 Section 33 of Volume 1, A Popular History of Friends from the Earliest Times. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Emily Jean-Mar. Volume 1 of A Popular History of Friends from the Earliest Times by François Guizot. Translated by Robert Black. Chapter 16. The Crusades, Their Origin and Their Success, Part 3. All the army of the Crusaders put themselves in motion to cross Asia Minor from the northwest to the southeast and to reach Syria. At their arrival before Nicaea they numbered it is said 500,000 foot and 100,000 horse. Figures evidently too great, for everything indicates that at the opening of the Crusade, the three great armies starting from France and Italy, under Godfrey de Bouillon, Bohemond and Raymond of Toulouse, did not reach this number. And they had certainly lost many during their long march through their sufferings and in their battles. However that may be after they had marched all in one mass for two days and had then extended themselves over a larger area, for the purpose no doubt of more easily finding provisions. The Crusaders broke up into two main bodies, led one by Godfrey de Bouillon and Raymond of Toulouse, the other by Bohemond and Tankred. On the 1st of July at daybreak, this latter body encamped at a short distance from Doraleum in Frigua, saw descending from the neighboring heights a cloud of enemies who burst upon the Christians. First rained a perfect hail of missiles upon them and then penetrated into their camp, even to the tents assigned to the women, children and old men, the numerous following of the Crusaders. It was Kilidge Arslan who, after the fall of Nicaea, had raised this new army of Saracens and was pursuing the conquerors on their march. The battle began in great disorder, the chiefs in person sustained the first shock, and the Duke of Normandy, Robert Shorthose, took in his hand his white banner embroidered with gold and waving it over his head threw himself upon the Turks shouting, God willeth it, God willeth it. Bohemond obstinately sought out Kilidge Arslan in the fray, but at the same time he sent messengers in all haste to Godfrey de Bouillon, as yet but a little way off, to summon him to their aid. Godfrey galloped up, and with some fifty of his knights proceeding the rest of his army, was the first to throw himself into the midst of the Turks. Towards midday the whole of the first body arrived, with standards flying, with the sound of trumpets and with the shouting of warriors. Kilidge Arslan and his troops fell back upon the heights once they had descended. The crusaders, without taking breath, ascended in pursuit. The Turks saw themselves shut in by a forest of lances, and fled over wood and rock, and two days afterwards they were still flying, says Albert of Ex, though none pursued them unless it were God himself. The victory of Doraleum opened the whole country to the crusaders, and they resumed their march towards Syria, paying their sole attention to not separating again. It was not long before they had to grapple with other dangers against which bravery could do nothing. They were crossing under a broiling sun, deserted traps, which their enemies had taken good care to ravage. Water and forage were not to be had. The men suffered intolerably from thirst. Horses died by hundreds. At the head of their troops marched knights mounted on asses or oxen. Their favorite amusement, the chase, became impossible for them. For their hawking birds, too, the falcons and gerfalkins they had brought with them, languished and died beneath the excessive heat. One incident obtained for the crusaders a momentary relief. The dogs which followed the army prowling in all directions, one day returned with their paws and coats wet. They had their forefound water, and the soldiers set themselves to look for it, and in fact discovered a small river in a remote valley. They got water drunk, and more than 300 men it is said were affected by it, and died. On arriving in Pisidia, a country intersected by watercourses, meadows and woods, the army rested several days. But at that very point, two of its most competent and most respected chiefs were very nearly taken from it. Count Raymond of Toulouse, who was also called Raymond of Senji, felt so ill that the Bishop of Orange was reading over him the prayers for the dying, when one of those present cried out that the Count would assuredly live, for that the prayers of his patron saint, Gilles, had obtained for him a truce with death, and Raymond recovered. Gaudfried de Bouillon, again whilst riding in a forest, came upon a pilgrim attacked by a bear and all but fallen a victim to the ferocious beast. The duke drew his sword and urged his horse against the bear, which, leaving the pilgrim rushed upon the assailant. The frightened horse reared, Gaudfried was thrown, and according to one account immediately remounted, but according to another he fell on the contrary together with his horse. However he sustained a fearful struggle against the bear, and ultimately killed it by plunging his sword up to the hilt into its belly, says William of Tyre. But with so great an effort, and after receiving so serious a wound, that his soldiers, hurrying up at the pilgrim's report, found him stretched on the ground covered with blood, and unable to rise, and carried him back to the camp where he was for several weeks obliged to be carried about in a litter in the rear of the army. Through all these perils they continued to advance, and they were approaching the heights of Tarsus, the bulwark and gate of Syria, when a quarrel which arose between two of the principal crusader chiefs was like to seriously endanger the concord and strength of the army. Tankred with his men had entered Tarsus, the birthplace of St. Paul, and had planted his flag there. Although later in his arrival Baldwin, brother of Gaudfried of Bouillon, claimed to write to the possession of the