Richard Coeur de Lion joins the Templars before Acre—The city surrenders, and the Templars establish the chief house of their order within it—Coeur de Lion takes up his abode with them—He sells to them the island of Cyprus—The Templars form the van of his army—Their campaigns—The destruction of towns and villages—The treaty with Saladin—Coeur de Lion quits the Holy Land in the disguise of a Knight Templar—The Templars build the Pilgrim’s Castle in Palestine—The exploits of the Templars in Egypt—The letters of the Grand Master to the Master of the Temple at London—The Templars reconquer Jerusalem—The state of the order in England—King John resides in the Temple at London—The barons come to him at that place, and demand Magna Charta—Consecration of the nave or oblong portion of the Temple Church at London.

In the mean time the crusade continued to be preached with great success in Europe. William, archbishop of Tyre, had proceeded to the courts of France and England, and had represented in glowing colours the miserable condition of Palestine, and the horrors and abominations which had been committed by the infidels in the holy city of Jerusalem. The English and French monarchs laid aside their private animosities, and agreed to fight under the same banner against the infidels, and towards the close of the month of May, in the second year of the siege of Acre, the royal fleets of Philip Augustus and Richard Coeur de Lion floated in triumph in the bay of Acre. The Templars had again lost their Grand Master, and Brother Robert de SablÈ, or Sabloil, a valiant knight of the order, who had commanded a division of the English fleet on the voyage out, was placed (A.D. 1191) at the head of the fraternity.[87] The Templars performed prodigies of valour; “Their name and reputation, and the fame of their sanctity,” says James of Vitry, bishop of Acre, “like a chamber of perfume sending forth a sweet odour, were diffused throughout the entire world, and all the congregation of the saints will recount their battles and glorious triumphs over the enemies of Christ; knights, indeed, from all parts of the earth, dukes, and princes, after their example, casting off the shackles of the world, and renouncing the pomps and vanities of this life, for Christ’s sake, hastened to join them, and to participate in their holy profession and religion.” They carried before them, at this time, to battle, “a bipartite banner of black and white, which they call beauseant, that is to say, in the Gallic tongue, bienseant, because they are fair and favourable to the friends of Christ, but black and terrible to his enemies.”[88]

Saladin had passed the winter on the heights of Schaferan and Keruba. His vast army had been thinned and weakened by incessant watching, by disease, and continual battles, and he himself was gradually sinking under the effects of a dreadful disease, which baffled all the skill of his medical attendants, and was gradually drawing him towards the grave. But the proud soul of the great chieftain never quailed; nor were his fire and energy at any time deadened. As soon as he heard of the arrival of the two powerful christian monarchs, he sent envoys and messengers throughout all Mussulman countries, earnestly demanding succour, and on the Mussulman sabbath, after prayers had been offered up to God for the triumph of his arms, and the deliverance of Islam, he caused to be read, in all the mosques letters to the following effect;—

“In the name of God, the most MERCIFUL and COMPASSIONATE. To all devout Believers in the one only God, and his prophet Mahomet, our Master. The armies of the infidels, numerous as the stars of heaven, have come forth from the remote countries situate beyond Constantinople, to wrest from us those conquests which have gladdened the hearts of all who put their trust in the Koran, and to dispute with us the possession of that holy territory whereon the Caliph Omar, in bygone days, planted the sacred standard of the Prophet. O men, prepare ye to sacrifice your lives and fortunes in defence of Islam. Your marches against the infidels, the dangers you encounter, the wounds you receive, and every minute action, down to the fording of a river, are they not written in the book of God? Thirst, hunger, fatigue, and death, will they not obtain for you the everlasting treasures of heaven, and open to your gaze the delicious groves and gardens of Paradise? In whatsoever place ye remain, O men, death hath dominion over you, and neither your houses, your lands, your wives, your children, nor the strongest towers, can defend you from his darts. Some of you, doubtless, have said one to another, Let us not go up to fight during the heat of summer; and others have exclaimed, Let us remain at home until the snow hath melted away from the mountain tops; but is not the fire of hell more terrible than the heats of summer, and are not its torments more insupportable than the winter’s cold? Fear God, and not the infidels; hearken to the voice of your chief, for it is Saladin himself who calls you to rally around the standard of Islam. If you obey not, your families will be driven out of Syria, and God will put in their places a people better than you. Jerusalem, the holy, the sister of Medina and Mecca, will again fall into the power of the idolaters, who assign to God a son, and raise up an equal to the Most High. Arm yourselves then, with the buckler and the lance, scatter these children of fire, the wicked sons of hell, whom the sea hath vomited forth upon our shores, repeating to yourselves these words of the Koran, ‘He who abandoneth his home and family to defend our holy religion, shall be rewarded with happiness, and with many friends.’”[89]

