Volume 3 / Book 18 — APPENDIX.

No. 1.—Page 2, Vol. I.

In the third and fourth century of the Christian era, pilgrimages to the Holy Land became so frequent, that they led to many abuses. St. Augustine, Serm. 3, de Martyr. Verb., expresses himself thus: “Dominus non dixit, Vade in Orientem et quære justitiam: naviga usque ad Occidentem, ut accipias indulgentiam.” The same saint says elsewhere, Serm. 1, de Verb. Apost. Petri ad Christum: “Noli longa itinera meditari; ubi credis, ubi venis; ad eum enim, qui ubique est, amando venitur, non navigando.” St. Gregory of Nyssus, in a letter which bears for title, “De Euntibus Hierosolymam,” speaks with still greater vehemence against pilgrimages: he thinks that women, in particular, would meet on their route with frequent opportunities for sinning; that Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost were not in one place more than another; he censures bitterly the morals of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who committed the greatest crimes, although they had constantly before their eyes Calvary and all the places visited by pilgrims. St. Jerome endeavoured to divert St. Paulinus from the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, by a letter which is still preserved: “De Hierosolymis,” said he, “et de Britannia equaliter patet aula cœlestis.” He added, that an innumerable crowd of saints and doctors enjoyed eternal life without ever having seen Jerusalem; that from the reign of Hadrian to that of Constantine, an image of Jupiter received the adorations of the pagans upon the rock of Calvary, and that fervent worship was paid to Venus and Adonis within the walls of Bethlehem.

We add an extract from the pilgrimage of St. Eusebius of Cremona, and his friend St. Jerome, taken from a notice, written by Francis Ferrarius, vol. i. of the Bollandists, of the month of April, p. 276.

“(A.D. 390-423.) According to St. Jerome, St. Eusebius was born at Cremona, of distinguished parents, who spared neither pains nor expense for his education. They were rewarded by the rapid progress of their son in knowledge, but particularly by the rare virtues which he showed from his earliest childhood. Solely occupied with religious ideas, Eusebius, when still young, abandoned his parents, his country, and all the advantages which his birth and wealth promised him, to go to Rome, and visit the sacred monuments contained in that city. Very soon becoming united in a strict friendship with St. Jerome, who dwelt in Rome, Eusebius determined to accompany him in a voyage which the latter intended to make to Jerusalem.

“Having embarked, they visited the isle of Cyprus in their passage, passed through Antioch, where they were received by St. Paulinus, who was bishop of that city,[128] and arrived safely at Jerusalem. After having performed their devotions in the spots sanctified with the presence of Christ, they visited Bethlehem, Calvary, Mount of Olives, and Mount Tabor, the valley of Jehoshaphat, the castle of Emmaüs, and extended their pilgrimage as far as Egypt, to witness the fasts and austerities to which the pious solitaries of the Thebaïs abandoned themselves. Returning into Judæa, the city of Bethlehem particularly fixed their attention, and they resolved to found a monastery there, which was soon filled with religious men disposed to follow the rules established by St. Jerome himself. But the crowd of pilgrims becoming daily more considerable, and not knowing how to feed and lodge them, the two friends were obliged to return to Italy, to sell the property they had there, which they destined for these pious purposes. St. Jerome, compelled by his affairs to go to Rome, there met with St. Paulina, descended from the ancient family of the Gracchi. This lady, learning the project that had brought him into Italy, determined to follow his example: she abandoned her fortune, her country, and her children, and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where she founded a monastery for maidens, which she governed herself to the time of her death. St. Jerome, after having employed the large sums he brought back in the construction of an hospital for pilgrims, terminated his pious career at Bethlehem, at an advanced age. Eusebius, who was named abbot after the death of his friend, only survived him two years. Deeply regretted by his monks, of whom he had constantly been the benefactor and the father, he was interred, according to his desire, with St. Jerome, close to the stable in which the Saviour was born. Thus were united in the tomb, as they had been in life, and as they are, without doubt, in heaven, where their virtues have placed them, two men who renounced all they held most dear to strengthen the faith of the faithful, and to become in a distant country the consolers of the unfortunate.”

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No. 2.—Page 3, Vol. I.

The Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem.

Although we do not think it necessary, at this time of day, to give, as Mr. Michaud has done, in his “Pièces Justificatives,” the whole of this celebrated Itinerary,[129] with remarks upon the places passed through or by; we think we shall gratify the praiseworthy curiosity of many of our readers by so far presenting the details, as to show the route by which early pilgrims travelled to the Holy Land.

This Itinerary is deemed by learned men the most exact and correct that has come down to modern times; it was printed for the first time, in 1588, by the care of the celebrated Pierre Pithon, from a manuscript upon vellum in his own library; and which, when M. Michaud wrote this history, was in the Imperial Library at Paris. This Itinerary was composed about the year 333 of the Christian era. In fact, the author of it informs us that he went from Constantinople to Chalcedon, and that he returned to Constantinople under the consulship of Dalmatius and Xenophilus, who, we learn from Cassiodorus and other authorities, were consuls together in the year 333. The author was a Christian of Bordeaux, whose aim, in this work, was to facilitate for his compatriots the voyage to the Holy Land, which he himself had performed.

The example of the empress Helena, and the magnificence with which she had ornamented the humble spot which gave our Saviour birth, singularly excited, at this period, the zeal and curiosity of Christians for such voyages. A passage from the Psalms, badly interpreted in the Greek, was considered as a prophecy, and a commandment to all the faithful to visit the holy places. In the Psalms was read: “Let us adore the Lord, in the spot where his feet were placed,” and the bishops of that time unceasingly repeated: “The psalmist has prophesied, and has said; Let us adore the Lord on the spot where his feet were placed.” This is in the 132nd Psalm, and Jerome, Eusebius, and others did not understand it otherwise; the Vulgate translates it: Adorabimus in loco ubi steterunt pedes ejus; but the Hebrew only says, We will prostrate ourselves before thy footstool, that is to say, before the holy ark; and this is the version in the English.

On leaving this famous city, our pilgrim directed his course towards Thoulouse, passing by Auch—from Thoulouse to Narbonne, passing by Carcassonne—and from Narbonne to Arles, passing by Beziers and Nîmes. Arles was then a city of great note, being called the Little Rome of the Gauls. He continues his route towards Italy, and after having passed through the cities of Avignon, Orange, Valence, Die, Gap, and Embrun, he arrives at the foot of the Cottian Alps (Alpes Cottiæ); at Briançon he begins to climb Mount Genevre, and soon finds himself at Susa in Italy. He afterwards enters Turin, follows the Po, traverses the beautiful plains of Piedmont, which are north of that river, till he gains Pavia; he re-ascends towards the north, and arrives at Milan, then the city of Italy second only to Rome. Continuing his route towards the East, the pilgrim passes through Bergamo, Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, and arrives at Aquileia, then a great city, but afterwards destroyed by Attila. He then ascends the Julian Alps, which separate Friuli from Carniola. He arrives at Æmona (Layback), and at twenty-three miles beyond that place, marks the limits of Italy and Norica; which limits were at that time the boundaries of the Western and the Eastern empires.