city, and had his flag set up instead of Tankred's, which was thrown into a ditch. During several days the strife was fierce and even bloody. The soldiers of Baldwin were the more numerous, and those of Tankred considered their chief too gentle, and his bravery, so often proved, scarcely suffice to form an excuse for his forbearance. Chief and soldiers, however, at last saw the necessity for reconciliation, and made mutual promises to sink all animosity. On returning to the general camp, Tankred was received with marked favour, for the majority of the crusaders being unconcerned in the quarrel at Tarsus, liked him for his bravery and for his gentleness equally. Baldwin, on the contrary, was much blamed, even by his brother Gaudfried, but he was far more ambitious on his own account than devoted to the common cause. He had often heard tell of Armenia and Mesopotamia, their riches and the large number of Christians living there, almost equally independent of Greeks and Turks. And in hope of finding there a chance of greatly improving his personal fortunes, he left the army of the crusaders at Maresa, on the very eve of the day on which the chiefs came to the decision, that no one should for the future move away from the flag, and, taking with him a weak detachment of 200 horses and 1,000 or 1,200 foot, marched toward Armenia. His name and his presence soon made a stir there, and he got hold of two little towns which received him eagerly. Edessa, the capital of Armenia and Metropolis of Mesopotamia, was peopled by Christians, and a Greek governor, sent from Constantinople by the emperor, lived there, on payment of a tribute to the Turks. Internal dissensions and the fear ever inspired by the vicinity of the Turks kept the city in a state of lively agitation, and bishop, people, and Greek governor all appealed to Baldwin. He presented himself before Edessa with merely a hundred horsemen, having left the remainder of his forces in garrison at the town he had already occupied. All the population came to meet him, bearing branches of olive and singing chants in honor of their deliverer. But it was not long before outbreaks and alarms began again, and Baldwin looked on at them, waiting for power to be offered him. Still there was no advance. The Greek governor continued where he was, and Baldwin muttered threats of his departure. The popular disquietude was extreme, and the Greek governor, old and detested as he was, thought to smooth all by adopting the Latin chief and making him his heir. This however caused but a short respite. Baldwin left the governor to be massacred in a fresh outbreak. The people came and offered him the government, and he became Prince of Edessa, and Erlong of all the neighboring country, without thinking any more of Jerusalem, of which nevertheless he was destined at no distant day to be king. Whilst Baldwin was thus acquiring, for himself and himself alone, the first Latin principality belonging to the Crusaders in the East, his brother Godfrey and the main Christian army were crossing the chain of Tarsus and arriving before Antioch, the capital of Syria. Great was the fame with pagans and Christians of this city, its sight, the beauty of its climate, the fertility of its land, its fish abounding lake, its river of Orantes, its fountain of Daphne, its festivals and its morals had made it under the Roman Empire a brilliant and favorite abode. At the same time it was there that the disciples of Jesus had assumed the name of Christians and that Saint Paul had begun his heroic life as preacher and as missionary. It was absolutely necessary that the Crusaders should take Antioch, but the difficulty of the conquest was equal to the importance. The city was well fortified and provided with a strong citadel. The Turks had been in possession of it for fourteen years and its governor, Acien or Vagician, Yagician or brother of black according to Oriental historians, appointed by the Sultan of Persia, Malekshah, was shut up in it with seven thousand horse and twenty thousand foot. The first attacks of the Christians failed and they had the prospect of a long siege. At the outset their situation had been easy and pleasant. They encountered no hostility from the country people who were intimidated or indifferent. They came and paid visits to the camp and admitted the Crusaders to their markets. The harvests which were hardly finished had been abundant. The grapes, says Ghibert of Nogent, were still hanging on the branches of the vines. On all sides discoveries were made of grain shut up, not in barns but in subterranean vaults and the trees were laden with fruit. These facilities of existence, the softness of the climate, the pleasantness of the places, the frequency of leisure, partly pleasure and partly care for nothingness, caused amongst the Crusaders irregularity, license, indiscipline, carelessness and often perils and reverses. The Turks profited thereby to make sallies which threw the camp into confusion and cost the lives of Crusaders, surprised or scattered about. Winter came, provisions grew scarce and had to be sought at a greater distance and at greater peril and living ceased to be agreeable or easy. Disquietude, doubts concerning the success of the enterprise, fatigue and discouragement made way amongst the army and men who were believed to be proved, Robert Shorthoes, Duke of Normandy, William, this count of Malune, called the carpenter on account of his mighty battle-axe and Peter the Hermit himself, who had never learned, says Robert the monk, to endure such plaguey hunger, left the camp and deserted the banner of the cross, that there might be seen in the words of the apocalypse even the stars falling from heaven, says Guybert of Nogent. Great were the scandal and the indignation, tankered hurried after the fugitives and brought them back and they swore on the gospel never again to abandon the cause which they had preached