The siege of Acre was now pressed with great vigour; the combined fleets of France and England completely deprived the city of all supplies by sea, and the garrison was reduced to great straits. The sultan despaired of being able to save the city, and was sick, Bohadin tells us, both in mind and body. He could neither eat nor drink. At night he would lie down upon the side of the hill Aladajia, and indulge in some broken slumbers, but at morning’s dawn he was on horseback, ordering his brazen drum to be sounded, and collecting his army together in battle array. At last letters were received, by means of pigeons, announcing that the garrison could hold out no longer. “Saladin gazed,” says Bohadin, “long and earnestly at the city, his eyes were suffused with tears, and he sorrowfully exclaimed, ‘Alas for Islam!’” On the morning of the 12th of July, (A.D. 1191,) the kings of France and England, the christian chieftains, and the Turkish emirs with their green banners, assembled in the tent of the Grand Master of the Temple, to treat for the surrender of Acre; and on the following day the gates were thrown open to the exulting warriors of the cross. The Templars took possession of their ancient quarters by the side of the sea, and mounted a large red-cross banner upon the tower of the Temple. They possessed themselves of three extensive localities along the sea-shore, and the Temple at Acre from thenceforth became the chief house of the order. Richard Coeur de Lion took up his abode with the Templars whilst Philip Augustus resided in the citadel.

By the terms of the surrender of Acre, the inhabitants were to pay a ransom of two hundred thousand pieces of gold for their lives and liberties; two thousand noble and five hundred inferior christian captives were to be set at liberty, and the true cross, which had been taken at the battle of Tiberias, was to be restored to the Latin clergy. Two months were accorded for the performance of these conditions. I’Bn Alatsyr, who was then in Saladin’s camp, tells us that Saladin had collected together 100,000 pieces of gold, that he was ready to deliver up the two thousand five hundred christian captives, and restore the true cross, but his Mamlook emirs advised him not to trust implicitly to the good faith of the christian adventurers of Europe for the performance of their part of the treaty, but to obtain from the Templars, of whose regard for their word, and reverence for the sanctity of an oath, the Moslems had, he tells us, a high opinion, a solemn undertaking for the performance, by the Christians, of the stipulations they had entered into. Saladin accordingly sent to the Grand Master of the Temple, to know if the Templars would guarantee the surrender to him of all the Moslem prisoners, if the money, the christian captives, and the true cross, were sent to them; but the Grand Master declined giving any guarantee of the kind. The doubts about the agreement, and the delay in the execution of it, kindled the fierce indignation of the English monarch, and Richard Coeur de Lion led out all his prisoners, 2,000 in number, into the plain of Acre, and caused them all to be beheaded in sight of the sultan’s camp![90] During his voyage from Messina to Acre, king Richard had revenged himself on Isaac Comnenus, the ruler of the island of Cyprus, for an insult offered to the beautiful Berengaria, princess of Navarre, his betrothed bride. He had disembarked his troops, stormed the town of Limisso, and conquered the whole island; and shortly after his arrival at Acre he sold it to the Templars for 300,000 livres d’or.[91]

