 Gen. xi. 31. 5 Josephus. ° Tyrius, lib. 11, cap. 6. 7 Idem. A. D. 1112 THE HOLY WAR. 65 born, first invented and brought letters to Thebes. Sidon had her name from the eldest son of Canaan1, and was famous for the finest crystal glasses which here were made. The glassy sand was fetched forty miles off, from the river Belus; but it could not be made fusile till it was brought hither2; whether for want of tools, or from some secret sullen humour therein, we will not dispute. This city anciently was of great renown, but her fortune being as brittle as her glasses, she was fain to find neck for every one of the monarchs' yokes ; and now at last (by the assist- ance of the Danish and Norwegian fleet3) was subdued by the Christians [Dec. 19. 1112]. Flushed with this conquest, they next besieged Tyre. Sea and land, nature and art, consented together to make this city strong ; for it was seated in an island, save that it was tacked to the continent with a small neck of land, which was fortified with many walls and towers. It is questionable whether the strength or wealth of this city was greater; but out of question that the pride was greater than either. Here the best purples were dyed, a colour even from the beginning destined to courts and magistracy ; and here the richest clothes were embroidered and curiously wrought. And though generally those who are best with their fingers are worst with their arms, yet the Tyrians were also stout men, able mariners, and the planters of the noblest colonies in the world. As their city was the daughter of Sidon, so was it mother to Rome's rival Carthage, Leptis, Utica, Cadiz, and Nola. The most plentiful proof they gave of their valour was, when for three years they defended them- selves against Nebuchadnezzar ; and afterwards stopped the full career of Alexander's conquests ; so that his victori- ous army which did fly into other countries, was glad to creep into this city. Yet after seven months' siege (such is the omnipotency of industry) he forced it, and stripped this lady of the sea naked beyond modesty and mercy, putting all therein to the sword that resisted, and hanged up two thousand of the prime citizens in a rank along the sea- shore. Yet afterwards Tyre outgrew these her miseries, and attained, though not to her first giant-like, yet to a compe- tent proportion of greatness. At this time wherein King Baldwin besieged it, it was of great strength and impor- 1 Gen. x. 15. 2 Sand. Trav. p. 210. 3 Tyrius, lib. 11, cap. 14. F 66 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1113 tance, insomuch that, finding it a weight too heavy for his shoulders, he was fain to break off his siege and depart. With worse success he afterwards did rashly give battle to the vast army of the Persian general [1113], wherein he lost many men, all his baggage, and escaped himself with great difficulty5. CHAP. XIII. — The pleasurable Voyages of King Baldwin, and his Death. AFTER the tempest of a long war, a calm came at last, and King Baldwin had a five years' vacation of peace in his old age ; in which time he disported himself with many voyages for pleasure : as one to the Red Sea [1116], not so called from the redness of the water or sand, as some without any colour have conceited, but from the neigh- bouring Edomites, whom the Grecians called Erythreans, or red men, truly translating the Hebrew name of Edomites : they had their name of redness from their father Edom x. And here Baldwin surveyed the country, with the nature and strength thereof. Another journey he took afterwards into Egypt* [1117], as conceiving himself engaged in honour to make one inroad into that country, in part of payment of those many excursions the Egyptians had made into his kingdom. He took the city of Pharamia3, anciently called Rameses, and gave the spoil thereof to his soldiers. This work being done, he began his play, and entertained the time with viewing that riddle of nature, the river Nile, whose stream is the confluence of so many wonders : first, for its undiscoverable fountain ; though some late geogra- phers, because they would be held more intelligent than others, have found the head of the Nile in their own brains, and make it to flow from a fountain they fancy in the moun- tains of the moon, in the south of Africa ; then for the strange creatures bred therein, as river bulls, horses, and croco- diles. But the chiefest wonder is the yearly increasing thereof from the 17th of June to the midst of September4, overflowing all Egypt, and the banks of all human judg- ment to give the true reason thereof. Much time Baldwin spent in beholding this river, 5 Tyrius, lib. 11, cap. 19. 1 Scalig. on Festus in .'Egyptius, et Fuller, Miscell. lib. 4, cap. 20. 2 Tyrius, lib. 11, cap. 31. 3 Calvisius makes it to be won at the former voyage. 4 Sand. Trav. p. 94. A.D. 1118 THE HOLY WAR. 67 /herein he took many fishes, and his death in eating them ; 'or a new surfeit revived the grief of an old wound, which many years before received at the siege of Ptolemais. His sickness put him in mind of his sins, conscience speaking loudest when men begin to grow speechless ; and especially he grieved that, having another wife alive, he had married the countess of Sicily, the relict of Earl Roger ; jut now, heartily sorrowful for his fault, he sent away this iis last wife : yet we read not that he received his former again. Other faults he would have amended, but was pre- vented by death. And no doubt, where the deed could not present, the desire was a sufficient proxy. He died at Laris, a city in the road from Egypt, and was brought to Jerusalem, and buried on Palm Sunday, in the Temple of the Sepulchre, in the eighteenth year of his reign [March 26,1118]. A prince superior to his brother Godfrey in learning, equal in valour, inferior in judgment; rash, precipitate, greedy of honour, but swallowing more than he could ligest, and undertaking what he was not able to perform ; little affected to the clergy, or rather to their temporal greatness, especially when it came in competition with his own ; much given to women (besides the three wives he had, first marrying Gutrera, an English woman ; after her death, Tafror, an Armenian lady; and, whilst she yet sur- vived, the countess of Sicily), yet he had no child : God commonly punishing wantonness with barrenness. For the rest, we refer the reader to the dull epitaph written on his tomb, which (like the verses of that age) runneth in a kind of rhythm, though it can scarce stand on true feet : — Rex Baldwinus, Judm alter Maccab&us, Spes patrite, vigor ecclesitf, virtus utriusque ; Quern formidabant, cui dona tributa ferebant, Cedar 5, JEgypti Dan, ac homicida Damascus ; Proh dolor ! in modico clauditur hoc tumulo. Baldwin, another Maccabee for might ; Hope, help of state, of church, and both's delight ; Cedar, with Egypt's Dan, of him afraid, Bloody Damascus to him tribute paid : Alas! here in this tomb is laid. Let him who pleaseth play the critic on the divers read- ings; and whether by Dan be meant the Souldan, or whe- * A liter Caesar. 63 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 1118 ther it relateth to the conceit that Antichrist shall come of the tribe of Dan. But perchance the text is not worth a comment. CHAP. XIV. — Baldwin the Second chosen King. Prince Eustace peaceably renounceth his Right. IT happened the same day King Baldwin was buried, that Baldwin de Burgo, his kinsman, and count of Edessa, came casually into the city, intending only there to keep his Easter, when behold the Christian princes met together for the election of a new king. The greater part did centre their suffrages on Prince Eustace, brother to the two former kings, but then absent in France. They alleged that it was not safe to break the chain of succession, where the inver- sion of order bringeth all to confusion ; and that it was high ingratitude to the memories of Godfrey and Baldwin to exclude their brother from the crown, especially he being fit in all points to be a king, wanting nothing but that he wanted to be there ; that in the mean time some might be deputed to lock up all things safe, and to keep the keys of the state till he should arrive. On the other side, some objected the dangers of an inter- regnum, how when a state is headless, every malecontent would make head ; inconveniences in another country would be mischiefs here, where they lived in the mouth of their enemies; and therefore to stay for a king was the way to lose the kingdom. Then Joceline, prince of Tiberias, a man of great autho- rity, offered himself a moderator in this difference, and coun- selled both sides to this effect : to proceed to a present election, and therein to be directed, not confined by suc- cession ; though they missed the next, let them take one of Godfrey's kindred. As the case now stood, he must be counted next in blood that was next at hand ; and this was Baldwin, count of Edessa, on whom he bestowed most superlative praises. All were much affected with these his commendations, for they knew that Joceline was his sworn adversary, and concluded that it must needs be a mighty weight of worth in Baldwin, which pressed out praise from the mouth of his enemy ; though indeed private ends prompted him to speak this speech, who hoped himself to get the earldom of Edessa when Baldwin should be trans- lated to Jerusalem. However, his words took effect, and Baldwin hereupon was chosen king [April 2, 1118], and crowned on Easter day by Arnulphus, the patriarch1. 1 Tyrius, lib. 12, cap. 4. A.D. 1119 THE HOLY WAR. 69 Meantime some secretly were sent to Prince Eustace to come and challenge the crown. But he, hearing that another was already in possession, though he was on his journey coming, quietly went back again. A large alms, to give away a kingdom out of his charity to the public cause. Baldwin was of a proper personage, and able body, born nigh Rheims, in France, son to Hugh, count of Rorstet, and Millesent, his wife. He was exceedingly charitable to the poor, and pious towards God ; witness the brawn on his hands and knees made with continual praying : valiant also, and excellently well seen in all martial affairs . We had almost forgotten what happened in this year, the death of Alexius the Grecian emperor, that arch-hypocrite and grand enemy of this war; on whom we may bestow this epitaph : — If he of men the best doth know to live Who best knows to dissemble, justly then To thee, Alexius, we this praise must give, That thou to live didst know the best of men. And this was it at last did stop thy breath, Thou knew'st not how to counterfeit with death. His son, Calo-Johannes, succeeded him in his empire, of whom we shall have much cause to speak hereafter. CHAP. XVT.-— The ecclesiastical Affairs in this King's Reign. ACCORDING to our wonted method, let us first rid out of the way church matters in this king's reign, that so we may have the more room to follow the affairs of the commonwealth. We left Arnulphus, the last patriarch of Jerusalem; since which time the bad savour of his life came to the pope's nose, who sent a legate to depose him. But Arnulphus hasted to Rome with much money1, and there bought himself to be innocent, so that he enjoyed the place during his life. Guarimund succeeded in his place [1119], a very reli- gious man, by whom God gave the Christians many victo- ries. He called a council at Neapolis or Sichem, wherein many wholesome things were concluded for reformation of manners. Betwixt him and William, archbishop of Tyre (an Englishman), there arose a difference, because this archbishop would not receive his confirmation of him (from whom, by ancient right, he should take it), but from the 1 Tyrius, lib. 11, cap. 26. 70 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 1128 pope, counting it the most honour to hold of the highest landlord. And indeed the pope for gain confirmed him, though he should have sent him to .the patriarch. But the court of Rome careth not though men steal their corn, so be it they bring it to their mills to grind. After Guarimund's death [1128], Stephen, abbot of St. John de Valia, was chosen patriarch ; once a cavalier, but afterward, laying down the sword, he took up the word, and entered into orders. He awaked the patriarch's title to Jerusalem, which had slept during his three predecessors, and challenged it very imperiously of the king, for he was a man of spirit and mettle. And indeed he had too much life to live long. For the king, fearing what flame this spark might kindle, and finding him to be an active man, gave him (as it is suspected) a little more active poison, which cut him off in the midst of his age and beginning of his projects. The king coming to him when he lay on his death-bed, asked him how he did : to whom he answered3, " My lord, for the present I am as you would have me" [1130]. A cruel murder, if true ; but it is strange, that he whose hands (as we have said) were hardened with frequent prayer, should soften them again in innocent blood. Wherefore we will not condemn the memory of a king on doubtful evi- den. The patriarch's place was filled with William, prior of the Sepulchre, a Fleming; a man better beloved than learned. CHAP. XVI. — Knights-Templars and Teutonics instituted. ABOUT this time the two great orders of Templars and Teutonics appeared in the world [1119]. The former under Hugh de Paganis, and Ganfred of St. Omer, their first founders. They agreed in profession with the Hospi- tallers, and performed it alike, vowing poverty, chastity, and obedience, and to defend pilgrims coming to the sepulchre. It is falsely fathered on St. Bernard, that he appointed them their rule * ; who prescribeth not what they should do, but only describeth what they did*: namely, how they were never idle, mending their old clothes when wanting other employment. ; never played at chess or dice, never ha%vked nor hunted, beheld no stage-plays ; arming themselves with faith within, with steel without; aiming more at strength 3 Tyrius, lib. 13, cap. 25. ' Baronius, in anno 1127. 2 Quarto el quinto cap. exhort. A.D. 1119 THE HOLY WAR. 71 than state ; to be feared, not admired ; to strike terror with their valour, not stir covetousness with their wealth in the heart of their enemies. Other sweet praises of them let him who pleaseth fetch from the mouth of this mellifluous doctor. Indeed, at first they were very poor, in token whereof they gave for their seal two men riding on one horse3. And hence it was, that if the Turks took any of them prisoners, their constant ransom was sword and a belt4 ; it being con- ceived that their poor state could stretch to no higher price. But after their order was confirmed by Pope Honorius (by the entreaty of Stephen, the patriarch of Jerusalem), who appointed them to wear a white garment, to which Euge- nius the Third added a red cross on their breast, they grew wonderfully rich by the bounty of several patrons ; yea, the king and patriarch of Jerusalem5 dandled this infant order so long in their laps till it brake their knees, it grew so heavy at last ; and these ungrateful Templars did pluck out the feathers of those wings which hatched and brooded them. From almsmen they turned lords ; and though 'very valiant at first (for they were sworn rather to die than to fly), afterwards laziness withered their arms, and swelled their bellies. They laughed at the rules of their first insti- tution, as at the swaddling clothes of their infancy ; neg- lecting the patriarch, and counting themselves too old to be whipped with the rod of his discipline ; till partly their viciousuess and partly their wealth caused their final extir- pation, as (God willing) shall be showed hereafter6. At the same time began the Teutonic order, consisting only of Dutchmen well descended, living at Jerusalem in a house which one of that nation bequeathed to his country- men that, came thither on pilgrimage. In the year 1190 their order was honoured with a great master, whereof the first was Henry a- Walpot; and they had a habit assigned them to wear, black crosses on white robes : they were to fight in the defence of Christianity against Pagans. But we shall meet with them more largely in the following story. 3 Weaver, Fun. Mon. p. 71. 4 Hospin. De Orig. 8 Tyrius, lib. 12, cap. 7. 6 Lib. 5, cap. 1— 3. Mon. 72 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1122 CHAP. XVII.— The Christians' Variety of Success. Tyre taken by the Assistance of the Venetians. IT is worth the reader's marking how this king's reign was chequered with variety of fortune ; for first, Roger, prince of Antioch * (or rather guardian in the minority of young Boemund), went forth with greater courage than discretion; whereunto his success was answerable, being conquered and killed by the Turks. But Baldwin, on the 14th of August following, forced the Turks to a restitution of their victory, and with a small army gave them a great overthrow, in spite of Gazi, their boasting general. To qualify the Christians' joy for this good success, Joce- line, unadvisedly fighting with Balak, a petty king of the Turks, \vas conquered and taken prisoner [1122]; and King Baldwin, coming to deliver him, was also taken him- self, for which he might thank his own rashness ; for it had been his best work to have done nothing for a while, till the Venetian succours, which were not far off, had come to him, and not presently to adventure all to the hazard of a battle. Yet the Christians' hands were not bound in the king's captivity; for Eustace Grenier, chosen viceroy whilst the king was in durance, stoutly defended the country, and Count Joceline, who had escaped out of prison, fighting again with Balak at Hircapolis, routed his army, and killed him with his own hands. But the main piece of service was the taking of Tyre, which was done under the conduct of Guarimund, the patriarch of Jerusalem ; but chiefly by the help of the Venetian navy, which Michael their duke brought, who for their pains were to have a third part of the city to themselves. Tyre had in it store of men and munition ; but famine increasing (against whose arrows there is no armour of proof), it was yielded on honourable terms. And though perhaps hunger shortly would have made the Turks digest coarser conditions, yet the Christians were loath to anger their enemies' valour into desperateness. Next year the king returned home [June 29], having been eighteen months a prisoner, being to pay for his ransom a hundred thousand Michaelets, and for security he left his daughter in pawn. But he paid the Turks with their own money, or (which was as good coin) with the money of the Saracens, vanquishing Barsequen their captain at An- 1 Tyrius, lib. 12, cap. 10. i.D. 1131 THE HOLY WAR. 73 ioch [1125] : and not long after he conquered Doldequin, mother great commander of them at Damascus [1126], To correct the rankness of the Christians' pride for this *ood success, Damascus was afterwards by them unfortu- nately besieged [1130]. Heaven discharged against them thunder ordinance, arrows of lightning, small-shot of hail, whereby they being miserably wasted were forced to depart. And this affliction was increased when Boemund, the young )rince of Antioch, one of great hope and much lamented, defeated and slain [1131]. Authors impute these mishaps to the Christians' pride, and relying on their own strength, which never is more untrusty than when most rusted. True it was, God often gave them great victories, .vhen they defended themselves in great straits : hereupon they turned their thankfulness into presumption, grew at last from defending themselves to dare their enemies on disad- vantages to their often overthrow : for God will not unmake lis miracles by making them common. And may not this also be counted some cause of their ill success, that they always imputed their victories to the material cross which was carried before them ; so that Christ's glory, after his ascension, suffered again on the cross by their superstition. CHAP. XVIII.— The Death of Baldwin the Second. KING Baldwin, a little before his death, renounced the world, and took on him a religious habit. This was he fashion of many princes in that age, though they did it or divers ends. Some thought to make amends for their disordered lives by entering into some holy order at their deaths; others, having surfeited of the world's vanity, fasted rom it when they could eat no more, because of the impo- ency of their bodies ; others, being crossed by the world by ome misfortune, sought to cross the world again in re- nouncing of it. These, like furious gamesters, threw up heir cards, not out of dislike of gaming but of their game ; and they were rather discontented to live than contented to die. But we must believe that Baldwin did it out of true devotion, to ripen himself for heaven, because he was piously ffected from his youth, so that all his life was religiously uned, though it made the sweetest music in the close. He died not long after, on the 22d of August, in the thirteenth ear of his reign, and was buried with his predecessors in the Temple of the Sepulchre. By Morphe, a Grecian lady, his wife, he had four daughters, whereof Millesent was the eldest ; the second Alice, married to young Boemund, or THE ' UNIVERSH 74 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 113: prince of Antioch; the third Hodiern, wife to Reimund prince of Tripoli; and Mete the youngest, abbess c Bethany. CHAP. XIX. — Of Fuko, the fourth King of Jerusalem. FULCO, earl of Tours, Mara, and Anjou, coming som< three years before on pilgrimage to Jerusalem [1132] there took in marriage Millesent, the king's daughter. IL had assigned to him the city of Tyre, and some othe princely accommodations for his present maintenance, anc the kingdom after the death of his father-in-law, which h received accordingly. He was well nigh sixty years old and by his first wife he had a son, Geffrey Plantagenet ear of Anjou, to whom he left his lands in France, and frorr whom our kings of England are descended. This Fulc was a very valiant man, able both of body and mind. Hi greatest defect was a weak memory (though not so bad a that of Messala Corvinus1, who forgot his own name) insomuch that he knew not his own servants, and those whom he even now preferred were presently after strangers unto him. Yet though he had a bad memory whilst he lived, he hath a good one now he is dead, and his virtues are famous to posterity. CHAP. XX. — The' Church Story during this King's Reign. The remarkable Ruin of Rodolphus, Patriarch of Antioch. THE church of Jerusalem yielded no alterations in the reign of Fulco. But in Antioch there was much stir who should succeed Bernard, that peaceable long-lived man, who sat thirty-six years, and survived eight patriarchs of Jerusalem. Now, whilst the clergy were tedious in theii choice, the laity was too nimble for them, and they (thinking it equal to have a hand in making, who must have theii arms in defending a .patriarch) clapped one Rodolphus, ol noble parentage, into the chair* [1136]. He presently took his pall off from the altar of St. Peter, thereby sparing both his purse and pains to go to Rome, and acknowledging no other superior than that apostle for his patron. This man was the darling of the gentry (and no wonder if they loved him who was of their cloth and making), but hated of the clergy. Wherefore knowing himself to need strong arms who was to swim against the stream, he wrought himsell 1 Plin. lib. 7, cap. 24. 2 Tyrius, lib. ID. D. 1136 THE HOLY WAR. 75 nto the favour of the princess of Antioch, the widow of young Boemund, so that he commanded all her command, ind beat down his enemies with her strength. He promised o make a marriage betwixt her and Reimund, earl of Poictou (a Frenchman of great fame, who was coming into these parts), but he deceived her, and caused the earl to marry Constantia, the daughter of this lady, by whom he ad the principality of Antioch. Indeed this Constantia was but a child for age ; but they never want years to marry who have a kingdom for their portion. The patriarch, to make sure work, bound Prince Reimund by an oath to be true to him ; but friends unjustly gotten are seldom comfortably enjoyed. Of his sworn friend he )roved his sworn enemy, and forced him to go up to Rome, here to answer many accusations laid to his charge, wherein the groundwork perchance was true, though malice might set the varnish on it. The main matter was, that he made Ddious comparisons betwixt Antioch and Rome, and counted limself equal to his holiness. Rodolphus, coming to Rome, found the pope's doors shut against him, but he opened them with a golden key. Vloney he sowed plentifully, and reaped it when he came to be tried ; for he found their hands very soft towards him whom formerly he had greased in the fist. He also resigned lis old pall, and took a new one from the pope. As for lis other crimes, it was concluded that Albericus, bishop of Ostia, should be sent into Syria the pope's legate, to examine matters, and to proceed accordingly with the patriarch, as hings there should be found alleged and proved; whereat lis adversaries much stormed, who expected that he should nstantly have been deposed. Yet afterwards they prevailed mightily with Albericus, he legate, and bowed him on their side. He, coming to Antioch, cited the patriarch to appear, who, being thrice ailed, came not. On his absence all were present with heir conjectures what should cause it ; some imputing it to lis guiltiness, others to his contempt, others to his fear of lis enemy's potency, or judge's partiality, for indeed the egate came not with a virgin judgment, but ravished with >rejudice, being prepossessed with this intent to dispossess iim of his place. Some thought he relied on his peace ormerly made at Rome, where the illegality of his election ras rectified by his laying down his first pall, and assuming new one from the pope. Here was it worth the beholding in what several streams 76 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1141 men's affections ran3. All wished that the tree might be felled, who had hopes to gather chips by his fall, and espe- cially one Arnulphus, and Dean Lambert, the promoters against the patriarch. Others pitied him, and, though perchance content that his roof might be taken down, were loath he should be razed to the ground. Some reserved their affections till they were counselled by the event which side to favour, and would not be engaged by any manifest declaration, but so that they might fairly retreat if need required. Amongst other prelates which were present, Serlo, archbishop of Apamea, was one, who formerly had been a great enemy to the patriarch, but had lately taken himself off from that course. The legate demanded of him why he proceeded not to accuse the patriarch as he was wont; to whom he answered4, " What formerly I did was done out of unadvised heat against the health of my soul, discovering the nakedness of my father, like to cursed Ham and now God hath recalled me from mine error : so that I will neither accuse, nor presumptuously judge him, but am ready to die for his safety." Hereupon the legate immedi- ately (such was the martial law in a churchman) deposed him from his archbishopric. Little hope then had the patriarch, who saw himself condemned in his friend : and he himself followed not long after5, being thrust out by vio- lence, cast into prison, and there long kept in chains, till at last he made an escape to Rome, intending there to traverse his cause again, had not death (occasioned by poison, as is thought) prevented him [1141]. CHAP XXI. — Calo- Johannes, the Grecian Emperor, dc- mandeth Antioch. Reimund, the Prince thereof, doeth Homage to him for it. (^ ALO-JOHANNES, the Grecian emperor, came up \J with a vast army of horse and foot1 [1136], and de- manded of Reimund, prince of Antioch, to resign unto him that whole signory, according to the composition which the Christian princes made with Alexius, his father1. Hereat Reimund and all the Latins stormed out of measure: had they purchased the inheritance of the land with their own blood, now to turn tenants at will to another? 