Our pilgrim, after quitting the vicariat of Italy, or the ancient Cisalpine Gaul, enters the diocese of Illyria, goes on to Cilley, and reaches the city of Petau, in modern Styria. Crossing the river Drave, he enters Lower, or Second Pannonia; but continues to follow the northern banks of the Drave, or the southern frontiers of modern Hungary, and traversing Pannonia Superior, he directs his course to the south, and gains the banks of the Save at Cibalis, which was placed where now the modern village of Svilaï stands, to the east of Brod. Proceeding towards the East, he enters Sirmium, then one of the most considerable cities of the Eastern empire, but of which there are now scarcely any vestiges. At a short distance from Sirmium our pilgrim comes to the confluence of the Save and the Danube, at Singidunum, where Belgrade is at present, which city, he informs us, terminates Pannonia Superior. Crossing the Save, he finds himself in Mœsia, now Servia, and follows the course of the Danube. At Viminacium, now in ruins, near Vi-Palanka and Ram, our pilgrim does not neglect to remark that it was at this place Diocletian killed Carinus, which agrees with the account of Eutropius of this event. After leaving the banks of the Danube at Viminacium, he directs his course towards the south-east, following the Roman way, which deviates little from the banks of the Morava, and at about fifty miles before he comes to Nissa, he points to a station called Mansio Oromago, as the limits of Mœsia and Dacia; but which we must observe is the Dacia of Aurelian, and not that of Trajan, of which he speaks. After having traversed Nissa into Servia, he arrives at the city of Sardica, whose ruins are now to be seen near Sophia, or Triaditza. Continuing to follow the same route, which is that of the present day, from Belgrade to Constantinople, he sets down the limits between Dacia and Thrace, just beyond the Mutatio Sencio. From Philippopolis, or Felibra, our pilgrim journeys to Heraclia, now Erekil, on the coast of the Sea of Marmora, and, at length to Constantinople. From Constantinople, says our traveller, you cross the Bosphorus, you arrive at Chalcedon, and go through Bithynia. At Libyssa, near Gebyzeh, on the coast of the Propontis, our pilgrim remarks, is the tomb of Hannibal; which is confirmed by Pliny, Plutarch, Eusebius, &c. Tournefort and Belo, among the moderns, say they have seen the tomb in this place. After arriving in Nicomedia (Isnikmid), our pilgrim continues his route, and passing through Nice (Isnik) marks near Ceratæ the limits of Bithynia and Galatia. Then on to Ancyra, near Angora—then to Andrapa, where he places the limits of Galatia and Cappadocia. Proceeding still towards the south-east, into the Karismania of the moderns, he gains Tyana, which he tells us is the country of the magician Apollonius. Next is a place called Pilas, and soon after Tarsus, which he does not fail to tell us is the country of the apostle Paul. He then enters Cilicia Secunda, which formed one of the divisions of the empire of the East. At nine miles beyond Alexandria (or Scanderoun) he marks the limits of Cilicia and Syria, and arrives at length at the city of Antioch (Antakia). Our traveller then continues his route along the Roman way which ran along the coast of Syria, and at Balnea (Belnia), indicates the limits of Syria and Phœnicia. On passing by a small place called Antaradus (Centre-Aradus), which is the Tortosa of the time of the crusades, he takes care to observe that the city of Aradus itself is only two miles from the coast. This powerful city was built in the little island called Ruad by the moderns. Our traveler crosses Tripolis (Taraboles), then Berytus (Berouth), and arrives at Sidona (Saide). Next to Tyre (now the little village of Sour); thence to Ptolemaïs (St. Jean d’Acre), and at Sycamenes be finds himself at the foot of Mount Carmel. At eight miles from that place he indicates the confines of Syria and Palestine, and arrives at Cæsarea (Qaïsarich). On leaving Cæsarea, our pilgrim quits the direct road that leads to Jerusalem. In order the better to fulfil the object of his voyage, and visit Palestine, he directs his course to the East, towards the revered waters of the Jordan. After interrupting his Itinerary to make several Biblical remarks, he proceeds to the banks of the Jordan, at a place called Scythopolis or Bethsan, named by the moderns Bisan; then going afterwards to the south of the side of Jerusalem, he passes Aser, “in which was the house of Job,” and at fifteen miles thence enters Neapolis or Sichem, the Naboles of the moderns. Here he ceases to follow any direct route, but visits every place that the Old or New Testament has rendered memorable; and gives an account of them in his journey from Neapolis to Jerusalem. After seeing everything that could attract the attention of a pious and well-informed Christian, he returns to Jerusalem, and resumes his Itinerary with as much exactness as at first. As his homeward journey begins by the same route he arrived, we will join company with him at Erekil, on the coast of Marmora, where he begins to deviate. He proceeds to the south of Mount Rhodope, the Despeto-dag of the moderns; he passes through the city of Apris, which, after Theodosius, took the name of Theodosiopolis. At a short distance from Apris, our pilgrim indicates the limits of the province of Europa, and that of Rhodope. To understand this, we must remember that at the period at which the Aquitain pilgrim wrote, the diocese of Thrace was divided into six provinces, amongst which were those of Europa and Rhodope; the cities of Constantinople, Heraclea, and Apris were in the province of Europa. Our pilgrim reaches Trajanopolis, which the Turks call Orichovo, and keeping to the west, through Macedonia, or the Romania of the moderns, and along the northern shores of the Sea of Marmora, and of the Archipelago, he points out, near a place called Pardis, the boundary of the provinces of Rhodope and Macedon—he crosses Neapolis, now Cavale, and Philippi, which is in ruins. Shortly afterwards he visits the celebrated Amphipolis on the Strymon, the ruins of which are now near a little village called Jeni-Keni. Twenty miles farther our pilgrim contemplates the tomb of the poet Euripides, at a station named Arethusa, situated in a valley of the same name. He passes by Thessalonica (Saloniki), which is still one of the most considerable cities of these countries. He arrives at Pella, the celebrated capital of Macedon, which presents nothing at the present day but ruins, known by the name of Palatiæ, or the Palaces. Our pilgrim does not omit to show his erudition by remarking that Alexander the Great was of this city—civitas Pelli, unde fuit Alexander Magnus Macedo. Here the pilgrim, directing his course towards the north-west, follows the famous Egnatian way, constructed by the Romans through Macedon. This way passes to Edessa, to Heraclea in Macedon, and there, discontinuing its northward direction, it goes straight to the west to Dyrrachium; but one branch of this way, before arriving at Dyrrachium, now Durazzo, re-descends towards Apollonia, now in ruins under the name of Polina; and it was this last that the pilgrim took. At thirty-three miles from Heraclea, near a station called Brucida, he points out the limits of Macedon and Epirus, two provinces which were then only subdivisions of the great diocese of Macedon. At twenty-four miles from Apollonia, the Aquitain traveller gains the coast at Aulona (Valena), at a place where Epirus, or the coast of Albania of the moderns, comes nearest to Italy. He then crosses the strait between Aulona and Hydruntum, near Otranto. Upon his arrival in Italy, our pilgrim goes to Brindisi, and afterwards takes the Appian way, of all the ways the best and the most frequented. It led him first to Capua. From Capua he continues, by the same way, to Rome, crossing the Pontine marshes. He quits Rome, and follows the Flaminian way, which crosses the Apennines, and which leads out at Ariminum (Rimini), by Spoleto, Fano, and Pesaro.

From Rimini our pilgrim takes the Emilian way, which traced and still does trace a straight line; and traversing Bologna, Modena, Parma, and Placentia, he arrives at last at Mediolanum (Milan); from whence he returns to Bordeaux by the same route he took at starting.

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No. 3.—Page 25, Vol. I.

There is so much sameness, accompanied by such incredible marvels, in the numerous pilgrimages described by M. Michaud, that we are certain our readers will willingly dispense with them. The incident which he promises to give of Foulque, count of Anjou, is this:—“Then the count approached to kiss the Holy Sepulchre, and then the divine clemency showed that the good zeal of the count was acceptable, for the stone, which is hard and solid, at the kiss of the count became soft and flexible as wax warmed at the fire. The count bit it, and took away a large piece in his mouth, without the infidels perceiving it; and he then, quite at his ease, visited the other holy places.”

There is, indeed, another incident to which we fear M. Michaud alludes; but as the amusement or instruction it could afford would not compensate for its indecency, we do not give it.

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No. 4.—Page 53, Vol. I.

Among the chroniclers who give an account of this very memorable event, one of the most esteemed is William of Malmesbury, a monk of the order of St. Bennet. From his learning he was called the Librarian, and his particular study was history. He lived in the early part of the twelfth century. Our author having transferred the spirit of all the chronicles to his text, we deem it quite unnecessary to offer the whole that he has quoted from them in his Pièces Justificatives; but there is a curious passage of William of Malmesbury, which shows the character of the writer and his times, that we shall not hesitate to give.

Having said that, after the council, every one retired to his home, he continues thus:—“Immediately the fame of this great event being spread through the universe, penetrated the minds of Christians with its mild breath, and wherever it blew, there was no nation, however distant or obscure it might be, that did not send some of its people. This zeal not only animated the provinces bordering on the Mediterranean, but all who had ever even heard of the name of a Christian in the most remote isles, and among barbarous nations. Then the Welshman abandoned his forests and neglected his hunting; the Scotchman deserted the fleas with which he is so familiar; the Dane ceased to swallow his intoxicating draughts; and the Norican turned his back upon his raw fish.[130] The fields were left by the cultivators, and the houses by their inhabitants; all the cities were deserted. People were restrained neither by the ties of blood nor the love of country; they saw nothing but God. All that was in the granaries or destined for food, was left under the guardianship of the greedy agriculturist. The voyage to Jerusalem was the only thing hoped for or thought of. Joy animated the hearts of all who set out; grief dwelt in the hearts of all who remained. Why do I say, of those who remained? You might have seen the husband setting forth with his wife, with all his family; you would have laughed to see all the penates put in motion and loaded upon cars. The road was too narrow for the passengers, more room was wanted for the travellers, so great and numerous was the crowd.”

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No. 5.—Page 82, Vol. I.

Robert of Normandy.

Robert had, before the crusades, long and serious quarrels with his father, William II. of Normandy and I. of England. In 1080, he quitted his country and sought the protection of his uncles, Robert, count of Flanders, Udo, archbishop of Trèves, and several other princes of the houses of Lorraine, Germany, Aquitain, and Gascony. He made his complaints to them, mingling falsehood with truth, and received great assistance from them. But he squandered their gifts among actors, parasites, and courtezans. He was so prodigal that he soon became straitened again, and was obliged to have recourse to usurers. “Every one,” says the chronicler Orderic Vital, “knew Duke Robert for an indolent, weak prince. So the ill-intentioned, despising him, took advantage of his character to excite trouble and factions. The duke was bold, valiant, worthy of praise in many respects, and naturally eloquent; but he was inconsiderate, prodigal in his bounty, free of promises, light and imprudent in his falsehoods, allowing himself to be easily prevailed upon by prayers; mild in character and slow to punish crime; changeable in his decisions, too familiar in his conversation, and by that means drawing upon himself the contempt of the ill-disposed. He was stout, and short of stature, whence his father named him Courte-Heuse. He was anxious to please everybody, and gave, or promised, or granted, all that was asked of him. Prodigal of his patrimony, he diminished it daily by giving imprudently to every one what he desired. Thus he became poor, and furnished others with means to act against him.” When the first crusade took place, Normandy, ill-governed by such a prince, was in the most deplorable condition. Duke Robert, in fear of the greatest evils, saw no better means of avoiding them, than by pledging his duchy with his brother William Rufus, for five years, for the sum of ten thousand marks, and setting out for Jerusalem. With his exploits in the Holy Land our readers are acquainted. In the year 1100, Robert, on his return from Palestine, landed in Apulia, where he fell in love with Sibylla, daughter of Geoffrey of Conversana, nephew of Duke Guiscard. He married her, and took her into Normandy, obtaining from his father-in-law the means of redeeming his duchy. He lived there eight years much in the same fashion as before his pilgrimage. At the end of that period, and in consequence of events foreign to our object, he was made prisoner at Tinchebray in Normandy, by his brother Henry, who carried him to London, where he remained confined twenty-seven years, but always living amidst the enjoyments of life.

