 THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE by Edward Gibbon. I have expiated with pleasure on the first steps of the Crusaders as they paint the manners and character of Europe, but I shall abridge the tedious and uniform narrative of their blind achievements which were performed by strength and are described by ignorance. From their first station in the neighborhood of Nicomedia they advanced in successive divisions, passed the contracted limit of the Greek Empire, opened a road through the hills, and commenced by the siege of his capital their pious warfare against the Turkish Sultan. His kingdom of realm extended from the Hellespont to the confines of Syria, and barred the pilgrimage of Jerusalem. His name was Kilidge Arslan or Solomon of the race of Seljuk, and son of the first conqueror, and in the defense of a land which the Turks had considered as their own he deserved the praise of his enemies by whom alone he is known to posterity. Yielding to the first impulse of the torrent, he deposited his family in treasure in Nice, retired to the mountains with fifty thousand horse, and twice descended to assault the camps or quarters of the Christian besiegers, which formed an imperfect circle of above six miles. The lofty and solid walls of Nice were covered by a deep ditch and flanked by three hundred and seventy towers, and on the verge of Christendom the Muslims were trained in arms and inflamed by religion. Before this city the French princes occupied their stations and prosecuted their attacks without correspondence or subordination. Emulation prompted their valour, but their valour was sullied by cruelty and their emulation degenerated into envy and civil discord. In the siege of Nice the arts and engines of antiquity were employed by the Latins, the mine and the battering ram, the tortoise and the belfry or movable turret, artificial fire and the catapult and bailest, the sling and the crossbow for the casting of stones and darts. In the space of seven weeks much labour and blood were expended, and some progress, especially by Count Raymond, was made on the side of the besiegers. But the Turks could protract their resistance and secure their escape as long as they were masters of the Lake Oskanius, which stretches several miles to the westward of the city. The means of conquest were supplied by the prudence and industry of Alexias. A great number of boats was transported on sledges from the sea to the lake. They were filled with the most dexterous of his archers. The flight of the Sultana was intercepted, Nice was invested by land and water, and a Greek emissary persuaded the inhabitants to accept his master's protection, and to save themselves by a timely surrender from the rage of the savages of Europe. In the moment of victory, or at least of hope, the crusaders, thirsting for blood and plunder, were awed by the imperial banner that streamed from the citadel, and Alexias guarded with jealous vigilance this important conquest. The murmurs of the chiefs were stifled by honour or interest, and after a halt of nine days they directed their march towards Fergia under the guidance of a Greek general, whom they suspected of a secret connivance with the sultan. The consort and the principal servants of Solomon had been honorably restored without ransom, and the emperor's generosity to the miscreants was interpreted as treason to the Christian cause. Solomon was rather provoked than dismayed by the loss of his capital. He admonished his subjects and allies of this strange invasion of the western barbarians. The Turkish emirs obeyed the call of loyalty or religion. The Turkmen hordes encamped round his standard, and his whole force is loosely stated by the Christians at two hundred or even three hundred and sixty thousand horse. Yet he patiently waited, till they had left behind them the sea and the Greek frontier, and hovering on the flanks observed their careless and confident progress in two columns beyond the view of each other. Some miles before they could reach Doli Reim in Fergia, the left and least numerous division was surprised and attacked, and almost oppressed by the Turkish cavalry. The heat of the weather, the clouds of arrows, and the barbarous onset overwhelmed the crusaders. They lost their order and confidence, and the fainting fight was sustained by the personal valour rather than by the military conduct of Bohemond Tanke and Robert of Normandy. They were revived by the welcome banners of Duke Godfrey, who flew to their Secor, with the count of Vermandois and sixty thousand horse, and was followed by Raymond of the Luce, the Bishop of Poi, and the remainder of the Sacred Army. Without a moment's pause, they formed in new order, and advanced to a second battle. They were received with equal resolution, and in their common disdain for the unwarlike people of Greece and Asia, it was confessed on both sides that the Turks and the Franks were the only nations entitled to the appellation of soldiers. Their encounter was varied and balanced by the contrast of arms and discipline, of the direct charge and wheeling evolutions, of the couched lance and the brandished javelin, of a weighty broadsword and a crooked saber, of cumbersome armor and thin flowing robes, and of the long-parter bow and the arbalist or crossbow, a deadly weapon yet unknown to the orientals. As long as the horses were fresh, and the quivers full, Solomon maintained the advantage of the day, and four thousand Christians were pierced by the Turkish arrows. In the evening, swiftness yielded to strength. On either side the numbers were equal, or at least as great as any ground could hold, or any generals could manage, but in turning the hills, the last division of Raymond and his provincials was led, perhaps without design, on the rear of an exhausted enemy, and the long contest was determined. Besides a nameless and unaccounted multitude, three thousand pagan knights were slain in the battle and pursuit. The camp of Solomon was pillaged, and in the variety of precious spoil, the curiosity of the Latins was amused with foreign arms and apparel, and the new aspect of dromedaries and camels. The importance of the victory was proved by the hasty retreat of the sultan. Reserving ten thousand guards of the relics of his army, Solomon evacuated the kingdom of Rome, and hastened to implore the aid and kindle the resentment of his eastern brethren. In a march of five hundred miles, the crusaders traversed the lesser Asia, through a wasted land and deserted towns, without finding either a friend or an enemy. The geographer may trace the position of Dolly-Rame, Antioch of Pasidia, Iconium, Archelias, and