The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5

E >> Edward Gibbon >> The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5

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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
sepulchre 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 those
formidable champions with gifts of horses and silk robes, of
vases, and purses of gold and silver; and in his estimate of
their merit or 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 Mahomet;
whatsoever was his name or nation, the usurper of Jerusalem was
their enemy; and instead of prescribing the mode and terms of
their pilgrimage, it was only by a timely surrender of the city
and province, their sacred right, that he could deserve their
alliance, or deprecate their impending and irresistible attack.
^103

[Footnote 101: See M. De Guignes, tom. ii. p. ii. p. 223, &c.;
and the articles of Barkidrok, Mohammed, Sangiar, in D'Herbelot.]

[Footnote 102: The emir, or sultan, Aphdal, recovered Jerusalem
and Tyre, A. H. 489, (Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alexandrin. p.
478. De Guignes, tom. i. p. 249, from Abulfeda and Ben Schounah.)
Jerusalem ante adventum vestrum recuperavimus, Turcos ejecimus,
say the Fatimite ambassadors]

[Footnote 103: See the transactions between the caliph of Egypt
and the crusaders in William of Tyre (l. iv. c. 24, l. vi. c. 19)
and Albert Aquensis, (l. iii. c. 59,) who are more sensible of
their importance than the contemporary writers.]

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
defence 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 mighty host proceeded from
Antioch to Laodicea: about forty thousand Latins, of whom no more
than fifteen hundred horse, and twenty thousand foot, were
capable of immediate service. Their easy march was continued
between Mount Libanus and the sea-shore: their wants were
liberally supplied by the coasting traders of Genoa and Pisa; and
they drew large contributions from the emirs of Tripoli, Tyre,
Sidon, 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 Lydda, Ramla, Emmaus, and Bethlem, ^* and as
soon as they descried the holy city, the crusaders forgot their
toils and claimed their reward. ^104

[Footnote *: This is not quite correct: he took Marra on his
road. His excursions were partly to obtain provisions for the
army and fodder for the horses Wilken, vol. i. p. 226. - M.]

[Footnote *: Scarcely of Bethlehem, to the south of Jerusalem. -
M.]

[Footnote 104: The greatest part of the march of the Franks is
traced, and most accurately traced, in Maundrell's Journey from
Aleppo to Jerusalem, (p. 11 - 67;) un des meilleurs morceaux,
sans contredit qu'on ait dans ce genre, (D'Anville, Memoire sur
Jerusalem, p. 27.)]

Chapter LVIII: The First Crusade.

Part V.

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 and
towers that would have fortified the most accessible plain. ^105
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, and 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. Aladin, or Iftikhar, the caliph's lieutenant, was
intrusted with the defence: his policy strove to restrain the
native Christians by the dread of their own ruin and that of the
holy sepulchre; to animate the Moslems by the assurance of
temporal and eternal rewards. His garrison is said to have
consisted of forty thousand Turks and Arabians; and if he could
muster twenty thousand of the inhabitants, it must be confessed
that the besieged were more numerous than the besieging army.
^106 Had the diminished strength and numbers of the Latins
allowed them to grasp the whole circumference of four thousand
yards, (about two English miles and a half, ^107) to what useful
purpose should they have descended into the valley of Ben Hinnom
and torrent of Cedron, ^108 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 Bouillon
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 Tancred 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 too 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 Sichem, the enchanted grove of Tasso, ^109
was cut down: the necessary timber was transported to the camp by
the vigor and dexterity of Tancred; 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
Tholouse, 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 draw-bridge was let down; and on a Friday, at three
in the afternoon, the day and hour of the passion, Godfrey of
Bouillon 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 Mahometan 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 massy vases of gold and
silver, rewarded the diligence, and displayed the generosity, of
Tancred. 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; ^110
and the infection of the dead bodies produced an epidemical
disease. After seventy thousand Moslems 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, Tancred 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.
^111 The holy sepulchre was now free; and the bloody victors
prepared to accomplish their vow. Bareheaded 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 Savior of the world; and bedewed 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, ^112 as
easy and natural; by the other, ^113 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 in
slaughter and rapine were the foremost in the procession to the
holy sepulchre.

[Footnote 105: See the masterly description of Tacitus, (Hist. v.
11, 12, 13,) who supposes that the Jewish lawgivers had provided
for a perpetual state of hostility against the rest of mankind.

Note: This is an exaggerated inference from the words of
Tacitus, who speaks of the founders of the city, not the
lawgivers. Praeviderant conditores, ex diversitate morum, crebra
bella; inde cuncta quamvis adversus loagum obsidium. - M.]

[Footnote 106: The lively scepticism of Voltaire is balanced with
sense and erudition by the French author of the Esprit des
Croisades, (tom. iv. p. 386 - 388,) who observes, that, according
to the Arabians, the inhabitants of Jerusalem must have exceeded
200,000; that in the siege of Titus, Josephus collects 1,300,000
Jews; that they are stated by Tacitus himself at 600,000; and
that the largest defalcation, that his accepimus can justify,
will still leave them more numerous than the Roman army.]