3 Baronius, in anno 1136. 4 Tyrius, lib. 15, cap. 16i. 5 Tyrius, lib. 15, cap. 17. » Idem, lib. 14, cap. 14. 2 Vide supra, book l,chap. 15. .D. 1140 THE HOLY WAR. 77 ome pleaded that the ill usage of Alexius3 extorted from rodfrey and the rest of the pilgrims that agreement, and n oath made by force is of no force, but may freely be roken, because not freely made. Others alleged that when oitioch was first won, it was offered to Alexius, and he ifused it4 ; so fair a tender was a payment. Others argued lat that generation which made this contract was wholly ead, and that the debt descended not on them to make good. But most insisted on this, that Alexius kept not is covenants, and assisted them not according to the agree- lent. Indeed he called these princes his sons, but he isinherited them of their hopes, and all their portion was n promises never paid. No reason then that the knot of he agreement should hold them fast, and let him loose. The worst of these answers had been good enough, if their words had been as strong as the Grecian emperor's. But he :oming with a numerous army, in few days overcame all ^ilicia (which for forty years had belonged to the prince of ^.ntioch), and then besieged the city of Antioch itself. ?orce is the body, and resolution the soul of an action : 30th these were well tempered together in the emperor's irmy, and the city brought to great distress; whereupon ?ulco, king of Jerusalem, with some other princes, fearing vhat woful conclusion would follow so violent premises, nade a composition between them ; so that Reimund did lomage to the emperor, and held his principality as a vassal rom him. And though four years after the emperor came igain into these parts [1140], yet he did not much harm ; )illaging was all his conquest. Some years after he died, >eing accidentally poisoned by one of his own arrows, which he intended for the wild boar. A prince so much better to the Latins than his father Alexius, as an honourable be is above a treacherous friend. His empire he disposed to Emmanuel, his son. CHAP. XXII.— The Succession of the Turkish Kings and the Saracen Caliphs. Of the unlimited Power of a Souldan. Some Resemblance thereof anciently in the Kingdom of France. O great service of moment was performed in the reign __ . of King Fulco, because he was molested with domesti- cal discords, and intestine wars against Paulinus count of 3 Ursperg. p. 235, tortis sacramentis. 4 Vide supra, book 1, chap. Id. N 73 THE HISTORY OF Tripoli, and Hugh earl of Joppa; only Beersheba was fortified, and some forts built about Askelon, as an intro- duction to besiege it. Also skirmishes were now and then fought with variety of success against Sanguin, one of the Turks' great princes. And here let the reader take notice, that though we have mentioned many commanders, as Auxianus, Corboran, Ammiravissus, Tenduc, Gazi, Balak, Dordequin, Borscquin, Sanguin, some Turkish, some Saracen, yet none of these were absolute kings (though perchance in courtesy some- times so styled by writers), but were only generals and lieu- tenants accountable to their superiors, the caliphs either of Babylon or Egypt. Who what they were, we refer the reader to our chronology. Caliph was the pope (as I may say) of the Saracens, a mixture of priest and prince. But we need not now trouble ourselves with curiosity in their successions, these caliphs being but obscure men, who confined themselves to plea- sures, making play their work, and having their constant diet on the sauce of recreation. We are rather to take notice of their generals and captains, which were the men of action. FoY a souldan (which was but a viceroy), with his borrowed light, shineth brighter in history than the caliph himself, yet may we justly wonder that these slothful caliphs should do nothing themselves, and commit such unlimited power to their souldans,especially seeing too much trust is a strong temptation to make ambitious flesh and blood disloyal. Yet something may be said for the caliph of Egypt, besides that the pleasures of that country were sufficient to invite him to a voluptuous life*. First, the awful regard which the Egyptians had of their princes gave them security to trust their officers with ample commission. Secondly, herein they followed an ancient custom practised by the Pharaohs anciently, who gave unto Joseph so large authority, as we may read in Genesis1. Some example also we have hereof in France about nine hundred years ago. Childeric, Theodoric, Clovis, Childebert, Dagobert, &c. a chain of idle kings well linked together, gave themselves over to pleasures privately, never coming abroad ; but only on May-day they showed themselves to the people, riding in a chariot, adorned with flowers, and drawn with oxen (slow cattle, but good enough for so lazy luggage) whilst 1 Sir Walter Raleigh, part 1, book 2, chap. ytf. 2 Gen. xli. 40. ID. 1143 THE HOLY WAR. 79 lharles Martell and Pipin, mayors of the palace, opened tickets, gave audience to embassadors, made war or peace, lacted and repealed laws at pleasure, till afterwards, from mtrollers of the king's household, they became controllers the kings, and at last kings themselves. To return to Egypt. Let none be troubled (pardon a laritable digression to satisfy some scrupulous in a point chronology) if they find anciently more kings of the Igyptians, and longer reigning than the consent of times fill allow room for : for no doubt that which hath swelled te number, is the counting deputies for kings. Yea, we id the Holy Spirit, in the same breath, speak a viceroy to a king and no king; There was no king in Edom; a \puty was king3. [CHAP. XXIII.— The lamentable Death of King Fulco. "HEN Fulco had now eleven years with much in- dustry and care (though with little enlarging of his )minions) governed the land, he was slain in earnest as blowing his sport in hunting, to the great grief of his sub- its1 [1142]. And we may hear him thus speaking his >itaph : A hare I hunted, and death hunted me ; The more my speed was, was the worse my speed : For as well-mounted I away did flee, Death caught and kill'd me, falling from my steed. Yet this mishap a happy miss I count, That fell from horse that I to heaven might mount, prince of a sweet nature ; and though one would have ad him to be very furious by his high-coloured countenance, [et his face was a good hypocrite ; and (contra leges istiiis loris, saith Tyrius *) he was affable, courteous, and pitiful all in distress. He was buried with his predecessors in le Temple of the Sepulchre, leaving two sons, Baldwin who ras thirteen, and Almerick seven years old* !HAP. XXIV.— The Disposition of Baldwin the Third. The Care of Queen Millesent in her Son's Minority. BALDWIN succeeded his father [1143], who quickly ^ grew up, as to age, so in all royal accomplishments, id became a most complete prince; well learned, espe- 3 1 Kings, xxii. 47. Melek in both. 1 Tyrius, lib. 15. cap. ult. 2 Lib. 14. cap. 1. 80 THE HISTORY OF A. D.I 148 cially in history; liberal ; very witty and very pleasant hi discourse; he would often give a smart jest, which would make the place both blush and bleed where it lighted : yet this was the better taken at his hands, because he cherished not a cowardly wit in himself, to wound men behind their backs, but played on them freely to their faces ; yea, and never refused the coin he paid them in, but would be contented (though a king) to be the subject of a good jest : and sometimes he was well-favouredly met with 1 ; as the best fencer in wit's school hath now and then an unhappy blow dealt him. Some thought he descended beneath him- self in too much familiarity to his subjects : for he would commonly call and salute mean persons by their names : but the vulgar sort, in whose judgments the lowest stars are ever the greatest, conceived him to surpass all his prede- cessors, because he was so fellow-like with them. But whilst yet he was in minority, his mother Millesent made up his want of age with her abundant care, being governor of all : a woman in sex, but of a masculine spirit. She continued a widow : and as for children's sake she married once, so for her children's sake she married no more. St. Bernard and she spake often together by letters* : he extolled her single life, how it was more honour to live a widow, than to be a queen': this she had by birth, that by God's bounty ; this she was happily begotten, that she had manfully gotten of herself3. Yet we find not that she made a vow never to marry again ; wherein she did the wiser : for the chastest minds cannot conclude, from the present calm, that there will never after arise any lustful storm in their souls. Besides, a resolution is a free custody ; but a vow is a kind of prison, which restrained nature hath the more desire to break. CHAP. XXV. — Of Fulcher Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the Insolence of the Hospitallers against him. WILLIAM, who was last possessed of the patriarch's chair in Jerusalem, was none of the greatest clerks. But whatsoever! he was for edifying of the church, he was excellent at building of castles (one at Askelon, another at Ramula, a third called Blank-guard for the securing of pil- grims), till at last, having sat in his place fifteen years, he 1 Tyrius, lib. 16, cap. 2. 2 Epist. 206, col. 1569. 3 Illud tibi ex genere, istud ex munere Dei; illud feh'citer nata es, hoc viriliter nacta. Epist. 289. col. A. D. 1156 THE HOLY WAR. 81 |\vas translated to heaven [1145], and on earth Fulcher archbishop of Tyre succeeded him. An honest old man, whose weak age was much molested with the pride and rebellion of the Hospitallers, who lately had procured from the pope a plenary exemption from the patriarch. This his holiness did the more willingly grant, because hereby he made himself absolute master of all orders, pinning them on himself by an immediate dependence, and so bringing water to his mill by straighter and nearer stream. But hereby the entireness of episcopal jurisdiction was much maimed and mangled, and every convent was a castle of rebels, armed with privileges to fight against their lawful diocesan. Now as these Hospitallers wronged the power of the bishops, so did they rob the profit of poor priests, refusing to pay any tithes of their manors, which contained many parishes (so that the pastors who fed the flocks were starved themselves; and having laboured all day in the vineyard, were at night sent supperless to bed), the Hospi- tallers pleading that the pope had freed them from these duties ; as if an acquittance under the hand of his holiness was sufficient to discharge them from paying of tithes, a debt due to God. Other foul crimes they also were guilty of: as, outbraving the Temple of the Sepulchre with their I stately buildings ; giving the sacraments to and receiving of excommunicated persons; ringing their bells when their pa- triarch preached, that his voice might not be heard ; shooting I arrows into the church to disturb him and the people in [divine service1; a bundle whereof were hung up as a mo- nument of their impiety [1156]. Fulcher the patriarch crawled to Rome, being a hundred years old, to complain of these misdemeanours; carrying with him the archbishop of Tyre and five other bishops. But he had sped better, if instead of every one of them he had carried a bag of gold. For the Hospitallers prevented him, and had formerly been effectually present with their large bribes, so that the patriarch's suit was very cold ; and no wonder, seeing he did afford no fuel to heat it. The cardinals' eyes in the court of Rome were old and dim ; and therefore the glass wherein they see any thing must be well silvered. Indeed two of them, Octavian, and John of St. Martin, favoured Christ's cause and his ministers, but all the rest followed gifts, and the way of Balaam the son of Tyrius, lib. 18. cap. 3. c 82 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1142 Bosor3. But here Baronius4, who hitherto had leaned on Tyrius 's authority, now starteth from it : and no wonder, for his pen will seldom cast ink, when he meeteth with the corruption of the Romish court. But sure it was, that the good patriarch, wearied with delays, returned back with his grievances unredressed. Whereupon the Hospitallers grew more insolent; and, under pretence of being freed from fetters, would wear no girdle; denying not only subjection, but any filial obedience to a superior. CHAP. XXVI. — Of Almericus Patriarch of Antioch, his instituting of Carmelites. Their differing from the Pattern of Elias. AFTER the tragical life and death of Rodolphus patri- arch of Antioch [1142], who was twelve years patri- arch, counting his banishment, Haymericus by the contrary faction and power of Prince Reimund succeeded him, with little quiet and comfort of his place. And here, to our grief, must we take our final farewell of the distinct succession of the patriarchs of Antioch, with the years that they sat ; such is the obscurity and confusion of it. Yet no doubt this Haymericus was the same with Al- mericus1, who about the year 1160 first instituted the order of Carmelites. Indeed formerly they lived dispersed about the mountain of Carmel: but he gathered them together into one house; because solitariness is a trespass against the nature of man, and God, when he had made all things good, saw it was not good for man to be alone. Surely from great antiquity in the primitive church, many retired themselves to solitary places (where they were always alone, and always in the company of good thoughts) chiefly to shade themselves from the heat of persecution *. Whose example was in after ages imitated by others, when there was no such necessity : as here by these Carmelites, whose order was afterwards perfected in the year 1216, by Albert patriarch of Jerusalem, with certain canonical observations imposed upon them. And in the next age, these bees, which first bred in the ground and hollow trees, got them hives in gardens ; and, leaving the deserts, gained them princely a Alii omnes abeuntes post munera, secuti sunt vias Balaam filii Bosor. Tyrius, lib. 18, cap. 8. 4 Annal. Eccles. in anno 1155. 1 Compare Baronius with himself in these years, 1143, 1154, 1181, and we shall tind Haymericus and Almericus the same. * Polid. Virg. lib. 7, cap. 3. Sabel. Enn. 9, lib. 5. Hospin. De Orig. Men. A.D. 1142 THE HOLY WAR. 83 houses in pleasant places. They pretended indeed that they followed the pattern of Elias, though far enough from his example. First, for their habit, they wore white coats guarded with red streaks3 : but they have no colour in the Bible that Elias ever wore such a livery ; it suits rather with Joseph than with him. Secondly, by their order they were to ride on he-asses ; whereas we read that Elias went on foot, and rode but once in a chariot of fire. Thirdly they by the constitution of Pope Nicholas V. had sisters of their company living near unto them4 ; we find Elias to have no such feminine consorts. Fourthly, they lived in all lust and laziness, as Nicolas Gallus their own general did com- plain5 that they were Sodomites, and compareth them to the tail of the dragon : so that their luxury differed from Elias's austerity, as much as velvet from sackcloth. Where- fore that the Carmelites came from mount Carmel cannot be denied: but on that mountain I find that both Elias and Baal's priests gathered together; and let the indifferent reader judge which of them their lives do most resemble. Afterwards Pope Honorius III. counting the party-co- loured coats these Carmelites did wear to be too gaudy, caused them to wear only white, the colour which nature doth dye ; simple, and therefore fittest for religion. But Melexala king of Egypt, who formerly was very bountiful to the Carmelites, knew not his almsmen in their new coats, but changed his love, as they their livery, and persecuted them out of all Egypt. It seemeth afterwards, by the com- plaint of Mantuan, that they wore some black again over their white : for he playeth on them, as if their bad manners had blacked and altered their clothes6. Now, though Palestine was their mother, England was their best nurse. Ralph Fresburg, about the year 1240, first brought them hither; and they were first seated at Newenden in Kent7. A hundred and forty English writers have been of this order8. And here they nourished in great pomp, till at last King Henry VIII., as they came out of the wilderness, so turned their houses into a wilder- ness ; not only breaking the necks of all abbeys in England, but also scattering abroad their very bones, past possibility of recounting them. 3 Antonius, tit. 20. cap. 5. * Balaeus in Vita Nicol. V. 5 Vide Balaeum, centur. 4, cap. 42, in append. 2. 6 Eclog. 2. Iramutarunt mutati vellera mores. 7 Yet Camden saith they were first seated in Northumberland. 8 Pitsaeus, in indice Carm. 84 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 1147 CHAP. XX VII.— Edessa lost. The hopeful Voyage of Con- rad the Emperor and Louis King of France, to the Holy Land, blasted by the Perjidiousness of Em?nanuel the Grecian Emperor. EMPIRES have their set bounds, whither when they come, they stand still, go back, fall down ; this we may see in the kingdom of Jerusalem, which under Godfrey and the two first Baldwins was a gainer, under Fulco a saver, under the succeeding kings a constant loser, till all was gone. For now Sanguin, prince of the Turks (as bloody as his name), wrested from the Christians the country and city of Edessa, one of the four tetrarchies of the kingdom of Jerusalem. And though Sanguin shortly after was stabbed at a feast, yet Noradin his son succeeded, and exceeded him in cruelty against the Christians. The loss of Edessa [1147] (wherein our religion had flourished ever since the apostles' time1) moved Conrad, emperor of the West, and Louis VII. surnamed the Young, king of France, to undertake a voyage to the Holy Land. Pope Eugenius III. bestirred himself in the matter, and made St. Bernard his solicitor to advance the design. For never could so much steel have been drawn into the east, had not this good man's persuasion been the loadstone : the emperor's army contained two hundred thousand foot, besides fifty thousand horse ; nor was the army of King Louis much inferior in number. In France they sent a distaff and a spindle to all those able men that went not with them, as upbraiding their effeminateness1; and no wonder, when women themselves went in armour (having a brave lass, like another Penthesilea, for their leader, so befringed with gold that they called her Golden-foot3), riding astride like men ; which I should count more strange, but that I find all women in England in the same posture on their horses, till Anna4, wife to Ring Richard II., some two hundred years since, taught them a more modest behaviour. The Turks did quake, hearing of these preparations, which to them were reported far greater than they were, feme (contrary to all other painters) making those the greatest which are pre- sented the farthest off. 1 Christiano nomini atemporibus Apostolorum devota. Tyri- us, lib. 16, cap. 5. 2 P. ^mil. in Ludov. VII. 3 Nicetas, in Emm. Comn. 4 Camd. Britan. in Surrey. A. D. 1147 THE HOLY WAR. 85 Conrad, with his army, took his way through Grecia; where Emmanuel, the emperor, possessed with an hereditary fear of the Latins, fortified his cities in the way, as knowing there needed strong banks where such a stream of people was to pass. And suspecting that if these pilgrims often made his empire their highway into Palestine, little grass would grow in so trodden a path, and his country thereby be much endamaged, he used them most treacherously, giving them bad welcome, that he might no more have such guests. To increase their miseries, as the Dutch encamped by the river Melas 5 (if that may be called a river which is all mud in summer, all sea in winter), deserving his name from this black and dismal accident, it drowned many with its sudden overflowings, as if it had conspired with the Grecians, and learned treachery from them. . They that survived this sudden mishap were reserved for lingering misery. For the Grecian emperor did them all possible mischief, by mingling lime with their meal, by killing of stragglers, by holding intelligence with the Turks their enemies, by corrupting his coin, making his silver as base as himself (so that the Dutch sold good wares for bad money, and bought bad wares with good money), by giving them false conductors, which trained them into danger, so that there was more fear of the guides than of the way. All which his unfaithful dealings are recorded by that faithful historian Nicetas Choniates 6 ; who, though a Grecian born, affirmeth these things ; the truth of his love to his country, men no whit prejudicing his love to the truth. CHAP. XXVIII. — The Turks conquered at Meander. The Dutch and French arrive in Palestine. SCARCE had the Dutch escaped the treachery of the Greeks, when they were encountered with the hostility of the Turks, who waited for them on the other side of Meander. The river was not fordable ; ship or bridge the Christians had none: when, behold, Conrad the emperor adventured on an action, which, because it was successful, shall be accounted valiant, otherwise we should term it desperate. After an exhortation to his army, he com- manded them all at once to flounce into the river ! . Meander was plunged by their plunging into it: his water stood amazed, as unresolved whether to retreat to the fountain or 5 Nicetas, ut prius. 6 In Vita Manuel. Comn. lib. 1, § 5. ' Knolles, Turk. Hist. p. 33. 86 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1147 proceed to the sea, and in this ecstasy afforded them a dry passage over the stream z ; an act, which like that of Hora- tius Cocles's leaping into Tiber3, plus famte ad posteros habiturum quam Jidei, will find more admirers than be- lievers with posterity. The affrighted Turks, on the other side, thinking there was no contending with them that did teach nature itself obedience, offered their throats to the Christians' swords, and were killed in such number, that whole piles of dead bodies remain there for a monument ; like those heaps of the Cimbrians slain by Marius, near Marseilles, where afterwards the inhabitants walled their vineyards with sculls, and guarded their grapes with dead men4-. Hence Conrad made forward to Iconium, now called Cogni, which he besieged in vain, to the great loss of his army. The king of France followed after with great multitudes, and drank of the same cup at the Grecians' hands, though not so deeply; till at last, finding that those who marched through the continent met with an ocean of misery, he thought better to trust the wind and sea than the Greeks ; and, taking shipping, safely arrived in Palestine, where he was highly welcomed by Reimund, prince of Antioch. Some weeks were spent in complying, entertainments, and visiting holy places ; till at last, Eleanor, wife to the king of France, who accompanied her husband, made religion her pander, and played bankrupt of her honour5; under pre- tence of pilgrimage, keeping company with a base Saracen jester, whom she preferred before a king. Thus love may blindfold the eyes, but lust boreth them out. Yea, now she pleaded that she might be no longer wife to the king, because she was too near unto him, within the degrees for- bidden. This new started scruple never troubled her before ; but some have sluices in their consciences, and can keep them open, or shut them as occasion required. CHAP. XXIX.— Damascus besieged in vain. The Return of the Emperor and King; with- the Censure on this Voyage. THE late come pilgrims having sufficiently recreated themselves, the emperor and the king of France con- cluded to besiege Damascus : for a small town was con- 2 Nicetas, in Man. Comn. lib. 1, § 6. 3 Liv. lib. 2. 4 Munst. Cosmog. lib. 2, p. 227. 5 Serres, translated by Grimstou, in Vita Ludov. VII. and P. .-Emilias, in ejusdem Vita. A. D. 1148 THE HOLY WAR. 87 ceived too narrow an object of their valour, whilst so eminent an action was adequate to the undertakers. Da- mascus is so pleasant a city, that Mahomet durst never enter it, lest this deceiver should be deceived himself, and be so ravished with the pleasures of the place, that he should forget to go on in that great work he had in hand. Some make Eliezer, Abraham's steward, builder of this city, because he is called Eliezer of Damascus; though that phrase speaketh him rather to have had his birth or dwell- ing there, than the city her building from him. To pass this by, because as the foundations are hidden in the ground, so the founders of most ancient places are forgotten. It was for many years after the metropolis of Syria, and was now straitly besieged by the Christians with great hope of success [1148], had they not afterwards fallen out amongst themselves who should eat the chickens before they were hatched. Conrad and King Louis destined the city to Theodoric, earl of Flanders, lately arrived in those parts ; whilst other princes which had been long resident in Pales- tine, and borne the heat of the war, grudged hereat ; and their stomachs could not digest the crudity of a raw upstart to be preferred before them. Yea, some of the Christians, corrupted with Turkish money (though when they received it, it proved but gilded brass1 ; may all traitors be paid in such coin !), persuaded the king of France to remove his camp to a stronger part of the walls; which they long besieged in vain, and returned home at last, leaving the city and their honours behind them. The French proverb was verified of this voyage, " Much bruit and little fruit." They not only did no good in the Holy Land (save that some think their coming advantaged King Baldwin for the taking of the city of Askelon1), but also did much harm. For now the Turks, seeing one city both bear the brunt and batter the strength of both armies, began to conceive that their own fear was their greatest enemy ; and those swords of these new pilgrims which they dreaded in the sheath, they slighted when they saw them drawn, and shook off that awe which had formerly pos- sessed them, of the strength of the western emperor. Many thousand Christians perished in this adventure, whose souls are pronounced by all the writers of this age to be carried up into heaven on the wings of the holy cause they died for ; 1 Tlieodor. a Niein De Privileges Imperil, cap. de Con- rado 4. a Sabellicus. 