Germanesia, and may compare those classic appellations with the modern names of Eskyshire, the Old City, Auxshire, the White City, Cogni, Erychiel, and Marash. As the pilgrims passed over a desert where a draught of water is exchanged for silver, they were tormented by intolerable thirst, and on the banks of the first rivulet their haste and intemperance were still more pernicious to the disorderly throng. They climbed with toil and danger the steep and slippery sides of Mount Taurus. Many of the soldiers cast away their arms to secure their footsteps, and had not terror preceded their van, the long and trembling file might have been driven down the precipice by a handful of resolute enemies. Two of their most respectable chiefs, the Duke of Lorraine and the Count of Thoulouse, were carried in litters. Raymond was raised as it is said by a miracle from a hopeless malady, and Godfrey had been torn by a bear, as he pursued that rough and perilous chase in the mountains of Pasidia. To improve the general consternation, the cousin of Bohemond and the brother of Godfrey were detached from the main army with their respective squadrons of five and of seven hundred knights. They overran in a rapid career the hills and sea coasts of Thalicia from Cogni to the Syrian gates. The Norman standard was planted on the walls of Tarsus and Melmistra, but the proud injustice of Baldwin at length provoked the patient and generous Italian, and they turned their consecrated swords against each other in a private and profane quarrel. Honor was the motive, and fame the reward of Don Cray, but fortune smiled on the more selfish enterprise of his rival. He was called to the assistance of a Greek or Armenian tyrant, who had been suffered under the Turkish yoke terrain over the Christians of Edessa. Baldwin accepted the character of his son and champion, but no sooner was he introduced into the city than he inflamed the people to the massacre of his father, occupied the throne and treasure, extended his conquests over the hills of Armenia and the plain of Mesopotamia, and founded the first principality of the Franks or Latins, which subsisted fifty-four years beyond the Euphrates. Before the Franks could enter Syria, the summer and even the autumn were completely wasted. The siege of Antioch or the separation and repose of the army during the winter season was strongly debated in their council. The love of arms and the Holy Sepulcher urged them to advance, and reason perhaps was on the side of resolution, since every hour of delay abates the fame and force of the invader, and multiplies the resources of defensive war. The capital of Syria was protected by the river Orontes, and the iron bridge of nine arches derives its name from the massy gates of the two towers, which are constructed at either end. They were opened by the sword of the Duke of Normandy. His victory gave entrance to three hundred thousand crusaders, an account which may allow some scope for losses and desertion, but which clearly detects much exaggeration in the review of Nice. In the description of Antioch, it is not easy to define a middle term between or ancient magnificence under the successors of Alexander and Augustus, and the modern aspect of Turkish desolation. The tetropolis, or four cities, if they retained their name and position, must have left a large vacuity in a circumference of twelve miles, and that measure, as well as the number of four hundred towers, are not perfectly consistent with the five gates, so often mentioned in the history of the siege. Yet Antioch must have still flourished as a great and populous capital. At the head of the Turkish emirs, Bagheesiyan, a veteran chief, commanded in the place. His garrison was composed of six or seven thousand horse, and fifteen or twenty thousand foot. One hundred thousand Muslims are said to have fallen by the sword, and their numbers were probably inferior to the Greeks, Armenians, and Syrians, who had been no more than fourteen years the slaves of the House of Seljuk. From the remains of a solid and stately wall, it appears to have arisen to the height of three score feet in the valleys, and wherever less art and labor had been applied, the ground was supposed to be defended by the river, the morass, and the mountains. Notwithstanding these fortifications, the city had been repeatedly taken by the Persians, the Arabs, the Greeks, and the Turks. So large a circuit must have yielded many previous points of attack, and in a siege that was formed about the middle of October, the vigor of the execution could alone justify the boldness of the attempt. Whatever strength and valor could perform in the field was abundantly discharged by the champions of the cross. In the frequent occasions of sallies, of forage, of the attack, and offence of convoys, they were often victorious, and we can only complain that their exploits are sometimes enlarged beyond the scale of probability and truth. The sword of Godfrey divided a Turk from the shoulder to the haunch, and one half of the infidel fell to the ground, while the other was transported by his horse to the city gate. As Robert of Normandy wrote against his antagonist, I devote thy head, he piously exclaimed, to the demons of hell, and that head was instantly cloven to the breast by the resistless stroke of his descending falchion. But the reality, or the report of such gigantic prowess, must have taught the Muslims to keep within their walls, and against those walls of earth or stone, the sword and the lance were unavailing weapons. In the slow and successive labours of the siege, the crusaders were supine and ignorant, without skill to contrive, or money to purchase, or industry to use, the artificial engines and implements of assault. In the conquest of Nice, they had been powerfully assisted by the wealth and knowledge of the Greek emperor. His absence was poorly supplied by some Genoese and Peschen vessels that were attracted by religion or trade to the coast of Syria. The stores were scanty, the return precarious, and the communication difficult and dangerous. Indolence or weakness had prevented the Franks from investing the entire circuit, and the perpetual freedom of two gates relieved the wants and recruited the garrison of the city. At the end of seven months, after the ruin of their cavalry and an enormous loss by famine, desertion and fatigue, the progress of the crusaders was imperceptible and their success remote. If the Latin Ulysses, the artful and ambitious Bohemond, had not employed the arms of cunning and deceit, the Christians of Antioch were numerous and discontented. Fyraus, a Syrian renegado, had acquired the favor of the