and served so well. It was clearly indispensable to take measures of restoring amongst the army discipline, confidence and memorials and hopes of Christians. The different chiefs applied themselves there too by very different processes according to their vocation, character or habits. Adamar, Bishop of Puy, the renowned spiritual chief of the Crusade, Godfrey de Bouillon, Raymond of Toulouse and the military chieftains renowned for piety and virtue made head against all kinds of disorder either by fervent addresses or severe prohibitions. Men caught drunk had their hair cut off, blasphemous and reckless game-sters were branded with a red hot iron and the women were shut up in separate tents. To the irregularities within were added the perils of incessant espionage on the part of the Turks in the very camp of the Crusaders and no one knew how to repress this evil. Brethren and lords said Boamond to the assembled princes let me undertake this business by myself. I hope with God's help to find a remedy for this complaint. Caring but little for moral reform he strove to strike terror into the Turks and by counteraction restore confidence to the Crusaders. One evening says William of Tyre whilst everybody was as usual occupied in getting supper ready Boamond ordered some Turks who had been caught in the camp to be brought out of prison and put to death forthwith and then having had a huge fire lighted he gave instructions that they should be roasted and carefully prepared as if for being eaten. If it should be asked what operation was going on he commanded his people to answer. The princes and governors of the camp this day decreed at their council that all Turks or their spies who should henceforth be found in the camp should be forced after this fashion to furnish meat of their own carcasses to the princes as well as to the whole army. The whole city of Antioch, adds the historian was stricken with terror at hearing the report of words so strange and a deed so cruel and thus by the act and pains of Boamond the camp was purged of this pest of spies and the results of the princes meetings were much less known amongst the foe. Boamond did not confine himself to terrifying the Turks by the display of his barbarities. He sought and found traitors amongst them. During the incidents of the siege he had concocted certain relations with an inhabitant of Antioch named Feruz or Emyrfer probably a renegade Christian and seeming Muslim in favor with the governor Asien or Baghizien who had entrusted to him, him and his family the ward of three of the towers and gates of the city. Emyrfer, whether from religious remorse or on promise of a rich recompense had after the ambiguous and torturous conversations which usually preceded treason made an offer to Boamond to open to him and through him to the crusaders the entrance into Antioch. Boamond, in covert terms informed the chiefs, his comrades of this proposal leaving it to be understood that if the capture of Antioch were the result of his efforts it would be for him to become its lord. The count of Toulouse bluntly rejected this idea we be all brethren said he and we have all run the same risk I did not leave my own country and face, I and mine so many dangers to conquer new lordships for any particular one of us. The opinion of Raymond prevailed and Boamond pressed the matter no more that day but the situation became more and more urgent and armies of Musalman were preparing to come to the aid of Antioch. When these fresh alarms spread through the camp Boamond returned to the charge saying time presses and if he accept the overtures made to us tomorrow Antioch will be ours and we shall march in triumph on Jerusalem if any find a better way of assuring our success I am ready to accept it and renounce on my own account all conquest. Raymond still persisted in his opposition but all the other chiefs submitted to the overtures and conditions of Boamond. All proper measures were taken and les miers fer, being apprised thereof had Boamond informed that on the following night everything would be ready. At the appointed hour three score warriors with Boamond at their head paired noiselessly to the foot of the tower indicated. A ladder was hoisted and a miers fer fastened it firmly to the top of the wall. Boamond looked round and round but no one was in a hurry to mount. Boamond therefore himself mounted and having received recognition from a miers fer he leaned upon the ramparts calling in a low voice to his comrades and rapidly redescended to reassure them and get them to mount with him. Up they mount that and two other neighbouring towers are given up to them. The three gates are opened and the crusaders rush in. When day appeared on the 3rd of June 1098 the streets of Antioch were full of corpses for the Turks surprised had been slaughtered without resistance or had fled into the country. The citadel filled with those who had been able to take refuge there still held out but the entire city was in the power of the crusaders and the banner of Boamond floated on an elevated spot over against the citadel. In spite of their triumph the crusaders were not so near marching on Jerusalem as Boamond had promised. Everywhere throughout Syria and Mesopotamia the musulmen were rising to go and deliver Antioch. An immense army was already in motion. There were eleven hundred thousand men according to Matthew of Edessa six hundred and sixty thousand according to Foucher of Chartres three hundred thousand according to Raoul of Kham and only two hundred thousand according to William of Tyre and Albert of Ex. The discrepancy in the figures is a sufficient proof of their untruthfulness. The last number was enough to disquiet the crusaders already much reduced by so many marches battles, sufferings and desertions. An old musulman warrior celebrated at that time throughout western Asia Korboga Sultan of Mosul hard by what was