88 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1148 whose blessed estate I will not disprove; nor will I listen to the unhappy Dutch proverb, " He that bringeth himself into needless dangers, dieth the devil's martyr3." We must not forget how the French king, coming home- ward, was taken prisoner by the fleet of the Grecian empe- ror, and rescued again by Gregory, admiral to Roger king of Sicily. When he was safely arrived in France, in open parliament his wife was divorced from him. Her nearness in blood was the only cause specified; and the king took no notice of her inconstancy, accounting those but foolish husbands who needlessly proclaim their wives' dishonesty. He gave her back again all the lands in France which he had received with her in portion, scorning her wealth which neglected his love. Herein he did nobly, but not politicly, to part with the dukedoms of Poictou and Aquitain, which he enjoyed in her right ; for he brake his own garland by giving her her flowers back again; mangled and dismem- bered his own kingdom, and gave a torch into Henry king of England's hands (who afterwards married her) to set France on fire4-. CHAP. XXX. — An Apology for St. Bernard, whom the vul- gar Sort condemned for the Murderer of those that went this Voyage. SLANDER (quicker than martial law) arraigneth, con- demneth, and executeth all in an instant This we may see in poor St. Bernard, who was the mark for every man's tongue to shoot arrows against : and when this voyage had miscarried, many condemned him1, because his persuasion set this project not only on foot but on wings ; as if he had thrust so many men, as one morsel, into the jaws of death. But much may be alleged truly to excuse this good man. First, he was but an instrument employed by Pope Eugenius and a provincial council of French bishops to forward the design *. . Rather then should they have blamed his holiness who set him on work : but the saddle oftentimes is not set on the right horse, because his back is too high to be reached, and we see commonly that the instruments are made screens to save the face of the principal from scorching. 3 Cited by Luther, on Gen. iii. 4 Serres, in Ludov. VII. 1 Goffridus, in Vita Bern. lib. 3, cap. 4. a Baron. Annal. Eccl. in auno 1140. Insistens operi sibi coinmisso ab Eu^enio. A. D. 1148. THE HOLY WAR. 89 Secondly, the true cause of the ill success was the vicious- ness of the undertakers. For Germany at this time sur- feited of lewd people, and those grew the fattest which lived on the highways. But this voyage robbed the whole country of her thieves3, and then no wonder if they found their death in Asia, who deserved it in Europe. Hear what Otho Frisingensis, who went this voyage, speaketh impartially in the matter4 :- — " If we should say that Bernard, that holy abbot, was inspired by God's Spirit to incite us to this war, but we, through our pride and wantonness, not observing his holy commands, deservedly brought on our- selves the loss of our goods and lives, we should say nothing but what is agreeable to reason, and to ancient examples." However, it was a heavy affliction on St. Bernard's aged back to bear the reproach of many people : it being a great ^rief for one to be generally condemned as guilty, for want of proof of his innocency. And though God set his hand to St. Bernard's testimonial by the many miracles which it father wrought5, yet still some challenged him for a counterfeit. And surely this humiliation was both wholesome and necessary for him. For the people, who cannot love with- out doting, nor approve without admiring, were too much transported with a high opinion of this man and his direc- tions ; as if that arrow could not miss the mark which came out of St. Bernard's bow. Wherefore this miscarriage came very seasonably to abate their overtowering conceits of him ; and perchance his own of himself. And no doubt he made a good use of this bad accident. The less his fame blazed, the more his devotion burned ; and the cutting off of his top made him take deep root, and to be made more truly hum- bled and sanctified. In his book of Consideration6 he maketh a modest defence of himself; whither we refer the reader. To conclude : the devotion of this man was out of question, so neglecting this world, that )ie even did spit out that preferment which was dropped into his mouth : but as for his judgment, it was not always the best; which gave occasion to the proverb, Bernardus non videt ornnia. 3 Germania tune latrociniis frequens, purgabatur eo genere liominum. Krantz. 6 Sax. cap. 13. 4 In Vita Fred. lib. 1, cap. 6, in fine. 6 Goffrid. ut prius. 6 Lib. 2, cap. 1. 90 THE HISTORY OF A.D.114& CHAP. XXXI. — Unseasonable Discords betwixt King Bald- win and his Mother. Her Strength in yielding to her Son. UPON the departure of Emperor Conrad and King Louis, Noradin the Turk much prevailed in Pales- tine [1149]. Nor was he little advantaged by the discords betwixt Millesent, queen-mother, and the nobility; thus occasioned: — There was a nobleman called Manasses, whom the queen (governing all in her son's minority) made con- stable of the kingdom. This man, unable to manage his own happiness, grew so insolent that he could not go, but either spurning his equals, or trampling on his inferiors. No wonder then if envy, the shadow of greatness, waited upon him. The nobility highly distasted him1 ; but in all oppositions the queen's favour was his sanctuary, who, to show her own absoluteness, and that her affection should not be controlled, nor that thrown down which she set up, still preserved the creature she had made. His enemies, perceiving him so fast rooted in her favour, and seeing they could not remove him from his foundation, sought to remove him with his foundation ; instigating young King Baldwin against his mother, and especially against her favourite. They complained how the state groaned under his insolency ; he was the bridge by which all offices must pass, and there pay toll ; he alone sifted all matters, and then no wonder if much bran passed ; he, under pretence of opening the queen's eyes, did lead her by the nose, captivating her judgment instead of directing it; he, like a by-gulf, devoured her affection, which should flow to her children. They persuaded the king he was ripe for government, and needed none to hold his hand to hold the sceptre. Let him therefore either unite or cut himself loose from this slavery, and not be in subjection to a subject. Liberty needeth no hard pressing on youth ; a touch on that stamp maketh an impression on that waxen age. Young Baldwin is apprehensive of this motion, and prose- cuteth the matter so eagerly, that, at length, he coopeth up this Manasses in a castle, and forceth him to abjure the kingdom. Much stir afterwards was betwixt him and his mother; till at last, to end divisions, the kingdom was divided betwixt them : she had the city of Jerusalem, and the land-locked part; he the maritime half of the land. 1 Tyrius, lib. 17, cap. 13. A. D.1153 THE HOLY WAR. 91 But the widest throne is too narrow for two to sit on together. He, not content with this partition, marcheth furiously to Jerusalem, there to besiege his mother, and to take all from her. Out of the city cometh Fulcher, the good patriarch2 (his age was a patent for his boldness), and freely reproveth the king : why should he go on in such an action wherein, every step he stirred, his legs must need grate and crash both against nature and religion? Did he thus requite his mother's care in stewarding the state, thus to affright her age, to take arms against her ? Was it not her goodness to be content with a moiety, when the whole king- dom in right belonged unto her? But ambition had so enchanted Baldwin, that he was penetrable with no reasons which crossed his designs : so that by the advice of her friends she was content to resign up all, lest the Christian cause should suffer in these dissen- sions. She retired herself to Sebaste3, and abridged her train from state to necessity. And now the less room she had to build upon, the higher she raised her soul with heavenly meditations ; and lived as more private, so more pious till the day of her death. CHAP. XXXII. — Reimund, Prince of Antioch, overcome and killed. Askelon taken by the Christians. The Death of King Baldwin. r 1 ^HESE discords betwixt mother and son were harmony A in the ears of Noradin the Turk : who, coming with a great army, wasted all about Antioch ; and Prince Reimund, going out to bid him battle, was slain himself, and his army overthrown : nor long after Joceline, count of Edessa, was intercepted by the Turks, and taken prisoner. As for Constantia, the relict of Reimund prince of Antioch, she lived a good while a widow, refusing the affections which many princely suitors proffered unto her, till at last she descended beneath herself to marry a plain man, Reinold of Castile [1153]. Yet why should we say so, when as a Castilian gentleman (if that not a needless tautology), as he maketh the inventory of his own worth, prizeth himself any prince's fellow: and the proverb is, Each layman of Castile may make a king, each clergyman a pope. Yea, we had best take heed how we speak against this match ; for Almericus, patriarch of Antioch, for in- veighing against it, was by this Prince Reinold set in the 2 Tyrius, lib. 17, cap. 14. 3 Idem, ibidem. 92 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 115 heat of the sun with his bare head besmeared with honey (a sweet bitter torment), that so bees might sting him t death. But Ring Baldwin mediated for him, and obtaine< his liberty, that he might come to Jerusalem, where he IP many years in good esteem. And God's judgments aiT said to have overtaken the prince of Antioch ; for, beside the famine which followed in his country, he himself aftei wards fighting unfortunately with the Turks, was takei prisoner. But let us step over to Jerusalem, where we shall fin< King Baldwin making preparation for the siege of Aske Ion ; which city, after it had long been blocked up, had a last an assauhable breach made in the walls thereof. Thi Templars (to whom the king promised the spoil if they too' it) entered through this breach into the city ; and conceiving they had enough to wield the work and master the place set a guard at the breach, that no more of their fellov Christians should come in to be sharers with them in th< booty. But their covetousness cost them their lives2; fo: the Turks, contemning their few number, put them everj one to the sword. Yet at last the city was taken, thoug with much difficulty [Aug. 12, 1154]. Other considerable victories Baldwin got of the Turks especially one at the river Jordan, where he vanquisher Noradin: and twice he relieved Caesarea-Philippi, whicf the Turks had straitly besieged. But death at last put period to his earthly happiness [1163], being poisoned (a] it was supposed) by a Jewish physician ; for the rest of the potion killed a dog to whom it was given. This king': youth was stained with unnatural discords with his mother and other vices, which in his settled age he reformed. Le the witness of Noradin, his enemy, be believed, who honour ably refused to invade the kingdom whilst the funer; solemnities of Baldwin were performing; and professec the Christians had a just cause of sorrow, having lost sucl a king, whose equal for justice and valour the world did no afford3. He died without issue, having reigned one an< twenty years. So that sure it is the printer's mistake ii Tyrius, where he hath four and twenty years assigned hin more than the consent of time will allow. 1 Tyrius, lib. 18, cap. 1. 2 Idem, lib. 17, cap. 27. 3 Idem, lib. 19, cap. 34. D. 1163 THE HOLY WAR. 93 CHAP. XXXIII. — King Almerick's Disposition. LMERICK, brother to King Baldwin, earl of Joppa and Askelon, succeeded to the crown [Feb. 18, 1163J. It before his coronation he was enjoined by the pope's [ate, and by the patriarch of Jerusalem, to dismiss Agnes wife, daughter to Joceline the younger, count of Edessa, mse she was his cousin in the fourth degree; with this [ervation, that the two children he had by her, Baldwin Sibyll, should be accounted legitimate, and capable of [ir father's possessions. A prince of excellent parts ; of a )st happy memory1 (wherein also his brother Baldwin .s eminent, though Fulco, their father, was wonderfully [getful ; so true is the maxim, Pure personalia non propa- itur, Parents entail neither their personal defects nor [rfections on their posterity), solid judgment, quick appre- ision ; but of a bad utterance, which made him use words ly as a shield when he was urged and pressed to speak, lerwise he preferred to be silent, and declined popularity >re than his brother Baldwin affected it. Very thrifty he and though Tully saithz, Did hominem frugi non habet laudis in rege, yet moderate frugality is both idable and necessary in a king. But our Almerick went lewhat too far, and was a little poor in admiring of |hes, laying great taxations on the holy places to their ter impoverishing : yet was he not mastered by his purse, ft made it his vassal, and spared no money on a just :asion. He never received accusation against any of his icers, and never reckoned with them (count it as you >, carelessness or noble confidence), because he would It teach them to be dishonest by suspecting them. Nor is I the last and least part of his praise, that William, arch- shop of Tyre (so often mentioned), wrote the Holy War I his instance. Once he angered the good archbishop with is question, Hpw the resurrection of the body may be >ved by reason3? Hereat the good prelate was much spleased, as counting it a dangerous question, wherewith [e removeth a foundation stone in divinity, though with tent to lay it in the place again. But the king presently nested, that he demanded it not out of any diffidence in nself about that article, but in case one should meet with sturdy man, who (as too many nowadays) would not I1 Tyrius,lib. 19, cap. 2. I3 Tyrius, lib. 19, cap. 3. 2 In Orat. pro Deiotaro. 94 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 116SJ trust faith on her single bond, except he have reason joined for security with her. Hereupon the archbishop alleged many strong arguments to prove it, and both rested well satisfied. CHAP. XXXIV. — Ecclesiastical Business. A Sultan of Iconium, and the Master of the Assassins desired to be christened. The Commonwealth of the Assassins de- scribed. IN the church of Jerusalem we find Almerick still patri- arch ; a Frenchman born, but little fit for the place to which he was preferred by the favour of Sibyll, countess of Flanders, the king's sister. Meantime the church needed a salique law, to forbid distaffs to meddle with mitres ; and neither to be nor to make patriarchs. But the most remarkable church matter in this king's reign, was the clandestine christening of a sultan of Iconium. And more of his courtiers might have followed him *, but that his ambassadors being at Rome, were offended there with the viciousness of Christians' lives ; which made them to exclaim, " How can fresh and salt water flow from the same fountain2?" [1169] This hath made many Pagans step back, which had one foot in our church, when they have seen Christians believe so well and live so ill ; break- ing the commandments against the creed. Not long after, the great master of the Assassins wag really disposed to receive our religion ; and to this end sent an ambassador to King Almerick, which ambassador was treacherously slain by one of the Templars [1173]. The king demanded this murderer of the master of the Templars, that justice might pass upon him3. But the master proudly answered, that he had already enjoined him penance, and had directed to send him to the pope, but stoutly refused to surrender him to the king. This cruel murder imbittered the Assassins more desperately against the Christians. These Assassins were a precise sect of Mahometans, and had in them the very spirits of that poisonous superstition. They had some six cities, and were about forty thousand in number, living near Antaradus in Syria. Over these was a chief master (hell itself cannot subsist without a Beelzebub ; so much order there is in the place of confu- 1 Baron, in anno 1169. 2 M. Paris in anno 1169. 3 Tyrius, lib. 20, cap. 32. i. D. 1165 THE HOLY WAR. 95 ion), whom they called The Old Man of the Mountains4. Vt his command they would refuse no pain or peril, but .tab any prince whom he appointed out to death ; scorning lot to find hands for his tongue, to perform what he jnjoined. At this day there are none of them extant except revived by the Jesuits, for sure Ignatius Loyola, the ame father of blind obedience, fetched his platform hence), Deing all, as it seems, slain by the Tartarians5, anno 1257. But no tears need be shed at their funerals ; yea, pity it is that any pity should be lavished upon them, whose whole government was an engine built against human society, worthy to be fired by all men ; the body of their state being i very monstrosity, and a grievance of mankind. UHAP. XXXV. — Dargan and Sanar, two Egyptian Lords, contending about the Sultany, Sanar callet/i in the Turks to help him. Of the Danger of mercenary Soldiers ; yet how, well qualified^ they may be serviceable. EGYPT was the stage whereon the most remarkable passages in the reign of King Almerick were acted. [t will be necessary, therefore, to premise somewhat concern- ng the estate of that kingdom at this time. Whilst the Turks thus lorded it in Syria and the Lesser Asia, the Saracen caliph commanded in Egypt; under whom, two great lords, Dar- gan and Sanar, fell out about the sultany or viceroy ship of that land. But Sanar, fearing he should be worsted by Dargan, sued to Noradin king of the Turks at Damascus for aid, who sent him an army of Turks, under the com- mand of Syracon, an experienced captain, against Sultan Dargan [1165]. So Dargan and Sanar met and fought. The victory was Dargan's, but he enjoyed it not long, being shortly after slain by treachery, whereby Sanar recovered the sultan's place. Meantime how strange was the volup- tuous lethargy of the caliph Elhadach, to pursue his private pleasures, whilst his viceroys thus fought under his nose, and employed foreign succours, yet he never regarded it ; as if the tottering of his kingdom had rocked him fast asleep. Nor was he moved with that which followed, and more nearly concerned him. For Syracon the Turkish captain, whom Sanar had gotten to come into Egypt, would not be entreated to go home again; but seized on the city of 4 M. Paris, anno 1147. P. ^railius, in Ludov. Juu. 5 M. Paris (aut ejus Continuator), in anno 1257. 06 THE HISTORY OF A.r.1161 Belbis, fortified it, and there attended the arrival of more Turks from Damascus, for the conquest of Egypt. Which afterwards they performed, the land being never completely cleared of them, till at last they conquered the whole king- dom, partly under this Syracon, and wholly under Saladin his nephew. And here my discourse (by the leave of the reader) must a little sally forth to treat of the danger of entertaining mercenary soldiers. They may perchance be called in with a whistle, but scarce cast out with a whip. If they be slugs, they endanger a state by their slothfulness ; if spirited men, by their activity. Caesar Borgia, Machiavel's idol, whose practice he raaketh the pattern of policy, saith, that he had rather be conquered with his own men, than be conqueror with an army of others, because he counted that conquest to be none at all1. Yet good physic may be made of poison well corrected. They may sometimes be necessary evils, yea, good and serviceable to defend a land, if thus qualified : — First, if they have no command of castles, or place near about the prince's person, for then they have a compendious way to treason, if they intend it. Secondly, if they be not entertained in too great numbers, but in such refracted degrees, that the natives may still have the predominancy; for a surfeit oi foreign supplies is a disease incurable. Thirdly, if the prince who employeth them hath their wives, children, and estates in his own hands ; which will be both a caution and pawn for their fidelity, and will also interest their affections more cordially in the cause. Lastly, if they be of the same religion with them, and fight against the enemy of the religion of both ; for then they are not purely hirelings, but parties in part, and the cause doth at least mediately concern them. I believe that it will scarcely be shown, that the protestants have turned tails and betrayed them they came to assist. We may observe, the Low Countries have best thrived by setting this trade of journeymen soldiers on work. Let them thank God and the good English; for if Francis duke of Anjou with his Frenchmen had well succeeded, no doubt he would have spread his bread with their butter. Next them the Venetians have sped best ; for they have the trick, when they find it equally dangerous to cashier 1 Mach. Prince, cap. 9. Se malle vinci suis annis quam alienis victorem esse. A. D. 1166 THE HOLY WAR. 97 their mercenary general or to entertain him any longer, fairly to kill him, as they served Carmignola*. England hath best thrived without them ; under God's protection we stand on our own legs. The last I find are a handful of Almains used against Kett, in Norfolk in the days of King Edward VI.3. And let it be our prayers, that as for those hirelings which are to be last tried and least trusted, we never have want of their help, and never have too much of it. CHAP. XXXVI. — Sunar imploreth the Aid of King Almerick. A solemn Agreement made betwixt them, and ratified by the magnificent Caliph. SULTAN Sanar perceiving himself pressed and overlaid by these Turks [1166], who with Syracon their captain refused to return, and of assistance turned invaders, bor- rowed the help of Almerick king of Jerusalem to avoid them out of Egypt. Whilst Almerick marched thither, an unfor- „ tunate battle was fought [Aug. 10], betwixt Boemund the third of that name prince of Antioch, Reimund count of Tripoli, Calaman Grecian governor of Cilicia, and Joceline III. the titular count of Edessa, on the one side; and Noradin king of the Turks, on the other. The Turks got the victory, and these four Christian princes were taken prisoners; and their army lost so much good blood that day, that cast it into an irrecoverable consumption, and hastened the ruin of this kingdom. Noradin, following his blow, won Csesarea-Philippi. Nevertheless Almerick went on effectually in Egypt, and for a time expulsed the Turks out of this land [Aug. 18]. But Syracon would not so quickly quit the country, but goeth to the caliph of Babylon (who was opposite to him of Egypt, each of them claiming as heir to Mahomet, that false prophet, the sovereignty over all that were of the Saracen law) and offereth him his means for the extirpation of this schismatical caliph, and the reduction of all Egypt to the subjection of the Babylonian. The motion was joyfully entertained, and Syracon with a mighty power descendeth into Egypt. Sanar, affrighted hereat, maketh new and large proffers to King Almerick to stop this deluge of his enemies, and proffereth him a pension of forty thousand ducats yearly 2 Mach. Prince, cap. 8. 3 Speed, Edward VI. 93 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1166 for his behooveful assistance. But the king, understanding that the sultan (how much soever he took upon him) was subject to a higher lord, would make no such bargain with him, but with the caliph himself; and therefore sent his ambassadors, Hugh earl of Caesarea, and a knight-templar, along with the sultan to Caliph Elhadach, then resident at Cairo1. Arriving at his palace, they passed through dark passages well guarded with armed Ethiopians. Hence they were conducted into goodly open courts, of such beauty and riches, that they could not retain the gravity of ambassadors, but were enforced to admire the rarities they beheld2. The farther they went, the greater the state; till at last they were brought to the caliph's own lodging ; where, entering the presence, the sultan thrice prostrated himself to the ground before the curtain behind which the caliph sat. Presently the traverse wrought with pearls was opened, and the caliph himself discovered, sitting with great majesty on a throne of gold, having few of his most inward eunuchs about him. The sultan humbly kissed his master's feet, and briefly told him the cause of their coming, the danger wherein the land stood, the proffers he had made to King Almerick, desiring him now to ratify them, and in demonstration thereof, to give his hand to the king's ambassadors. The caliph demurred hereat, as counting such a gesture a diminution to his state; and at no hand would give him his hand bare, but gave it in his glove. To whom the resolute earl of Caesarea3 : " Sir," said he, "truth seeketh no holes to hide itself. Princes that will hold covenant, must deal openly and nakedly ; give us therefore your bare hand ; we will make no bargain with your glove." He was loath to do it, but necessity (a more imperious caliph than himself at this time) commanded it ; and he did it at last, dismissing the Christian ambassadors with such gifts as testified his greatness. According to this agreement King Almerick cordially prosecuted his business, improving his utmost might to expel Syracon with his Turks out of Egypt, whom he bade battle, and got the day, though he lost all his baggage ; so that the conquest in a manner was divided ; the Turks gaining the wealth, the Christians the honour of the victory. Following his blow, he pinned up the Turks afterward in 1 Tyrius, lib. 19, cap. 16. 2 Idem, cap. 18. 