emir and the command of three towers, and the merit of his repentance disguised to the Latins, and perhaps to himself, the foul design of perfidy and treason. A secret correspondence for their mutual interest was soon established between Fyraus and the Prince of Torento, and Bohemond declared in the Council of the Chiefs that he could deliver the city into their hands. But he claimed the sovereignty of Antioch as the reward of his service, and the proposal which had been rejected by the envy was at length extorted from the distress of his equals. The nocturnal surprise was executed by the French and Norman princes, who ascended in person the scaling ladders that were thrown from the walls. Their new proselyte, after the murder of his two scrupulous brother, embraced and introduced the servants of Christ. The army rushed through the gates, and the Muslims soon found that although mercy was hopeless, resistance was impotent. But the citadel still refused to surrender, and the victims themselves were speedily encompassed and besieged by the innumerable forces of Kerboga, Prince of Mosul, who, with twenty-eight Turkish emirs, advanced to the deliverance of Antioch. Five in twenty days the Christians spent on the verge of destruction, and the proud lieutenant of the Caliph and the Sultan left them only the choice of servitude or death. In this extremity they collected the relics of their strength, sallied from the town, and in a single memorable day annihilated or dispersed the host of Turks and Arabians, which they might safely report to have consisted of six hundred thousand men. Their supernatural allies I shall proceed to consider. The human causes of the victory of Antioch were the fearless despair of the Franks, and the surprise, the discord, perhaps the errors of their unskillful and presumptuous adversaries. The battle is described with as much disorder as it was thought, but we may observe the tent of Kerboga, a movable and spacious palace, enriched with the luxury of Asia, and capable of holding above two thousand persons. We may distinguish his three thousand guards, who were cased, the horse as well as the men, in complete steel. In the eventful period of the siege and defense of Antioch, the crusaders were alternately exalted by victory or sunk in despair, either swelled with plenty or emaciated with hunger. A speculative reasoner might suppose that their faith had a strong and serious influence on their practice, and that the soldiers of the cross, the deliverers of the Holy Sepulcher, prepared themselves by a sober and virtuous life for the daily contemplation of martyrdom. Experience blows away this charitable illusion, and seldom does the history of profane war display such scenes of intemperance and prostitution as were exhibited under the walls of Antioch. The growth of Daphne no longer flourished, but the Syrian air was still impregnated with the same vices. The Christians were seduced by every temptation that nature either prompts or reprobates. The authority of the chiefs was despised, and sermons and edicts were alike fruitless against those scandalous disorders, not less pernicious to military discipline than repugnant to evangelical purity. In the first days of the siege and the possession of Antioch, the Franks consumed with wanton and thoughtless prodigality the frugal subsistence of weeks and months. The desolate country no longer yielded a supply, and from that country they were at length excluded by the arms of the besieging Turks. Disease, the faithful companion of want, was envenomed by the rains of the winter, the summer heats, unwholesome food, and the close imprisonment of multitudes. The pictures of famine and pestilence are always the same and always disgustful, and our imagination may suggest the nature of their sufferings and their resources. The remains of treasure or spoil were eagerly lavished in the purchase of the vilest nourishment, and dreadful must have been the calamities of the poor. Since, after paying three marks of silver for a goat and fifteen for a lean camel, the count of Flanders was reduced to beg a dinner and do Godfrey to borrow a horse. Sixty thousand horse had been reviewed in the camp, before the end of the siege they were diminished to two thousand, and scarcely two hundred fit for service could be mustered on the day of battle. Weakness of body and terror of mind extinguished the ardent enthusiasm of the pilgrims, and every motive of honor and religion was subdued by the desire of life. Among the chiefs, three heroes may be found without fear or reproach. Godfrey of bullion was supported by his magnanimous piety, Bohemond by ambition and interest, and Toncret declared, in the true spirit of chivalry, that as long as he was at the head of forty knights he would never relinquish the enterprise of Palestine. But the count of Thelouse and Provence was suspected of a voluntary indisposition. The Duke of Normandy was recalled from the seashore by the censures of the church. You the great, though he led the vanguard of the battle, embraced an ambiguous opportunity of returning to France, and Stephen, count of Chartres, basely deserted the standard which he bore and the council in which he presided. The soldiers were discouraged by the flight of William. This count of Malune surnamed the carpenter from the weighty strokes of his acts, and the saints were scandalized by the fall of Peter the Hermit, who, after arming Europe against Asia, attempted to escape from the penance of a necessary fast. Of the multitude of recreational warriors, the names, says an historian, are blotted from the Book of Life, and the approbrious epithet of the roped answers was applied to the deserters who dropped in the night from the walls of Antioch. The Emperor Alexius, who seemed to advance to the Secor of the Latins, was dismayed by the assurance of their hopeless condition. They expected their fate in silent despair. Oaths and punishments were tried without effect, and to rouse the soldiers to the defense of the walls, it was found necessary to set fire to their quarters. For their salvation and victory they were indebted to the same fanaticism which had led them to the brink of ruin. In such a cause and in such an army, visions, prophecies, and miracles were frequent and familiar. In the distress of Antioch they were repeated with unusual energy and success. Saint Ambrose had assured a pious ecclesiastic that two years of trial must precede the season of deliverance and grace. The deserters were stopped by the presence and reproaches of Christ himself. The dead had promised to arise and combat with their brethren. The Virgin had obtained the pardon of