[Footnote 107: Maundrell, who diligently perambulated the walls,
found a circuit of 4630 paces, or 4167 English yards, (p. 109,
110: ) from an authentic plan, D'Anville concludes a measure
nearly similar, of 1960 French toises, (p. 23 - 29,) in his
scarce and valuable tract. For the topography of Jerusalem, see
Reland, (Palestina, tom. ii. p. 832 - 860.)]

[Footnote 108: Jerusalem was possessed only of the torrent of
Kedron, dry in summer, and of the little spring or brook of
Siloe, (Reland, tom. i. p. 294, 300.) Both strangers and natives
complain of the want of water, which, in time of war, was
studiously aggravated. Within the city, Tacitus mentions a
perennial fountain, an aqueduct and cisterns for rain water. The
aqueduct was conveyed from the rivulet Tekos or Etham, which is
likewise mentioned by Bohadin, (in Vit. Saludio p. 238.)]

[Footnote 109: Gierusalomme Liberata, canto xiii. It is pleasant
enough to observe how Tasso has copied and embellished the
minutest details of the siege.]

[Footnote *: This does not appear by Wilken's account, (p. 294.)
They fought in vair the whole of the Thursday. - M.]

[Footnote 110: Besides the Latins, who are not ashamed of the
massacre, see Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 363,) Abulpharagius,
(Dynast. p. 243,) and M. De Guignes, tom. ii. p. ii. p. 99, from
Aboulmahasen.]

[Footnote 111: The old tower Psephina, in the middle ages
Neblosa, was named Castellum Pisanum, from the patriarch
Daimbert. It is still the citadel, the residence of the Turkish
aga, and commands a prospect of the Dead Sea, Judea, and Arabia,
(D'Anville, p. 19 - 23.) It was likewise called the Tower of
David.]

[Footnote 112: Hume, in his History of England, vol. i. p. 311,
312, octavo edition.]

[Footnote 113: Voltaire, in his Essai sur l'Histoire Generale,
tom ii. c. 54, p 345, 346]

Eight days after this memorable event, which Pope Urban did
not live to hear, the Latin chiefs proceeded to the election of a
king, to guard and govern their conquests in Palestine. Hugh the
Great, and Stephen of Chartres, had retired with some loss of
reputation, which they strove to regain by a second crusade and
an honorable death. Baldwin was established at Edessa, and
Bohemond at Antioch; and two Roberts, the duke of Normandy ^114
and the count of Flanders, preferred their fair inheritance in
the West to a doubtful competition or a barren sceptre. 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 Bouillon 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 Savior had
been crowned with thorns, the devout pilgrim rejected the name
and ensigns of royalty; and the founder of the kingdom of
Jerusalem contented himself with the modest title of Defender and
Baron of the Holy Sepulchre. His government of a single year,
^115 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 might be derived from the prodigious inequality of
numbers, though I shall not count the myriads of horse and foot
^* on the side of the Fatimites; 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 effeminacy of the natives of Egypt.
After suspending before the holy sepulchre the sword and standard
of the sultan, the new king (he deserves the title) embraced his
departing companions, and could retain only with the gallant
Tancred three hundred knights, and two thousand foot-soldiers for
the defence of Palestine. His sovereignty was soon attacked by a
new enemy, the only one against whom Godfrey was a coward.
Adhemar, bishop of Puy, who excelled both in council 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 precede 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; ^116 and, under
the iron yoke of their deliverers, the Oriental Christians
regretted the tolerating government of the Arabian caliphs.
Daimbert, archbishop of Pisa, had long been trained in the secret
policy of Rome: he brought a fleet at his countrymen to the
succor of the Holy Land, and was installed, without a competitor,
the spiritual and temporal head of the church. ^* The new
patriarch ^117 immediately grasped the sceptre 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;
Daimbert 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.

[Footnote 114: The English ascribe to Robert of Normandy, and the
Provincials to Raymond of Tholouse, the glory of refusing the
crown; but the honest voice of tradition has preserved the memory
of the ambition and revenge (Villehardouin, No. 136) of the count
of St. Giles. He died at the siege of Tripoli, which was
possessed by his descendants.]

[Footnote 115: See the election, the battle of Ascalon, &c., in
William of Tyre l. ix. c. 1 - 12, and in the conclusion of the
Latin historians of the first crusade.]

[Footnote *: 20,000 Franks, 300,000 Mussulmen, according to
Wilken, (vol. ii. p. 9) - M.]

[Footnote 116: Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 479.]