ancient in Innova commanded all the hostile forces and four days after the capture of Antioch he was already completely round the place and closing the crusaders within the walls of which they had just become the masters. They were thus and all on a sudden besieged in their turn having even in the very midst of them in the citadel which still held out a hostile force. Whilst they had been besieging Antioch the Emperor Alexis Comnenus had begun to march with an army to get his share in their successes and was advancing into Asia Minor when he heard that the musulman in immense numbers were investing in the Christian army in Antioch and not in a condition it was said to hold out long. The Emperor immediately retraced his steps towards Constantinople and the crusaders found that they had no Greek aid to hope for. The blockade becoming stricter day by day soon brought about a horrible famine in Antioch. Instead of repeating here in general terms the ordinary descriptions of this cruel scourge we will reproduce its particular and striking features as they have been traced out by contemporary chroniclers. The Christian people, says William of Tyre had recourse before long to procure themselves any food whatever to all sorts of shameful means. Nobles, free men, did not blush to hungrily stretch out the hand to nobodies asking with troublesome pertinacity for what was too often refused. There were seen the very strongest those whom their signal valor had rendered illustrious in the midst of the army now supported on crutches dragging themselves half dead along the streets and in the public places and if they did not speak at any rate they showed themselves with countenances irreconisable silently begging alms of every passer by. No self-respect restrained matrons or young women here to fore accustomed to severe restraints. They walked hither and thither with pallid faces groaning and searching everywhere for somewhat to eat and they in whom the pangs of hunger had not extinguished every spark of modesty went and hid themselves in the most secret places and nod their hearts in silence preferring to die of want rather than beg in public. Children still in the cradle unable to get milk were exposed at the crossroads crying in vain for their usual nourishment and men women and children all through themselves greedily upon any kind of food wholesome and unwholesome clean and unclean that they could scrape together here and there and none shared with another that which they picked up. So many and such sufferings produced incredible dastardliness and deserters escaped by night in some cases throwing themselves down at the risk of being killed into the city moat in others getting down by help of a rope from the ramparts. Indignation blazed forth against the fugitives. They were called rope dancers and God was prayed to treat them as the traitor Judas. William of Tyre and Yber of Nogent after naming some and those and with these words of many more I know not the names and I am unwilling to expose all that are well known to me. We are assured says William of Tyre that in view of such woes and such weaknesses the princes despairing of any means of safety held amongst themselves a secret council at which they decided to abandon the army and all the people fly in the middle of the night according to the Armenian historian Matthew of Edessa the princes would seem to have resolved in this hour of dejection not to fly and leave the army to its fate but to demand of Corbogsi an assurance for all under the bond of an oath of personal safety on the promise of surrendering Antioch to him after which they would return home several Arab historians and amongst them Ibn al-Atyr Abul Faraj and Abul Feda confirm the statement of conditions whatever may have been the real turn taken by the promptings of weakness amongst the Christians Godfrey de Bouillon and Adamar Bishop of Puy energetically rejected them all and an unexpected incident considered as miraculous reassured the wavering spirits both of soldiers and of chiefs a priest of Marseille Peter Bartholomew came and announced to the chiefs that Saint Andrew had thrice appeared to him in a dream saying, go into the church of my brother Peter at Antioch and hard by the high altar thou wilt find on digging up the ground the head of the spear which pierced our demer side that carried in front of the army will bring about the deliverance of the Christians the appointed search was solemnly conducted under the eye of twelve reputable witnesses priests and knights the whole army was in attendance at the closed gates of the church the spearhead was found and carried off in triumph a pious enthusiasm restored to all present entire confidence and with loud shouts they demanded battle the chiefs judged it proper to announce their determination and for this mission they chose Peter the hermit who was known to them as a bold and able speaker Peter on arriving at the enemy's camp presented himself without any mark of respect before the sultan Corboga surrounded by his say traps and said the sacred assembly of princes pleasing to God who are at Antioch doth send me unto thy highness to advise thee that thou art to cease from thy importunities and that thou abandon the siege of a city which the Lord in his divine mercy hath given up to them the prince of the apostles did rest that city from idolatry and converted to the faith of Christ he had forcibly but unjustly taken possession of it they who be moved by a right lawful anxiety for this heritage of their ancestors make their demand of thee that thou choose between diverse offers either give up the siege of the city and cease troubling the Christians or within three days from hence try the power of our arms and that thou seek not after any even a lawful subterfuge they offer thee further choice between diverse determinations either appear alone in person to fight with one of our princes in