their sins, and their confidence was revived by a visible sign, the seasonable and splendid discovery of the Holy Lance. The policy of their chiefs has on this occasion been admired and might surely be excused, but a pious bod is seldom produced by the cool conspiracy of many persons, and a voluntary imposter might depend on the support of the wise and the credulity of the people. Of the diocese of Marcel there was a priest of low cunning and loose manners, and his name was Peter Bartholome. He presented himself at the door of the council chamber to disclose an apparition of Saint Andrew, which had been thrice reiterated in his sleep with a dreadful menace if he presumed to suppress the commands of heaven. At Antioch said the apostle, in the church of my brother Saint Peter, near the high altar, is concealed the steel head of the lance that pierced the side of our redeemer. In three days that instrument of eternal, and now temporal salvation, will be manifested to his disciples. Search, and ye shall find, bear it aloft in battle, and that mystic weapon shall penetrate the souls of the miscreants. The Pope's Legate, the Bishop of Poi, affected to listen with coldness and distrust, but the revelation was eagerly accepted by Count Raymond, whom his faithful subject, in the name of the apostle, had chosen for the guardian of the Holy Lance. The experiment was resolved, and on the third day, after a due preparation of prayer and fasting, the priest of Marcel introduced twelve trusty spectators, among whom were the Count and his chaplain, and the church doors were barred against the impetuous multitude. The ground was opened in the appointed place, but the workmen, who relieved each other, dug to the depth of twelve feet, without discovering the object of their search. In the evening, when Count Raymond had withdrawn to his post, and the wary assistants began to murmur, Bartholomew, in his shirt and without shoes, boldly descended into the pit. The darkness of the hour and of the place enabled him to secrete and deposit the head of the Saracen Lance, and the first sound, the first gleam of the steel, was soluted with a devout rapture. The Holy Lance was drawn from its recess, wrapped in a veil of silk and gold, and exposed to the veneration of the crusaders. Their anxious suspense burst forth in a general shout of joy and hope, and the desponding troops were again inflamed with the enthusiasm of valor. Whatever had been the arts, and whatever might be the sentiments of the chiefs, they skillfully improved this fortunate revolution by every aid that discipline and devotion could afford. The soldiers were dismissed to their quarters, with an injunction to fortify their minds and bodies for the approaching conflict, freely to bestow their last pittance on themselves and their horses, and to expect with the dawn of day the signal of victory. On the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, the gates of Antioch were thrown open. A martial psalm, let the Lord arise and let his enemies be scattered, was chanted by a procession of priests and monks. The battle array was marshaled in twelve divisions, in honor of the twelve apostles, and the Holy Lance, in the absence of Raymond, was entrusted to the hands of his chaplain. The influence of his holy relic was felt by the servants and perhaps by the enemies of Christ, and its potent energy was heightened by an accident, a stratagem, or a rumor, of a miraculous complexion. Three knights in white garments and resplendent arms either issued or seemed to issue from the hills. The voice of Atamar, the Pope's legate, proclaimed them as the martyrs St. George, St. Theodore, and St. Maurice. The tumult of battle allowed no time for doutor scrutiny, and the welcome apparition dazzled the eyes or the imagination of a fanatic army. In the season of danger and triumph, the revelation of Bartholome of Marcel was unanimously asserted. But as soon as the temporary service was accomplished, the personal dignity and liberal arms which the count of Tholuth derived from the custody of the Holy Lance, provoked the envy and awakened the reason of his rivals. A Norman clerk presumed to sift, with a philosophic spirit, the truth of the legend, the circumstances of the discovery, and the character of the prophet, and the pious Bohemond described their deliverance to the merits and intercession of Christ alone. For a while the provincials defended their national palladium with clamors and arms and new visions condemned to death and hell, the profane skeptics who presumed to scrutinize the truth and merit of the discovery. The prevalence of incredulity compelled the author to submit his life and veracity to the judgment of God. A pile of dry faggots, four feet high and fourteen long, was erected in the midst of the camp. The flames burnt fiercely to the elevation of thirty cubits, and a narrow path of twelve inches was left for the perilous trial. The unfortunate priest of Marcel traversed the fire with dexterity and speed, but the thighs and belly were scorched by the intense heat he expired the next day, and the logic of believing minds will pay some regard to his dying protestations of innocence and truth. Some efforts were made by the provincials to substitute across a ring or a tabernacle in the place of the Holy Lance, which soon vanished in contempt and oblivion. Yet the revelation of Antioch is gravely asserted by succeeding historians, and such is the progress of credulity that Miracle's most doubtful on the spot and at the moment will be received with implicit faith at a convenient distance of time and space. The prudence or fortune of the Franks had delayed their invasion till the decline of the Turkish Empire. Under the manly government of the Three First Sultans, the kingdoms of Asia were united in peace and justice, and the innumerable armies which they led in person were equal in courage and superior in discipline to the barbarians of the West. But at the time of the Crusades, the inheritance of Melek Shah was disputed by his four sons, their private ambition was insensible of the public danger, and in the vicissitudes of their fortune the royal vassals were ignorant or regardless of the true object of their allegiance. The twenty-eight Amirs who marched with the standard of Kerboga or his rivals or enemies, their hasty levies were drawn from the towns and tents of Mesopotamia and Syria, and the Turkish veterans were employed or consumed in the civil wars beyond the Tigris. The Caliph of Egypt embraced this opportunity of weakness and discord to recover his ancient possessions, and his sultan Afdal besieged Jerusalem and Tyre, expelled the children of