3 Idem, cap. 19. A. D. 1168 THE HOLY WAR. 99 the city of Alexandria, and forced them to receive of him conditions of peace, and then returned himself with honour to Askelon [Sept. 21, 1167]. CHAP. XXXVII. — Almerick, against his Promise, invadet/i Egypt. His Perjury punished with the future Ruin of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. His Death. WHEN a crown is the prize of the game, we must never expect fair play of the gamesters. King Almerick having looked on the beauty of the kingdom of Egypt, he longed for it [1168] ; and now no longer to drive out the relics of the Turks, but to get Egypt to himself; and the next year, against the solemn league with the caliph, invaded it with a great army. He falsely pretended that the caliph would make a private peace with Noradin king of the Turks, and hence created his quarrel. For he hath a barren brain, who cannot fit himself with an occasion if he hath a desire to fall out. But Gilbert master of the Hospitallers chiefly stirred up the king to this war, upon promise that the city and country of Pelusium, if conquered, should be given to his order. The Templars were much against the design (one of their order was ambassador at the ratifying of the peace) and with much zeal protested against it, as undertaken against oath and fidelity. An oath being the highest appeal, perjury must needs be a heinous sin, whereby God is solemnly invited to be witness of his own dishonour. And as bad is a God- mocking equivocation ; for he that surpriseth truth with an ambush, is as bad an enemy as he that fighteth against her with a flat lie in open field. I know what is pleaded for King Almerick, namely, that Christians are not bound to keep faith with idolaters, the worshippers of a false god, as the Egyptian caliph was on the matter. But open so wide a window, and it will be in vain to shut any doors. All contracts with Pagans may easily be voided, if this evasion be allowed. But what saith St. Hierome ? " It matters not to whom, but by whom we swear1/' And God, to acquit himself, knowing the Christians' prosperity could not stand with his justice after their perjury, frowned upon them. And from hence authors date the constant ill success of the holy war. For though this expedition sped well at the 1 Non considerandum cui, sed per quern juraveris. — Com- ment. Ezek. xvii. 100 THE HISTORY OF A.D.1173 first, and Almerick won the city of Belbis or Pelusium, yet see what a cloud of miseries ensued. First, Noradin in his absence wasted and won places near Antioch at pleasure. Secondly, Meller prince of Armenia, a Christian, made a covenant with Noradin % and kept it most constantly, to the inestimable disadvantage of the king of Jerusalem. This act of Meller must be condemned, but withal God's justice admired. Christians break their covenant with Saracens in Egypt, whilst other Christians, to punish them, make and keep covenant with Turks in Asia. Thirdly, the Saracens grew good soldiers on a sudden, who were naked at first, and only had bows ; but now learned from the Christians to use all offensive and defen- fensive weapons. Thus rude nations always better them- selves in fighting with a skilful enemy. How good marks- men are the Irish nowadays, which some seventy years ago, at the beginning of their rebellions, had three men to discharge a handgun 3 ! Fourthly, Almerick's hopes of conquering Egypt were frustrated ; for after some victories he was driven out, and that whole kingdom conquered by Saladin (nephew to Syracon), who killed the caliph with his horse-mace as he came to do him reverence, and made himself the absolutest Turkish king of Egypt. And presently after the death of Noradin [May, 1173], the kingdom of the Turks at Damas- cus was by their consent bestowed upon him. Indeed Noradin left a son, Melexala, who commanded in part of his father's dominions ; but Saladin, after his death, got all for himself. Thus rising men shall still meet with more stairs to raise them ; as those of falling, with stumbling- blocks to ruin them. Meantime Jerusalem was a poor weatherbeaten kingdom, bleak and open to the storm of enemies on all sides, having no covert or shelter of any good friend near it, lying in the lion's mouth betwixt his upper and nether jaw ; Damascus on the north, and Egypt on the south; two potent Turkish kingdoms, united under a puissant prince, Saladin. This made Almerick send for succours into Europe ; for now, few voluntaries came to this service ; soldiers must be pressed with importunity. Our western princes were prodigal of their pity, but niggardly of their help. The heat of the 2 Centurist. Centur. 12, in Almerico. 3 Morison, iii the Description of Ireland, anno 1598. JA.D. 1174 THE HOLT WAR. 101 I war in Palestine had cooled their desires to go thither, which made these ambassadors to return without supplies, having gone far to fetch home nothing but discomfort and despair. Lastly, King Almerick himself, wearied with whole volleys of miseries, ended his life of a bloody flux, having reigned eleven full years, and was buried with his predecessors; leaving two children, Baldwin and Sibyll, by Agnes his first wife, and by Mary his second wife (daughter to John Proto-Sebastus, a Grecian prince), one daughter, Isabel ; married afterwards to Hemphred III. prince of Thorone4. CHAP. XXXVIII.— Baldwin the Fourth succeedeth. His Education under William, the reverend Archbishop of Tyre. BALDWIN'S son, the fourth of that name, succeeded his father [July 15, 1174] ; so like unto him, that we report the reader to the character of King Almerick, and will spare the repeating his description. Only he differed in the temper of his body, being inclined to the leprosy called elephantiasis, noisome to the patient, but not infectious to the company ; not like Uzziah's, but Naaman's leprosy, which had it been contagious, no doubt the king of Assyria, when he went into the house of Rimmon, would have chosen another supporter. Meantime the kingdom was as sick as the king; he of a leprosy, that of an incurable consumption. This Baldwin had the benefit of excellent education under William archbishop of Tyre, a pious man and excel- lent scholar, skilled in all the learned oriental tongues, be- sides the Dutch, and French his native language; a mode- rate and faithful writer : for in the latter part of his history of the holy war, his eye guided his hand, till at last the taking of the city of Jerusalem so shook his hand, that his pen fell out, and he wrote no more. Treasurer he was of all the money contributed to the holy war, chancellor of this kingdom; employed in several embassies in the west ; pre- sent at the Lateran council, the acts whereof he did record : cardinal he might have been, but refused it1 : in a word, unhappy only that he lived in that age, though that age was happy he lived in it. 4 Tyrius, lib. 22, cap. 4. 1 Centurist. Centur. in Episcopis. 102 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1181 CHAP. XXXIX. — The Viciousness of Heraclius, the Patri- arch of Jerusalem. His Embassy to Henry the Second King of England) with the Success. The Maronites re- conciled to the Roman Church. AFTER the death of Almerick, patriarch of Jerusalem, Heraclius was, by the queen-mother Mary, second wife to King Almerick, for his handsomeness, preferred to be patriarch [1181]. William, archbishop of Tyre, was violent against his election, because of a prophecy, that as Heraclius king of Persia won, so an Heraclius should lose the cross1. But others excepted, that this exception was nothing worth; for let God give the man, and let the devil set the name. As for those blind prophecies, they miss the truth oftener than hit it ; so that no wise man will lean his belief on so slender a prop. But Heraclius had a worse name than his name, the bad report of his vicious life ; keeping a vintner's wife, whom he maintained in all state like an empress, and owned the children he had by her : her name, Pascha de Rivera* , and she was generally saluted the patriarchess3. His example infected the inferior clergy, whose corruption was a sad presage of the ruin of the realm ; for when prelates, the seers, — when once those eye-strings begin to break, the heart-strings hold not out long after. In his time the Maronites were reconciled to the Roman church. Their main error was the heresy of the Monothe- lites, touching one only will and action in Christ. For after that the heresy of Nestorius, about two persons in our Saviour, was detested in the eastern churches, some thought not themselves safe enough for the heresy of two persons till they were fallen with the opposite extremity of one nature in Christ : violence making men reel from one ex- treme to another. The error once broached, found many embracers ; as no opinion so monstrous, but if it hath had a mother, it will get a nurse. But now these Maronites, renouncing their tenets, received the Catholic faith [1182] ; though soon after, when Saladin had conquered their country, they relapsed to their old errors; wherein they continued till the late times of Pope Gregory XIII. and Clement VIII., when they again renewed their communion with the Roman church. They live at this day on Mount Libanus, not exceeding twelve thousand households, and 1 Besoldus, De Reg. Hieros. p. 282. 2 Besoldus, p. 284. 3 Patriarchissa, Marinas San. lib. 3, pare. 6, cap. 24. A. D. 1185 THE HOLY WAR. 103 pay to the great Turk, for every one above twelve years old, seventeen sultanines by the year4; and for every space of ground sixteen span square, one sultanine yearly; to keep themselves free from the mixture of Mahometans. A sultanine is about seven shillings and sixpence of our money5. To return to Heraclius. Soon after he was sent ambas- sador to Henry II. king of England [1185], to crave his personal assistance in the holy war, delivering unto him the royal standard, with the keys of our Saviour's sepulchre, the tower of David, and the city of Jerusalem, sent him by King Baldwin. King Henry was singled out for this ser- vice before other princes because the world justly reported him valiant, wise, rich, powerful, and fortunate ; and (which was the main) hereby he might expiate his murder, and gather up again the innocent blood which he had shed of Thomas Becket. Besides, Heraclius entitled our Henry to the kingdom of Jerusalem because Geoffrey Plantagenet his father, was son (some say brother) to Fulco IV. king of Jerusalem. But King Henry was too wise to bite at such a bait, wherein was only the husk of title without the kernel of profit. Yet he pretended he would go into Palestine ; and got hereby a mass of money towards his voyage, making every one, as well clerk as lay (saving such as went) to pay that year the tenth of all their revenues, moveables, and chattels, as well in gold as in silver. Of every city in Eng- land he chose the richest men ; as in London two hundred, in York a hundred, and so in proportion: and took the tenth of all their moveables, by the estimation of credible men who knew their estates6; imprisoning those who re- fused to pay, sub e.leemosynfe titulo vitium rapacitatis in- cludens, saith Walsingham. But now, when he had filled his purse, all expected he should fulfil his promise; when all his voyage into Palestine turned into a journey into France. Heraclius, whilst he stayed in England, consecrated the Temple Church in the suburbs of London, and the house adjoining belonging to the Templars ; since turned to a better use, for the students of our municipal law ; these new Templars defending one Christian from another, as the old ones Christians from Pagans. 4 Possevine, Appar. sacr. in Maron. 5 Brierwood, Inquiries, cap. 25. 6 Daniel, in Henry II. 104 THE HISTORY OF CHAP. XL. — Saladin fitteth himself with foreign Forces. The Original and great Power of the Mamalukes, with their jirst Service. IN the minority of King Baldwin, who was but thirteen years old, Milo de Planci, a nobleman, was protector of the realm; whose pride and insolence could not be brooked, and therefore he was stabbed at Ptolemais, and Reimund, count of Tripoli, chosen to succeed him. Now Saladin seriously intendeth to set on the kingdom of Jerusalem, and seeketh to furnish himself with soldiers for that service. But he perceived that the ancient nation of the Egyptians had lasted so long, that now it ran dregs ; their spirits being as low as the country they lived in, and they fitter to make merchants and mechanics than military men : for they were bred in such soft employments, that they were presently foundered with any hard labour. Wherefore he sent to the Circassians by the lake of Maeotis, near Taurica Chersonesus, and thence bought many slaves of able and active bodies. For it was a people born in a hard country (no fuel for pleasure grew there nor was brought thither), and bred harder ; so that war was almost their nature, with custom of continual skirmishing with the neighbouring Tartars. These slaves he trained up in military discipline, most of them being Christians once baptized; but afterwards un- taught Christ, they learned Mahomet, and so became the worse foes to religion for once being her friends. These proved excellent soldiers and special horsemen, and are called mairralukes. And surely the greatness of Saladin and his successors stood not so much on the legs of their native Egyptians, as it leaned on the staff of these strangers. Saladin, and especially the Turkish kings after him, gave great power, and placed much trust in these mamalukes1 : •who lived a long time in ignorance of their own strength, till at last they took notice of it, and scorning any longer to be factors for another, they would set up for themselves, and got the sovereignty from the Turkish kings. Thus princes who make their subjects overgreat, whet a knife for their own throats. And posterity may chance to see the insolent janizaries give the grand seignior such a trip on the heel as may tumble him on his back. But more largely of 1 Tyrius, lib. 21, cap. 23. A. D. 1181 THE HOLY WAR. 105 these mamalukes usurping the kingdom of Egypt (God willing) in its proper place. Thus Saladin, having furnished himself with new sol- diers, went to handsel their valour upon the Christians, in- vaded the Holy Land, burning all the country before him, and raging in the blood of poor Christians, till he came and encamped about Askelon. Meantime, whilst Reimund count of Tripoli, protector of the kingdom, with Philip earl of Flanders, and the chief strength of the kingdom, were absent in Celosyria, wasting the country about Emissa and Csesarea, young King Bald- win lay close in Askelon, not daring to adventure on so strong an enemy. With whose fear Saladin encouraged, dispersed his army, some one way, some another, to forage the country. King Baldwin, courted with this opportunity, marched out privately, nor having past four hundred horse, with some few footmen, and assaulted his secure enemies, being six and twenty thousand [Nov. 25, 1176]. But vic- tory standeth as little in the number of soldiers, as verity in the plurality of voices. The Christians got the conquest, and in great triumph returned to Jerusalem. This overthrow rather madded than daunted Saladin; who, therefore, to recover his credit, some months after, with his mamalukes, fell like a mighty tempest upon the Christians, as they were parting the spoil of a band of Turks, whom they had vanquished ; put many to the sword, the rest to flight. Otto, grand master of the Templars, and Hugh, son-in-law to the count of Tripoli, were taken prisoners ; and the king himself had much ado to escape. And thus both sides being well wearied with war, they were glad to refresh themselves with a short slumber of a truce solemnly concluded ; and their troubled estates breathed almost for the space of two years. Which truce Saladin the more willingly embraced, because of a famine in the king- dom of Damascus [1179], where it had scarce rained for five years together 2. IHA.P. XLI. — The fatal Jealousies betwixt the King and Reimund Earl of Tripoli. BUT this so welcome a calm was troubled with domestical discords [1181] ; for the king's mother (a woman of a turbulent spirit), and her brother, his steward, accused Reimund count of Tripoli, governor of the realm in the 2 Centurist. Cent. 12, in Baldvino IV. 106 THE HISTORY OF A.D.1181J king's minority, as if he affected the crown for himself: which accusation this earl could never wholly wipe off. For slender and lean slanders quickly consume themselves ; but he that is branded with a heinous crime (though false), when the wound is cured, his credit will be killed with the scar. Before we go further, let us view this Earl Reimund's disposition, and we shall find him marked to do mischief, and to ruin this realm. He was son to Reimund, grand- child to Pontius earl of Tripoli, by Cecilie, the daughter of Philip king of France1, great grandchild to Bertram first earl of Tripoli, great great grandchild to Reimund earl of Toulouse, one of special note amongst the primitive adventurers in the holy war. His mother was Hodiern, third daughter of Baldwin II. king of Jerusalem. A man whose stomach was as high as his birth, and very serviceable to this state whilst the sharpness of his parts was used against the Turks, which at last turned edge against the Christians : proud, not able to digest the least wrong ; and though long in captivity amongst the Turks, yet a very truant in the school of affliction, who never learned the lesson of patience ; so revengeful, that he would strike his enemy, though it were through the sides of religion and the Christian cause. For this present accusation of treason good authors seem to be his compurgators for this at this time, though afterwards he discovered his treacherous in- tents. And because he could not rise by his service, he made his service fall by him, and undid what he had done for the public good, because thereby he could not attain his private ends. He commanded over the earldom of Tripoli, which was a territory of large extent, wherein he was absolute lord. And by the way we may take notice of this as one of the banes of the kingdom of Jerusalem, that the principalities of Antioch, Tripoli, and Edessa (whilst it was Christian), were branches of this kingdom, but too big for the body ; for the princes thereof, on each petty distaste, would stand on their guard, as if they had been subjects out of courtesy, not conscience ; and though they confessed they owed the king allegiance, yet they would pay no more than they thought fitting themselves. To return to King Baldwin. This suspicion of Earl Reimund, though at first but a buzz, soon got a sting in the king's head, and he violently apprehended it. Whereupon Reimund, coming to Jerusalem, was by the way com- manded to stay, to his great disgrace. But some of the 1 Tyrius, lib. 21, cap. 5. A.D. 1181 THE HOLY WAR. 107 nobility, foreseeing what danger this discord might bring, reconciled them with much labour. However, Baldwin ever after looked on this earl with a jealous eye. Jealousy, if it be fire in private persons, is wildfire in princes, who seldom rase out their names whom once they have written in their black bills. And, as the Italian proverb is, " Sus- picion giveth a passport to faith to set it on packing ;" so this earl, finding himself suspected, was never after cordially loya.1, smothering his treachery in this king's life, which afterwards broke forth into an open flame. CHAP. XLII. — Saladin is conquered by King Baldwin, and conquereth Mesopotamia. Discords about the Protector- ship of Jerusalem. The Death and Praise of Baldwin the Fourth. THE kingdom of Damascus being recovered of the famine, Saladin having gotten his ends by the truce, would now have the truce to end ; and breaking it (as not standing with his haughty designs), marched with a great army out of Egypt through Palestine to Damascus, much spoiling the country. And now having joined the Egyptian with the Damascene forces, reentered the Holy Land. But young King Baldwin meeting him, though but with seven hundred to twenty thousand, at the village Frobolt, over- threw him in a great battle * ; and Saladin himself was glad with speedy flight to escape the danger, and by long marches to get him again to Damascus. Afterward he be- sieged Berytus both by sea and land ; but the vigilance and valour of King Baldwin defeated his taking of it. Saladin, finding such tough resistance in the Holy Land, thought to make a better purchase by laying out his time in Mesopotamia. Wherefore, passing Euphrates, he won Charran and divers other cities; and then returning, in Syria besieged Aleppo, the strongest place the Christians had in that country ; so fortified by nature, that he had little hope to force it. But treason will run up the steepest ascent, where valour itself can scarce creep; and Saladin, with the battery of bribes, made such a breach in the loyalty of the governor, that he betrayed it unto him. Thus he cometh again into the Holy Land more formi- dable than ever before, carrying an army of terror in the mentioning of his name, which drove the poor Christians all into their fenced cities. As for King Baldwin, the leprosy 1 Centurist. Cent 12, in Baldvino IV. 108 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 1183 had arrested him prisoner, and kept him at home. Long had this king's spirit endured this infirmity, swallowing many a bitter pang with a smiling face, arid going upright with patient shoulders under the weight of his disease. It made him put all his might to it, because when he yielded to his sickness, he must leave off the managing of the state; and he was loath to put off his royal robes before he went to bed, a crown being too good a companion for one to part with willingly. But at last he was made to stoop, and retired himself to a private life [1183J, appointing Baldwin his nephew (a child of five years old) his successor; and Guy earl of Joppa and Askelon, this child's father-in-law, to be protector of the realm in his minority. But soon after he revoked this latter act, and designed Reimund earl of Tripoli for the protector. He displaced Guy, because he found him of no over-weight worth, scarce passable without favourable allowance, little feared of his foes, and as little loved of his friends. The more martial Christians slighted him as a slug, and neglected so lazy a leader that could not keep pace with those that were to follow him : yea, they refused (whilst he was protector) at his command to fight with Saladin ; and, out of distaste to their general, suffered their enemy freely to forage ; which was never done before : for the Christians never met any Turks wandering in the Holy Land, but on even terms they would examine their passport how sufficient it was, and bid them battle. Guy stormed at his displacing, and though little valiant, yet very sullen, left the court in discontent, went home, and fortified his cities of Joppa and Askelon. What should King Baldwin do in this case? Whom should he make protector ? Guy had too little, Reimund too much spirit for the place. He feared Guy's cowardliness, lest he should lose the kingdom to the Turks ; and Reimund's treachery, lest he should get it for himself. Thus anguish of mind and weakness of body (a doughty conquest for their united strengths, which single might suffice) ended this king's days, dying young at five and twenty years of age. But if by the morning we may guess at the day, he would have been no whit inferior to any of his predecessors ; especially if his body had been able : but (alas !) it spoiled the music of his soul, that the instrument was quite out of tune. He reigned twelve years, and was buried in the Temple of the Sepulchre [May 16, 1185] : a king happy in this, that he died before the death of his kingdom. i.D.1185 THE HOLY WAR. 109 ^HAP. XLIII.— The short Life and woful Death of Bald- win the Fifth, an Infant. Guy, his Father-in-law, succeed- eth him. IT is a rare happiness of the family of St. Laurence [1 185], barons of Howth in Ireland1, that the heirs for four hundred years together always have been of age before the death of their fathers : for minors have not only baned fa- milies, but ruined realms. It is one of God's threatenings : * I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them1." With this rod God struck the kingdom of Jerusalem thrice in forty years; Baldwin the third, fourth, and fifth, being all under age ; and this last but five years old. He was the posthumous son of William, marquis of Montferrat, by Sibyll his wife, sister to Baldwin IV. daughter to King Almerick : she was afterwards married to Guy, earl of Joppa and Askelon. Now Reimund earl of Tripoli challenged to be protector of this young king, by the virtue of an act of the former king so assigning him. But Sibyll, mother to this infant, to defeat Reimund, first murdered all natural affection in herself, and then by poison murdered her son ; that so the crown in her right might come to her husband Guy. This Baldwin reigned eight months and eight days3, saith mis- taken Munster; and some mistake more, who make him not to reign at all : cruel to vri">ng his memory of his honour, whom his mother had robbed both of his life and kingdom. His death was concealed, till Guy, his father-in-law, had obtained by large bribes to the Templars and Heraclius the patriarch, to be crowned king: one more ennobled with his descent from the ancient family of the Lusignans in Poictou, than for any eminence in himself4: his gifts were better than his endowments. Yet had he been more fortunate, he would have been accounted more virtuous ; men commonly censuring that the fault of the king, which is the fate of the kingdom. And now the Christian affairs here posted to their woful period, being spurred on by the discords of the princes. 1 Camd. Brit, in the Descript. of the County of Dublin. 2 Isa. iii. 4. 3 Cosmog. lib. 5, in Terra Sancta. 4 Tyrius, lib. 22, cap. 25 et 27, calleth himhorainem indiscre tum et penitus inutilem. 110 THE HISTORY OF CHAP. XLIV. — Church Affairs. Of Haymericus, Patriarch of Antioch. Of the Grecian Anti-patriarchs ; and of the learned Theodorus Balsamon. WHILST Heraclius did patriarch it in Jerusalem, one Haymericus had the same honour at Antioch. He wrote to Henry II. king of England, a bemoaning letter of the Christians in the East, and from him received another, fraught with never- performed fair promises. This man must needs be different from that Haymericus who began his patriarchship in Antioch anno 1143, and sat but twelve years, say the centuriators * : but Baronius2, as different from them sometimes in chronology as divinity, maketh them the same. Then must he be a thorough old man, enjoying his place above forty years ; being probably before he wore the style of patriarch, well worn in years himself. I must confess it passeth my chymistry to exact any agree- ment herein out of the contrariety of writers. We must also take notice that, besides the Latin patriarchs in Jesusalem and Antioch, there were also Grecian anti-patriarchs ap- pointed by the emperor of Constantinople ; who, having no temporal power nor profit by church lands, had only juris- diction over those of the Greek church. We find not the chain of their succession, but here and there light on a link; and at this time in Jerusalem on three successively: — 1. Athanasius, whom though one 3 out of his abundant charity is pleased to style a schismatic, yet was he both pious and learned, as appeareth by his epistles. 2. Leoutius, com- mended likewise to posterity for a good clerk and an honest man4. 3. Dositheus, inferior to the former in both respects 5 : Isaac the Grecian emperor sent to make him patriarch of Constantinople, and Dositheus catching at both, held neither, but betwixt two patriarchs' chairs fell to the ground. Antioch also had her Greek patriarchs : as one Sotericus displaced for maintaining some unsound tenets about our Saviour ; after him Theodorus Balsamon, the oracle of the learned law in his age. He compiled and commented on the ancient canons ; and principally set forth the privileges of Constantinople ; listening, say the Romanists, to the least noise that soundeth to the advancing of the eastern churches, 1 Centur. 12, in Episcop. 2 Annal. Eccl. in Haymerico. 3 Baronius, in anno 1180. 4 Nicetas Choniates, in Isaacio Angelo, p. 438. 