On the 21st of August, (A.D. 1191,) the Templars joined the standard of king Richard, and left Acre for the purpose of marching upon Jerusalem, by way of the sea-coast. They crossed the river Belus, and pitched their tents on its banks, where they remained for three days, to collect all the troops together. The most copious and authentic account of their famous march by the side of the king of England, through the hostile territories of the infidels, is contained in the history of king Richard’s campaign, by Geoffrey de Vinisauf, who accompanied the crusaders on their expedition, and was an actor in the stirring events he describes.[92] On Sunday, the 25th of August, the Templars, under the conduct of their Grand Master, and the crusaders, under the command of king Richard, commenced their march towards CÆsarea. The army was separated into three divisions, the first of which was led by the Templars, and the last by the Hospitallers. The baggage moved on the right of the army, between the line of march and the sea, and the fleet, loaded with provisions, kept pace with the movements of the forces, and furnished them daily with the necessary supplies. Saladin, at the head of an immense force, exerted all his energies to oppose their progress, and the march to Jaffa formed one perpetual battle. Vast masses of cavalry hovered upon their flanks, cut off all stragglers, and put every prisoner that they took to death. The first night after leaving the Belus, the Templars and the crusaders encamped along the banks of the brook Kishon, around some wells in the plain between Acre and Caiphas. The next day they forded the brook, fought their way to Caiphas, and there halted for one day, in order that the reluctant crusaders, who were lingering behind at Acre, might come on and join them. On Wednesday, September 28, at dawn of day, they prepared to force the passes and defiles of Mount Carmel. All the heights were covered with dense masses of Mussulmen, who disputed the ground inch by inch. The Templars placed themselves in the van of the christian army, and headed the leading column, whilst the cavalry of the Hospitallers protected the rear. They ascended the heights through a dense vegetation of dry thistles, wild vines, and prickly shrubs, drove the infidels before them, crossed the summit of Mount Carmel, and descending into the opposite plain, encamped for the night at the pass by the sea-shore, called “the narrow way,” about eight miles from Caiphas. Here they recovered possession of a solitary tower, perched upon a rock overhanging the pass, which had been formerly built by the Templars, but had for some time past been in the hands of the Saracens. After lingering at this place an entire day, waiting the arrival of the fleet and the barges, laden with provisions, they recommenced their march (Friday, the 13th of August) to Tortura, the ancient Dora, about seven miles distant. The Grand Master of the Temple, and his valiant knights, were, as usual, in the van, forcing a passage through the dense masses of the Moslems. The country in every direction around their line of march, was laid waste, and every day the attacks became more daring. The military friars had hitherto borne the brunt of the affray, but on the march to Tortura, they suffered such heavy loss, that king Richard determined the next day to take the command of the van in person, and he directed them to bring up the rear.

On the fifth day from their leaving the river Belus, the Templars and the crusaders approached the far-famed CÆsarea, where St. Paul so long resided, and where he uttered his eloquent oration before king Agrippa and Felix. But the town was no longer visible; the walls, the towers, the houses, and all the public buildings, had been destroyed by command of Saladin, and the place was left deserted and desolate. The Templars pitched their tents on the banks of the Crocodile river, the flumen crocodilon of Pliny, having been five days in performing the journey from the river Belus, a distance of only thirty-six miles. The army halted at CÆsarea during the whole of Sunday, the 1st of September, and high mass was celebrated by the clergy with great pomp and solemnity, amid the ruins of the city. On Monday, the 2nd of September, the tents of the Templars were struck at morning’s dawn, and they commenced their march, with the leading division of the army, for the city of Jaffa, which is about thirty miles distant from CÆsarea. They forded the Crocodile river, and proceeded on their journey through a long and narrow valley, torn by torrents, and filled with vast masses of rock, which had been washed down from the heights by the winter rains. They had the sea on their right, and on their left, a chain of craggy eminences. Every advantage was taken by the enemy of the irregularity of the ground; the Mussulman archers lined the heights, and vast masses of cavalry were brought into action, wherever the nature of the country admitted of their employment. The christian warriors were encumbered with their heavy armour and military accoutrements, which were totally unfit for the burning climate, yet they enthusiastically toiled on, perseveringly overcoming all obstacles.