Ortox, and restored in Palestine the civil and ecclesiastical authority of the Fatimes. They heard with astonishment of the vast armies of Christians that had passed from Europe to Asia, and rejoiced in the sieges and battles which broke the power of the Turks, the adversaries of their sect and monarchy. But the same Christians were the enemies of the Prophet, and from the overthrow of Nice and Antioch the motive of their enterprise, which was gradually understood, would urge them forwards to the banks of the Jordan or perhaps of the Nile. An intercourse of epistles and embassies, which rose and fell with the events of war, was maintained between the throne of Cairo and the camp of the Latins, and their adverse pride was the result of ignorance and enthusiasm. The ministers of Egypt declared in a haughty or insinuated in a milder tone that their sovereign, the true and lawful commander of the faithful, had rescued Jerusalem from the Turkish yoke, and that the pilgrims, if they would divide their numbers and lay aside their arms, should find a safe and hospitable reception at the sepulcher of Jesus. In the belief of their lost condition, the Caliph Mostali despised their arms and imprisoned their deputies. The conquest and victory of Antioch prompted him to solicit these formidable champions with gifts of horses and silk robes, of vases and purses of gold and silver. And in his estimate of their meritor power, the first place was assigned to Bohemond and the second to Godfrey. In either fortune the answer of the crusaders was firm and uniform. They disdained to inquire into the private claims or possessions of the followers of Muhammad. Whatsoever was his name or nation, the usurper of Jerusalem was their enemy, and instead of prescribing the mode in terms of their pilgrimage, it was only by a timely surrender of the city and province, their sacred rite, that he could deserve their alliance or deprecate their impending and irresistible attack. Yet this attack, when they were within the view and reach of their glorious prize, was suspended above ten months after the defeat of Kerboga. The zeal and courage of the crusaders were chilled in the moment of victory, and instead of marching to improve the consternation, they hastily dispersed to enjoy the luxury of Syria. The causes of this strange delay may be found in the want of strength and subordination. In the painful and various service of Antioch the cavalry was annihilated. Many thousands of every rank had been lost by famine, sickness, and desertion. The same abuse of plenty had been productive of a third famine, and the alternative of intemperance and distress had generated a pestilence which swept away above fifty thousand of the pilgrims. Few were able to command, and none were willing to obey. The domestic feuds, which had been stifled by common fear, were again renewed in acts, or at least in sentiments of hostility. The fortune of Baldwin and Bohemond excited the envy of their companions. The bravest knights were enlisted for the defense of their new principalities, and Count Raymond exhausted his troops and treasures in an idle expedition into the heart of Syria. The winter was consumed in discord and disorder, a sense of honor and religion was rekindled in the spring, and the private soldiers, less susceptible of ambition and jealousy, awakened with angry clamors the indolence of their chiefs. In the month of May the relics of this army proceeded from Antioch to Laodicea, about forty thousand Latins, of whom known more than fifteen hundred horse and twenty thousand foot were capable of immediate service. Their easy march was continued between Mount Lybonus and the seashore. Their wants were liberally supplied by the coasting traders of Genoa and Pisa, and they drew large contributions from the amirs of Tripoli, Tyre, Sedon, Acre, and Caesarea, who granted a free passage, and promised to follow the example of Jerusalem. From Caesarea they advanced into the Midland country. Their clerks recognized the sacred geography of Lida, Ramla, Emmaus, and Bethlehem, and as soon as they described the holy city the crusaders forgot their toils and claimed their reward. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Chapter Fifty-Eight. The First Crusade. Part Five. Recording by Claude Banta. Jerusalem has derived some reputation from the number and importance of her memorable sieges. It was not till after a long and obstinate contest that Babylon and Rome could prevail against the obstinacy of the people, the craggy ground that might supersede the necessity of fortifications, and the walls of the city. The walls and towers that would have fortified the most accessible plain. These obstacles were diminished in the age of the crusades. The bulwarks had been completely destroyed and imperfectly restored. The Jews, their nation, and worship were forever banished, but nature is less changeable than man. The site of Jerusalem, though somewhat softened and somewhat removed, was still strong against the assaults of an enemy. By the experience of a recent siege and a three years possession, the Saracens of Egypt had been taught to discern, and in some degree to remedy, the defects of a place which religion as well as honor forbade them to resign. Aladdin, or Iftikar, the Caliph's lieutenant, was entrusted with the defense. His policy strove to restrain the native Christians by the dread of their own ruin and that of the holy sepulcher. To animate the Muslims by the assurance of temporal and eternal rewards, his garrison is said to have consisted of 40,000 Turks and Arabians, and if he could muster 20,000 of the inhabitants, it must be confessed that the besieged were more numerous. Had the diminished strength and numbers of the Latins allowed them to grasp the whole circumference of 4,000 yards, about two English miles and a half, to what useful purpose should they have descended into the valley of Ben-Hinnun and Torrent of Cedron, or approach the precipices of the south and east from whence they had nothing either to hope or fear. Their siege was more reasonably directed against the northern and western sides of the city. Godfrey of Ballione erected his standard on the first swell of Mount Calvary. To the left, as far as St. Stephen's Gate, the line of attack was continued by Tom Cray and the two Roberts, and Count Raymond established his quarters from the citadel to the foot of Mount Sion, which was no longer included within the precincts of the city. On the fifth day the crusaders made a general assault in the fanatic hope of battering down the walls without engines and of scaling them without ladders. By the dint of brutal force they burst the