5 Idem, ibidem. .D. 1187 THE HOLY WAR. Ill nd knocking down Rome wheresoever it peepeth above Constantinople. This maketh Bellarmine except against urn as a partial writer ; because a true historian should be either party, advocate, nor judge, but a bare witness. By Isaac the Grecian emperor this Balsamon was also eceived 6 : he pretended to remove him to Constantinople, n condition he would prove the translation of the patriarch o be legal, which is forbidden by the canons. Balsamon ook upon him to prove it : and a lawyer's brains will beat o purpose when his own preferment is the fee. But herein did but crack the nut for another to eat the kernel : for he emperor mutable in his mind, changing his favourites as veil as his clothes before they were old, when the legality f the translation was avowed, bestowed the patriarchship of Constantinople on another; and Theodorus was still staked own at Antioch in a true spiritual preferment, affording rim little bodily maintenance. :HAP. XLV—The Revolt of the Earl of Tripoli. The Christians irrecoverably overthrown^ and their King taken Prisoner. rHERE was at this time [1187] a truce betwixt the Christians and Saladin, broken on this occasion : Paladin's mother went from Egypt to Damascus, with much ;reasure and a little train, as sufficiently guarded with the :ruce yet in force ; when Reinold of Castile surprised and •obbed her. Saladin, glad of this occasion, gathereth all his strength together, and besiegeth Ptolemais. Now Reimund earl of Tripoli appeareth in his colours, /exed at the loss of the government. His great stomach lad no room for patience : and his passions boiled from a iever to a phrensy ; so that, blinded with anger at King Guy, le mistaketh his enemy, and will be revenged on God and religion ; revolting with his principality (a third part of the dngdom of Jerusalem) to Saladin ; and in his own person, mder a vizard, assisted him in this siege. Out of the city marched the Templars and Hospitallers, and fallingon the Turks killed twenty thousand ofthem[May l.J. 5fet they gave well nigh a valuable consideration for their victory, the master of the Hospitallers being slain; and a brave general in battle never dieth unattended. Saladin hereupon raiseth his siege ; and Reimund earl rf Tripoli, whether out of fear the Christians might prevail, 6 Nicetas Chron. in Isaacio, p. 440. 112 THE HISTORY OF A.D. lia* or remorse of conscience, or discontent, not finding th respect he expected of Saladin (who had learned th politic maxim, to give some honour, no trust to a fugitive reconciled himself to King Guy ; and, sorry for his form offence, returned to the Christians. King Guy hereupon gathering the whole strength of hi.» weak kingdom to do their last devoir, determined to bi» Saladin battle; though having but fifteen hundred horse, and fifteen thousand foot, against a hundred and twenty thousand horse, and a hundred and sixty thousand foot. Nigh Tiberias the battle was fought [July 3] ; they close in the afternoon, but night moderating betwixt them, both sides drew their stakes till next morning ; then on afresh The Christians' valour poised the number of their enemies • till at last the distemper of the weather turned the scales to the Turks' side. More Christians (thirsty within and scalded without) were killed with the beams the sun darted, than with the arrows the enemies shot. Reinold of Castile was slain, with most of the Templars and Hospitallers. Gerard master of the Templars, and Boniface marquis of Mont- ferrat, were taken prisoners l ; and also Guy the king, whc saw the rest of his servants slain before his eyes, only obtaining of Saladin the life of his schoolmaster. Yea. ir this battle, the flower of the Christian chivalry was cuk down; and, what was most lamented, the cross (saith Matthew Paris), which freed men from the captivity of their sins, was for men's sins taken captive. Most impute this overthrow to the earl of Tripoli, who that day com- manded a great part of the Christian army, and is said d some treacherously to have fled away. But when a great action miscarrieth, the blame must be laid on some ; am" commonly it lighteth on them who formerly have been found false, be it right or wrong; so impossible is it for him who once hath broken his credit by treason, ever to have it perfectly jointed again. It increaseth the suspicion, because this earl, afterwards found dead in his bed (as some say), was circumcised. Victorious Saladin, as he had thrown a good cast, played it as well ; in a month conquering Berytus, Biblus, Ptole- mais, and all the havens (Tyre excepted), from Sidon to Askelon. He used his conquest with much moderation, giving lives and goods to all, and forcing no Christians to depart their cities, save only the Latins. This his gentle- 1 Besoldus, in Guidone ; ex Crusio. I.D. 1187 THE HOLY WAR. 113 ess proceeded from policy, well knowing that if the Christians could not buy their lives cheap, they would sell icm dear, and fight it out to the uttermost. Askelon was ,out, and would not surrender. Wherefore Saladin, loath with the hazard of so long a siege to check his fortune in .he full speed, left it, and went to Jerusalem, as to a place }f less difficulty and more honour to conquer. CHAP. XLVI. — Jerusalem won by the Turk; with woful Remarkables thereat. T) EFORE the beginning of the siege, the sun, as sympa- JLJ thizing with the Christians' woes, was eclipsed [Sept. 4]. A sad presage of the loss of Jerusalem. For though those within the city valiantly defended it for a fortnight, yet they saw it was but the playing out of a desperate game which must be lost: their foes near, their friends far off; and those willing to pity, unable to help. Why then should ;hey prolong languishing, where they could not preserve life ? Concluding to lavish no more valour, they yielded up the city [Oct. 2], on condition all their lives might be redeemed, a man for ten, a woman for five, a child for one besant1; and fourteen thousand poor people, not able to pay their ransom, were kept in perpetual bondage. All Latins were cast out of the city, but those of the Greek religion were permitted to stay therein ; only Saladin to two Frenchmen gave liberty to abide there, and maintenance to live on, in reverence to their age: the one Robert of Corbie, a soldier to Godfrey of Bouillon when he won this city; the other Fulco Fiole, the first child born in the city after the Christians had conquered it*. Saladin, possessed of Jerusalem, turned the churches into stables, sparing only that of the Sepulchre for a great sum of money. Solomon's Temple he converted to a mosque, sprinkling it all over with rose-water, as if he would wash it from profaneness, whilst he profaned it with his washing. Thus Jerusalem, after it had fourscore and eight years been enjoyed by the Christians, by God's just judgment was taken again by the Turks. What else could be expected ? Sin reigned in every corner ; there was scarce one honest woman in the whole city of Jerusalem3. He- raclius the patriarch, with the clergy, was desperately 1 M. Paris, in anno 1187. 2 Besoldus, in Guidone, p. 285. 3 Ibid, p. 284, I 114 THE HOLY WAR. A. D. 1187 vicious ; and no wonder if iron rust, when gold doth ; and if the laity followed their bad example. This doleful news brought into Europe, filled all with sighs and sorrows. Pope Urban III. (as another Eli at the ark's captivity) died for grief; the cardinals lamented out of measure, vowing such reformation of manners ; never more to take bribes, never more to live so viciously ; yea, never to ride on a horse so long as the Holy Land was under the feet of the Turks4. But this their passion spent itself with its own violence, and these mariners' vows ended with the tempest. In this general grief of Christendom, there was one woman found to rejoice, and she a German prophetess called St. Christian, a virgin ; who, as she had foretold the day of the defeat, so on the same she professed that she saw in a vision Christ and his angels rejoicing. For the loss of the earthly Canaan was gain to the heavenly ; peopling it with many inhabitants, who were conquerors in their overthrow ; whilst they requited Christ's passion, and died for him who suffered for them5. But for the truth both of the doctrine and history hereof, none need burden their belief farther than they please. We will conclude all with Roger Hoveden's witty descant on the time 6 : — When Jerusalem was won by the Christians, and afterwards when it was lost, an Urban was pope of Rome, a Frederick emperor of Germany, an Heraclius patriarch of Jerusalem. But by his leave, though the first of his observations be true, the second is a flat falsity, the third a foul mistake, and may thus be mended : (it is charity to lend a crutch to a lame conceit) — When the cross was taken from the Persians, Heraclius was emperor ; and when it was taken from the Turks, Heraclius was patriarch. Thus these curious obser- vations (like over-small watches), not one of a hundred goeth true. Though it cannot be denied, but the same name (as Henry of England, one the win-all, another the lose-all in France) hath often been happy and unhappy in founding and confounding of kingdoms. But such nominal toys are rags not worth a wise man's stooping to take them up. 4 Roger Hoveden, in Henrico, anno 1187. 5 Qaandam morti Salvatoris virem cum multa devotione rependunt. — Baronius, in anno 1187. 6 Loco prius citato. BOOK III. CHAP. I. — Conrad of Montferrat valiantly defendeth Tyre, and is chosen King. IN this woful estate stood the Christian affairs in the Holy Land, when Conrad marquis of Montferrat arrived there. His worth commandeth my pen to wait on him from his own country till he came hither. Son he was to Boniface marquis of Montferrat, and had spent his youth in the service of Isaac Angelus, the Grecian emperor. This Isaac, fitter for a priest than a prince, was always bred in a private way; and the confining of his body seemeth to have brought him to a pent and narrow soul. For he suffered rebels to affront him to his face, never sending an army against them, but commending all his cause to a company of barefooted friars whom he kept in his court, desiring them to pray for him, and by their pious tears to quench the combustions in the empire. But our Conrad plainly told him, he must use as well the weapons of the left hand as of the right x ; meaning the sword as well as prayers ; and by the advice of this his general, he quickly subdued all his enemies. Which his great service found small reward ; only he was graced to wear his shoes of the imperial fashion1; a low matter, but there (forsooth) accounted a high honour. But soon after Isaac was sick of this physician who had cured his empire. If private debtors care riot for the company of their creditors, much less do princes love to see them to whom they owe them- selves and their kingdom ; so unwelcome are courtesies to them when above their requital. Now it is ancient policy, to rid away high spirits by sending them on some plausible errand into remote parts, there to seek for themselves an honourable grave. To this end Isaac by the persuasions of some spurred on Conrad (free enough of himself to any noble action), to go into Palestine, there to support the 1 Nicetas, in Isaacio Angelo, lib. 1, § 7. 2 Ibid, lib. 2, § 1.— Movov TO fiij TOIQ woXXoif of TV irodoQ TO T&v KcuiTapwv Xeyw Trapaonj/xov. 116 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 1187 ruinous affairs of the Christians. Conrad was sensible of their plot, but suffered himself to be wrought on, being •weary of the Grecians' baseness, and came into the Holy Land with a brave company of gentlemen furnished on their own cost. For a while we set him aside, and return to Saladin ; who by this time had taken Askelon, on condition that King Guy, and Gerard, master of the Templars, should be set at liberty. Nor long after was the castle of Antioch betrayed unto him by the patriarch 3 ; and the city, scarce got with eleven months' siege, was lost in an instant, with five and twenty strong towns more, which attended the fortune of Antioch : and many provinces thereto be- longing, came into the possession of the Turks. Must not the Christians needs be bankrupts if they continue this trade, buying dear, and selling cheap; gaining by inches,, and losing by ells ? With better success those in Tripoli (which city the wife of Earl Reimund after his death delivered to the Christians) defended themselves against Saladin4. For shame they would not forego their shirts, though they had parted with their clothes. Stark naked from shelter had the Christians been left, if stripped out of Tripoli and Tyre. Manfully therefore they defended themselves; and Saladin, having tasted of their valour in Tripoli, had no mind to mend his draught, but marched away to Tyre. But Conrad of Montferrat, who was in Tyre with his army, so used the matter, that Saladin was fain to fly, and leave his tents behind him, which were lined with much treasure; and the Christians had that happiness to squeeze that sponge which formerly was rilled with their spoil. They in Tyre, in token of gratitude, chose this Conrad king of Jerusalem ; swearing themselves his subjects who had kept them from being the Turks' slaves. To strengthen his title, he married Eliza or Isabella5 (authors christen her with either name), formerly espoused to Humfred of Thorone, sister to Baldwin IV., daughter to Almerick king of Jeru- salem. By this time King Guy was delivered out of prison [l 1 88], having sworn never more to bear arms against Saladin ; which oath by the clergy was adjudged void, because forced from him when he was detained in prison, unjustly against 3 Sabell. Enn. 9, lib. 5, p. 377. 4 Hoveden. 5 Besoldus, ex Ritio De Reg. p. 293. A. D. 1188 THE HOLY WAR. 117 promise. The worst was, now he had gained his liberty? he could not get his kingdom. Coming to Tyre, they shut the gates against him, owning no king but Conrad. Thus to have two kings together, is the way to have neither king nor kingdom. But Guy following the affront as well as he might, and piecing up a cloth of remnants, with his broken army be- sieged Ptolemais [August]. The Pisans, Venetians, and Florentines, with their sea succours, came to assist him. But this siege was churchwork, and therefore went on slowly ; we may easier perceive it to have moved than to move, especially if we return hither a twelvemonth hence. CHAP. II.— The Church Story in the Holy Land to the End of the War. The Use and Abuse of titular Bishops. WE must now no longer look for a full face of a church in the Holy Land ; it is well if we find one cheek and an eye. Though Jerusalem and Antioch were won by the Turks, the pope ceased not to make patriarchs of both. We will content ourselves with the names of those of Jerusalem, finding little else of them remarkable. After Heraclius, Thomas Agni was patriarch, present in the Lateran council under Innocent III*. Geraldus succeeded him, who sided with the pope against Frederick the emperor2'. Albertus, patriarch in Jerusalem when the Christians lost their land in Syria. He prescribed some rules to the Car- melites3. After him, Antony Beak, bishop of Durham, the most triumphant prelate of the English militant church, except Cardinal Wolsey. He founded and endowed a college for prebends at Chester4, in the bishopric of Durham ; yet no doubt he had done a deed more acceptable to God, if instead of sacrifice he had done justice, and not defrauded the Lord Vessy's heir, to whom he was guardian. Let those who are delighted with sciography paint out (if they please) these shadow-patriarchs, as also those of Antioch, and deduce their succession to this day : for this custom still continueth, and I find the suffragans to several arch- 1 Centur. Cent. 13, cap. 9. 2 Mattli. Paris, in anno 1229. 3 Centur. ut prius. 4 Camden, Brit. p. 601. Godwin, in Episc. Dunelm. See this catalogue of patriarchs altered 0ud perfected in the Chro- nology. 118 THE HISTORY OF A.D.1188 bishops and bishops in Germany and France style themselves bishops of Palestine5: for example, the suffragans of — 1. Tournay, 2. Munster, 3. Mentz, 4. Utrecht, 5. Sens, 6. Tri- ers, write themselves bishops of 1. Sarepta, 2. Ptolemais, 3. Sidon, 4. Hebron, 5. Caesarea, 6. Azotus. But well did one in the council of Trent give these titular bishops the title of fgmenta hum ana, man's devices6; because they have as little ground in God's word and the ancient canons for their making, as ground in Palestine for their mainte- nance : yea, a titular bishop soundeth a contradiction ; for a bishop and a church or diocess are relatives, as a husband and his wife. Besides, these bishops, by ascending to so high an honour, were fain to descend to many indecencies and indignities to support themselves, with many corrup- tions in selling of orders they conferred, the truest and basest simony. However the pope still continueth in making of them. First, because it is conceived to conduce to the state and amplitude of the Roman church to have so many bishops in it, as it is the credit of the apothecary to have his shop full, though many outside-painted pots be empty within. Secondly, hereby his holiness hath a facile and cheap way both to gratify and engage ambitious spirits, and such chameleons as love to feed on air. Yea, the pope is not only free of spiritual dignities, but also of temporal titular honours ; as when, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, he made Thomas Stukely (a bankrupt in loyalty as well as in his estate) marquis of Leinster, earl of Wexford and Car- low, Viscount Murrough, Baron Rosse and Hydron in Ireland7: the best is, these honours were not heavy nor long worn, he being slain soon after in Barbary, else the number of them would have broken his back. Lastly, there is a real use made of these nominal bishops ; for these ciphers, joined with figures, will swell a number, and sway a side in a general council, as his holiness pleaseth ; so that he shall truly cogere concilium, both gather and compel it. Of the four archbishops which were at the first session in the council of Trent, two were merely titular, who never had their feet in those churches whence they took their honour8. But enough hereof. Now to matters of the commonwealth. 5 Adricomius, in Terra Sancta. 6 History of Trent, lib. 8, p. 7. 7 Camd. Brit, in his Descript. of Dublin. 8 History of Trent, lib. 2, p. 140. A. D, 1188 THE HOLY WAR. 119 CHAP. III. — Frederick Barbarossa's sett ing forth to the Holy Land. Of the tyrannous Grecian Emperors. MATTERS going thus wofully in Palestine, the Chris- tians'sighs there were alarms to stir up their brethren in Europe to go to help them, and chiefly Frederick Barba- rossa, the German emperor. Impute it not to the weakness of his judgment, but the strength of his devotion, that at seventy years of age, having one foot in his grave, he would set the other on pilgrimage. We must know that this emperor had been long tied to the stake, and baited with seven fresh successive popes ; till at last, not conquered with the strength, but wearied with the continuance of their malice, he gave himself up to be ordered by them ; and Pope Clement III. sent him on this voyage into the Holy Land. Marching through Hungary with a great army of one hundred and fifty thousand valiant soldiers, he was wel- comed by King Bela1 [June 29]. But changing his host, his entertainment was changed ; being basely used when he entered into the Grecian empire. Of the emperors whereof we must speak somewhat. For though being to write the Holy War I will climb no hedges, to trespass on any other story ; yet will I take leave to go the highway, and touch on the succession of those princes which lead to the present discourse. When Conrad, emperor of Germany, last passed this way, Emmanuel was emperor in Greece; who, having reigned thirty-eight years, left his place to Alexius, his son : a youth, the depth of whose capacity only reached to understand pleasure ; governed by the factious nobility, till, in his third year, he was strangled by Andronicus, his cousin. Andronicus succeeded him ; a diligent reader and a great lover of St. Paul's epistles % but a bad practiser of them : who rather observing the devil's rule, that it is the best way for those who have been bad to be still worse, fencing his former villanies by committing new ones, held by tyranny what he had gotten by usurpation ; till, having lived in the blood of others, he died in his own, tortured to death by the headless multitude ; from whom he received all the 1 Arnoldus Lubecensis. 2 Nicetas Choniates, in fine Vitae Andronici. 120 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1190 cruelties which might be expected from servile natures when they command. Then Isaac Angelus, of the imperial blood, was placed in his throne; of whom partly before3. Nero-like, he began mildly, but soon fell to the trade of tyranny: no personal, but the hereditary sin of these emperors. He succeeded also to their suspicions against the Latins, as if they came through his country for some sinister ends. This jealous emperor reigned when Frederick, with his army, passed this way ; and many bad offices were done betwixt these two emperors by unfaithful ambassadors4, as such false mediums have often deceived the best eyes. But Frederick, finding perfidious dealing in the Greeks, was drawn to draw his sword, taking as he went Philippople5, Adrianople [Aug. 25], and many other cities, not so much to get their spoil as his own security. Isaac understanding hereof, and seeing these pilgrims would either find or make their passage, left all terms of enmity, and fell to a fair complying [11 90], accommodating them with all necessaries for their transportation over the Bosporus [March 28], pretending to hasten them away because the Christians* exigencies in Palestine admitted of no delay; doing it indeed for fear, the Grecians loving the Latins best when they are farthest from them. CHAP. IV. — The great Victories and woful Death of Frede- rick, the worthy Emperor. FREDERICK, entering into the territories of the Turkish sultan of Iconium, found great resistance, but van- quished his enemies in four several set battles. Iconium he took by force [May 19], giving the spoil thereof to his soldiers, in revenge of the injuries done to his uncle Conrad the emperor, by the sultan of that place. The city of Philomela he made to sing a doleful tune, razing it to the ground, and executing all the people therein, as rebels against the law of nations, for killing his ambassadors; and so came with much difficulty and honour into Syria. Saladin shook for fear, hearing of his coming ; and, fol- lowing the advice of Charatux, his counsellor1 (counted one of the wisest men in the world, though his person was 3 la the first chapter of this book. 4 Xicetas Choniates, in Isaacio, lib. 2, p. 436. 5 Baronius, Anna). 1 ^Kmilius, in Phil. Augusto, p. 178, 179. L.D. 1190 THE HOLY WAR. 121 nost contemptible ; so true it is, none can guess the jewel >y the casket), dismantled all his cities in the Holy Land, ;ave some frontier places, razing their walls and forts, that hey were not tenable with an army. For he feared if the Dutch won these places, they would not easily be driven >ut ; whereas now, being naked from shelter, he would ;veary them with set battles, having men numberless, and .hose near at hand ; and so he would tame the Roman eagle by matching him, giving him no rest nor respite from continual ighting. It is therefore no paradox to say, that in some :ase the strength of a kingdom doth consist in the weakness }f it. And hence it is, that our English kings have suffered ;ime, without disturbing her meals, to feed her belly full on ;heir inland castles and city walls; which, whilst they were standing in their strength, were but the nurseries of rebel- ion. And now, as one observeth% because we have no strong cities, war in England waxeth not old (being quickly stabbed with set battles), which in the Low Countries hath already outlived the grand climacterical of threescore and ten years. But Frederick the emperor, being now entering into the Holy Land, was, to the great grief of all Christians, sud- denly taken away, being drowned in the river of Saleph ; a river (such is the envy of barbarism, obscuring all places) which cannot accurately be known at this day, because this new name is a stranger to all ancient maps. If he went in to wash himself, as some write, he neither consulted with lis health nor honour : some say his horse foundered under him as he passed the water; others, that he fell from him. But these several relations, as variety of instruments, make a doleful concert in this, that there he lost his life : and no wonder, if the cold water quickly quenched those few sparks of natural heat left in him at seventy years of age. Neubri- gensis3 conceiveth that this his sudden death was therefore inflicted on him because, in his youth, he fought against the popes and church of Rome : but I wonder that he, seeing the emperor drowned in a ditch, durst adventure into the bottomless depths of God's counsels. Let it content us to know, that oftentimes heaven blasteth those hopes which bud first and fairest ; and the feet of mighty monarchs do slip, when they want but one step to their enemies' throne. After his death, Frederick, duke of Suabia, his second 2 Barklav.— Bellum in Anglia non senescit. 3 Lib. 4,"cap. 13. 