Bohadin speaks with admiration of the valiant and martial bearing of the warriors of the cross, and of their fortitude and patient endurance during the long and trying march from Acre to Jaffa. “On the sixth day,” says he, “the sultan rose at dawn as usual, and heard from his brother that the enemy were in motion. They had slept that night in suitable places about CÆsarea, and were now dressing and taking their food. A second messenger announced that they had begun their march; our brazen drum was sounded, all were alert, the sultan came out, and I accompanied him: he surrounded them with chosen troops, and gave the signal for attack. The archers were drawn out, and a heavy shower of arrows descended, still the enemy advanced.... Their foot soldiers were covered with thick-strung pieces of cloth, fastened together with rings, so as to resemble coats of mail. I saw with my own eyes several who had not one or two, but ten darts sticking in their backs! and yet marched on with a calm and cheerful step, without any trepidation. They had a division of infantry in reserve, to protect those who were weary, and look after the baggage. When any portion of their men became exhausted and gave way through fatigue or wounds, this division advanced and supported them. Their cavalry in the mean time kept together in close column, and never moved away from the infantry, except when they rushed to the charge. In vain did our troops attempt to lure them away from the foot soldiers; they kept steadily together in close order, protecting one another and slowly forcing their way with wonderful perseverance.”

After a short march of only eight miles from CÆsarea, the Templars pitched their tents on the banks of the Nahr al Kasab, a small river, called by Geoffrey de Vinisauf “the dead river.” Here they remained two nights, waiting for the fleet. On the 4th of September they resumed their march through a desert country which had been laid waste in every direction by command of Saladin. Finding their progress along the shore impeded by the tangled thickets, they quitted the plain and traversed the hills which run parallel with the sea. Their march was harassed by incessant charges of cavalry. The Templars brought up the rear of the army, and lost so many horses during the day, that they were almost driven to despair. At nightfall they descended to the beach, and encamped on the banks of a salt creek, close by the village of Om Khaled, near the ruins of the ancient Apollonias, having performed a march of five miles. The next morning, being Thursday, the 5th of September, the Templars set out at sunrise from the salt creek in battle array, having received intelligence that Saladin had prepared an ambuscade in the neighbouring forest of Arsoof, and intended to hazard a general engagement. Scouts were sent on into the forest, who reported that the road was clear; and the whole army, ascending a slight rising ground, penetrated through the wood, and descended into the plain of Arsur or Arsoof. Through the midst of this plain rolls a mountain torrent, which takes its rise in the mountains of Ephraim, and on the opposite side of the stream Saladin had drawn up his army in battle array. The Templars encamped for the night on the right bank of the stream, having during the day marched nine miles.