first barrier, but they were driven back with shame and slaughter to the camp. The influence of vision and prophecy was deadened by the two frequent abuse of those pious stratagems, and time and labor were found to be the only means of victory. The time of the siege was indeed fulfilled in forty days, but they were forty days of calamity and anguish. A repetition of the old complaint of famine may be imputed in some degree to the voracious or disorderly appetite of the Franks, but the stony soil of Jerusalem is almost destitute of water. The scanty springs and hasty torrents were dry in the summer season, nor was the thirst of the besiegers relieved, as in the city, by the artificial supply of cisterns and aqueducts. The circumjacent country is equally destitute of trees for the uses of shade or building, but some large beams were discovered in a cave by the crusaders. A wood near Sycambe, the enchanted grove of Tosso, was cut down. The necessary timber was transported to the camp by the vigor and dexterity of Tom Cray, and the engines were framed by some Genoese artists who had fortunately landed in the harbor of Jaffa. Two movable turrets were constructed at the expense and in the stations of the Duke of Lorraine and the Count of Thoulouse, and rolled forwards with devout labor, not to the most accessible, but to the most neglected parts of the fortification. Raymond's tower was reduced to ashes by the fire of the besieged, but his colleague was more vigilant and successful. The enemies were driven by his archers from the rampart, the drawbridge was let down, and on a Friday, at three in the afternoon, the day and hour of the passion, Godfrey of Bullion stood victorious on the walls of Jerusalem. His example was followed on every side by the emulation of Valor, and about four hundred and sixty years after the conquest of Omar, the holy city was rescued from the Mahomet and Yoke. In the pillage of public and private wealth, the adventurers had agreed to respect the exclusive property of the first occupant, and the spoils of the great mosque, seventy lamps and massive vases of gold and silver rewarded the diligence and displayed the generosity of Tom Cray. A bloody sacrifice was offered by his mistaken votaries to the God of the Christians. Resistance might provoke, but neither age nor sex could mollify their implacable rage. They indulged themselves three days in a promiscuous massacre, and the infection of the dead bodies produced an epidemical disease. After seventy thousand Muslims had been put to the sword, and the harmless Jews had been burnt in their synagogue, they could still reserve a multitude of captives, whom interest or lassitude persuaded them to spare. Of these savage heroes of the cross, Tom Cray alone betrayed some sentiments of compassion, yet we may praise the more selfish lenity of Raymond, who granted a capitulation and safe conduct to the garrison of the citadel. The holy sepulcher was now free, and the bloody victors prepared to accomplish their vow. Bear-headed and barefoot, with contrite hearts and in an humble posture, they ascended the hill of Calvary amidst the loud anthems of the clergy, kissed the stone which had covered the saviour of the world, and bedued with tears of joy and penitence the monument of their redemption. This union of the fiercest and most tender passions has been variously considered by two philosophers, by the one as easy and natural, by the other as absurd and incredible. Perhaps it is too rigorously applied to the same persons and the same hour. The example of the virtuous Godfrey awakened the piety of his companions. While they cleansed their bodies, they purified their minds. Nor shall I believe that the most ardent and slaughter and repine were the foremost in the possession to the holy sepulcher. Eight days after this memorable event, which Pope Urban did not live to hear, the Latin chiefs proceeded to the election of the king to guard and govern their conquests in Palestine. You the Great and Stephen of Chartres had retired with some loss of reputation, which they strove to regain by a second crusade and an honourable death. Baldwin was established at Edessa and Bohemond at Antioch, and two Roberts, the Duke of Normandy and the Count of Flanders, preferred their fair inheritance in the West to a doubtful competition or a baron scepter. The jealousy and ambition of Raymond were condemned by his own followers. And the free, the just, the unanimous voice of the army proclaimed Godfrey of Boleone, the first and most worthy of the champions of Christendom. His magnanimity accepted a trust as full of danger as of glory, but in a city where his saviour had been crowned with thorns, the devout pilgrim rejected the name and insigns of royalty, and the founder of the kingdom of Jerusalem contented himself with the modest title of defender and baron of the holy sepulcher. His government of a single year, too short for the public happiness, was interrupted in the first fortnight by a summons to the field by the approach of the vizier or Sultan of Egypt, who had been too slow to prevent but who was impatient to avenge the loss of Jerusalem. His total overthrow in the battle of Ascalon sealed the establishment of the Latins in Syria and signalized the valor of the French princes, who in this action bade a long farewell to the holy wars. Some glory may be derived from the prodigious inequality of numbers, though I shall not count the myriads of horse and foot on the side of the Fatimes, but except three thousand Ethiopians or blacks who were armed with flails or scourges of iron, the barbarians of the south fled on the first onset and afforded a pleasing comparison between the active valor of the Turks and the sloth and effeminacity of the natives of Egypt. After suspending before the holy sepulcher the sword and standard of the Sultan, the new king, he deserved the title, embraced his departing companions, and could retain only with the gallant Tom Cray three hundred knights and two thousand foot soldiers for the defense of Palestine. His sovereignty was soon attacked by a new enemy, the only one against whom Godfrey was a coward. Atamar, bishop of Poi, who excelled both in counsel and action, had been swept away in the last plague at Antioch. The remaining ecclesiastics preserved only the pride and avarice of their character, and their seditious clamors had required that the choice of a bishop should proceed that of a king. The revenue and jurisdiction of the lawful patriarch were usurped by the Latin clergy. The exclusion of the Greeks and Syrians was justified by the reproach of heresy or schism, and under the iron yoke of their deliverers