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No. 6.

Charlemagne.

Whilst searching the Chronicles for passages illustrative of our work, we met with a portrait of Charlemagne so exceedingly interesting, that although he had nothing to do with the crusades, we cannot refrain from presenting it to our readers, begging them to remember that Charlemagne was considered, even in Asia, as the most powerful prince of Europe.

“Charlemagne, who attained the highest degree of celebrity and glory, of a scrupulous and profound piety, was well informed in letters and philosophy, was the avenger and ardent propagator of the Christian religion, and the defender and supporter of justice and truth. Charlemagne’s face was very white (at the time he was crowned by the pope, Leo), his countenance was cheerful, and whether standing or sitting, his carriage was equally majestic. Although his neck was thick and rather short, and his belly too protuberant, all his limbs were well proportioned. On days of festivity he wore a mantle of gold tissue, and a chaussure ornamented with precious stones. His sagum, or cloak, was fastened with a golden clasp, and his diadem was enriched with gold and jewels. Towards the end of his career, he was seized, on his return from Spain, with a fever, which lasted four years, and rendered him lame. He followed rather his own inclinations than the advice of his physicians, for whom he had a kind of aversion, because they wished him to abstain from roast meat, of which he was very fond, and to accustom himself to live on boiled meats. Charles was called great on account of his great good fortune, in which he was not inferior to his father, but was, on the contrary, more frequently a conqueror and more illustrious. In his youth his hair was brown, and his complexion ruddy; he was handsome, and had much dignity in his carriage; he was very generous, very equitable in his judgments, eloquent, and very well informed. He enjoyed every day the sports of the chase and the exercise of riding on horseback; he was exceedingly fond of tepid baths, to which he invited not only his children but the lords of his court, his friends, and his guards, so that there were often more than a hundred persons in the bath with him. He was moderate in his eating, and still more so in his drinking; nevertheless he often complained that fasts were injurious to him. He rarely gave great banquets, except upon solemn occasions. There were, ordinarily, not more than four dishes on his table, besides the roast meat which he so greatly preferred. Whilst he ate, a person read to him histories and accounts of the actions of the ancients, or else the book of the City of God, by Saint Augustine, for which he had a great predilection. During the repast he never drank more than three times. In summer, he took fruit after dinner, and slept two or three hours, undressed as if at night. His dress was that of the Franks, and he constantly wore a sword; the sword-belt and baldric being of gold or silver. Sometimes he wore two swords. He spoke several languages. He had around him doctors of the seven liberal arts, who instructed him daily; that is to say, a deacon of Pisa, in grammar; a Saxon, in rhetoric, dialectics, and astronomy; and Albin, surnamed Alouin, in the other arts. He himself made some reforms in the art of reading and in that of singing, although he never read in public aloud, and never sang but with the choir. He caused all the laws of his kingdom to be written, that were not so before. He himself wrote the actions and the wars of the ancients, and began a grammar of the language of his country. He had every night a hundred and twenty guards around his bed. Ten were placed at his head, ten at his feet, and ten on each side of him, and each of these forty held a naked sword in one hand and a lighted torch in the other.”

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No. 7.—Page 227, Vol. I.

The Chronicle of Tours.

We think it our duty to give here the passage from Albert d’Aix in its entirety, which contains the motives for the sentence of death pronounced by the leaders of the Christian army against the Mussulmans found in Jerusalem. At the end is the description of the massacres which followed the taking of the city. For all who wish to appreciate the spirit of the times, this document is important.

“Jerusalem civitas Dei excelsi, ut universi nôstis, magnâ difficultate, et non sine damno nostrorum, recuperata, propriis filiis hodie restituta est, et liberata de manu regis Babyloniæ jugoque Turcorum. Sed modo cavendum est, ne avaritiâ, aut pigritiâ vel misericordiâ erga inimicos habitâ, hanc amittamus, captivis et adhuc residuis in urbe gentilibus, parcentes. Nam si forte à rege Babyloniæ in multitudine gravi occupati fuimus. subito ab intus et extra impugnabimur, sicque in perpetuum exilium transportabimur. Unde primum et fidele nobis videtur consilium, quatenus universi Saraceni et Gentiles, qui captivi tenentur, pecunia redimendi, aut redempti, sine dilatione in gladio corruant, ne fraude aut ingenio illorum nobis aliqua occurrant adversa. Consilio hoc accepto, tertio die post victoriam egressa est sententia à majoribus; et ecce universi arma rapiunt, et miserabili cædi in omne vulgus gentilium, quod adhuc erat residuum, exagunt, alios producentes à vinculis, et decollantes; alios per vicos et plateas civitatis inventos trucidantes, quibus antea pecuniæ causâ, aut humanâ pietate pepercerant. Puellis tenellis detruncabant, aut lapidibus obruebant, in nullis aliquam considerantes ætatem. E contra puellæ, mulieres, matronæ, metu momentaneæ mortis angustatæ et horrere gravissimæ necis concussæ, Christianos, in jugulum utriusque sexus debacchantes ac sævientes, medios pro liberandâ vitâ amplexabantur, quædam pedibus eorum advolvebantur, de vitâ et salute suâ illos mirum miserando fletu et ejulatu sollicitantes. Pueri vero quinquennes aut triennes matrum patrumque crudelem casum intuentes, unà miserum clamorem et fletum multiplicabant; sed frustra hæc pietatis et misericordiæ signa fiebant. Nam Christiani sic neci totum laxaverunt animum, ut non sugens masculus aut fœmina, nedum infans unius anni vivens manum percussoris evaderet. Unde plateæ totius civitatis Jerusalem, corporibus extinctis virorum, mulierum, lacerisque membris infantium adeo stratæ et opertæ fuisse referuntur, ut non solùm in vicis, soliis, et palatiis, sed etiam in locis desertæ solitudinis, copia occisorum reperiebatur innumerabilis.”—Alb. Aq. lib. 6, cap. 30, ap. Bong. pp. 282, 283.

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No. 8.

Letter from Bohemond, Godfrey, Raymond, and Hugh the Great, upon the Peace concluded with the Emperor, and the Victory gained over the Infidels (anno 1097, ex Manuscript. St. Albani).

Bohemond, son of Guiscard; Raymond, count of St. Gilles; Duke Godfrey, and Hugh the Great; to all of the sect of the Catholic faith: may they attain the eternal felicity which we wish them.

In order that the peace concluded between us and the emperor, as well as the events that have happened to us since we have been in the lands of the Saracens, be known to all the world, we despatch to you, very dear brethren, an envoy, who will inform you of all it can interest you to know. We have to tell you, that in the month of May, the emperor promised us that from that time, pilgrims who came from the West to visit the Holy Sepulchre, should be protected from all insults on the lands of his dominions; pronouncing pain of death against whoever should transgress against his orders, and giving us at the same time, as hostages, his son-in-law and his nephew, as guarantees of his word. But let us return to events more capable of interesting you. At the end of the same month of May, we gave battle to the Turks, and, by the grace of God, we conquered them. Thirty thousand were left upon the field of battle. Our loss amounted to three thousand men, who, by that glorious death, have acquired felicity without end. It is impossible to value correctly the immense quantity of gold and silver, as well as precious vestments and arms, that fell into our hands; Nice, a city of importance, with the forts and castles which surround it, immediately surrendered. We likewise fought a bloody battle in Antioch; sixty-nine thousand infidels were killed in the place, whilst only ten thousand of us had the good fortune to obtain eternal life upon this occasion. Never was a joy equal to that which animates us, beheld; for, whether we live, or whether we die, we belong to the Lord. On this subject learn that the king of Persia has sent us a message, by which he warns us of his intention of giving us battle towards the festival of All-Saints. If he should prove the conqueror, his design is, he says, with the help of the king of Babylon and many other infidel princes, to make incessant war upon the Christians; but if he should be conquered, he will be baptized with all those he can persuade to follow his example. We beg you, then, very dear brethren, to redouble your fasts and your alms, particularly the third day before the festival, which will be on a Friday, the day of triumph of Jesus Christ, in which we shall fight with much more hope of success, by preparing ourselves by prayers and other acts of devotion.

P.S.—I, bishop of Grenoble,[131] send these letters, which have been brought to me, to you archbishops and canons of the church of Tours, in order that they may be known by all those who will repair to the festival, and by those of the different parts of the earth into which they shall return; and that some may favour this holy enterprise by alms and prayers, whilst others, taking up arms, will hasten to take a part in it.