122 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1190! son, undertook the conduct of the army. Now the Turks, conceiving grief had steeped and moistened these pilgrims' hearts, gave them a sudden charge, in hope to have over- thrown them. But the valiant Dutch, who, though they had scarce wiped their eyes, had scoured their swords, quickly forced them to retire. Then Frederick took the city of Antioch [June 21], which was easily delivered unto him, and his hungry soldiers well refreshed by the citizens, being as yet, for the most part, Christians. Marching from hence in set battle, he overthrew Dodequin, general of Saladin's forces, slew four thousand, and took a thousand prisoners, with little loss of his own men ; and so came to the city of Tyre, where he buried the corpse of his worthy father in the cathedral church, next the tomb of learned Origen ; and Gulielmus Tyrius, the worthy archbishop, preached hisl funeral sermon. We may hear his sorrowful army speaking this his epitaph unto him : — Earth scarce did yield ground enough for thy sword To conquer, how then could a brook afford Water to drown thee ? Brook, which since doth fear (O guilty conscience) in a map to' appear. Yet blame we not the brook, but rather think The weight of our own sins did make thee sink. Now sith 'tis so, we'll fetch a brackish main Out of our eyes, and drown thee once again. From hence, by sea, they were conveyed to the Christians'! army before Ptolemais, where young Frederick died of thej plague: and his great army, which at first consisted of a: hundred and fifty thousand at their setting forth out of Germany, had now no more left than eighteen hundred armed men4. CHAP. V. — The Continuation of the famous Siege of Ptole- mais. The Dutch Knights honoured with a Grand Master. WE have now, at our leisure, overtaken the snail-like siege of Ptolemais, still slowly creeping on. Before it the Christians had not only a national but oecumenical army ; the abridgment of the Christian world : scarce a state or populous city in Europe but had here some compe- tent number to represent it. 4 ^Emilius, in Pbil. 2, p. 175. D. 1190 THE HOLY WAR. 123 How many bloody blows were here lent on both sides, d repaid with interest ; what sallies, what assaults, what counters, whilst the Christians lay betwixt Saladin with great army behind them, and the city before them ! i memorable battle we must not omit. It was agreed twixt Saladin and the Christians to try their fortunes in a tched field ; and now the Christians were in fair hope of conquest, when an imaginary causeless fear put them to a al flight1; so ticklish are the scales of victory, a very ote will turn them. Thus confusedly they ran away, and ot would have been given to change a strong arm for a ift leg. But behold, Geoffrey Lusignan, King Guy's other (left for the guarding of the camp), marching out th his men, confuted the Christians in this their ground- s mistake, and reinforced them to fight, whereby they >n the day, though with the loss of two thousand men, d Gerard, master of the Templars. It was vainly hoped, that after this victory the city would surrendered ; but the Turks still bravely defended it, ough most of their houses were burnt and beaten down, d the city reduced to a bare skeleton of walls and towers, ley fought as well with their wits as weapons, and both des devised strange defensive and offensive engines; so at Mars himself, had he been here present, might have arned to fight, and have taken notes from their practice, eantime famine raged amongst the Christians ; and though me provision was now and then brought in from Italy or so far they fetched it), yet these small showers after eat droughts parched the more, and rather raised than ated their hunger. Once more we will take our farewell of this siege for a elvemonth : but we must not forget that at this time, fore the walls of Ptolemais, the Teutonic order, or Dutch nights21 (which since the days of Baldwin II. lived like ivate pilgrims) had now their order honoured with Henry ~ Walpot their first grand master, and they were enriched the bounty of many German benefactors. These, though >w, were sure ; they did hoc agere, ply their work ; more rdial to the Christian cause than the Templars, who some- mes, to save their own stakes, would play booty with the urks. Much good service did the Dutch knights in the ly war ; till at last (no wise doctor will lavish physic on Fuga imaginario metu orta. — Sabell. Enn. 9, lib. 5, p. 377. 3 Munster, de Germania, lib. 3, p. 778. 124 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 119( him in whom he seeth faciem cadaverosarn, so that deatl hath taken possession in the sick man's countenance), find ing this war to be desperate, and dedecus fortitudinis, thei even fairly left the Holy Land, and came into Europe meaning to lay out their valour on something that vvouh quit cost. But hereof hereafter. CHAP. VI. — Richard of England and Philip of France se forward to the Holy Land. The Danger of the Inter views of Princes. THE miseries of the Christians in Syria being reportec in Europe, made Richard I. king of England, anc Philip II., surnamed Augustus, king of France, to make uj all private dissensions betwixt them, and to unite thei forces against the Turks- Richard was well stored with men, the bones, and quickb got money, the sinews of war; by a thousand princeb skills gathering so much coin as if he meant not to return because looking back would unbow his resolution. T( Hugh, bishop of Durham, for his life, he sold the county o Northumberland ; jesting, he had made a new earl of an oh bishop1: he sold Berwick and Roxburgh to the Scottisl king for ten thousand pounds : yea, he protested he wouk sell his city of London2 (if any were able to buy it) rathe than he would be burdensome to his subjects for money But take this, as he spake it, for a flourish : for, pretending he had lost his old, he made a new seal, wherewith h squeezed his subjects, and left a deep impression in thei purses; forcing them to have all their instruments nevi sealed, which any ways concerned the crown3. Having now provided for himself, he forgot not hi:i younger brother, John earl of Morton, who was to staj behind him ; an active man, who, if he misliked the main tenance was cut for him, would make bold to carve for him- self: lest, therefore, straitened for means, he should swel into discontent, King Richard gave him many earldoms anc honours, to the yearly value of four thousand marks. Thu: he received the golden saddle, but none of the bridle of th< commonwealth ; honour and riches were heaped upon him but no place of trust and command. For the king deputec William, bishop of Ely, his viceroy ; choosing him for tha place rather than any lay earl, because a coronet perchanc* 1 Matthew Paris, Rich. I. p. 207. 2 Martinus, in Richardo I. 3 Speed, in Richard I. D. 1190 THE HOLY WAR. 125 ly swell into a crown, but never a mitre : for a clergy- *an's calling made him incapable of usurpation in his own rson. Thus having settled matters at home, he set forth with my of our nation, which either ushered or followed him. f these the prime were, Baldwin archbishop of Canter- ry, Hubert bishop of Salisbury, Robert earl of Leicester, ilph de Glanville late chief justice of England, Richard Clare, Walter de Kime, &c. The bishops of Durham d Norwich, though they had vowed this voyage, were spensed with by the court of Rome (qua. nulli deest pecu- n lurgienti*) to stay at home. His navy he sent about Spain, and with a competent number took his own urney through France. At Tours he took his pilgrim's scrip and staff from the chbishop. His staff at the same time casually brake in eces 5 ; which some (whose dexterity lay in sinister inter- eting all accidents) construed a token of ill success, kewise, when he and the French king, with their trains, issed over the bridge of Lyons, on the fall of the bridge s conceit was built, that there would be a falling out twixt these two kings6 ; which accordingly came to pass, eir intercourse and familiarity breeding hatred and discon- nt betwixt them. Yea, the interviews of equal princes have ever been served dangerous. Now princes measure their equality t by the extent of their dominions, but by the absolute- ss of their power ; so that he that is supreme and inde- ndent in his own country counteth himself equal to any ler prince how great soever. Perchance some youthful ngs may disport and solace themselves one in another's mpany, whilst as yet pleasure is all the elevation of their uls ; but when once they grow sensible of their own great- ss (a lesson they will quickly learn, and shall never want ichers), then emulation will be betwixt them ; because at eir meeting they cannot so go in equipage but one will 11 be the foremost : either his person will be more proper, carriage more courtlike, or attendance more accom- ished, or attire more fashionable, or something will ther be or conceived to be more majestical in one than e other : and corrivals in honour count themselves eclipsed 4 Matthew Paris, in Richardo I. p. 207. 5 Roger Hoveden, in Richardo I. p. 666. 6 Idem, ibidem. 126 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 119C by every beam of state which shineth from their competitor Wherefore the best way to keep great princes together is tc keep them asunder, accommodating their business by am« bassadors, lest the meeting of their own persons part theii affections. CHAP. VII. — King Richard conquereth Sicily and Cyprus, in his Passage to the Holy Land. AT Lyons these two kings parted their trains, and wen several ways into Sicily. King Richard in his passage] though within fifteen miles of Rome, wanting (forsooth] either devotion or manners, vouchsafed not to give hi: holiness a visit ; yea, plainly told Octavian, bishop o Ostia, the pope's confessor, that, having better objects t< bestow his eyes on, he would not stir a step to see tht pope ; because lately, without mercy, he had simonicalh extorted a mass of money from the prelates of England *' At Messina, in Sicily, these two kings meet again ; wherei to complete King Richard's joy, behold his navy then safely arriving, which, with much difficulty and danger, hac fetched a compass about Spain. And now King Richard, by his own experience, grevi sensible of the miseries which merchants and mariners ai sea underwent, being always within a few inches, oftei within a hair's breadth, of death. Wherefore, now touchet with remorse of their pitiful case, he resolved to revoke thi law of wrecks, as a law so just that it was even unjust. Fo formerly, both in England and Normandy, the crown wa: entitled to shipwrecked goods, and the king, jure gentium made heir unto them1; which otherwise, jure naturali were conceived to be in bonis nullius, pertaining to m owner. But now our Richard refused to make advantag( of such pitiful accidents, and to strip poor mariners but o those rags of their estates which the mercy and modesty o the waves and winds had left them. And therefore, in tht month of October, at Messina, in the presence of mani archbishops and bishops, he for ever quitted the claim t< wrecks3 : so that if any man out of the ship cometh alivi to the shore, the property of the shipwrecked goods is stil preserved to the owner. Yea, this grant was so enlarged bj 1 Hoveden, in Rich. I. p. 668, and Matth. Paris, in eodem p. 213. 2 Bracton, lib. 2, cap. 5. 3 Quietum clamavit, Wreck, &c. — Roger Hoveden, in Rich ardo I. p. 678. D. 1190 THE HOLY WAR. 127 ir succeeding kings, that if a dog or a cat escaped alive to nd, the goods still remained the owner's, if he claimed tern within a year and a day4. Tancred at this time was king of Sicily ; a bastard born : id no wonder, if climbing up to the throne the wrong wayj i shook when he sat down. Besides, he was a tyrant • )th detaining the dowry and imprisoning the person of [pan, wife to William, late king of Sicily, and sister to Jng Richard. But in what a case was he now, having such mighty monarchs come unto him. To keep them kit was above his power, to let them in against his will. (Veil he knew it was woful to lie in the road where great rmies were to pass ; for power knoweth no inferior friend, id the landlord commonly loseth his rent, sometimes his 1, where the tenant is too potent for him. At last he resolved (how wisely or honestly let others idge) openly to poise himself indifferent betwixt these two lings, secretly applying himself to the French ; which King Tichard quickly discovered, as dissembling goeth not along ivisible before a judicious eye. Meantime the citizens of Messina did the English much rrong, if not by the command, with the consent of the :ing. For though it be unjust to father the base actions of mruly people on their prince ; yet Tancred not punishing lis people for injuring the English, when he might and was equired thereunto, did in effect justify their insolencies, ind adopt their deeds to be his. Wherefore King Richard, avenge himself, took Messina by assault, seized on most irts in the island, demanding satisfaction for all wrongs lone to him and his sister. Tancred, though dull at first, low pricked with the sword, came off roundly with many [housand ounces of gold ; and seeing, as the case stood, his >est thrift was to be prodigal, gave to our king what rich editions soever he demanded. Worse discords daily increased betwixt the kings of 'ranee and England ; King Richard, slighting the king of 'ranee's sister, whom he had promised to marry, and ex- >ressing more affection to Beringaria, daughter to the king •f Navarre. Some princes interposing themselves in this (reach, rather assuaged the pain than removed the malady : o dangerous are ruptures betwixt great ones, whose affec- tions, perchance, by the mediation of friends may be brought igain to meet, but never to unite and incorporate. King 4 Sir Edward Coke, vol. vi. p. 107. 128 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1191 Philip, thinking to forestall the market of honour, and take up all for himself, hasted presently to Ptolemais : Richard followed at his leisure, and took Cyprus in his way. Isaac (or Cursac) reigned then in Cyprus ; who, under Androni- cus, the Grecian emperor (when every factious nobleman snatched a plank out of that shipwrecked empire), seized on this island, and there tyrannized as a reputed king. Some falsely conceived him a pagan : and his faith is suspected, because his charity was so bad ; killing the Eng- lish that landed there, not having so much man as to pity a woman, and to suffer the seasick Lady Beringaria to come on shore. But King Richard speedily overran the island, honoured Isaac with the magnificent captivity of silver fetters ; yet giving his daughter liberty and princely usage. The island he pawned to the Templars for ready money. And because Cyprus, by antiquity, was celebrated as the seat of Venus, that so it might prove to him, in the joyous month of May he solemnly took to wife his beloved Lady Beringaria. CHAP. VIII.— The Taking of the City Ptolemais. "TT7HILST King Richard stayed in Cyprus, the siege of W Ptolemais went on [1191] : and though the French king thought with a running pull to bear the city away, yet he found it staked down too fast for all his strength to stir. Meantime, the plague and famine raged in the Christians' camp ; which the last year swept away fifty princes and prelates of note : who, no doubt, went hence to a happy place ; though it was before Pope Clement VI. commanded the angels (who durst not but obey him) presently to convey all their souls into paradise which should die in their pilgrimage1. This mortality notwithstanding, the siege still continued. And now the Christians and Turks, like two fencers long playing together, were so well acquainted with the blows and guards each of other, that what advantage was taken betwixt them was merely casual, never for want of skill, care, or valour on either side. It helped the Christians not a little, that a concealed Christian within the city, with letters unsubscribed with any name, gave them constant and 1 Chemnitius, ex Weselo, Exam. Cone. Trid. tract. De Indulg. A. D.I 191 THE HOLY WAR. 129 faithful intelligence of the remarkable passages amongst the Turks. No prince in this siege deserved more than Leopold, duke of Austria, who fought so long in assaulting this city, till his armour was all over gore blood, save the place covered with his belt. Whereupon he and his successors, the dukes of Austria, renouncing the six golden larks, their ancient arms, had assigned them by the emperor a fesse argent in a field gules, as the paternal coat of their family*. By this time King Richard was arrived [June 8] (taking as he came a dromond, or Saracen ship, wherein were fifteen hundred soldiers, and two hundred and fifty scorpions 3, which were to be employed in the poisoning of Christians), and now the siege of Ptolemais more fiercely prosecuted. But all their engines made not so wide a breach in that city walls, as envy made betwixt the French and English kings. Yet at last the Turks, despairing of succour, their victuals wholly spent, yielded up the city by Saladin's consent, on condition to be themselves safely guarded out of it [July 13] : all Christian prisoners Saladin had were to be set free, and the cross to be again restored. The houses which were left, with the spoil and prisoners, were equally divided betwixt Philip and Richard. Whereat many noblemen, partners in the pains, no sharers in the gains, departed in discontent4. Some Turks, for fear, em- braced the Christian faith, but quickly returned to their vomit5 : as religion dyed in fear never long keepeth colour, but this day's converts will be to-morrow's apostates. Here- upon it was commanded that none hereafter should be bap- tized against their wills. Here the English cast down the ensigns of Leopold, duke of Austria, which he had advanced in a principal tower in Ptolemais; and, as some say, threw them into the jakes. The duke, though angry at heart, forgot this injury till he could remember it with advantage ; and afterwards made King Richard pay soundly for this affront. It is not good to exasperate any, though far inferior : for, as the fable telleth us, the beetle may annoy the eagle, and the mouse befriend the lion. When the city was taken, it grieved the Christians not a 2 Pantal. De illustribus Germanise, part 2, p. 201. 3 Matth. Paris, in anno 1191. 4 Roger Hoveden, in Richardo I. p. 696. 5 Fox, Martyrol. p. 24.7. 130 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 1191 little that their faithful correspondent 6, who advised them by his letters, could no where be found : pity it was that Rahab's red lace was not tied at his window. But indeed it was probable that he was dead before the surrendering of the city. Greater was the grief that the cross did no where appear, either carelessly lost, or enviously concealed by the Turks. Whilst the Christians stormed hereat, Saladin required a longer respite for the performance of the con- ditions. But King Richard would not enlarge him from the strictness of what was concluded ; conceiving that was in effect to forfeit the victory back again. Besides, he knew he did it only to gain time to fetch new breath ; and if he yielded to him, his bounty had not been thanked, but his fear upbraided, as if he durst not deny him. Yea, in anger King Richard commanded all the Turkish captives which were in his hands, seven thousand in number, to be put to death (except some choice persons) on that day whereon the articles should have been, but were not performed 7. For which fact he suffered much in his repute, branded with rashness and cruelty, as the murderer of many Chris- tians : for Saladin, in revenge, put as many of our captives to death. On the other side, the moderation of the French king was much commended, who, reserving his prisoners alive, exchanged them to ransom so many Christians. CHAP. IX. — The unseasonable Return of the King of France. MEANTIME the Christians were rent asunder with faction : Philip the French king, Odo duke of Bur- gundy, Leopold duke of Austria, most of the Dutch, all the Genoans and Templars siding with King Conrad ; King Richard, Henry count of Champagne, the Hospitallers, Venetians, and Pisans taking part with King Guy. But King Conrad's side was much weakened with the sudden departure of the French king ; who, eighteen days after the taking of Ptolemais, returned home [July 31], pretending want of necessaries, indisposition of body, distemper of the climate, though the greatest distemper was in his own passions. The true cause of his departure was, partly envy, because the sound of King Richard's fame was of so deep a note that it drowned his ; partly covetousness, to seize on 6 Hoveden, in Rich. I. p. 694. 7 P. yEmilius, in Philippo Augusto, p. 174. But Matthew Paris saith but two thousand six hundred. A. D. 1191 THE HOLY WAR. 131 the dominions of the earl of Flanders lately dead ' ; Flan- ders lying fitly to make a stable for the fair palace of France. If it be true, what some report7-, that Saladin bribed him to return, let him for ever forfeit the surname of Augustus, and the style of The most Christian Prince. His own soldiers dissuaded him from returning, beseech- ing him not to stop in so glorious a race, wherein he was newly started : Saladin was already on his knees, and would probably be brought on his face, if pursued. If he played the unthrift with this golden occasion, let him not hope for another to play the good husband with. If poverty forced his departure, King Richard proffered him the half of all his provisions3. All would not do ; Philip persisted in his old plea, how the life of him absent would be more advantageous to the cause, than the death of him present ; and by importunity got leave to depart, solemnly swearing not to molest the king of England's dominions. Thus the king of France returned in person, but remained still behind in his instructions, which he left (with his army) to the duke of Burgundy ; to whom he prescribed both his path and his pace, where and how he should go. And that duke moved slowly, having no desire to advance the work where King Richard would carry all the honour. For in those actions wherein several undertakers are compounded together, commonly the first figure for matter of credit maketh ciphers of all the rest. . As for King Philip, being returned home, such was the itch of his ambition, he must be fingering of the king of England's territories, though his hands were bound by oath to the contrary. CHAP. X. — Conrad King of Jerusalem slain. Guy exchanges his Kingdom for the Island of Cyprus. ABOUT the time of the king of France's departure, Conrad king of Jerusalem was murdered in the mar- ket-place of Tyre4" [April 27] ; and his death is variously reported. Some charged our King Richard for procuring it : and though the beams of his innocency cleared his own heart, yet could they not dispel the clouds of suspicions 1 Matthew Paris, p. 220. 2 Speed, out of Hoveden, in Richard I. 3 Matthew Paris, in Richardo I. p. 219. 4 Roger Hoveden, in Richardo I. p. 716, saithon the calends of May ; but Sabellicus putteth it sooner. 132 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 1192 from other men's eyes. Some say Humphred prince of Thorone killed him, for taking Isabella his wife away from him. But the general voice giveth it out that two assassins stabbed him ; whose quarrel to him was only this, that he was a Christian. These murderers being instantly put to death, gloried in the meritoriousness of their suffering * : and surely were it the punishment, not the cause, made martyrdom, we should be best stored with confessors from gaols, and martyrs from the gallows. Conrad reigned five years, and left one daughter, Maria lole, on whom the Knights-templars bestowed princely education. And this may serve for his epitaph : — The crown I never did enjoy alone; Of half a kingdom I was half a king. Scarce was I on, when I was off the throne; Slain by two slaves me basely murdering. And thus the best man's life at mercy lies Of vilest varlets, that their own despise. His faction survived after his death, affronting Guy the ancient king, and striving to depose him. They pleaded that the crown was tied on Guy's head with a woman's fillet, which being broken by the death of his wife, Queen Sibyll (who deceased of the plague, with her children, at the siege of Ptolemais3), he had no longer right to the kingdom ; they objected he was a worthless man, and unfor- tunate. On the other side, it was alleged for him, that to measure a man's worth by his success, is a square often false, always uncertain. Besides, the courtesy of the world would allow him this favour, that a king should be sen/el et semper, once and ever. Whilst Guy stood on these ticklish terms, King Richard made a seasonable motion, which well relished to the palate of this hungry prince. To exchange his kingdom of Jeru- salem for the island of Cyprus ; which he had redeemed from the Templars, to whom he had pawned it : and this was done accordingly, to the content of both sides [Sept. 1 192 •*•]. And King Richard, with some of his succeeding English kings, wore the title of Jerusalem in their style for. liu*, in Phil. Augusto, p. 179. 3 Roger Hoveden, in Richardo 1. p. 685. 4 Calvi-iiis. A. D. 1192 THE HOLY WAR. 133 many years after5. We then dismiss King Guy, hearing him thus taking his farewell : — I steer'd a state, war-toss'd, against my will ; Blame then the storm, not the pilot's want of skill, That I the kingdom lost, whose empty style I sold to England's king for Cyprus' isle. I pass'd away the land I could not hold ; Good ground I bought, but only air I sold. Then as a happy merchant may I sing, Though I must sigh as an unhappy king. Soon after, Guy made a second change of this world for another. But the family of the Lusignans have enjoyed Cyprus some hundred years : and since, by some transac- tions, is fell to the state of Venice ; and lately, by conquest, to the Turks. CHAP. XI. — Henry of Champagne chosen King. Tfie noble Achievements and Victories of King Richdrd. CONRAD being killed, and Guy gone away, Henry earl of Champagne was chosen king of Jerusalem, by the especial procuring of King Richard his uncle. To corroborate his election by some right of succession, he married Isabella, the widow of King Conrad and daughter to Almerick king of Jerusalem. A prince (as writers report) having a sufficient stock of valour in himself, but little happy in expressing it ; whether for want of oppor- tunity, or shortness of his reign, being most spent in a truce. He more pleased himself in the style of prince of Tyre than king of Jerusalem ; as counting it more honour to be prince of what he had, than king of what he had not. And now the Christians began every where to build : the Templars fortified Gaza; King Richard repaired and walled Ptolemais, Porphyria, Joppa, and Askelon. But, alas ! this short prosperity, like an autumn-spring, came too late, and was gone too soon, to bring any fruit to matu- rity. It was now determined they should march towards Jerusalem ; for all this while they had but hit the butt ; that holy city was the mark they shot at. Richard led the vanguard of English ; Duke Odo commanded in the main battle over his French ; James of Auvergne brought on the 5 Sabell. Enn. 9, lib. 5, p. 378. 134 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1192 Flemings and Brabanters in the rear. Saladin, serpent- like biting the heel, assaulted the rear, not far from Bethle- hem ; when the French and English wheeling about, charged the Turks most furiously. Emulation, formerly poison, was here a cordial, each Christian nation striving not only to conquer their enemies, but to overcome their friends in the honour of the conquest. King Richard, seeking to put his courage out of doubt, brought his judgment into ques- tion, being more prodigal of his person than beseemed a general. One wound he received *, but by losing his blood he found his spirits, and laid about him like a madman. The Christians got the victory, without the loss of any of number or note, save James of Auvergne, wrho here died in the bed of honour ; but more of the Turks were slain than in any battle for forty years before. Had the Christians presently gone to Jerusalem, pro- bably they might have surprised it, whilst the Turks' eyes were muffled and blindfolded in the amazement of this great overthrow. But this opportunity was lost by the backward- ness and unwillingness of King Richard and the English, say the French writers z. To cry quits with them, our English authors impute it to the envy of the French3 ; who would have so glorious an action rather left undone, than done by the English. They complain likewise of the treachery of Odo duke of Burgundy, who, more careful of his credit than his conscience, was choked with the shame of the sin he had swallowed, and died for grief, when his intelligence with the Turks was made known. This cannot be denied, that Saladin sent (term them bribes or presents) both to our king and the French duke, and they received them : no wonder then if neither of them herein had a good name, when they traded with such familiars. But most hold King Richard attempted not Jerusalem, because, as a wise architect, he would build his victories so as they might stand, securing the country as he went ; it being senseless to besiege Jerusalem, a straggling city, whilst the Turks as yet were in possession of all the seaports and strong forts thereabout. About this time he intercepted many camels loaded with rich commodity, those eastern wares containing much in a little. And yet of all this, and of all the treasures of 1 P. ^Emil. in Phil. Augusto, p. 180. 