the Oriental Christians regretted the tolerating government of the Arabian caliphs. Dainbert, Archbishop of Pisa, had long been trained in the secret policy of Rome. He brought a fleet at his countrymen to the Secor of the Holy Land, and was installed without a competitor the spiritual and temporal head of the church. The new patriarch immediately grasped the scepter, which had been acquired by the toil and blood of the victorious pilgrims, and both Godfrey and Bohemond submitted to receive at his hands the investiture of their feudal possessions. Nor was this sufficient. Dainbert claimed the immediate property of Jerusalem and Jaffa. Instead of a firm and generous refusal, the hero negotiated with the priest. A quarter of either city was ceded to the church, and the modest bishop was satisfied with an eventual reversion of the rest on the death of Godfrey without children, or on the future acquisition of a new seat at Cairo or Damascus. Without this indulgence, the conqueror would have almost been stripped of his infant kingdom, which consisted only of Jerusalem and Jaffa, with about twenty villages and towns of the adjacent country. Within this narrow verge, the Mahometins were still lodged in some impregnable castles, and the husbandmen, the traitor, and the pilgrim were exposed to daily and domestic hostility. By the arms of Godfrey himself, and of the two Baldwin's, his brother and cousin, who succeeded to the throne, the Latins breathed with more ease and safety, and at length they equalled, in the extent of their dominions, though not in the millions of their subjects, the ancient princes of Judah and Israel. After the reduction of the maritime cities of Laodicea, Tripoli, Tyre, and Ascalon, which were powerfully assisted by the fleets of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, and even of Flanders and Norway, the range of sea coasts from Skanderun to the borders of Egypt was possessed by the Christian pilgrims. If the Prince of Antioch disclaimed his supremacy, the Counts of Edessa and Tripoli owned themselves the vassals of the King of Jerusalem, the Latins reigned beyond the Euphrates, and the four cities of Hems, Hamah, Damascus, and Aleppo were the only relics of the Mahometin conquests in Syria. The laws and language, the manners and titles of the French nation and Latin Church were introduced into these transmarine colonies. According to the feudal jurisprudence, the principal states and subordinate baronies descended in the line of male and female secession, but the children of the first conquerors, a modally and degenerate race, were dissolved by the luxury of the climate. The arrival of the new crusaders from Europe was a doubtful hope and a causal event. The service of the feudal tenure was performed by six hundred and sixty-six knights, who might expect the aid of two hundred more unto the banner of the Count of Tripoli, and each night was attended to the field by four squires or archers on horseback. Five thousand and seventy sergeants, most probably foot soldiers, were supplied by the church and cities, and the whole legal militia of the kingdom could not exceed eleven thousand men, a slender defense against the surrounding myriads of Saracens and Turks. But the firmest bulwark of Jerusalem was founded on the knights of the Hospital of St. John and of the Temple of Solomon, on the strange association of a monastic and military life, which fanaticism might suggest, but which policy must approve. The flower of the nobility of Europe aspired to wear the cross and to profess the vows of these respectable orders. Their spirit and discipline were immortal, and the speedy donation of twenty-eight thousand farms or manners enabled them to support a regular force of cavalry and infantry for the defense of Palestine. The austerity of the convent soon evaporated in the exercise of arms. The world was scandalized by the pride, avarice, and corruption of these Christian soldiers. Their claims of immunity and jurisdiction disturbed the harmony of the church and state, and the public peace was endangered by their jealous emulation. But in their most dissolute period the knights of the Hospital and Temple maintained their fearless and fanatic character. They neglected to live, but they were prepared to die in the service of Christ, and the spirit of chivalry, the parent and offspring of the Crusades, has been transplanted by this institution from the Holy Sepulcher to the Isle of Malta. The spirit of freedom, which pervades the feudal institutions, was felt in its strongest energy by the volunteers of the cross, who elected for their chief, the most deserving of his peers, amidst the slaves of Asia, unconscious of the lesson or example, a model of political liberty was introduced, and the laws of the French Kingdom are derived from the purest source of equality and justice. Of such laws, the first and indispensable condition is the assent of those whose obedience they require and for whose benefit they are designed. No sooner had Godfrey of Ballione accepted the office of Supreme Magistrate than he solicited the public and private advice of the Latin pilgrims, who were the best skilled in the statutes and customs of Europe. From these materials, with the counsel and approbation of the patriarch and barons of the clergy and laity, Godfrey composed the Assisi of Jerusalem, a precious monument of feudal jurisprudence. The new code, attested by the seals of the king, the patriarch and the Viscount of Jerusalem, was deposited in the Holy Sepulcher, enriched with the improvements of succeeding times, and respectfully consulted as often as any doubtful question arose in the tribunals of Palestine, with the kingdom and city all was lost. The fragments of the written law were preserved by jealous tradition and variable practice till the middle of the 13th century. The code was restored by the pen of John de Bellin, Count of Jaffa, one of the principal feudatories, and the final revision was accomplished in the year 1369 for the use of the Latin kingdom of Cyprus. The justice and freedom of the constitution were maintained by two tribunals of unequal dignity, which were instituted by Godfrey of Belione after the conquest of Jerusalem. The king in person presided in the upper court, the court of the barons. Of these, the foremost conspicuous were the Prince of Galilee, the Lord of Sedone and Caesarea, and the Counts of Jaffa and Tripoli, who, perhaps with the Constable and Marshal, were in a special manner the compiers and judges of each other. But all the nobles, who held their lands immediately of the crown, were entitled and bound to attend the king's court, and each baron