[Footnote *: Arnulf was first chosen, but illegitimately, and
degraded. He was ever after the secret enemy of Daimbert or
Dagobert. Wilken, vol. i. p. 306, vol. ii. p. 52. - M]

[Footnote 117: See the claims of the patriarch Daimbert, in
William of Tyre (l. ix. c. 15 - 18, x. 4, 7, 9,) who asserts with
marvellous candor the independence of the conquerors and kings of
Jerusalem.]

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. ^118 Within this narrow verge, the Mahometans
were still lodged in some impregnable castles: and the
husbandman, the trader, and the pilgrim, were exposed to daily
and domestic hostility. By the arms of Godfrey himself, and of
the two Baldwins, 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. ^119 After the reduction of the maritime cities
of Laodicea, Tripoli, Tyre, and Ascalon, ^120 which were
powerfully assisted by the fleets of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, and
even of Flanders and Norway, ^121 the range of sea-coast from
Scanderoon 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 Mahometan conquests in Syria. ^122 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
succession: ^123 but the children of the first conquerors, ^124 a
motley and degenerate race, were dissolved by the luxury of the
climate; the arrival of new crusaders from Europe was a doubtful
hope and a casual event. The service of the feudal tenures ^125
was performed by six hundred and sixty-six knights, who might
expect the aid of two hundred more under the banner of the count
of Tripoli; and each knight was attended to the field by four
squires or archers on horseback. ^126 Five thousand and seventy
sergeants, most probably foot-soldiers, were supplied by the
churches and cities; and the whole legal militia of the kingdom
could not exceed eleven thousand men, a slender defence against
the surrounding myriads of Saracens and Turks. ^127 But the
firmest bulwark of Jerusalem was founded on the knights of the
Hospital of St. John, ^128 and of the temple of Solomon; ^129 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 manors, ^130 enabled them to
support a regular force of cavalry and infantry for the defence
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
their 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 sepulchre to the Isle of Malta. ^131

[Footnote 118: Willerm. Tyr. l. x. 19. The Historia
Hierosolimitana of Jacobus a Vitriaco (l. i. c. 21 - 50) and the
Secreta Fidelium Crucis of Marinus Sanutus (l. iii. p. 1)
describe the state and conquests of the Latin kingdom of
Jerusalem.]

[Footnote 119: An actual muster, not including the tribes of Levi
and Benjamin, gave David an army of 1,300,000 or 1,574,000
fighting men; which, with the addition of women, children, and
slaves, may imply a population of thirteen millions, in a country
sixty leagues in length, and thirty broad. The honest and
rational Le Clerc (Comment on 2d Samuel xxiv. and 1st Chronicles,
xxi.) aestuat angusto in limite, and mutters his suspicion of a
false transcript; a dangerous suspicion!

Note: David determined to take a census of his vast
dominions, which extended from Lebanon to the frontiers of Egypt,
from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean. The numbers (in 2 Sam.
xxiv. 9, and 1 Chron. xxi. 5) differ; but the lowest gives
800,000 men fit to bear arms in Israel, 500,000 in Judah. Hist.
of Jews, vol. i. p. 248. Gibbon has taken the highest census in
his estimate of the population, and confined the dominions of
David to Jordandic Palestine. - M.]

[Footnote 120: These sieges are related, each in its proper
place, in the great history of William of Tyre, from the ixth to
the xviiith book, and more briefly told by Bernardus
Thesaurarius, (de Acquisitione Terrae Sanctae, c. 89 - 98, p. 732
- 740.) Some domestic facts are celebrated in the Chronicles of
Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, in the vith, ixth, and xiith tomes of
Muratori.]

[Footnote 121: Quidam populus de insulis occidentis egressus, et
maxime de ea parte quae Norvegia dicitur. William of Tyre (l.
xi. c. 14, p. 804) marks their course per Britannicum Mare et
Calpen to the siege of Sidon.]

[Footnote 122: Benelathir, apud De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom.
ii. part ii. p. 150, 151, A.D. 1127. He must speak of the inland
country.]

[Footnote 123: Sanut very sensibly descants on the mischiefs of
female succession, in a land hostibus circumdata, ubi cuncta
virilia et virtuosa esse deberent. Yet, at the summons, and with
the approbation, of her feudal lord, a noble damsel was obliged
to choose a husband and champion, (Assises de Jerusalem, c. 242,
&c.) See in M. De Guignes (tom. i. p. 441 - 471) the accurate and
useful tables of these dynasties, which are chiefly drawn from
the Lignages d'Outremer.]

[Footnote 124: They were called by derision Poullains, Pallani,
and their name is never pronounced without contempt, (Ducange,
Gloss. Latin. tom. v. p. 535; and Observations sur Joinville, p.
84, 85; Jacob. a Vitriaco Hist. Hierosol. i. c. 67, 72; and
Sanut, l. iii. p. viii. c. 2, p. 182.) Illustrium virorum, qui ad
Terrae Sanctae .... liberationem in ipsa manserunt, degeneres
filii .... in deliciis enutriti, molles et effoe minati, &c.]