2 P. JEmil. ibidem. 3 Matih. Paris, iu Richardo I. p. 216. A. D. 1192 THE HOLY WAR. 135 England, Sicily, and Cyprus, which he brought hither, King Richard carried home nothing but one gold ring4; all the rest of his wealth melted away in this liot service. He wintered in Askelon, intending next spring to have at Jerusalem. • CHAP. XII. — The little honourable Peace King Richard made with Saladin. Of the Value of Relics. BUT bad news out of Europe shook his steadiest resolutions, hearing how William bishop of Ely, his viceroy in England, used unsufferable insolencies over his subjects ; so hard it is for one of base parentage to personate a king without overacting his part. Also he heard how the king of France, and John earl of Morton his own brother, invaded his dominions ; ambition, the pope in their belly, dispensing with their oath to the contrary. Besides, he saw this war was not a subject capable of valour to any purpose; the Venetians, Genoans, Pisans, and Florentines being gone away with their fleets, wisely shrinking them- selves out of the collar, when they found their necks wrung with the hard employment. Hereupon he was forced first to make the motion of (in plain terms, to beg) peace of Salidin. Let Saladin now alone to win, having all the game in his own hand. Well knew he how to shoot at his own ends, and to take aim by the exigencies wherein he knew King Richard was plunged. For he had those cunning gipsies about him, who could read in King Richard's face what grieved his heart; and by his intelligencers was certified of every note-worthy passage in the English army. Upon these terms therefore or none (beggars of peace shall never be choosers of their conditions) a truce for three (some say five) years might be concluded, that the Chris- tians should demolish all places they had walled since the taking of Ptolemais ; which was in effect to undo what with much charge they had done. But such was the tyranny of King Richard's occasions, forcing him to return, that he was glad to embrace those conditions he hated at his heart. Thus the voyage of these two kings, begun with as great confidence of the undertakers as expectation of the beholders, continued with as much courage as interchangeableness of success, baned with mutual discord and emulation, was * P. ^Emil. p. 181.— Excepto hoc annulo nudus inopsque. 136 THE HISTORY OF A. D.I 192 ended with some honour to the undertakers, no profit either to them or the Christian cause l. Some far-fetched dear- bought honour they got; especially King Richard, who eternized his memory in Asia; whom if men forget, horses will remember; the Turks using to say to their horses when they started for fear, Dost thou think King Richard is here ? Profit they got none, losing both of them the hair of their heads in an acute disease; which was more, saith one% than both of them got by the voyage. They left the Christians in Syria, in worse" case than they found them ; as he doth the benighted traveller a discourtesy rather than a kindness, who lendeth a lantern to take it away, leaving him more masked than he was before. And now a little to solace myself and the reader wi:h a merry digression, after much sorrow and sad stories. £ing Richard did one thing in Palestine which was worth all the cost and pains of his journey; namely, he redeemed' from the Turks a chest full of holy relics (which they had gotten at the taking of Jerusalem), so great, as four :nen could scarce carry any way3. And though some know no more than ^Esop's cock how to prize these pearls, let them learn the true value of them from the Roman jewellers. Tirst, they must carefully distinguish between public and private relics : in private ones some forgery may be sus- pected, lest quid be put for quo ; which made St. Augustine put in that wary parenthesis, Si tamen martyrum, If so be they be the relics of martyrs4. But as for public ones approved by the pope, and kept in churches (such no doubt as these of King Richard's were) oh let no Christian be such an infidel as to stagger at the truth thereof! If any object, that the head of the same saint is showed at several places ; the whole answer is by a synecdoche, that a part is put for the whole5. As for the common exception against the cross, that so many several pieces thereof are shown, which put together would break the back of Simon of Cyrene to bear them, it is answered, Distrahitur, non diminuitur, and, like the loaves in the gospel, it is miraculously multi- plied in the dividing. If all these fail, Baronius hath a razor shaveth all scruple clear away ; for, saith he6, Quicquid sit, Jides purgat facinus ; so that he worshipeth the false 1 P. ^mil. p. 181. — Tanto duorum regum conatu nihil actum. 2 Daniel, p. 100. 3 Matth. Paris, in Rich. I. p. 222. 4 In lib. De Oper. MOD cap. 28. 5 Bellarm. De ileliq. cap. 4. 6 Annal. Eccl. in anno 226. . D. i.192 THE HOLY WAR. 137 elics of a true saint, God taketh his good intention in good vorth, though he adore the hand of Esau for the hand of acob. But enough of these fooleries. /HAP. XIII. — King Richard taken Prisoner in Austria; sold, and sent to the Emperor ; dearly ransomed, return- eth home. KING Richard setting sail from Syria, the sea and wind favoured him till he came into the Adriatic [Oct. 8] ; ,nd on the coasts of Istria he suffered shipwreck ; where- ore he intended to pierce through Germany by land, the icarest way home. But the nearness of the way is to be neasured not by the shortness but the safeness of it. He disguised himself to be one Hugo a merchant, whose nly commodity was himself, whereof he made but a bad argain. For he was discovered in an inn in Austria, ecause he disguised his person, not his expenses ; so that hk very policy of an hostess, finding his purse so far above is clothes, did detect him [Dec. 20] ; yea, saith mine luthoi . Fades orbi terrarum nota, ignorari non potuit. The ude people, flocking together, used him with insolencies inworthy him, worthy themselves ; and they who would hake at the tail of this loose lion, durst laugh at his face low they saw him in a grate ; yet all the weight of their ruelty did not bow him beneath a princely carriage. Leopold duke of Austria hearing hereof, as being lord of he soil, seized on this royal stray [Dec 20] ; meaning now o get his pennyworths out of him, for the affront done into him in Palestine. Not long after the duke sold him to Henry the emperor, or his harsh nature surnamed Asper, and it might have >een Stevus, being but one degree from a tyrant. He kept ting Richard in bands, charging him with a thousand aults committed by him in Sicily, Cyprus, and Palestine. Che proofs were as slender as the crimes gross, and Richard laving an eloquent tongue, innocent heart, and bold spirit, icquitted himself in the judgment of all the hearers. At ast he was ransomed for a hundred and forty thousand narks, collen weight1. A sum so vast in that age, before he Indies had overflowed all Europe with their gold and ilver, that to raise it in England they were forced to sell .heir church plate, to their very chalices. Whereupon out f most deep divinity it was concluded, that they should 1 Matth. Paris, in Rich. I. 138 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1192 not celebrate the sacrament in glass2, for the brittleness of it ; nor in wood, for the sponginess of it, which would suck up the blood ; nor in alchymy, because it was subject to rusting; nor in copper, because that would provoke vomit- ing; but in chalices of latten, which belike was a metal without exception. And such were used in England for some hundred years after3, until at last John Stafford arch- bishop of Canterbury, when the land was more replenished with silver, inknotteth that priest in the greater excommu- nication that should consecrate poculum stanneum. After this money Peter of Blois4 (who had drunk as deep of Helicon as any of that age) sendeth this good prayer, making an apostrophe to the emperor, or to the duke of Austria, or to both together : — Bibe nunC) avaritia, Dum puteos argenteos, Larga diffundit Anglia. Tua tecum pecunia, Sit in perditionem. And now, thou basest avarice, Drink till thy belly burst, Whilst England pours large silver showers, To satiate thy thirst. And this we pray, thy money may And thou be like accurst. The ransom partly paid, the rest secured by hostages, King Richard much befriended by the Dutch prelacy, after eighteen months' imprisonment, returned into England. The archbishop of Cullen, in the presence of King Richard, as he passed by, brought in these words in saying mass, " Now I know that God hath sent his angel, and hath delivered thee out of the hand of Herod, and from the expectation of the people," &c. But his soul was more healthful for this bitter physic, and he amended his man- ners, better loving his queen Beringaria5, whom he slighted before ; as soldiers too often love women better than wives. Leave we him now in England, where his presence fixed the loyalty of many of his unsettled subjects, whilst in Austria the duke with his money built the walls of Vienna ; so that the best stones and mortar of that bulwark oi 2 Lindwood, lib. 1, De summa Tri. p. 6. 3 Eulogium ; a Chronicle cited by Fox, Martyrol. in Rich. I 4 Epist. 57. 5 Speed, in Rich. I. D.1193. THE HOLY WAR. 139 hristendom are beholden to the English coin. We must )t forget how God's judgments overtook this duke, punish- ig his dominions with fire and water, which two elements innot be kings, but they must be tyrants ; by famine, the rs of wheat turned into worms ; by a gangrene, seizing i the duke's body, who cut off his leg with his own hand, id died thereof; who by his testament (if not by his will) used some thousand crowns to be restored again to King ichard. HAP. XIV.— The Death of Saladin. His Commendation, even with Truth, but almost above Belief. after, Saladin, the terror of the east, ended his life [Feb. 16, 1193], having reigned sixteen years, onsider him as a man, or a prince, he was both ways .mirable. Many historians (like some painters, which rather show eir skill in drawing a curious face, than in making it like him whom it should resemble), describe princes rather mt they should be, than what they were; not showing much their goodness as their own wits. But finding s Saladin so generally commended of all writers, we have cause to distrust this his true character. His wisdom was great, in that he was able to advise; d greater, in that he was willing to be advised ; never wedded to his own resolves, but on good ground he 3uld be divorced from them. His valour was not over- •ee, but would well answer the spur when need required, his victories he was much beholden to the advantage of ason, place, and number ; and seldom wrested the garland honour from an arm as strong as his own. He ever irched in person into the field, remembering that his edecessors, the caliphs of Egypt, brake themselves by ng factors, and employing of souldans. His temperance great, diet sparing, sleep moderate, not to pamper ture, but keep it in repair. His greatest recreation was riety and exchange of work. Pleasures he rather sipped in drank off; sometimes, more to content others than ase himself. Wives he might have kept sans number, t stinted himself to one or two ; using them rather for sterity than wantonness. His justice to his own people s remarkable, his promise with his enemies generally 11 kept. Much he did triumph in mercy ; fierce in fightr , mild in conquering ; and having his enemies in his id, pleased himself more in the power than act of revenge. 140 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 119*1 His liberality would have drained his treasure, had it noi had a great and quick spring, those eastern parts being ver rich. Serviceable men he would purchase on any rate ; am sometimes his gifts bore better proportion to his own great ness than the receiver's deserts. Vast bribes he would givi to have places betrayed unto him, and often effected tha with his gold, which he could not do with his steel. Zealou he was in his own religion, yet not violent against Christian qua Christians. Scholarship cannot be expected in hin who was a Turk by his birth (amongst whom it is a sin t< be learned) and a soldier by breeding. His humility wa admirable ; as being neither ignorant of his greatness, no over-knowing it. He provided to have no solemnities at hi: funeral ; and ordered that before his corpse a black clotl should be carried on the top of a spear, and this proclaimed Saladin, conqueror of the East, had nothing left him but thi black shirt to attend him to the grave l. Some entitle him as descended from the royal Turkisl blood ; which flattering heralds he will little thank for thei pains; counting it most honour, that he, being of mean pa- rentage, was the first founder of his own nobility. His status (for one of that nation) was tall. His person rather cut ou to strike fear than win love ; yet could he put on amiablenes when occasion required, and make it beseem him. To con elude : I wrill not be so bold, to do with him as an easten bishop * doth with Plato and Plutarch, whom he com raendeth in a Greek hymn to Christ, as those that cam< nearest to holiness of all untaught Gentiles : (belike hi would be our Saviour's remembrancer, and put him in mim to take more especial notice of them at the day of judgment. But I will take my farewell of Saladin with that com mendationlfind of him: — He wanted nothing to his eterna happiness, but the knowledge of Christ3. CHAP. XV. — Discords amongst the Turks. The miserabl Death of Henry King of Jerusalem. SALADIN left nine (some say twelve) sons [1194] making Saphradin his brother overseer of his will who of a tutor turned a traitor, and murdered them all ex ceptingr one, called also Saphradin, sultan of Aleppo; who not by his uncle's pity, but by the favour and support of hi 1 Sabell. Enn. 9, lib. A, p. 378. 2 Joan. Euchaitensis, jampridem Etoniae Graece editus. 3 Sabell. Enn. 9, lib. 5, p. 378. D. 1197 THE HOLY WAR. 141 ther's good friends, was preserved. Hence arose much testine discord amongst the Turks ; all which time the hristians enjoyed their truce with much quiet and security. 1196] Not long after, Henry king of Jerusalem, as he as walking in his palace to solace himself, fell down out a window, and brake his neck1. He reigned three years, ut as for the particular time he died on, I find it not spe- lled in any author. HAP. XVI. — Almerick the Second, King of Jerusalem. The great Army of the Dutch Adventurers doth little in Syria. A FTER his death Almerick Lusignan, brother to King 1L Guy, was in the right of his wife crowned king of jrusalem : for he married Isabella, the relict of Henry the ist king. This lady was four times married: first to umphred prince of Thorone; then to the three successive ngs of Jerusalem, Conrad, Henry, and this Almerick. e was also king of Cyprus ; and the Christians in Syria romised themselves much aid from the vicinity of that sland. But though he was near to them, he was far from elping them, making pleasure all his work ; being an idle, izy, worthless, prince. But I trespass on that politic rule, )f princes we must speak the best, or the least ; if that be ot intended, when the truth is so late that danger is en- liled upon it. In his time, Henry emperor of Germany, indicted by his Dnscience for his cruelty against King Richard, seeking to erfume his name in the nostrils of the world, which began be unsavoury, set on foot another voyage to the Holy ,and [1197]. Pope Celestine III. sent his legates about ) promote this service, showing how God himself had Dunded the alarm by the dissension of the Turks: Jerusalem ow might be won with the blows of her enemies ; only an rmy must be sent, not so much to conquer as to receive it. Jeneral of the pilgrims was Henry duke of Saxony; next im, Frederick duke of Austria, Herman landgrave of Thu- ingia, Henry palatine of Rhine, Conrad archbishop of tfentz, Conrad archbishop of Wurtzburg, the bishops of Jreme, Halberstadt, and Regenspurg, with many more relates ; so that here was an episcopal army, which might ave served for a national synod : insomuch that one truly light here have seen the church militant. We have no Continuator Ursp. in anno 1196. Et M. Paris, in eodeiu. 142 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 119 ambition, saith one of their countrymen *, to reckon ther up ; for they were plurimi et nulli, many in number, non in their actions. Some of these soldiers were employed by Henry th emperor (who knew well to bake his cake with the church' fuel) to subdue his rebels in Apulia. This done, they passei through Greece, and found there better entertainment tha some of their predecessors. Hence by shipping they wer conveyed into Syria : here they brake the truce made b King Richard21 (it seemeth by this, it was the last fiv years), the pope dispensing therewith ; who can make peace nets to hold others, but a cobweb for himself to breai through. The city Berytus they quickly won, and as quickl; lost. For Henry the emperor suddenly died, the root whicl nourished this voyage, and then the branches withered Henry also, duke of Saxony, general of this army, wa slain. And Conrad archbishop of Mentz, one of th< electors, would needs return home to the choice of a nev emperor ; knowing he could more profitably use his voic< in Germany than his arms in Syria. Other captains secretl; stole home ; and when their soldiers would have fought their captains ran away3. And whereas in other expedition we find vestigia pauca retrorsum, making such clean worl that they left little or no reversions ; of this voyage man^ safely returned home with whole bodies and woundec credits. The rest that remained fortified themselves in Joppa, anc now the feast of St. Martin was come, the Dutch thei arch-saint. This man being a German by birth, and bishop of Tours in France, was eminent for his hospitality4; anc the Dutch, badly imitating their countryman, turn his cha rity to the poor into riot on themselves, keeping the eleventl of November (I will not say holy-day, but) feast-day. A this time the springtide of their mirth so drowned thei: souls, that the Turks coming in upon them cut every one o their throats, to the number of twenty thousand 5 : anc quickly they were stabbed with the sword that were cup- shot before. A day which the Dutch may well write ir their calendars in red letters dyed with their own blood when their camp was their shambles, the Turks theii 1 Ursp. Chron. in anno 1197, p. 304. 2 Ursp. ut priiis. 3 Baron. Annal. Eccl. in anno 1197. 4 Pantal. De Vir. illustr. Germ, in Vita S. Martini. 5 Knolles, Turk. Hist. p. 74. D. 1199 THE HOLY WAR. 143 utchers, and themselves the Martinmas beeves : from hich the beastly drunkards differ but a little. The city of Joppa the Turks razed to the ground ; and of is victory they became so proud, that they^had thought, ithout stop, to have driven the Christians quite out of Syria, ut by the coming of Simon count of Montford 6 [1198] (a iost valiant and expert captain, sent thither by Philip the rench king with a regiment of tall soldiers, at the instance F Innocent III., that succeeded Celestine in the papacy), nd by civil discord then reigning amongst the Turks them- elves for sovereignty, their fury was repressed, and a peace jtwixt them and the Christians concluded for the space of n years7 : during which time the Turks promised not to lolest the Christians in Tyre or Ptolemais. Which peace concluded, the worthy count returned with his soldiers ito France [1199]. JHAP. XVII. — A Crusado for the Holy Land diverted by the Pope to Constantinople. They conquer the Grecian Empire. IP HIS truce notwithstanding, another army of pilgrims JL was presently provided for Syria ; the tetrarchs whereof ere Baldwin earl of Flanders, Dandalo the Venetian duke, heobald earl of Champagne, Boniface marquess of Mont- errat, with many other nobles. Leave we them awhile, taking the city of Jadera in Istria or the Venetians. Meantime, if we look over into Greece, we shall find Isaac Angelus the emperor deposed, thrust nto prison, his eyes put out (the punishment there in ashion), so that he ended his days before he ended his life, y the cruelty of Alexius Angelus, his brother, who suc- ceeded him. But young Alexius, Isaac Angelus's son, with some Grecian noblemen, came to the courts of most western )rinces, to beg assistance to free his father and expel the yrant. He so deported himself, that each gesture was a let to catch men's good will ; not seeking their favour by osing himself, but though he did bow, he would not kneel : so that in his face one might read a pretty combat betwixt the beams of majesty and cloud of adversity. To see a prince in want would move a miser's charily. Our western 6 Magdeburgenses, Cent. 12, cap. 16, sub finem. i Knolles, ut prius. 144 THE HISTORY OF A.D.12CK: princes tendered his case, which they counted might be their own; their best right lying at the mercy of any stronger usurper. Young Alexius so dressed his meat, that he pleased every man's palate; promising for their succours to disen- gage the French from their debts to the Venetian; pro- mising the Venetian satisfaction for the wrongs done them by the Grecians ; and bearing the pope in hand he would reduce the eastern churches into his subjection : things which he was little able to perform1. But well may the statute of bankrupt be sued out against him who cannot be rich in promises. These his fair proffers prevailed so far, that the pope commanded, and other princes consented, that this army of pilgrims, levied for the Holy Land, should be employed against the usurping Grecian emperor. Many taxed his holiness for an unjust steward of the Christian forces, to expend them against the Grecians, which were to be laid out against the infidels : especially now, when Pales- tine, through the dissension of the Turks, offered itself into the Christians' arms to be regained. Others thought the pope took the right method ; because he who should win Jerusalem must begin at Constantinople ; and by this war the Grecian empire, which was the bridge to Syria, would be made good, and secured for the passage of pilgrims. The soldiers generally rejoiced at the exchange of their service ; for the barren wars in Syria starved the under- takers ; and a cook himself cannot lick his fingers where no meat is dressed. There nothing but naked honour was to be gotten, here honour clothed with spoil ; the usurper's treasure would make brave scrambling amongst them ; and it was good ploughing up of that ground which had long lain fallow. Setting sail from Jadera (which city they had subdued to the Venetian, forcing them to pay three thousand cony- skins yearly for tribute to that state2), like good fencers, they struck at the head, and made for Constantinople ; which they quickly took, after some hot skirmishes [July 17, 1203]. Alexius Angelus the usurper, with his wife, whores, and treasure, fled away. Blind Isaac Angelus was fetched out of prison ; he and young Alexius his son saluted joint emperors. Which brittle honour of theirs was quickly broken ; for soon after the father died, being brought into an open place, kept before in a close pent dungeon ; and having long fasted from good air, he now got his death by 1 Mtetas. 2 Blondus, lib. 6, decad. 2, p. 270. A. D. 1204 THE HOLY WAR. 145 surfeiting on it. His son was villanously strangled by Alexius Ducas, called, from his beetle brow, Mursiphlus ; one of base parentage, who was tumultuously chosen empe- ror by the people. This Ducas offered some affronts to the Latins which lay before Constantinople in their ships. Wherefore, and also because they were not paid for their former service, they the second time assaulted the city, and took it by main force [April 21, 1204] ; killing none, but robbing all ; ravishing women, and using a thousand inso- lencies. Some fled for their succour to the shrines of saints : but the sanctuaries needed sanctuaries to protect themselves, the soldiers as little respecting place, as for- merly age or sex; not standing on any reverence to the saints, they stood upon them, making footstools of their images and statues. Nicetas Choniates, hitherto an historian, now a plaintiff (writing so full of ohs and exclamations as if the while pinched by the arm), rather without measure than cause, bemoaneth the outrages the Latins here committed. Poor man ! all the miseries our Saviour speaketh of in a siege, met in him : his flight from Constantinople was in the winter, on the Sabbath-day, his wife being great with child 3. But when the object is too near the eye, it seemeth greater than it is ; and perchance he amplifieth and aggravateth the cruelty of these pilgrims, being nearly interested therein himself, especially when the rhetoric of grief is always in the hyperbole. Nor is it any news for soldiers to be so insolent when they take a city by assault; which time is their Saturnalia*, when servants themselves do command, acknowledging no other leader or captain than their own passions. Within a twelvemonth all Greece was subdued, save only Adrianople : Baldwin earl of Flanders chosen empe- ror [April 24; crowned May 16]; Thomas Maurocenus elected first Latin patriarch in Constantinople; Boniface marquess of Montferrat made king of Thessaly ; Geoffrey of Troy, a Frenchman, prince of Achaia and duke of Athens : the Venetians got many rich islands in the Egean and Ionian seas ; so that one could not now see the Grecian empire for empires. It was now expected that they should have advanced hence into Palestine : but here, having well feathered their nests, they were loath to fly any further. 3 In libello cui titulus, Status Const antinopolis, § 1, p. 637. 