On Saturday, the 7th of November, king Richard, having completed all his arrangements for a general engagement, drew up his army at dawn. The Templars again formed the first division, and were the first to cross the mountain torrent, and drive in Saladin’s advanced guard. They were followed by Guy, king of Jerusalem, who was at the head of the division of Poitou, and then by the main body of the army under the personal conduct of king Richard. Geoffrey de Vinisauf tells us, that on all sides, far as the eye could reach, from the sea-shore to the mountains, nought was to be seen but a forest of spears, above which waved banners and standards innumerable. The wild Bedouins, the children of the desert, with skins blacker than soot, mounted on their fleet Arab mares, coursed with the rapidity of lightning over the vast plain, and darkened the air with clouds of missiles. They advanced to the attack with horrible screams and bellowings, which, with the deafening noise of the trumpets, horns, cymbals, and brazen kettle-drums, produced a clamour that resounded through the plain, and would have drowned even the thunder of heaven. King Richard received the attack in close and compact array, strict orders having previously been given that all the soldiers should remain on the defensive until two trumpets had been sounded in the front, two in the centre, and two in the rear of the army, when they were in their turn to become the assailants. The ferocious Turks, the wild Bedouins, and the swarthy Æthiopians, gathered around the advanced guard of the Templars, and kept up a distant and harassing warfare with their bows and arrows, whilst the swift cavalry of the Arabs dashed down upon the foot soldiers as if about to overwhelm them, then suddenly checking their horses, they wheeled off to the side, raising clouds of smothering, suffocating dust, which oppressed and choked the toiling warriors. The baggage moved on between the army and the sea, and the Christians thus continued slowly to advance under the scorching rays of an autumnal sun. “They moved,” says Vinisauf, “inch by inch; it could not be called walking, for they were pushing and hacking their way through an overpowering crowd of resisting foes.” Emboldened by their passive endurance, the Moslems approached nearer, and began to ply their darts and lances. The Marshall of the Hospital then charged at the head of his knights, without waiting for the signal, and in an instant the action became general. The clash of swords, the ringing of armour, and the clattering of iron clubs and flails, as they descended upon the helmets and bucklers of the European warriors, became mingled with the groans of the dying, and with the fierce cries of the wild Bedouins. Clouds of dust were driven up into the skies, and the plain became covered with banners, lances, and all kinds of arms, and with emblems of every colour and device, torn and broken, and soiled with blood and dust. Coeur de Lion was to be seen everywhere in the thickest of the fight, and after a long and obstinate engagement the infidels were defeated; but amid the disorder of his troops Saladin remained on the plain without lowering his standard or suspending the sound of his brazen kettle-drums; he rallied his forces, retired upon Ramleh, and prepared to defend the mountain passes leading to Jerusalem. The Templars pushed on to Arsoof, and pitched their tents before the gates of the town.

On Monday, September 9th, the christian forces moved on in battle array to Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, about eight miles from Arsoof. The Templars brought up the rear of the army; and after marching about five miles, they reached the banks of the Nahr el Arsoof, or river of Arsoof, which empties itself into the sea, about three miles from Jaffa, and pitched their tents in a beautiful olive grove on the sea-shore. Saladin laid waste all the country around them, drove away the inhabitants, and carried off all the cattle, corn, and provisions. The towns of CÆsarea, Ramleh, Jaffa, Ascalon, and all the villages, had been set on fire and burnt to ashes, and all the castles and fortresses within reach of the crusading army were dismantled and destroyed. Among these last were the castles of St. George, Galatia, Blancheward, Beaumont, Belvoir, Toron, Arnald, Mirabel, the castle of the plain, and many others. Every place, indeed, of strength or refuge was utterly destroyed by command of the inexorable Saladin. Bohadin tells us that the sultan mourned grievously over the destruction of the fair and beautiful city of Ascalon, saying to those around him, “By God, I would sooner lose my sons than touch a stone of this goodly city, but what God wills, and the good of Islam requires, must be done.” The walls and fortifications of Ascalon were of great extent and stupendous strength, and an army of thirty thousand men was employed for fourteen days in the work of demolition. “The weeping families were removed from their houses, amid the most heart-rending confusion and misery,” says Bohadin, “that I ever witnessed.” Thousands of men were employed in dashing down the towers and the walls, and throwing the stones into the ditches and into the adjoining sea, and thousands were occupied in carrying away property and the contents of the public granaries and magazines. But ere half the effects had been removed, the impatient sultan ordered the town to be set on fire, “and soon,” says Bohadin, “the raging flames were to be seen, tearing through the roofs, and curling around the minarets of the mosques.” The great tower of the Hospitallers was the only edifice that resisted the flames and the exertions of the destroyers. It stood frowning in gloomy and solitary magnificence over the wide extended scene of ruin. “We must not depart,” said Saladin, “until yon lofty tower has been brought low,” and he ordered it to be filled with combustibles and set on fire. “It stood,” says Bohadin, “by the sea-side, and was of amazing size and strength. I went into it, and examined it. The walls and the foundations were so solid, and of such immense width, that no battering machines could have produced the slightest effect upon them.” Every heart was filled with sorrow and mourning at the sight of the scorched and blackened ruins of the once fair and beautiful Ascalon. “The city,” says Bohadin, “was very elegant, and, in truth, exquisitely beautiful; its stupendous fortifications and lofty edifices possessed a majesty and grandeur which inspired one with awe.”[93]