order that if victorious thou mayst obtain all thou canst demand thou wish thou mayst remain quiet or again pick out diverse of thine who shall fight on the same terms with the same number of ours or lastly agree that the two armies shall prove one against the other the fortune of battle Peter answered Quaraboga ironically it is not likely that the affairs of the princes who have sent thee be in such state that they can thus offer me choice betwixt first proposals and that I should be bound to accept that which may suit me best my sword hath brought them to such a condition that they have not themselves any longer the power of choosing freely and that they be constrained to shape and unshape their wishes according to my good pleasure go then and tell these fools that all whom I shall find in full possession of all the powers of the manly age shall have their lives and shall be reserved for me for my master's service and that all others shall fall beneath my sword as useless trees so that there shall remain of them not even a faint remembrance had I not deemed it more convenient to destroy them by famine than to smite them with the sword I should already have gotten forcible mastery of the city and they would have reaped the fruits of their voyage hither by undergoing the law of vengeance End of Chapter 16 Part 3 Section 34 of Volume 1 A Popular History of Friends from the earliest times This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Emily Jomar Volume 1 of A Popular History of Friends from the earliest times by François Guizot translated by Robert Black Chapter 16 The Crusades Their Origin and Their Success Part 4 On returning to camp Peter the Hermit was about to set forth in detail before all the people of the Crusaders the answer of Corboga his pride, his threats and the pomp with which he was surrounded but Godfrey de Bouillon fearing lest the multitude already crushed beneath the weight of their woes should be stricken with fresh terror stopped Peter at the moment when he was about to begin his speech and, taking him aside prevailed upon him to tell the result of his mission in a few words just that the Turks desired battle and that it must be prepared for it once forthwith all from the highest to the lowest testify the most eager desire to measure swords with the infidels and seem to have completely forgotten their miseries and to calculate upon victory all resume their arms and get ready their horses, their breastplates their helmets, their shields and their swords it is publicly announced throughout the city that the next morning before sunrise everyone will have to be in readiness and join his host to follow faithfully the banner of his prince next day, accordingly the 28th of June 1098 the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul the whole Christian army issued from their camp with a portion of the clergy marching at the head and chanting the 68th Psalm let God arise and let his enemies be scattered these things I who speak, says one of the chroniclers Raymond Dajil Chaplain to the Count of Toulouse I was there and I carried the spear of the Lord the Crusaders formed in 12 divisions and of all their great chiefs the Count of Toulouse alone was unable to assume the command of his he was detained in Antioch by the consequences of a wound and he had the duty of keeping in check the Turkish garrison still masters of the citadel the Crusaders presented the appearance of old troops ill-clad, ill-provided and surmounting by sheer spirit the fatigues and losses of a long war many sick soldiers could scarcely march many barons and knights were on foot and Godfrey de Bouillon himself had been obliged to borrow a horse from the Count of Toulouse during the march a gentle rain refreshed souls as well as bodies and was regarded as a favour from heaven just as the battle was commencing Corboga struck by the impassioned, sterned and indomitable aspect of the Crusaders felt somewhat disquieted and made proposals it is said to the Christian princes of what he had refused them the evening before a fight between some of their knights and as many Saracens but they in their turn rejected the proposition there is a moment during great struggles when the souls of men are launched forth like bombshells which nothing can stop or cause to recoil the battle was long, stubborn and at some points indecisive Kilage Arslan the indefatigable Sultan of Nicaea attacked Bohemond so briskly that save for the prompt assistance of Godfrey de Bouillon and Tancred the prince of Antioch had been in great peril but the pious and warlike enthusiasm of the Crusaders at length prevailed over the savage bravery of the Turks and Corboga who had promised the caliph of Baghdad a defeat of the Christians fled away towards the Euphrates with a weak escort of faithful troops Tancred pursued till nightfall the sultans of Aleppo and Damascus and the Amir of Jerusalem according to the Christian chroniclers 100,000 infidels and only 4,000 Crusaders were left on the field of battle the camp of the Turks was given over to pillage and 15,000 camels and it is not stated how many horses were carried off the tent of Corboga himself was for his conquerors a rich prize and an object of admiration it was laid out in streets flanked by towers as if it were a fortified town gold and precious stones glittered in every part of it it was capable of containing more than 2,000 persons and Bohemond sent it to Italy where it was long preserved the conquerors employed several days in conveying into Antioch the spoils of the vanquished and every Crusader Sez Albert of Ex had been at starting from Europe this great success with the wealth it was the means of spreading and the pretensions and hopes it was the cause of raising amongst the Crusaders had for some time the most injurious effects divisions set in amongst them especially amongst the chiefs some abandoned themselves to all