4 Servorura hie dies est. Lips. lib. 1. Satur. cap. 2. L 146 THE HISTORY OF A.D. 1206 And now no wonder if the Christians' affairs in Palestine were weak and lean, the pope diverting the meat that should feed them another way. CHAP. XVIII. — The Pope sendeth an Army of Croiscs against the Albigenses. Three several Opinions concern- ing that Sect. POPE Innocent III., having lately learned the trick of employing the army of pilgrims in by-services, began now to set up a trade thereof [1206]. For two years after he levied a great number of them, whom he sent against the Albigenses in France. These were reputed heretics, whom his holiness intended to root out with all cruelty; that good shepherd knowing no other way to bring home a wandering sheep than by worrying him to death. He fully and freely promised the undertakers the selfsame pardons and indulgences as he did to those who went to conquer the Holy Land ; and very conscionably requested their aid only for forty days, hoping to chop up these Albigenses at a bit. Though herein he was deceived, and they stuck in his and his successors' teeth for fifty years together. The place being nearer, the service shorter, the work less, the wages the same with the voyage into Syria, many entered themselves in this employment, and neglected the other. We will trace this army by their footsteps, and our pen must wait on their swords. And I hope that his holiness, who absolved many of their vows from Palestine, and com- muted them into a journey into France, will also of his goodness dispense with my venial digression herein, in prosecuting their actions. Yea, indeed, I need not his dispensation, being still resident on my own subject, this also being styled the holy war, the war for the crucifix, the army of the church; the soldiers also bearing the badge of the cross on their coat-armour. But first let us thoroughly examine what these Albigenses were, and what they held : a question that will quit the cost in studying it. They were a younger house of the Waldenses, and branched from them ; not different in doctrine, but later in time, and distant in place; so called from the country Albigeois, in France, where they lived. I find three grand different opinions of authors concern- ing them. First, some make them to have been very monsters in life and doctrine; so that the heaviest punishment was too A. D. 1206 THE HOLY WAR. 147 ight for them. And this is the general voice of most writers in that age, and all Romanists in our days. Secondly, others, clean contrary, hold that these Wal- denses (for I make them and the Albigenses synonyma, as others have done f) were only the true church of God in that age; whilst all others, being corrupted with abomi- nable superstition, were no true church at all. These alone were God's virgins, his witnesses in sackcloth, his woman in the wilderness, his sealed ones, his seven thousand whose knees were not suppled with the Baalism of that age. This is the express opinion of some strict Protestants ; and of some who speak it not out, yet mutter it to themselves. Thirdly, a third sort explode this opinion, as trespassing on Divine providence1; that God, who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, should be in so long a lethargy as to suffer hell to eat up his heaven on earth for so many years toge- ther, leaving no true church but so small a company of such simple people. They conceive that the maintainers hereof engage themselves in a labyrinth of difficulties, hanging too great a weight on so slender a string, in making such a handful of men the only church for so long continuance. More moderately, therefore, they hold, that these Albi- genses were a purer part of the church; and, though guilty of some errors (as there must be a dawning before the day), and charged with more, yet they maintained the same doctrine in ore, which since Luther's time was refined 3 ; so that the main body of the church visible at this time was much in dilapidations, whilst the Albigenses, as an inner- most chapel thereof, was best in repair. Let the reader choose the probablest opinion when he hath perused the evidences of all sides ; which we will now produce, deducing the history of these Albigenses from their first original. 1 Jo. Paul. Perin. De Alhig. lib. 1, cap. 1. 2 Dr. Field, Of the Church, lib. 3, cap. 8.— We acknowledge them (viz. Wickliffe, Huss, Hierome of Prague, &c.) to have been the worthy servants of God, and holy martyrs and confes- sors, suffering in the cause of Christ against antichrist ; yet do we not think that the church of God was found only in them. a Dr. White, in his Reply to Fisher, p. 104, 105.— The Waldeuses maintained the same doctrine in substance with the modern protestants. 148 THE HISTORY OF CHAP. XIX. — The Beginning of the Albigenses. Their Dispersion, Persecution, Increase^ Names, and Nick- names. ABOUT the year 1160, Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, rich in substance and learning (for a layman), was walking and talking with his friends, when one of them suddenly fell down dead. Which lively spectacle of man's mortality so impressed the soul of this Waldo, that instantly he resolved on a strict reformation of his life, which to his power he performed ; translating some books of the Bible ; instructing such as resorted to him in godliness of life ; teaching withal, that purgatory, masses, dedication of tem- ples, worshiping of saints, prayers for the dead, were inven- tions of the devil, and snares of avarice ; that monkery was a stinking carrion, the church of Rome the whore of Babylon, the pope that antichrist paramount : he sharply lanced the vicious ulcers of clergymen's lives, reproving their pride and luxury. Soon got he many followers, both because novelty is a forcible loadstone, and because he plentifully relieved his poor disciples ; and those that use that trade shall never want custom. The archbishop of Lyons, hearing such doctrines broached as were high treason against the triple crown, ferreted Waldo and his sectaries out of Lyons and the country thereabouts. But persecution is the bellows of their gospel, to blow every spark into a flame. This their division proved their multiplication. Some fled into the Alps, living there on so steep hills, and in so deep holes, that their enemies were afraid to climb or dive after them. Here they had the constant company of the snow : and as it, by the height of the hills, was protected from the sunbeams, so they from the scorching of persecution, even to Luther's time. Others fled into Picardy, Flanders, England, Alsace, Bohemia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungaria, and whither not1? the per- fume of the pope's presence not keeping this supposed vermin out of Italy itself. Many of them were cruelly massacred; five and thirty burgesses of Mayence burned at Bingen in one fire, eighteen at Mayence, fourscore at Stras- burg, at the instance of the bishop thereof. But martyrs' ashes are the best compost to manure the church ; for others were won to their opinion by beholding their constancy and patience. Strange that any should fall in love with that 1 Matth. Paris, in Heii. III. in anno 1213. THE HOLY WAR. 149 profession, whose professors were so miserable ! But truth hath always a good face, though often but bad clothes. They were called by sundry names ; sometimes from the places where they lived : as from Albigeois, Toulouse, Lyons, Picardy, Bohemia ; Albigenses, Toulousians, Lyon- ists, Picards, Bohemians. Sometimes from their principal pastor : as from Waldo, Joseph, Henry, Esperon, Arnold ; Waldenses, Josephists, Henricians, Esperonites, Arnoldists. In England they were termed Lollards, from Lollard1 their teacher ; not as some friar descanteth, quasi Lolium in area Domini. It appeareth not whether they were thus called of others, or called themselves. But grant the latter : and if any object, that they seemed ashamed of Christ, their first godfather, who gave them the name of Christians, thus to denominate themselves from their teachers ; I answer, it is the same the papists do, calling themselves Benedictines, Dominicans, Franciscans, &c. from the founders of their order. They had also nicknames ; called, first, Poor men of Lyons; not because they chose to be poor, but could not choose but be poor, being stripped out of all their goods : and why should the friars' glory be this people's shame? they mocking at poverty in others, which they count meri- torious in themselves. Secondly, Patarenians ; that is, sufferers, whose backs were anvils for others to beat on. Thirdly, Turlupins ; that is, dwellers with wolves (and yet might they be God's sheep), being forced to flee into woods. Fourthly, likewise they were called Sicars ; that is, cut- purses. Fifthly, Fraterculi ; that is, shifters. Sixthly, Insabbatha ; that is, observers of no sabbath. Seventhly, Pasagenes; that is, wanderers. As also Arians, Mani- cheans, Adamites (how justly will appear afterwards). Yea, scarce was there an arrow in all the quiver of malice which was not shot at them. CHAP. XX.— The Albigenses their Answer, confessing some, denying most Crimes laid to their Charge. Commenda- tions their Adversaries give them. COME we now to the full and foul indictment wherewith these Albigenses are charged : that they gave no rever- ence to holy places1 ; rejected the baptism of infants; held that temporal power was grounded in grace ; that it was a 2 Jo. Paul. Perin. Hist. Waldens. lib. 1, cap. 3. 1 Reinerius, p. 22, art. 32. 150 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1206 meritorious work to persecute the priests of Rome and their subjects : with the Adamites they went naked (an affront to nature) ; with the Manicheans they made two first causes, God of good, the devil of evil ; held community of all things, even of wives, amongst them ; were sorcerers and conjurers z (pretending to command the devil, when they most obeyed him), guilty of incest, buggery, and more unnatural sins, whereby men (as it were) run backward to hell. No whit affrighted with this terrible accusation, many late writers dare be their advocates to defend them, though confessing them guilty of some of these, but not in so high and heinous a manner as they are accused. True it is, because most in that age ran riot in adoring of churches (as if some inherent sanctity was ceiled to their roof, or plastered to their walls ; yea, such as might more ingratiate with God the persons and prayers of people there assembled), the Waldenses (out of that old error not yet worn out, that the best way to straighten what is crooked is to over-bow it) denied churches that relative holiness and fit reverence due unto them. Baptism of infants they refused not (though St. Bernard3, taking it rather from the rebound than first rise, chargeth them therewith), but only deferred it till it might be administered by one of their own ministers ; their tender consciences not digesting the popish baptism, where clear water by God's ordinance, was by man's additions made a salve or plaster. That dominion was founded in grace, seemeth to be their very opinion ; yea, it hangeth as yet in the schools on the file, and is not taken off, as a thing disputable, finding many favourers. But grant it a great error (for wicked men shall be arraigned before God, not as usurpers, but as tyrants; not for not having right, but not right using the creatures), yet herein they proceeded not so far as the papists nowadays, to un- throne and depose excommunicated princes ; so that they who do most have least cause to accuse them. That they spoke too homely and coarsely of the Romish priests, inveighing too bitterly and uncharitably against them, con- demning all for some, may perchance be proved ; and no wonder if they spake ill of those from whom they felt ill. But take their speeches herein as the words of men upon the rack, forced from them by the extremity of cruel usage. In these errors the Albigenses hope to find favour, if men 2 Claudius Rubis, Hist, of Lyons, p. 269. 3 lu Lis 66 Homily on the Canticles. A. D; 1206 THE HOLY WAR. 151 consider, First, the ignorance of the age they lived in : it is no news to stumble in the dark. Secondly, the frailty (that squire of the body) attending on man's nature ; yea, he shall be immortal who liveth till he be stoned by one without fault. Thirdly, the errors themselves, which are rather in the out-limbs than vitals of religion. And it may be con-, ceived they might have been reclaimed, if used with gentle means, not catechised with fire and faggot ; it being a true rule, that men's consciences are more moved with leading than dragging or drawing. But the sting of the indictment is still behind in the tail or end thereof; charging them with such heinous errors in doctrine, and vices in life : all which the patrons for the defendants deny and defy, as coined out of the mint of their enemies' malice4. It will be objected, if denying the fact might serve the turn, we should have no malefactors : this therefore is but a poor plea, barely to deny, when that such clouds of witnesses are against them. And grant they have a few straggling writers or some sleeping records which may seem to acquit them, what are one or two men (though suppose them giants) against a whole army ? To this I find it answered for the Albigenses, that it hath been the constant practice of the Romish writers, always to defame those that differ from them, especially if they handle too roughly the Noli me tangere of the pope's supremacy. In later times what aspersions, as false as foul, have Cochleus5 and Bolsecus6 laid on Luther and Calvin! Now how fearless will they be to steal at mid- night, who dare thus rob men of their good name at noon- day ? When such authors as these lie with a witness, yea, with many witnesses7, who could disprove them ; no wonder if they take liberty falsely to accuse the Albigenses, con- ceiving themselves out of the reach of confutation ; writing in such an age when all the counsel is on their own side, being plaintiffs, and none assigned for the defendants. 4 Bishop Jewel, Apol. part l.chap. 2. divis. 1.— Waldo and the rest, for aught we know, and I believe (setting malice aside), for aught you know, were godly men. Their greatest error was that they complained of the dissolute and vicious lives of the 5 In Vita Lutheri. 6 In Vita Calvini. 7 Solidly confuted by Dr. Whitaker, Ue Notis Ecclesiae, cap. 15. Out of Melancthon, Sleidan, Gryneus, Beza, eyewiu nesses. . • 152 THE HISTORY OF A.D.1206 Secondly, I find they produce the authentical copies (such as are above their enemies' calumnies) of the cate- chisms, apologies, remonstrances of these Albigenses ; wherein the distilled doctrine of the protestants is delivered free from Manicheism, or any other heresy fathered upon them. Thirdly, their enemies' slanders plainly appear in some particulars, which justly shaketh the credit of the whole accusation. For whereas they are charged with the Adam- ites willingly to have gone naked, we find them rather nudati than nudi, forced thereunto by the pope's legate ; who being about to take the city of Carcassone in France, where these people most swarmed, he would not grant them their lives but on this condition, that both males and females should go forth and pass by his army stark naked 8. Argued it not a very foul stomach in him, who could feed his eyes with contentment on such a sight, which otherwise" would more deeply have wounded the modesty of the beholder than of the doers, who did it by compulsion ? See now how justly these innocents are charged ! As well may the Israelites be blamed for cruelty to themselves, in putting out their own eyes, when they were commanded to do it by the merciless Ammonite. Lastly, they are cleared by the testimonies of their very enemies ; and who knoweth not, but such a witness is equivalent to a general consent? For those, who, when bemadded with anger, most rave and rage against them, yet per luctda intervalla, in their cold blood, when their words are indicted from their judgments not passions, do most sufficiently acquit them from these accusations. Reinerius, a Jacobine monk, and a cruel inquisitor of the Waldenses, testified *>, that they lived justly before men, and believed all things well of God, and held all the articles contained in the Creed; only they blasphemed the Romish church, and hated it. Claudius de Seissell archbishop of Turin confesseth, as touching their life and manners they were sound and unre- proveable, without scandal amongst men, giving themselves (to their power) to the observation of the commandments of God. 8 So witnesseth Peter De Valle Sarnensi, being himself a monk, and lately printed (anno 161.5) in Paris. See Rivet ou Genesis, p. 138. 9 Cited by Fox in his Martyrol. p. 232. JA.D. .1206 THE HOLY WAR. 153 King Louis XII. of France, being thoroughly informed of the faith and life of the Waldenses in his time, bound it with an oath, that they were better men than he or his people. The same king having killed many of those poor Deople, and having called the place where they lived, Vallis neretricia, for their painted and dissembled piety, upon setter instructions changed the name, calling it from him- self, The Vale of Louis I0. William de Belai, lieutenant of Piedmont, gave this com- mendation of the Merindelites (a sprig which some hundred years after sprouted from the Waldenses), that they were a aborious people, averse from suits, bountiful to the poor, duly paying their princes' tributes and lords' dues, serving God with daily prayers, arid showing forth much innocency n manners11. Thuanus, one that writeth truth with a steady hand, jogged leither by Romanists nor Huguenots, thus charactereth the ^on- waldenses I2r, a stem of that stock we speak of: — They used raw pelts clapped about them for their clothes, the four feet whereof served instead of buttons; all equal in >overty, having no beggars amongst them; their diet on deer and milk ; yet was there scarce any amongst them )ut could read and write handsomely, understand the Bible, and sing psalms ; scarce a boy but could presently and by heart give an account of his faith. Tribute they paid very religiously, &c. More might be added; but I end all with Gamaliel's words, " If this work be of men, it will come to nought ; )ut if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it l3." It argueth he goodness of their cause, in that all their enemies' cruelty unwise to think to spoil the growth of chamomile by tram- >ling on it) could never suppress them ; but they continued ill the days of Luther, when this morning star willingly urrendered his place to him, a brighter sun. But enough )f their life and manners. And if any condemn me for uperfluity herein, I guard myself with St. Augustine's hield, Non est multiloquium, quando necessaria dicuntur, uantalibet sermonum multitudine ac prolixitate dicantur u. 10 Thuanus, torn. 2, lib. 27, p. 15. 11 Idem, torn. 10, lib. 6, p. 188. 12 Tom. 2, lib. 27, p. 16. 13 Acts, v. 38, 39. 14 In his preface to his Retractat. OF 154 THE HISTORY OF A. D. 1206 CHAP. XXI. — The holt/ Army advance against the Albigen- ses. The Cities of Besier and Carcassone taken. POPE Innocent III., having now gathered together an army of one hundred thousand pilgrims, set for- wards for the final extirpation of the poor Albigenses. The .best champions for his holiness herein were the duke of Burgundy, the earls of Nevers, St. Paul, Auxerre, Geneva, Poitiers, with Simon earl of Montfort ; of the clergy, Milo the pope's legate, the archbishop of Sens, Rovan; the bishops of Clermont, Nevers, Lisieux, Bayeux, Chartres, with divers others ; every bishop with the pilgrims of his jurisdiction ; to whom the pope promised paradise in hea- ven, but not one penny on earth. Their work was to destroy the Albigenses, which were in great numbers in Dauphine, Provence, Narbonne, Toulouse, and other parts, of France. Their commission also extended to the rooting out of all their friends and favourers, whether detected, or only suspected ; such as were Reimund earl of Toulouse, Reimund earl of Foix, the viscount of Besiers, Gaston lord of Berne, the earl of Bigorre, the Lady of la Vaur, with divers others. See here a new gate to heaven never opened before, for men to cut their way thither through the throats of their innocent brethren ! Behold the Holy Ghost, who once came down in the form of a dove, now counterfeited in the shape of a vulture ! But we must not forget, how, just before the war began, the pope pretending to reclaim them by reasons to the church of Rome ; to which end he gave order for a dispu- tation with them. The parties, place, and time were agreed on ; who, where, when they should dispute ; but in fine nothing was effected. Yea, who ever knew conferences in so great oppositions to ripen kindly, and bring any fruit to perfection ? for many come rather for faction than satisfac- tion, resolving to carry home the same opinions they brought with them : an upright moderator will scarce be found, who hangeth not to one side ; the place will be subject to suspicion, and hinder liberty ; boldness and readiness of speech, with most (though not most judicious) auditors, will bear away the bell from solidity of arguments ; the passages in the disputing will be partially reported, and both sides will brag of the conquest ; so that the rent will be made worse, and more spirits conjured up than allayed. But now words ended in blows ; the pope only entertain- .D. 1210 THE HOLY WAR. 155 ng them in conferences1, that in the mean time he might prepare his great armies more suddenly to suppress them. The first piece of service his soldiers performed was in lacking the city of Besiers, and borough of Carcassone, n which many catholics, steadfast in the Romish faith, did dwell, and promiscuously were slain with the Albigenses ; yea, priests themselves were cut in pieces in their priestly irnaments, and under the banner of the cross ; so that the wallowing of their foes made their friends also go down glib through their throats, without danger of choking. As or the city of Carcassone, which was not far from the borough, to the inhabitants thereof those immodest condi- ,ions were propounded, whereof formerly : which they •efused, and God better provided for them ; for whilst the city was besieged, they escaped out by the benefit of a vault under ground, and so shifted abroad for themselves. !HAP. XXII. — Simon Earl of Montfort chosen Captain of the Holy War. He conquereth the King of Aragon, prevaileth against the Albigenses, and at last is killed by a Woman. HITHERTO this war was managed by the pope's legate ; but now it was concluded that a secular captain should be adjoined to him, in whose person the chief command should reside over martial affairs; and for lis pains, by the pope's donation, he was to enjoy all countries that should be conquered from the Albigenses or heir favourers2-. The place was offered to the duke of Burgundy, who refused it, saying, " he had lands and lord- ships enough of his own, without spoiling others of their roods." It was waved also by the earls of St. Paul and Vevers, whether out of conscience or policy ; because though the pope gave them the bear's skin, they must first kill and flay him themselves. At last Simon of Montfort, nigh Paris, accepted of it, swearing to vex the Lord's enemies [1210]. And for a breakfast to begin with, he was seized of the vicecounty of Besiers, proceeding from lence to take many castles and cities. One grand inconvenience attended on this army of pil- grims ; for when their quarantine, or forty days' service, was expired (the term the pope set them to merit paradise in), 1 Jo. Paul Perm. De Alhig. lib. 1, cap. 2. 8 See the substance of this following story in Jo. Paul Perin. ib. 1 , cap. 6, et deinceps. 156 THE HISTORY OF A.o.1212 they would not stay one whit longer,; like posthorses they would run to their set stage, but could not be spurred one foot further; contenting themselves they had already pur- chased heaven, and fearing they should be put in possession thereof too soon, by losing their lives in that service. And though the bishops persuaded some few to stay, that so the surplusage of their merits might make up the arrearages of their friends which wanted them, yet could they not prevail to any purpose. Nor could they so cast and contrive their matters, the tide of people's devotion being uncertain, but that betwixt the going out of the old, and coming in of the new store of pilgrims, there would be a low ebb, wherein their army was almost wasted to nothing; whereof the Albigenses made no small advantage* However, the earls of Toulouse, Foix, and Comminge,and prince of Berne, the patrons of the Albigenses, finding they were too weak for this holy army, sheltered themselves under Peter king of Aragon; whose homagers they were, receiving investiture from him, though their dominions lay on this side ofthe Pyrenean hills. This king had the greatness of the earl of Montfort in suspicion, fearing lest these several principalities, which now were single arrows, should be bound in one sheaf, conquered and united under Earl Simon. Wherefore he fomented a faction in them against the holy army, publicly protesting against the proceedings of Earl Simon; charging him to have turned the bark of God's church into a pirate's ship, robbing others, and enriching themselves under the pretence of religion, seizing on the lands of good catholics for supposed heretics, using God's cause as hunters do a stand, in it the more covertly to shoot at what game they please ; otherwise why was the viscount of Besiers, who lived and died firm in the Romish faith, lately trained into the legate's hand, and, against oaths and promises of his safe return, kept close prisoner till his death, and his lands seized on by Earl Simon ? At last the king of Aragon taking the earl of Montfort on the advantage (shooting him as it were betwixt wind and water, the ending of the old and beginning of new pilgrims), forced him to a b'attle [1 21 2] . The king had thirty thousand foot and seven thousand horse ; but the earl, of both foot and horse not above two thousand two hundred. They closed together near the castle of Moret; and the king, whether out of zeal of conquest and thirst of honour, or distrust of under officers, or desire to animate others, or a mixture of all, ran his curvet so openly, and made his turns A. D. 1218 THE HOLY WAR. 157 and returns in the head of the army, that so fair a mark invited his enemies' arrows to hit him, by whom he was wounded to death, and fell from his horse ; to lesson all generals to keep themselves, like the heart, in the body of the army, whence they may have a virtual omnipresence in every part thereof; and not to expose their persons (which, like crystal vials, contain the extracted spirits of their soldiers spilled with their breaking) to places of imminent danger. With his body fell the hearts of his men ; and though the earls of Toulouse, Foix, and Comminge, persuaded, en- treated, threatened them to stay, they used their oratory so long till their audience ran all away, and they were fain to follow them, reserving themselves by flight to redeem their honour some other time. Simon, improving this victory, pursued them to the gates of Toulouse, and killed many thousands. The friars im- puted this victory to the bishop's benediction, and adoring a piece of the cross, together with the fervency of the clergy's prayers, which, remaining behind in the castle of Moret, bat- tered heaven with their importunity. On the other side, the Albigenses acknowledged God's justice in punishing the proud king of Aragon ; who, as if his arm had been strong and long enough to pluck down the victory out of heaven without God's reaching it to him, conceived that Earl Simon came rather to cast himself down at his feet than to fight. But such reckonings without the host are ever subject to a rear account. Yet within few years the