Ascalon, once the proudest of the five satrapies of the lords of the Philistines, is now uninhabited. The walls still lie scattered in huge fragments along the sea-shore, mixed with columns and broken pillars, which are wedged in among them, and amid the confused heaps of ruin which mark the site of the ancient city, not a single dwelling is now visible. “The king shall perish from Gaza,” saith the prophet, “and Ascalon shall not be inhabited.”

On the 16th of October Coeur de Lion wrote a letter to Saladin, exhorting him to put an end to the holy war; but he demanded, as the price of peace, the restitution of Jerusalem, of Palestine, and the true cross. “Jerusalem,” says the king, “we consider to be the seat of our religion, and every one of us will perish rather than abandon it. Do you restore to us the country on this side Jordan, together with the holy cross, which is of no value to you, being in your eyes a mere piece of wood, but which we Christians prize greatly; we will then make peace, and repose from our incessant toils.” “When the sultan,” says Bohadin, who was himself a participator in the negotiation, “had read this letter, he took counsel with his emirs, and sent a reply to the following effect:—‘The Holy City is held in as great reverence and estimation by the Moslems, as it is by you, ay, and in much greater reverence. From thence did our prophet Mahomet undertake his nocturnal journey to heaven, and upon that holy spot have the angels and the prophets at different periods been gathered together. Think not that we will ever surrender it. Never would we be so unmindful of our duty, and of that which it behoves us to do, as good Mussulmen. As to the country you speak of, it hath belonged to us of old, and if you took it from the Moslems when they were weak, they have taken it from you now that they are strong, as they have a right to do. You may continue the war, but God will not give you a stone of the land as a possession, for he hath given the country to the Moslems, to be by them plentifully and bountifully enjoyed. As to the cross, the reverence you pay to that bit of wood is a scandalous idolatry, disrespectful to the Most High, and hateful in the sight of God. We will, therefore, not give it to you, unless by so doing we can secure some great and manifest advantage for Islam.’”

On the 15th of November, the Templars marched out of Jaffa with king Richard and his army, and proceeded through the plain towards Jerusalem. As they advanced, Saladin slowly retired before them, laying waste the surrounding country, destroying all the towns and villages, and removing the inhabitants. Between noon and evening prayers, the sultan rode over to the city of Lidda, where St. Peter cured Æneas of the palsy, and employed his army, and a number of christian slaves, in the destruction of the noble cathedral church erected by Justinian, and in the demolition of the town. He then fell back with his army to Beitnubah, a small village seated upon an eminence at the extremity of the plain of Ramleh, at the commencement of the hill country of Judea, and there encamped. “On Friday morning, at an early hour,” says Bohadin, “the sultan mounted on horseback, and ordered me to accompany him. The rain fell in torrents. We marched towards Jerusalem. We dismounted at the monastery near the church of the Resurrection, and Saladin remained there to pass the night.” The next morning at dawn the sultan again mounted on horseback, and rode round the walls of the Holy City. The whole population, together with two thousand christian captives, had for weeks past been diligently employed in the reparation and reconstruction of the fortifications. Forty expert masons had arrived from Mossul, together with engineers and artificers from all the Mussulman countries of Asia. Two enormous towers were constructed, new walls were built, ditches were hollowed out of the rocks, and countless sums, says Bohadin, were spent upon the undertaking. Saladin’s sons, his emirs, and his brother Adel, were charged with the inspection of the works; and the sultan himself was on horseback every morning from sunrise to sunset, stimulating the exertions of the workmen.