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No. 9.

Letter from Daimbert, Archbishop of Pisa, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Raymond, Count of St. Gilles. They announce the Victories gained by the Christian Armies in the Holy Land (anno 1100, ex Manuscript. Signiensis Monasterii).

I, archbishop of Pisa, and the other bishops; Godfrey, by the grace of God now defender of the Holy Sepulchre, and all the army of the Lord, at present in the land of Israel, to our holy father the pope, to the Romish Church, to all bishops, and to all Christians, health and benediction in our Lord Jesus Christ.

God has manifested his mercy by accomplishing by means of us, that which he promised in ancient times. After the taking of Nice, our army, three hundred thousand men strong, covered the whole of Romania. The Saracen princes and kings having risen up against us, with the help of God were easily conquered and annihilated; but as some of us became vain-glorious upon these advantages, the Lord, to prove us, opposed Antioch to us, a city against which human efforts could do nothing, which stopped us nine months, and the resistance of which so humbled our pride, that it compelled us to have recourse to penitence. God, touched by our repentance, allowed a ray of his divine mercy to shine upon us, introduced us into the city, and gave the Turks with all their possessions up to us.

In our ingratitude, having a second time imputed this success to our own courage, and not to the Omnipotent who had caused us to obtain it, he permitted, for our chastisement, that an innumerable multitude of Saracens should come and besiege us, so that nobody durst go out of the city; we were soon given up to so cruel a famine, that some of us, in their despair, did not appear averse to nourishing themselves upon human flesh. It would be too long to make the recital of all we suffered in this respect. At length the anger of the Lord became appeased, and he so inflamed the courage of our warriors, that even they who were weakened by disease and famine took up arms and fought valiantly. The enemy was conquered; and as our army was fruitlessly consuming itself within the walls of Antioch, we entered Syria, and took from the Saracens the cities of Barra and Marra, as well as several castles and strong places. A horrible famine which assailed our army here, placed us under the cruel necessity of feeding upon the dead bodies of the Saracens, already in a state of putrefaction. Happily, the hand of the Lord aided us again, and opened to us the gates of the cities and fortresses of the countries we passed through. At our approach, they hastened to send us messengers loaded with provisions and presents; they offered to surrender and accept the laws we might please to dictate; but as we were few in number, and as the general desire of the army was to march to Jerusalem, we continued our route, after having required hostages of the cities, the smallest of which contained more inhabitants than we had soldiers.

The news of these advantages induced a great number of our people who had remained at Antioch and Laodicea, to join us at Tyre, so that, under the all-powerful ægis of the Lord, we arrived at Jerusalem. Our troops suffered much in the siege of this place from the want of water. The council of war being assembled, the bishops and principal leaders ordered that the army should make a procession barefooted around the city, in order that He who formerly humiliated himself for us, touched by our humility, might open the gates to us, and give up his enemies to our anger. The Lord, appeased by our action, gave up Jerusalem to us eight days afterwards, precisely at the period at which the Apostles composing the primitive Church separated to spread themselves over the different parts of the earth, an epoch which is celebrated as a festival by a great number of the faithful. If you desire to know what we did to the enemies we found in the city, learn that in the portico of Solomon, and in the temple, our horses walked up to their knees in the impure blood of the Saracens. We already marked out those who were to guard the place, and we had already granted to those whom a love of country or a desire to see their families again recalled into Europe, permission to return thither, when we were informed that the king of Babylon was at Ascalon, with an innumerable army, announcing haughtily his project of leading away into captivity the Franks who guarded Jerusalem, and then rendering himself master of Antioch. It was thus he spoke; but the God of heaven had ordained otherwise. This news being confirmed to us, we marched to meet the Babylonians, after leaving in the city our wounded and our baggage, with a sufficient garrison. The two armies being in presence of each other, we bent our knees, and invoked in our favour the God of armies, that it might please Him, in His justice, to annihilate by our hands the power of the Saracens and that of the demon, and by that means extend his Church and the knowledge of the Gospel from one sea to the other. God granted our prayers, and gave us such courage that those who could have seen us rush upon the enemy, would have taken us for a herd of deer going to quench the thirst that devours them in a clear fountain which they perceive. Our army consisted of little more than five thousand horsemen and fifteen thousand foot; the enemy, on the contrary, had more than a hundred thousand horse and forty thousand foot soldiers. But God manifested his power in favour of his servants. Our first charge alone put to flight, even without fighting, this immense multitude. It might be said they feared to offer the least resistance, and that they had not arms upon which they could depend to defend themselves with. All the treasures of the king of Babylon fell into our hands. More than a hundred thousand Saracens fell beneath our swords; a great number were drowned in the sea, and fear was so strong upon them, that two thousand were stifled in the gates of Ascalon, by pressing to get in.

If our soldiers had not been occupied in pillaging the camp of the enemies, scarcely, of such a number, enough would have escaped to announce their defeat. We cannot pass by in silence a very extraordinary event. On the day before that of the battle, we took possession of several thousands of camels, oxen, and sheep. The leaders commanded the soldiers to leave them, in order to march towards the enemy. A wonderful thing to relate, these animals accompanied us still, stopping when we stopped, advancing when we advanced; the clouds even sheltered us from the ardour of the sun, and the zephyrs blew to refresh us. We offered up thanks to the Lord for the victory he had enabled us to gain, and we returned to Jerusalem. The count of St. Gilles, Robert duke of Normandy, and Robert count of Flanders, left Duke Godfrey there, and came back to Laodicea. A perfect concord having been reëstablished between Bohemond and our leaders by the archbishop of Pisa, the Count Raymond prepared to return to Jerusalem for the service of God and his brethren. In consequence we wish for you, heads of the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ, and first of the Latin people; and you all, bishops, clerks, monks, and laymen, that in favour of the courage and admirable piety of your brethren, it may please the Lord to pour his blessings upon you, to grant you the entire remission of your sins, and to make you sit at the right hand of God, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, from all eternity. So be it.

We pray you and supplicate you by our Lord Jesus Christ, who was always with us, and who has preserved us through all our tribulations, to show gratitude towards our brethren who return to you, to do them kindness, and pay them that which you owe them, in order by that means to render yourselves agreeable to the Lord, and to obtain a part in the favours they have merited from divine goodness.

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No. 10.

Letter of the principal Crusaders to Pope Urban. (See Foulcher de Chartres, pages 394, 395, of the Collection of Bongars.)

We are all desirous that you should know how great the mercy of God has been towards us, and by what all-powerful help we have taken Antioch; how the Turks, who had loaded with outrages our Lord Jesus Christ, have been conquered and put to death, and how we have avenged the injuries done to our God; how we have at last been besieged by the Turks from Corasan, Jerusalem, Damascus, and many other countries; and how at length, by the protection of Heaven, we have been delivered from a great danger.

When we had taken Nice, we routed, as you have learnt, a great multitude of Turks who came out against us. We beat the great Soliman (Kilidge-Arslan), we made a considerable booty, and being masters of all Romania, we laid siege to Antioch. We suffered much in this siege, both on the part of the Turks shut up in the city, and on the part of those who came to succour the besieged. At length, the Turks being conquered in all the battles, the cause of the Christian religion triumphed in the following manner. I, Bohemond (ego Bohemundus), after having made an agreement with a certain Saracen, who agreed to give up the city to me, I applied ladders to the walls towards the end of the night, and we thus made ourselves masters of the place which had so long resisted Jesus Christ. We killed Accien, the governor of Antioch, with a great number of his people, and we had in our power their wives, their children, their families, and all that they possessed. We could not, however, get possession of the citadel; and when we were about to attack it, we saw an infinite number of Turks arrive, whose approach had been announced to us for some time; we saw them spread over the country, covering all the plains. They besieged us on the third day; more than a hundred of them penetrated to the citadel, and threatened to invade the city from within.