the license of victory others to the suites of repose some fatigued and disgusted quietly prepared for and accomplished their return home others growing more and more ambitious and bold aspired to conquests and principalities in the east why should not they acquire what Baldwin had acquired at Odessa and what Bohemond was within an ace of possessing at Antioch others were jealous of the great fortunes made before their eyes and Oremond of Toulouse was vexed at Bohemond's rule in Antioch to give up to him the citadel one and another troubled themselves little more about the main end of their crusade the deliverance of Jerusalem and devoted themselves to their personal interests a few days after the defeat of the Turks the council of princes deliberate upon the question of marching immediately upon Jerusalem and then all these various inclinations came out after a lively debate decided that they should wait till the heat of the summer was over the army rested from its fatigues and the reinforcements expected from the west arrived the common sort of crusaders were indignant at this delay since the princes will not lead us to Jerusalem was said aloud choose we among the knights a brave man who will serve us faithfully and if the grace of God be with us go we under his leading to Jerusalem it is not enough for our princes that we have remained here a whole year and that two hundred thousand men at arms have fallen here perish all day who would remain at Antioch even as its inhabitants but lately perished but murmuring all the while they stayed at Antioch in spite of a violent epidemic which took off it was said in a single month fifty thousand persons and amongst them the spiritual chief of the crusade Adamar, Bishop of Puy who had the respect and confidence of all the crusaders to find some species pretext or some pious excuse for this inactivity or simply to pass the time which was not employed as it had been sworn it should be war-like expeditions were made into Syria and Mesopotamia some emirs were driven from their petty dominions some towns were taken some infidels were massacred the count of Toulouse persisted during several weeks in besieging Marah a town situated between Hamath and Aleppo at last he took it but there were no longer any inhabitants to be found in it they had all taken refuge underground huge fires lighted at the entrance of their hiding place forced them to come out and as they came they were all put to death or carried off as slaves which so terrified the neighboring towns says a chronicler of their own free will and without compulsion it was all at once ascertained that Jerusalem had undergone a fresh calamity and fallen more and more beneath the yoke of the infidels Abu Kachem, caliph of Egypt had taken it from the Turks and his vizier, Afdel, had left a strong garrison in it a sharp pang of grief of wrath and of shame shot through the crusaders could it be they cried that Jerusalem should be taken re-taken and never by Christians? many went to seek out the Count of Toulouse he was known to be much taken up with the desire of securing the possession of Marah which he had just captured still great confidence was felt in him he had made a vow never to return to the west he was the richest of the crusader princes he was conjured to take upon himself the leadership of the army to him had been entrusted the spear covered at Antioch if the other princes should be found wanting let him at least go forward with the people in full assurance if not he had only to give up the spear to the people and the people would go right on to Jerusalem with the Lord for their leader after some hesitation Raymond declared that the departure should take place in a fortnight and he summoned the princes to a preliminary meeting on assembling they found themselves still less at once as the chronicler and the majority refused to budge to induce them it is said that Raymond offered ten thousand sews to Godfrey de Bouillon the same to Robert of Normandy six thousand to the Count of Flanders and five thousand to Tancred but at the same time Raymond announced his intention of leaving a strong garrison in Marah to secure its defense what? cried the common folk amongst the crusaders disputes about Antioch and disputes about Marah we will take good care there be no quarrel touching this town come throw we down its walls restore we peace amongst the princes and set we the Count at liberty when Marah no longer exists he will no longer fear to lose it the multitude rushed to surround Marah and worked so eagerly at the demolition of its ramparts that the Count of Toulouse touched by this popular feeling as if it were proof of the divine will himself put the finishing touch to the work of destruction and ordered the speedy departure of the army at their head marched he, barefooted with his clergy and the bishop of Akbar all imploring the mercy of God and the protection of the saints after him marched to Tancred with forty knights and many foot who then may resist this people said Turks and Saracens to one another so stubborn and cruel whom for the space of a year nor famine nor the sword nor any other danger could cause to abandon the siege of Antioch and who now are feeding upon human flesh in fact a rumor had spread that in their extreme distress for want of provisions the crusaders had eaten corpses of Saracens found in the moats of Marah several of the chiefs hitherto and decided now followed the popular impulse whilst others still hesitated but on the approach of spring one thousand ninety nine more than eight months after the capture of Antioch Godfrey of Bouillon his brother Eustis of Boulogne Robert of Flanders and their following likewise began to march Bohemond after having accompanied them as far as Laudicea left them with a promise of rejoining them before Jerusalem and returned to Antioch where he remained fresh crusaders arrived from Flanders