Whilst Saladin was making these vigorous preparations for the defence of Jerusalem, the Templars halted at Ramleh, the ancient Arimathea, situate in the middle of the plain, about nine miles from Jaffa, and lingered with the crusaders amid the ruins of the place for six weeks. In one of their midnight sallies they captured and brought into the camp more than two hundred oxen. On New Year’s day, A.D. 1192, they marched to Beitnubah, and encamped at the entrance of the gorges and defiles leading to the Holy City; but these defiles were guarded by a powerful army under the personal command of Saladin, and the warriors of the cross ventured not to penetrate them. The weather became frightful; tempests of rain and hail, thunder and lightning, succeeded one another without cessation; the tents were torn to pieces by furious whirlwinds, and all the provisions of the army were destroyed by the wet. Many of the camels, horses, and beasts of burthen, perished from fatigue and the inclemency of the weather, and orders were given for a retrograde movement to the Mediterranean.

The Templars faithfully adhered to the standard of Coeur de Lion, and marched with him from Jaffa along the sea-coast to the ruins of Ascalon; but the other warriors, who owned no allegiance to the sovereign of England, abandoned him. The duke of Burgundy and the French proceeded to enjoy themselves in the luxurious city of Acre: some of the crusaders remained at Jaffa, and others went to Tyre and joined the rebellious party of Conrad, marquis of Montferrat. During the march from Jaffa to Ascalon, a distance of twenty-eight miles, the Templars suffered great hardships from hail-storms and terrific showers of rain and sleet; and on their arrival amid the ruins of the once flourishing city, they were nearly starved, by reason of the shipwreck of their vessels freighted with the necessary supplies. They pitched their tents among the ruins on the 20th of January, A.D. 1192, and for eight days were compelled to subsist on the scanty supply of food they had brought with them from Jaffa. During the winter they assisted king Richard in the reconstruction of the fortifications, and took an active part in the capture of several convoys and caravans which were traversing the adjoining desert from Egypt.

Whilst the Templars and the kings of England and Jerusalem thus remained under tents or in the open fields planning the overthrow and destruction of the infidels, Conrad, marquis of Montferrat, the pretender to the throne of the Latin kingdom, was traitorously intriguing with Saladin for the advancement of his own schemes of private ambition. He was supported by the duke of Burgundy and the French, and was at the head of a strong party who hated king Richard, and envied him the fame of his military exploits. The marquis of Montferrat went to Saladin’s camp. He offered, Bohadin tells us, to make war upon king Richard, to attack the city of Acre, and join his forces to those of the sultan, provided the latter would cede to him the maritime towns of Tyre, Sidon, and Beirout, and all the sea-coast between them; but before these traitorous designs could be carried into execution, the marquis of Montferrat was assassinated. Six days after his death, the fickle princess Isabella, his wife, the younger sister of the late queen Isabella, married Henry, count of Champagne, nephew of king Richard. This nobleman possessed great influence in the councils of the christian chieftains, and a general desire was manifested for his recognition as KING of Jerusalem. The Templars accordingly induced Guy de Lusignan to abdicate in favour of Isabella and the count of Champagne, offering him as a recompense the wealthy and important island of Cyprus, which had been ceded to them, as before mentioned, by king Richard.