As we were placed upon a hill opposite to that on which the fort stood, we guarded the road which led into the city, and forced the infidels, after several combats, to reënter the citadel. As they saw they could not execute their project, they surrounded the place in such a manner that all communication was cut off; at which we were greatly afflicted and desolated. Pressed by hunger and all sorts of miseries, many among us killed their horses and their asses which they brought with them, and ate them; but at last the mercy of God came to our assistance; the apostle Andrew revealed to a servant of God the place in which the lance was with which Longinus pierced the side of the Saviour. We found this holy lance in the church of the apostle Peter. This discovery, and several other divine revelations, restored our strength and courage to such a degree, that those who were full of despair and fright became full of ardour and audacity, and exhorted each other to the fight. After having been besieged during three weeks and four days, on the day of the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, full of confidence in God, having confessed all our sins, we marched out of the city in order of battle. We were in such small numbers, in comparison with the army of the Saracens, that the latter might well believe we meant to fly, instead of to provoke them to fight. Having made our dispositions, we attacked the enemy wherever they appeared in force. Aided by the divine lance, we put them at once to flight. The Saracens, according to their custom, began to disperse on all sides, occupying the hills and roads, with the design of surrounding us and destroying the whole Christian army; but we had learnt their tactics. By the grace and mercy of God, we succeeded in making them unite at one point, and when they were united, the right hand of God fought with us; we forced them to fly and abandon their camp, with all that was in it. After having conquered them and pursued them the whole day, we returned full of joy into Antioch. The citadel surrendered; the commander and most of his people being converted to the Christian faith. Thus our Lord Jesus Christ beheld all the city of Antioch restored to his law and his religion; but as something sorrowful is always mixed with the joys of this world, the bishop of Puy, whom you gave us for your apostolic vicar, died after the conquest of the city, and after a war in which he had gained much glory. Now your children, deprived of the father you gave them, address themselves to you who are their spiritual father. We pray you, you who have opened to us the way we are following, you, who by your discourses have made us quit our homes and all we held dearest in our own countries, who have made us take the cross to follow Jesus Christ and glorify his name, we conjure you to complete your work by coming into the midst of us, and by bringing with you all you can bring. It was in the city of Antioch that the name of Christian took its origin; for when St. Peter was installed in that church which we see every day, those who had called themselves Galileans named themselves Christians. What can be more just or more suitable than to see him who is the head of the Church come to this city, which may be regarded as the capital of Christendom? Come, then, and help us to finish a war which is yours. We have conquered the Turks and the Pagans; we cannot in the same way combat heretics, Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, and Jacobites; we conjure you to do so; we conjure you, holy Father, with earnestness. You, who are the father of the faithful, come amongst your children; you, who are the vicar of St. Peter, come and take your seat in his church; come and mould our hearts to submission and obedience; come and destroy by your supreme and sole authority all kinds of heresies; come and lead us in the road you have marked out for us, and open to us the gates of the one and the other Jerusalem; come, and with us deliver the tomb of Jesus Christ, and make the name of Christian prevail over all other names. If you yield to our wishes, if you come amongst us, every one will obey you. May He who reigns in all ages bring you amongst us, and make you sensible to our prayers. Amen.

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No. 11.

Council of Naplouse, held by the Authority of Garamond, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to reform the Morals of the Christians of Palestine, in the Presence of Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, in the year of our Lord 1120, in the Pontificate of Calixtus II.

This is the manner in which William of Tyre, book xii. of the Holy War, chap. xiii. relates summarily the cause and the acts of the council.

The same year, that is to say the year 1120 of the incarnation of the Word, the kingdom of Jerusalem being tormented, on account of its sins, with many troubles, and in addition to the calamities inflicted by their enemies, a multitude of locusts and gnawing rats destroying the harvests to such a degree that it was feared bread would be wanting; the seigneur Garamond, patriarch of Jerusalem, a man religious and fearing God; the king Baldwin, the prelates of the churches, and the great men of the kingdom, repaired to Naplouse, a small city of Samaria, and held a public assembly and a general court. In a sermon addressed to the people, it was said, that as it appeared plain that it was the sins of the people which had provoked the Lord, it was necessary to deliberate in common upon the means of correcting and repressing excesses, in order that, returning to a better life, and worthily satisfying for their remitted sins, the people might render themselves acceptable to Him who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live. Terrified, then, by the menacing signs of Heaven, by frequent earthquakes, by successive defeats, by the pangs of famine, by perfidious and daily attacks of their enemies; seeking to win back the Lord by works of piety, they have, to restore and preserve discipline in morals, decreed twenty-five acts, which shall have the force of laws. If any one be desirous of reading them, they will be easily found in the archives of many churches.

Present at this council, Garamond, patriarch of Jerusalem; the logician Baldwin, second king of the Latins; Ekmar, archbishop of Cæsarea; Bernard, bishop of Nazareth; the bishop of Liddes; Gildon, abbot elect of St. Mary of the Valley of Jehoshaphat; Peter, abbot of Mount Tabor; Achard, prior of Mount Sion; Payen, chancellor of the king; Eustace Granier; William de Buret; Batisan, constable of Jaffa; and many others of the two orders, of whom we forget the number and the names.

“The synod,” says Baronius, “towards the end of 1120 succeeded in effecting such a reformation in morals, that by the mercy of Heaven, in the following year, 1121, the leader of the Turks, coming against Antioch with considerable strength, was struck with apoplexy and died.”

Chap. 1.—As it is necessary that things which commence by God should finish in him and by him, with the intention of beginning this holy council and terminating it by the Lord, I, Baldwin, second king of the Latins at Jerusalem, opening this holy assembly by God, I render and I grant, as I have ordered, to the holy Church of Jerusalem, and to the patriarch here present, Garamond, as well as to his successors, the tenths of all my revenues, as far as concerns the extent of this diocese; that is to say, the tenths of my revenues of Jerusalem, Naplouse, and Ptolemaïs, which is further called Accon. They are the benefits of my royal munificence, in order that the patriarch, charged with the duty of praying the Lord for the welfare of the state, may have wherewithal to subsist on. And if, one day, in consequence of the progress of the Christian religion, he, or one of his successors, should ordain a bishop in one of these cities, he may dispose of the tenths as well for the king as for the Church.

Chap. 2.—I, Bohemond, in the presence of the members of this council, with the consent of the personages of the assembly and of my barons, who will do the same by their tenths, according to the extent of their ecclesiastical powers, I make restitution of the tenths, as I have said; and agreeing with them as to the injustice with which they and I have retained them, I ask pardon.

Chap. 3.—I, Patriarch Garamond, on the part of the all-powerful God, by my power and that of all the bishops and brethren here present, I absolve you upon the said restitution of the tenths, and I accept charitably with them the tenths you acknowledge to owe to God, to me, and to your other bishops, according to the extent of the benefices of the brethren present or absent.

Chap. 4.—If any one fears being ill-treated by his wife, let him go and find him whom he suspects, and let him forbid him, before legal witnesses, entrance to his house and all colloquy with his wife. If, after this prohibition, he or any one of his friends should find them in colloquy in his house or elsewhere, let the man, without any cutting off of his members, be submitted to the justice of the Church; and if he purges himself by ardent fire, let him be dismissed unpunished. But when he shall have undergone some disgrace for being surprised in colloquy, let him be dismissed unpunished and without vengeance for having violated the prohibition.

M. Michaud inserts the whole of these laws; but we omit the next twelve, as more likely to create disgust than to afford instruction or amusement.

Chap. 16.—The male or female Saracen who shall assume the dress of the Franks shall belong to the state.

Chap. 17.—If any man, already married, has married another woman, he has, to the first Sunday of Lent of our year, to confess himself to the priest and perform penance; afterwards he has but to live according to the precepts of the Church. But if he conceals his crime longer, his goods will be confiscated; he will be cut off from society and banished from this land.

Chap. 18.—If any man, without knowing it, marries the wife of another, or if a woman marries, without knowing it, a man already married, then let the one that is innocent turn out the guilty one, and be in possession of the right of marrying again.

Chap. 19.—If any man, wishing to get rid of his wife, says he has another, or that he has taken her during the lifetime of the first, let him submit to the ordeal of red-hot iron, or let him bring before the magistrates of the Church, legal witnesses, who will affirm by oath that it is so. What is here said of men is applicable to women.

Chap. 20.—If a clerk take up arms in his own defence, there is no harm in it; but if, from a love of war, or to sacrifice to worldly interests, he renounces his condition, let him return to the Church within the time granted, let him confess and conform afterwards with the instructions of the patriarch.

Chap. 21.—If a monk or regular canon apostatize, let him return to his order or go back to his country.

Chap. 22.—Whoever shall accuse another without being able to prove the fact, shall undergo the punishment due to the crime he has accused him of.

Chap. 23.—If any one be convicted of robbery above the value of six sous, let him be threatened with the loss of his hand, his foot, or his eyes. If the theft be below six sous, let him be marked with a hot iron on the forehead, and be whipped through the city. If the thing stolen be found, let it be restored to him to whom it belongs. If the thief has nothing, let his body be given up to him he has injured. If he repeats the offence, let him be deprived of all his members, and of his life.

Chap. 24.—If any one under age commits a theft, let him be kept until the King’s court shall decide what shall be done with him.

Chap. 25.—If any baron surprises a man of his own class in the act of theft, the latter is not to be subject to the loss of his members, but let him be sent to be judged in the King’s court.

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No. 12.

Bull of Pope Eugenius III. for the Second Crusade.

We here give a translation of the bull of Eugenius III., published in 1145, for the second crusade. It is taken from “Bullarum Romanum Novissimum,” the first volume.

“The servant of the servants of God, to his dear son Louis, illustrious and glorious king of the French, to his dear sons the princes, and to all the faithful of the kingdom of France, health and apostolic benediction.

“We know by the history of times past, and by the traditions of our fathers, how many efforts our predecessors made for the deliverance of the Church of the East. Our predecessor, Urban, of happy memory, sounded the evangelic trumpet, and employed himself with unexampled zeal, in summoning the Christian nations from all parts of the world to the defence of the Holy Land. At his voice, the brave and intrepid warriors of the kingdom of the Franks, and the Italians, inflamed with a holy ardour, took arms, and delivered, at the cost of their blood, the city in which our Saviour deigned to suffer for us, and which contains the tomb, the monument of His passion. By the grace of God, and by the zeal of our fathers, who defended Jerusalem, and endeavoured to spread the Christian name in those distant countries, the conquered cities of Asia have been preserved up to our days, and many cities of the infidels have been attacked and their inhabitants have become Christians. Now, for our sins, and those of the Christian people (which we cannot repeat without grief and lamentation), the city of Edessa,—which in our own language is called Rohas, and which, if we can believe the history of it, when the East was subjected to the Pagan nations, alone remained faithful to Christianity,—the city of Edessa is fallen into the hands of the enemies of the cross.