Holland and England and amongst them the Saxon Prince Edgar Atheling who had for a brief interval been king of England between the death of Harold and the coronation of William the Conqueror the army pursued its way pretty slowly still stopping from time to time to besieged towns which they took and which the chiefs continued to dispute for amongst themselves envoys from the Caliph of Egypt the new holder of Jerusalem arrived in the crusaders camp with presents and promises from their master they had orders to offer forty thousand pieces of gold to Godfrey sixty thousand to Bohemond most dreaded by the musulman of all the crusaders and other gifts to diverse other chiefs Abul Kachem further promised liberty of pilgrimage and exercise of the Christian religion in Jerusalem only the Christians must not enter unless unarmed at this proposal the crusader chiefs cried out with indignation and declared to the Egyptian envoys that they were going to hasten their march upon Jerusalem threatening at the same time to push forward to the borders of the Nile at the end of the month of May one thousand ninety nine they were all en masse upon the frontiers of Phoenicia and Palestine numbering according to the most sanguine calculations only fifty thousand fighting men upon entering Palestine as they came upon spots known in sacred history or places of any importance the same feelings of greed and jealousy which had caused so much trouble in Asia Minor and Syria caused divisions once more amongst the crusaders the chieftain the simple warrior almost who was the first to enter the city or burg or house and plant his flag there halted in it and claimed to be its possessor whilst those whom nothing was dearer than the commandments of God say the chroniclers pursued their march barefooted at the center of the cross deplored the covetousness and the quarrels of their brethren when the crusaders arrived at Emmaus some Christians of Bethlehem came and implored their aid against the infidels Tankard was there and he with a consent of Godfrey set out immediately in the middle of the night with a small band of one hundred horsemen and went and planted his own flag on the top of the church at Bethlehem at the very hour at which the birth of Jesus Christ had been announced to the shepherds of Judea next day, June 10th 1099 on advancing at dawn of day over the heights of Emmaus the army of the crusaders had all at once beneath their gaze the holy city lo, Jerusalem appears in sight lo, every hand point out Jerusalem lo, a thousand voices are heard as one in salutation of Jerusalem after the great sweet joy which filled all the hearts at this first glimpse came a deep feeling of contrition mingled with awful and reverential affection each scarcely dared to raise the eye towards the city which had been the chosen abode of Christ where he died was buried and rose again an accent of humility with words low spoken with stifled sobs with sighs and tears the pent up yearnings of a people in joy and at the same time in sorrow sent shivering through the air a murmur like that which is heard in leafy forests what time the wind blows through the leaves or like the dull sound made by the sea which breaks upon the rocks or hisses as it foams over the beach it was better to quote these beautiful stanzas from Jerusalem delivered than to reproduce the pompous and monotonous traces of the chroniclers the genius of tasso was capable of understanding and worthy to depict the emotions of a Christian army at sight of the Jerusalem they had come to deliver we will not pause over the purely military and technical details of the siege it was calculated that there were in the city 20,000 armed inhabitants and 40,000 men in garrison the most valiant and most fanatical population that Egypt could furnish according to William of Tyre the most judicious and the best informed of the contemporary historians when the crusaders pitched their camp over against Jerusalem there had arrived there about 40,000 persons of both sexes of whom there were at the most 20,000 foot well equipped and 1500 knights Raymond de Gilles chaplain to the count of Toulouse further to 12,000 the number of foot capable of bearing arms and that of the knights to 12 or 1300 this week army was destitute of commissariat and the engines necessary for such a siege before long it was a prey to the horrors of thirst the neighborhood of Jerusalem says William of Tyre is arid and it is only at a considerable distance that there are to be found rivulets fountains or wells of fresh water even these springs had been filled up by the enemy a little before the arrival of our troops the crusaders issued from the camp secretly and in small detachments to look for water in all directions and just when they believed they had found some hidden trickle they saw themselves surrounded by a multitude of folks engaged in the same search disputes forthwith arose amongst them and they frequently came to blows horses mules asses and cattle of all kinds consumed by heat and thirst fell down and died and their carcasses left here and there about the camp tainted the air with a pestilential smell wood, iron and all the materials needful for the construction of siege machinery were as much to seek as water but a warlike and pious spirit made head against all trees were felled at a great distance from Jerusalem and scaling towers were roughly constructed as well as engines for hurling the stones which were with difficulty brought up within reach of the city all ye who read this says Raymond Dajiv think not that it was light labor it was nigh a mile from the spot where the engines all dismounted had to be transported to that where they were remounted the knights protected against the sallies of the besieged the workmen employed upon this work one day tankard had gone alone to pray on the mount of olives and to gaze upon the holy city when five musulmans salied