exercised a similar jurisdiction on the subordinate assemblies of his own feudatories. The connection of Lord and vassal was honorable and voluntary. Reverence was due to the benefactor, protection to the dependent, but they mutually pledged their faith to each other, and the obligation on either side might be suspended by neglect or dissolved by injury. The cognizance of marriages and testaments was blended with religion and usurped by the clergy. But the civil and criminal causes of the nobles, the inheritance and tenure of their fiefs, formed the proper occupation of the supreme court. Each member was the judge and guardian both of public and private rights. It was his duty to assert with his tongue and sword the lawful claims of the Lord, but if an unjust superior presumed to violate the freedom or property of a vassal, the Confederate peers stood forth to maintain his quarrel by word and deed. They boldly affirmed his innocence and his wrongs, demanded the restitution of his liberty or his lands, suspended after a fruitless demand their own service, rescued their brother from prison, and employed every weapon in his defense without offering direct violence to the person of their Lord, which was ever sacred in their eyes. In their pleadings, replies and rejoinders, the advocates of the court were subtle and copious, but the use of argument and evidence was often superseded by judicial combat, and the Aussie say of Jerusalem admits in many cases this barbarous institution which has been slowly abolished by the laws and manners of Europe. The trial by battle was established in all criminal cases which affected the life or limb or honor of any person, and in all civil transactions of or above the value of one mark of silver. It appears that in criminal cases the combat was the privilege of the accuser, who, except in a charge of treason, avenged his personal injury or the death of those persons whom he had a right to represent. But wherever, from the nature of the charge, testimony could be obtained, it was necessary for him to produce witnesses of the fact. In civil cases the combat was not allowed as the means of establishing the claim of the demandant, but he was obliged to produce witnesses who had, or assumed to have, knowledge of the fact. The combat was then the privilege of the defendant, because he charged the witness with an attempt by perjury to take away his right. He came therefore to be in the same situation as the appellant in criminal cases. It was not then, as a motive proof, that the combat was received, nor as making negative evidence according to the supposition of Montesquieu. But in every case the right to offer battle was founded on the right to pursue by arms the redress of an injury, and the judicial combat was fought on the same principle and with the same spirit as a private duel. Champions were only allowed to women and to men maimed or past the age of sixty. The consequence of the defeat was death to the person accused, or to the champion or witness, as well as to the accuser himself. But in civil cases the demandant was punished with infamy and the loss of a suit, while his witness and champion suffered ignonimous death. In many cases it was in the opinion of the judge to award or to refuse the combat, but two are specified in which it was the inevitable result of the challenge. If a faithful vassal gave the lead to his compere, who unjustly claimed any portion of their lord's deminces, or if an unsuccessful suitor presumed to impeach the judgment and veracity of the court, he might impeach them, but the terms were severe and perilous. In the same day he successively fought all the members of the tribunal, even those who had been absent. A single defeat was followed by death and infamy, and where none could hope for victory, it is highly probable that none would adventure the trial. In the Aussie say of Jerusalem, the legal subtlety of the Count of Jaffa is more laudably employed to elude than to facilitate the judicial combat, which he derives from a principle of honor rather than of superstition. Among the causes which enfranchised the plebeians from the yoke of feudal tyranny, the institution of cities and corporations is one of the most powerful, and if those of Palestine are co-evil with the first crusade, they may be ranked with the most ancient of the Latin world. Many of the pilgrims had escaped from their lord's under the banner of the cross, and it was the policy of the French princes to tempt their stay by the assurance of the rights and privileges of free men. It is expressly declared in the Aussie say of Jerusalem that after instituting for his knights and barons the court of peers in which he presided himself, Godfrey of Boleone established a second tribunal in which his person was represented by his discount. The jurisdiction of this inferior court extended over the burgues of the kingdom, and it was composed of a select number of the most discreet and worthy citizens who were sworn to judge according to the laws of the actions and fortunes of their equals. In the contest and settlement of new cities, the example of Jerusalem was imitated by the kings and their great vassals, and above thirty similar corporations were founded before the loss of the Holy Land. Another class of subjects, the Syrians or Oriental Christians, were oppressed by the zeal of the clergy and protected by the toleration of the state. Godfrey listened to their reasonable prayer that they might be judged by their own national laws. A third court was instituted for their use of limited and domestic jurisdiction. The sworn members were Syrians in blood, language, and religion, but the office of the president, an Arabic of the race, was sometimes exercised by the discount of the city. At an immeasurable distance below the nobles, the burgues, and the strangers, the Aussie say of Jerusalem condescends to mention the villains and slaves, the peasants of the land, and the captives of war, who were almost equally considered as the objects of property. The relief or protection of these unhappy men was not esteemed worthy of the care of the legislator, but he diligently provides for the recovery, though not indeed for the punishment of the fugitives. Like hounds or hawks who had strayed from the lawful owner, they might be lost and claimed. The slave and falcon were of the same value, but three slaves, or twelve oxen, were accumulated to equal the price of the warhorse, and a sum of three hundred pieces of gold was fixed in the age of chivalry as the equivalent of the more noble animal. End of chapter 58 End of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 5 by Edward Gibbon