“Several other Christian cities have shared the same fate: the archbishop of that city with his clergy, and many other Christians have been killed; relics of saints have been given up to the insults of the infidels, and dispersed. The greatest danger threatens the Church of God and all Christendom. We are persuaded that your prudence and your zeal will be conspicuous on this occasion; you will show the nobleness of your sentiments and the purity of your faith. If the conquests made by the valour of the fathers are preserved by the valour of the sons, I hope you will not allow it to be believed that the heroism of the French has degenerated. We warn you, we pray you, we command you, to take up the cross and arms. I warn you for the remission of your sins,—you who are men of God,—to clothe yourselves with power and courage, and stop the invasions of the infidels, who are rejoicing at the victory gained over you; to defend the Church of the East, delivered by our ancestors; to wrest from the hands of the Mussulmans many thousands of Christian prisoners who are now in chains. By that means the holiness of the Christian name will increase in the present generation, and your valour, the reputation of which is spread throughout the universe, will not only preserve itself without stain, but will acquire a new splendour. Take as your example that virtuous Mattathias, who, to preserve the laws of his ancestors, did not hesitate to expose himself to death with his sons and his family; did not hesitate to abandon all he held dear in the world, and who, with the help of Heaven, after a thousand labours, triumphed over his enemies. We, who watch over the Church and over you, with a parental solicitude, we grant to those who will devote themselves to this glorious enterprise the privileges which our predecessor Urban granted to the soldiers of the cross. We have likewise ordered that their wives and their children, their worldly goods, and their possessions, should be placed under the safeguard of the Church, of the archbishops, the bishops, and the other prelates. We order, by our apostolic authority, that those who shall have taken the cross shall be exempt from all kinds of pursuit on account of their property, until their return, or until certain news be received of their death. We order, besides, that the soldiers of Jesus Christ should abstain from wearing rich habits, from having great care in adorning their persons, and from taking with them dogs for the chase, falcons, or anything that may corrupt the manners of the warriors. We warn them, in the name of the Most High, that they should only concern themselves with their war-horses, their arms, and everything that may assist them in contending with the infidels. The holy war calls for all their efforts, and for all the faculties they have in them; they who undertake the holy voyage with a right and pure heart and who shall have contracted debts, shall pay no interest. If they themselves, or others for them, are under obligations to pay usurious interest, we release them from them by our apostolic authority. If the lords of whom they hold, will not, or cannot lend them the money necessary, they shall be allowed to engage their lands or possessions to ecclesiastics, or any other persons. As our predecessor has done, by the authority of the all-powerful God, and by that of the blessed St. Peter, prince of the apostles, we grant absolution and remission of sins, we promise life eternal to all those who shall undertake and terminate the said pilgrimage, or who shall die in the service of Jesus Christ, after having confessed their sins with a contrite and humble heart.”

Given at Viterbo, in the month of December, 1145.

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No. 13.

A Letter from Saladin, drawn up by the Cdi Alfadhel, to the Imaum Nassir Del-din-illah Aboul Abbas Ahmed, containing the account of the Conquest of Jerusalem, and of the Battle of Tiberias.

After devout wishes for the caliph, he enters thus on his subject:—

“The servant (that is Saladin) has written this letter, which contains the account of the auspicious events of which he is the author. The inscription of this letter is the description of divine goodness, which is a sea for pens, a sea in which they may swim for ages. It is a blessing for which the gratitude should be measureless. Let thanks then be rendered to God for this blessing of to-day; it is a blessing which will last for ever; let no one say: The like has been seen. The affairs of Islamism are in the happiest condition; the faith of those who believe in it is strengthened. The Mussulmans have destroyed the error which infidels had spread over these places. God has faithfully fulfilled, with regard to his religion, the compact he entered into. Religion was exiled and a stranger; she now inhabits her natural dwelling: the reward is received, that reward purchased at the price of life. The commandment of the truth of God, which was powerless, is now in vigour; his house is re-peopled, though it was abandoned after it had been destroyed. The order of God is arrived, and the noses of the polytheists are abased. Swords advanced by night, and the sick were asleep. (That is to say, I believe, that Saladin surprised the Crusaders, and that the Christians did not expect what happened to them on his part.) God has performed the promise he made to raise his religion above all religions. Its light is more brilliant than that of the morning; the Mussulmans are restored to their heritage, which had been wrested from them. They have been awakened, they have conquered that which they could not have hoped to conquer, even in their dreams; their feet are firmly fixed upon the hill; their standards have floated over the mosque; they have prayed upon the black stone. In acting thus, the servant proposed to himself nothing short of these great results; he only confronted this evil (the evils of this war) in the hope of this great blessing; he only made war on those who opposed him, that the word of God might be spread; for the word of God is exalted; he has only fought that he might by that means merit eternal life, and not the wealth of this world. Perhaps, tongues may have accused him of having a contemptible object, and men’s thoughts have calumniated him; but he has extinguished these thoughts by means of time and patience. He who sought a precious thing placed himself in danger. He who exerted himself to render his life illustrious, exposed himself. Otherwise, the servant has only acted after having consulted with the wisest of his doctors. The servant has written this letter, and already God has caused him to triumph over his enemies. The towers of the infidel are cast down; he drew his sword, and it became a wand; his attacks became weak; he turned his bridle; and, as a chastisement from God, he has not found hands to act with. His swords have slept in their scabbards, his lances have lost their noses (points), and for a long time they were raised to inflict death. The land of Jerusalem is become pure; it was as a woman who has her rules. God is become one God, and he was trinary (or three). The houses of the infidel are destroyed, the dwellings of polytheism are cast down. The Mussulmans have taken possession of the fortified castles. Our enemies will not return to them again, for they are branded with the seal of weakness and degradation. God has placed beauty where deformity was.

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The first time the servant attacked them,[132] God came to his succour, and assisted him with his angels; he broke them with a rupture past remedy; he precipitated them with a fall which would not allow the infidels to rise up again. He made a great number of prisoners, and killed many of their people. The field of battle was covered with dead, arms, and horses. How many swords became like saws, with striking! How many horsemen rushed towards the destiny which destroyed them! The king himself (of Jerusalem) advanced and cleared all before him. That day was a day of testimony (of the favour of God and the valour of the Mussulmans). The angels were witnesses. Error was at bay; Islamism took birth. The ribs of the infidels were materials for the fire of hell. The king was taken, and he held in his hand the most firm of his ties, the most strong of the bonds of his religion and of his belief. That was the cross, the leader, the guide of the partisans of pride and tyranny. They (the Christians) never advanced towards a peril without having this in the midst of them; they flew round it as moths fly round a light. Their hearts gathered together under its shade; they fought under this light with the greatest courage. They considered it as the strongest tie that could bind them together; they believed it to be a wall which would defend them on this day. On that day the greater part of the infidels were taken. Not one of them turned his back, except the Count.[133] May God curse him! He was eager for carnage in the day of victory, and full of base tricks in the day of degradation; he saved himself! but how? he stole away for fear of being struck by the lance or the sword; God afterwards took him in his own hands, caused him to die according to his promise, and sent him from the kingdom of death to hell. After the defeat, the servant passed through the province (Palestine), and gathered together the Abassides subjects that were scattered about it;—those subjects who carried terror to the hearts of their enemies; and he conquered by their aid such and such places.

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This province (Palestine) is full of wells, lakes, islands, mosques, minarets, population, armies. The servant will change the tares of error for the good seed of the true faith; he will cast down the crosses of the churches, and will cause the izan (the summons of the Mussulmans to prayers) to be heard. He will change into pulpits the places on which the infidels immolated (altars), and of churches he will make mosques.

“There remained nothing but Jerusalem; every banished man, every fugitive had here taken refuge; those from afar as well as those near had here shut themselves up; they considered themselves as there protected by the favour of God; they believed that their Church would intercede for them. Then the servant arrived before the city; he beheld a city well peopled; he beheld troops who had agreed to die; for whom death would be sweet if their city was doomed to fall. He came to one side of the city, but he found that the valleys (or the gardens) were deep; that bad passages were numerous; that the walls, like a necklace, surrounded it, and that towers, like large beads,[134] were placed along the middle of the walls. Then he directed his course to another side, where there was such an ascent as he desired, a place and an asylum for the cavalry; he surrounded this side and made his approaches to it; he caused his tent to be pitched in a spot exposed to the attempts of the enemy; he attacked the walls vigorously, and at length got possession of them. The besieged sent to him, offering to pay him a tribute for a certain time; they wished to obtain a cessation of their distress, and wait for reinforcements. The servant deferred his answer, and drew his machines nearer; the machines that are the sticks and cords that punish castles for their resistance. Their strokes prepared the victory. Possession was taken of the towers; the walls were void of combatants; stone crumbled away into dust again, as it had been at first. The gates fell into the hands of the army of the servant. Then the infidels despaired; the leader of the impiety came out then: this was Ben or Bezbar-ran; he requested that the city should be taken by capitulation and not by storm; the abjection of ruin and distress was imprinted upon his countenance, which before shone with the glory of royalty; he prostrated himself in the dust, he before whom nobody had dared to raise their eyes, and said: There (pointing to the city) are thousands of captive Mussulmans;—this is the determination of the Franks: if you take the city by force, if you place the burden of war heavily on their backs, they will immediately kill their captives; they will afterwards kill their wives and children; then they will have nothing to wish for but death; but not one of them will die without having sacrificed many of your people.’ The officers were of opinion that the city should be taken by capitulation; for, said they, if it is taken by storm, there is no doubt but that the besieged will rush headlong into danger, and will sacrifice their lives for a thing they have so well defended. In the sorties they had precedingly made, they had displayed incredible courage, and their attacks had been terrible.