forth and went to attack him he killed three of them and the other two took to flight there was at one point of the city ramparts a ravine which had to be filled up to make an approach and the count of Toulouse had proclamation made that he would give a denier to every one who would go and throw three stones into it in three days the ravine was filled up after four weeks of labor and preparation the council of princes fixed a day for delivering the assault but as there had been quarrels between several of the chiefs and notably between the count of Toulouse and Tankard it was resolved that before the grand attack they should all be reconciled at a general supplication with solemn ceremonies for divine aid after a strict fast all the crusaders went forth armed from their quarters and proceeded by their priests barefooted and chanting psalms they moved in slow procession round Jerusalem halting at all places hallowed by some fact in sacred history listening to the discourses of their priests and raising eyes full of wrath adhering the scoffs addressed to them by the sericens and seeing the insults heaped upon certain crosses they had set up and upon all the symbols of the Christian faith Ye see cried Peter the hermit ye hear the threats and blasphemies of the enemies of God now this I swear to you by your faith this I swear to you by the arms ye carry today these infidels be still full of pride and insolence but tomorrow they shall be frozen with fear those mosques which tower over Christian ruins shall serve for temples to the true God Jerusalem shall hear no longer ought but the praises of the Lord the shouts of the whole Christian army responded to the hopes of the apostle of the crusade and the crusaders returned to their quarters repeating the words of the prophet Isaiah so shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun on the 14th of July 1099 at daybreak the assault began at diverse points and next day Friday the 15th of July at three in the afternoon exactly at the hour at which according to holy writ Jesus Christ had yielded up the ghost saying Father into thy hands I commend my spirit Jerusalem was completely in the hands of the crusaders we have no heart to dwell on the massacres which accompanied the victory so clearly purchased by the conquerors the historians Latin or oriental set down at 70,000 the number of musulman massacred on the ramparts in the mosques in the streets underground and wherever they had attempted to find a refuge a number exceeding that of the armed inhabitants in the garrison of the city battle madness thirst for vengeance ferocity brutality greed and every hateful passion were satiated without people in the name of their holy cause when they were weary of slaughter orders were given says Robert the monk to those of the Saracens who remained alive and were reserved for slavery to clean the city remove from it the dead and purify it from all traces of such fearful carnage they promptly obeyed removed with tears the dead erected outside the gates dead houses fashioned like citadels defensive buildings collected in baskets carried them away and washed off the blood that stained the floors of temples and houses 8 or 10 days after the capture of Jerusalem the crusader chiefs assembled to deliberate upon the election of a king of their prize there were several who were suggested for it and might have pretended to it Robert Schortho's Duke of Normandy gave an absolute refusal liking better says an English chronicler to give himself up to repose an indolence in Normandy than to serve as a soldier the king of kings for which God never forgave him Raymond Count of Toulouse was already advanced in years and declared that he would have a horror of bearing the name of king of Jerusalem but that he would give his consent to the election of anyone else Tankard was and wished to be only the first of knights Godfrey de Bouillon wanted votes in that he did not seek them he was valiant, discreet worthy and modest and his own servants being privately sounded, testified to his possession of the virtues which are put in practice without any show he was elected king of Jerusalem and he accepted the burden whilst refusing the insignia I will never wear a crown of gold he said in the place where the savior of the world was crowned with thorns he assumed only the title of defender and baron of the holy sepulcher it is a common belief amongst historians that after the capture of Jerusalem and the election of her king Peter the hermit entirely disappeared from history it is true that he no longer played an active part and that on returning to Europe he went into retirement near Hui in the diocese of Lige where he founded a monastery and where he died on the 11th of July 1115 but William of Tyre bears witness that Peter's contemporaries were not ungrateful to him and did not forget him when he had done his work the faithful says he dwellers at Jerusalem who four or five years before had seen the venerable Peter there recognizing at that time in the same city him to whom the patriarch had committed letters invoking the aid of the princes of the west bent the knee before him and offered him their respects and all humility they recall to mind the circumstances of his first voyage and they praised the Lord who had endowed him with the sexual power of speech and with strength to rouse up nations and kings to bear so many and such long toils for love of the name of Christ both in private and in public all the faithful at Jerusalem exerted themselves to render to Peter the hermit the highest honors and attributed to him alone after God their happiness and having escaped from the hard servitude under which they had been for so many years groaning and in seeing the holy city recovering her ancient freedom End of Chapter 16 End of a popular history of France from the earliest times Volume 1 by François Guiseau translated by Robert Black