*******

But God has driven them out of this territory, and has cast them down; he has favoured the partisans of the truth, and has shown his anger against the infidels. These had protected this city by the sword; they had raised buildings at the point of the sword and with columns of soldiers. These (the infidels) have placed churches there, and houses of the Diweieh, Deuïourjeh, &c., and of the Hospitallers. In these houses are precious things in marble.

“The servant has restored the mosque Alasca to its ancient destination. He has placed imauns in it, who will there celebrate the true worship. The khothbeh (or sermon) was made there on Friday, the 14th of Chaaban. Little was wanting to make the heavens open with joy, and the stars dance. The word of God has been exalted; the tombs of the prophets, which the infidels had stained, have been purified, &c. &c.”

Towards the end of his letter, Saladin says that his troops are spread all over the province; he boasts of the fertility and richness of it, and says he is going to complete the conquest of it. He adds that the fleet has put to sea; and that he is about to restore the walls of Jerusalem.

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No. 14.

Khothbeh, or Sermon made at Jerusalem, the first Friday after Saladin had taken Possession of that City, by Mohammed Ben Zeky.

Mohammed Ben Zeky ascended the mimber, or pulpit, and commenced the khothbeh, or sermon, by reciting the surate Falchah (the first of the Koran) from the beginning to the end. Then he said: “May the crew of the unjust perish! Praises be to God, the master of worlds!” Then he read, 1st, the commencement of the surate Alin’am: “Praise to God who has created the Heavens;” 2nd, a verse of the surate Soubhana: “Praise to God who has no son;” 3rd, three verses of the surate Alkehef: “Praises to God who has sent the book to his servant.” Then he read, 1st, the verse: “Praise to God, and salvation to his servants;” 2nd, a verse of the surate Seba: “Praises to God to whom belongs all that is in heaven or earth;” 3rd, several verses of the surate Falhr: “Praises to God the creator of the Heavens.” His intention was to bring together all the Temeh-houdah (praises which are contained in the Koran). After this, he commenced the khothbeh in these terms:—

“Praise to God, who has raised Islamism into glory by his aid; who has abased polytheism by his power; who rules worldly things by his will; who prolongs his blessings according to the measure of our gratitude; who defeats infidels by his stratagems; who gives power to dynasties, according to his justice; who has reserved future life for those who fear him, by an effort of his goodness; who extends his shadow over his servants; who has caused his religion to triumph over all others; who gains the victory over his servants without any one being able to oppose him; who triumphs in his caliph, without any one being able to resist him; who orders what he wills, without any being able to make objections to it; who judges according to his will, without any one being able to avert the execution of his decrees. I praise this God for having by his assistance rendered his elect victorious; for the glory he has given them; for the aid he has granted to his defenders; I praise him for having purified the house filled with pollution, from the impieties of polytheism. I praise him inwardly and outwardly. I give testimony that there is no other God but this God; that he is the only one, and has no associate; the only one, the eternal one, who begets not, neither is he begotten, and has no equal. I give testimony that Mahomet is his servant and his messenger, this prophet who has removed doubts, confounded polytheism, extinguished falsehood; who travelled by night from Medina to Jerusalem; who ascended into the heavens, and reached even the cedar Almontéhy. May the eternal felicity of God be with him, with his successor Abou Bekr Alsadic, &c.

“O men! publish the extraordinary blessing by which God has made easy to you the recapture and deliverance of this city which we had lost, and has made it again the centre of Islamism, after having been during nearly a hundred years in the hands of the infidels.

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This house was built and its foundations laid for the glory of God and in the fear of Heaven. For this house is the dwelling of Abraham; the ladder of your prophet (peace be with him!); the kiblah towards which you prayed at the commencement of Islamism, the abode of prophets, the aim of saints, the place of revelation, the habitation of order and defence; it is situated in the land of the gathering, the arena of the meeting; it is of this blessed land of which God speaks in his sacred book. It was in this mosque that Mahomet prayed with the angels who approach God. It was this city to which God sent his servant, his messenger, the word which he sent to Mary. The prophet he honoured with a mission did not stray from the rank of his servant. For God said, the Messiah will not deny that he is the servant of God; God has no son, and has no other God with him. Certes, they have been in impiety, they who have said that the Messiah, the son of Mary, was God.

“This house is the first of the two kiblah, the second of the mosques, the third of the héramëin; it is not towards it that the people come in crowds after the two mesdjed; it is towards it that the fingers are pointed after the two places. [I suppose Mecca and Medina.] If you were not of the number of the servants whom God has chosen, certes he would not have favoured you particularly by this advantage which has been granted to no other brave men, the honour of which no one can dispute with you; how fortunate you are in being the soldiers of an army which has made manifest the miracles of the prophet, which has made the expeditions of Abou Bekr, the conquests of Omar, &c. God has rewarded you by the best of rewards in that which you have done for his prophet. He has been grateful for the courage you have shown in punishing rebels; the blood which you have shed for him has been acceptable to him; it has introduced you into the Paradise which is the abode of the blessed; acknowledge, then, the value of this blessing, offer up to him necessary thanksgivings; for God has shown for you a marked beneficence in granting you this blessing, in selecting you for this expedition. For the gates of Heaven have been opened for this conquest; its splendour has cast a light which has penetrated even to the deepest darkness; the angels who approach the Divine Majesty have rejoiced at it; the eye of the prophets and the messengers has beheld it with joy. Since, by the favour of God, you are the army which will conquer Jerusalem at the end of time, the troop which will raise the standards of the faith after the destruction of the prophecy.

*******

This house, is it not that of which God spoke in his book? for he says, Be he praised who made his servant travel by night,’ &c.; is this not the house which the nations have revered; towards which the prophets came, in which the four books sent from God have been read? Is this not the house for which God stopped the sun, under Joshua, and retarded the march of day, in order that his conquest should be easy, and should be accelerated? Is this not the house which God committed to Moses, and which he commanded his people to save; but, with the exception of two men, these people would not; God was angry against these people, and cast them into the desert, to punish them for their rebellion.

“I praise the God who has conducted you to the place from which he banished the children of Israel; and yet these were distinguished above other nations. God has seconded you in an enterprise in which he had abandoned other nations that had preceded you; which has caused there to be but one opinion amongst you, whilst formerly opinions differed; rejoice that God has named you among those who are near him, and has made of you his own army, after you became his soldiers by your own free will. The angels (who were sent towards this house) have thanked you for having brought hither the doctrine of the unity.

*******

Now the powers of the heavens pray for you, and pour benedictions upon you. Preserve this gift in you, by the fear of God. Whoever possesses it is saved. Beware of the passions, of disobedience, of falling back, of flying from an enemy. Are you eager to take advantage of the opportunity to destroy what anguish remains? Fight for God as you ought; sacrifice yourselves to please him, you his servants, since you are of the number of the elect. Beware that the devil do not come down among you again, and that irreligion introduce not itself into your hearts. Did you figure to yourselves that your swords of steel, your chosen horses, your untiring perseverance, have gained you this victory? No, it was God; it was from him alone that your success came. Beware, servants of God after having obtained this victory, of becoming disobedient and rebellious; for then you will be like her who cut to pieces that which she had spun, or like him to whom we have sent our verses, and who has rejected them; the devil has laid hold of him, and he has wandered from the faith. The holy war! the holy war! that is the best of your worships, the most noble of your customs; help God, and he will help you; hold to God, and he will hold to you; remember him, and he will remember you; do good towards him, and he will do good towards you; endeavour to cut off every diseased member, to destroy even to the last enemy; purify the rest of the earth of those nations with whom God and his messenger are angry. Lop off the branches of impiety, and fear, for already the days have grown. Vengeance of Mussulman attacks, of the Mahometan nation. God is great: he gives conquests, he degrades impiety; learn that this is a great opportunity—seize it; it is a prey, cast yourselves upon it; it is a booty, get possession of it. It is an important business, apply your whole means to it, give yourselves up to it entirely; put the battalions of your tribes on the march for it. For this business draws towards its end, and the treasuries are filled with wealth. God has already given you the victory over these vile enemies. These enemies were equal to you, or perhaps more numerous than you; but however that might be, he has manifested that one of you is worth twenty other men. God will aid you as you cause his orders to be obeyed, and abstain from that which he has prohibited. He will strengthen all us Mussulmans by a victory; if God helps you, you have no other conqueror to fear; but if he withdraw his help from you, who will be he that shall help you after him?”

Then the preacher prayed for the Imaun Alnassir, the caliph, and said: “O God! eternalize the sultan, thy servant, who humbles himself before thy majesty, who is grateful for thy blessings, who cherishes the remembrance of thy favour. Preserve thy keen sword, thy brilliant star, who protects and defends thy religion, who defends the harem! the seid, the triumphant prince, the reuniter of the word, of the faith (that is to say, who has so acted that the Mussulman princes, with one accord, with one unanimous feeling, marched against the infidels); the exterminator of the cross, the good of the state and of religion (salah eddounia wa eddyn). The sultan of the Mussulmans, the purifier of the sacred house, Aboul Modhaffer Yous-ben-Ayoub, the verifier of the power of the emir of the believers; O God! grant that thy angels may surround his throne; make good the reward due to that which he has done for the religion of Abraham; reward his actions for the sake of the Mussulman religion. O God! prolong for Islamism,” &c.

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No. 15.

Bull of Gregory VIII., A.D. 1187.

Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God; to all those of the worshippers of Our Lord Jesus Christ to whom these letters shall come, health and the apostolic benediction.

Having learnt the terrible severity of the judgments which the divine hand has exercised over Jerusalem and the Holy Land, we have been, we and our brethren, penetrated with such horror, afflicted with such lively grief, that, in the painful uncertainty of what it would be best for us to do on this occasion, we have only been able to partake the sorrows of the psalmist, and to exclaim with him, “Lord, the nations have invaded thy heritage, they have profaned thy holy temple; Jerusalem is no more than a desert, and the bodies of the saints have served as pasture to the beasts of the earth, and to the birds of the heavens.” For in consequence of the intestine dissensions which the wickedness of men, by the suggestion of the demon, had given birth to in the Holy Land, behold Saladin, without any warning, at the head of a formidable army, comes pouring down upon the city. The king and the bishops, the Templars and the Hospitallers, the barons and the people, hasten to the rescue, bearing with them the cross of the Lord, that cross which, in memory of the passion of Christ, who was nailed to it, and which thus purchased the redemption of the human race, was regarded as the most secure rampart to be opposed to the attacks of the infidels. The conflict begins; our brethren are conquered, the holy cross falls into the hands of the enemies; the king is made prisoner, the bishops are massacred, and such of the Christians as escape death, cannot avoid slavery. Flight saves a few, and very few; and these tell us that they saw the whole of the Templars and Hospitallers perish before their eyes. We think it useless, beloved brethren, to inform you how, after the destruction of the army, the enemies spread themselves over the whole kingdom, and rendered themselves masters of most of the cities, with the exception of a small number, which still resist. It is here we are compelled to say with the prophet, “Who will change my eyes into a fountain of tears, that I may weep night and day the massacre of my people!” Nevertheless, far from allowing ourselves to be cast down, or to be divided, we ought to be persuaded that these reverses are only to be attributed to the anger of God, against the multitude of our sins; that the most efficacious manner of obtaining the remission of them is by tears and groans, and that at last, appeased by our repentance, the mercy of the Lord will raise us up again, more glorious for the abasement into which he has plunged us. Who could, I say, withhold his tears in so great a disaster, not only according to the principles of our divine religion, which teaches us to weep with the afflicted, but further, from simple motives of humanity, when considering the greatness of the peril, the ferocity of the barbarians, thirsting for the blood of Christians, their endeavours to profane holy things, and to annihilate the name of the true God, in a land in which he was born; pictures which the imagination of the reader will represent to him better than we can paint them. No; the tongue cannot express, the senses cannot comprehend what our affliction has been, what that of the Christian people must be, at learning that this land is now suffering as it suffered under its ancient inhabitants; this land illustrated by so many prophets, from which issued the lights of the world; and, what is still greater and more ineffable, where was incarnate God the creator of all things; where, by an infinite wisdom, and an incomprehensible mercy, he consented to subject himself to the infirmities of the flesh, to suffer hunger, thirst, the punishment of the cross, and by his death and glorious resurrection, effected our salvation. We ought not then to attribute our disasters to the injustice of the judge who chastises, but rather to the iniquity of the people who have sinned; since we see in Scripture that, when the Jews returned to the Lord, he put their enemies to flight, and that one of his angels was sufficient to annihilate the formidable army of Sennacherib. But this land has devoured its inhabitants; it has not been able to enjoy a long tranquillity, and the transgressors of our divine law have not preserved it long; all thus giving this example and this instruction to such as sigh after the heavenly Jerusalem, that it is only by the practice of good works, and amidst numerous temptations, that they can attain it. The people of these countries had beforehand reason to fear that which has now happened to them, when the infidels got possession of a part of the frontier cities. Would to God that they had then had recourse to penitence, and that they had appeased, by a sincere repentance, the God they had offended! for the vengeance of that God is always only delayed. He does not surprise the sinner; he gives him time for repentance, until at length his exhausted mercy gives place to his justice. But we who, amidst the dissolution spread over this country, ought to give our attention, not only to the iniquities of its inhabitants, out to our own, and to those of all Christian people, and who ought, still further, to dread the loss of those of the faithful that still remain in Judæa, and the ravages with which the neighbouring countries are threatened, amidst dissensions which prevail between Christian kings and princes, and between villages and cities; we who see nothing on all sides but scandals and disorders, we ought to weep with the prophet, and repeat with him, “Truth and the knowledge of God are not upon earth; I see nothing reign in their place but falsehood, homicide, adultery, and thirst for blood.” It is everywhere urgent to act, to efface our sins by voluntary penance, and, by the help of true piety, to return to the Lord our God, in order that, corrected of our vices, and seeing the malice and ferocity of the enemy, we may do for the support of the cause of the Lord, as much as the infidel does not fear to attempt to do every day against him. Think, my beloved brethren, for what purpose you came into this world, and how you ought to leave it; reflect that you will thus pass through all that concerns you. Employ, then, the time you have to dispose of in good actions, and in performing penance; give that which belongs to you, because you did not make yourself, because you have nothing which is yours alone, and because the faculty of creating a hand-worm is above all the powers of the earth. We will not say, reject us, Lord, but permit us to enter into the celestial granary that you possess; place us amidst those divine fruits, which dread neither the injuries of time nor the attempts of thieves. We will labour to reconquer that land upon which the truth descended from heaven, and where it did not refuse to endure the opprobrium of the cross for our salvation. We will not hold in view either a love of riches or a perishable glory, but your holy will, O my God! you who have taught us to love our brothers as ourselves, and to consecrate to you those riches, the disposal of which, with us, is so often independent of thy will. It is not more astonishing to see this land struck by the hand of God, than it is to see it afterwards delivered by his mercy. The will of the Lord alone can save it; but it is not permitted to ask him why he has acted thus. Perhaps it has been his will to prove us, and to teach us that he who, when the time of repentance is come, embraces it with joy, and sacrifices himself for his brothers, although he may die young, his life comprises a great number of years. Behold with what zeal the Maccabees were inflamed for their holy law, and the deliverance of their brethren, when they precipitated themselves, without hesitation, amidst the greatest perils, sacrificing their wealth and their lives, and exhorting each other, mutually, by such speeches as these: “Let us prepare ourselves, let us show ourselves courageous, because it is better to perish in fight than to behold the evils of our nation, and the profanation of holy things.” And they only lived under the law of Moses, whilst you have been enlightened by the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the example of so many martyrs. Show courage, then; do not fear to sacrifice these terrestrial possessions which can last but so short a time, and in exchange for which we are promised eternal ones, above the conception of the senses, and which, in the opinion of the apostle, are worthy of all the sacrifices we can make to obtain them.

We promise, then, to all those who, with a contrite heart and an humble mind, will not fear to undertake this painful voyage, and who will be determined so to do by motives of a sincere faith, and with the view of obtaining the remission of their sins, a plenary indulgence for their faults, and the life everlasting which will follow.

Whether they perish there, or whether they return, let them know that, by the mercy of the all-powerful God, and by the authority of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own, they are liberated from all other penance that may have been imposed upon them, provided always that they may have made an entire confession of their sins.

The property of the Crusaders and their families will remain under the special protection of the archbishops, bishops, and other prelates of the Church of God.

No examination shall be made as to the validity of the rights of possession of a Crusader, with regard to any property whatever, until his return or his decease be certain; and till that time his property shall be protected and respected.

He cannot be compelled to pay interest, if he owe any to anybody.

The Crusaders are not to march clothed in sumptuous habits, with dogs, birds, or other such objects, which only display luxury and ostentation; but they are to have what is necessary, are to be clothed simply, and are rather to resemble men who are performing a penance, than such as are in search of a vain glory.

Given at Ferrara, the 4th of the calends of November.

[Then follows the ordinance for a general fast, to appease the anger of God, in order that he may enable them to recover Jerusalem.]

The anger of the Supreme Judge being never so effectively appeased as when we seek to subdue our carnal desires,—

Consequently, as we make no doubt that the misfortunes which have recently fallen upon Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the invasion of the Saracens, have been produced by the crimes of the inhabitants and those of the Christian people; we, with the unanimous advice of our brethren, and the approbation of a great number of bishops, order that, from this day, for five years, the fast of Lent shall be observed every Friday, during the whole day.