Coeur de Lion and the Templars remained encamped amid the ruins of Ascalon, and employed themselves in intercepting the caravans and convoys which were crossing the neighbouring desert, from Egypt to Palestine, and succeeded in setting at liberty many christian captives. The second Sunday after Trinity, the tents were struck, and they once more resumed their march, with the avowed intention of laying siege to the Holy City. They again proceeded, by easy stages, across the plain of Ramleh, and on the 11th of June, five days after they had left Ascalon, they reached Beitnubah where they again halted for the space of an entire month, under the pretence of waiting for Henry, the new king of Jerusalem, and the forces which were marching under his command from Tyre and Acre. But the rugged mountains between Beitnubah and Jerusalem were the real cause of delay, and again presented a barrier to their further progress. Saladin had fixed his station in the Holy City, leaving the main body of his army encamped among the mountains near Beitnubah. His Mamlooks appear to have been somewhat daunted by the long continuance of the war, and the persevering obstinacy of the Christians. They remembered the bloody fate of their brethren at Acre, and pressed the sultan to reserve his person and their courage for the future defence of their religion and empire. Bohadin gives a curious account of their misgivings and disinclination to stand a siege within the walls of Jerusalem. He made an address to them at the request of the sultan, and when he had ceased to speak, Saladin himself arose. A profound silence reigned throughout the assembly,—“they were as still as if BIRDS were sitting on their HEADS.” “Praise be to God,” said Saladin, “and may his blessing rest upon our Master, Mahomet, his prophet. Know ye not, O men, that ye are the only army of Islam, and its only defence. The lives and fortunes and children of the Moslems are committed to your protection. If ye now quail from the fight, (which God avert,) the foe will roll up these countries as the angel of the Lord rolls up the book in which the actions of men are written down.” After an eloquent harangue from the sultan, Saifeddin Meshtoob, and the Mamlooks exclaimed with one voice, “My Lord, we are thy servants and slaves; we swear, by God, that none of us will quit thee so long as we shall live.”[94] But the anxiety of Saladin and the Mamlooks was speedily calmed by the retreat of the christian soldiers who fell back upon the sea-coast and their shipping. The health of king Richard and of Saladin was in a declining state, they were mutually weary of the war, and a treaty of peace was at last entered into between the sultan, the king of England, Henry, king of Jerusalem, and the Templars and Hospitallers, whereby it was stipulated that the christian pilgrims should enjoy the privilege of visiting the Holy City and the Holy Sepulchre without tribute or molestation; that the cities of Tyre, Acre, and Jaffa, with all the sea-coast between them, should belong to the Latins, but that the fortifications recently erected at Ascalon should be demolished. Immediately after the conclusion of peace, king Richard, being anxious to take the shortest and speediest route to his dominions, induced Robert de SablÈ, the Grand Master of the Temple, to place a galley of the order at his disposal, and it was determined that, whilst the royal fleet pursued its course with queen Berengaria through the Straits of Gibraltar to Britain, Coeur de Lion himself, disguised in the habit of a Knight Templar, should secretly embark and make for one of the ports of the Adriatic. The plan was carried into effect on the night of the 25th of October, and king Richard set sail, accompanied by some attendants, and four trusty Templars. The habit he had assumed, however, protected him not, as is well known, from the cowardly vengeance of the base duke of Austria.[95]

In the year 1194, Robert de SablÈ, the Grand Master of the Temple, was succeeded by Brother Gilbert Horal or Erail, who had previously filled the high office of Grand Preceptor of France.[96] The Templars, to retain and strengthen their dominion in Palestine, commenced the erection of several strong fortresses, the stupendous ruins of many of which remain to this day. The most famous of these was the Pilgrim’s Castle, which commanded the coast-road from Acre to Jerusalem. It derived its name from a solitary tower erected by the early Templars to protect the passage of the pilgrims through a dangerous pass in the mountains bordering the sea-coast, and was commenced shortly after the removal of the chief house of the order from Jerusalem to Acre. A small promontory which juts out into the sea a few miles below Mount Carmel, was converted into a fortified camp. Two gigantic towers, a hundred feet in height and seventy-four feet in width, were erected, together with enormous bastions connected together by strong walls furnished with all kinds of military engines. The vast inclosure contained a palace for the use of the Grand Master and knights, a magnificent church, houses and offices for the serving brethren and hired soldiers, together with pasturages, vineyards, gardens, orchards, and fishponds. On one side of the walls was the salt sea, and on the other, within the camp, were delicious springs of fresh water. The garrison amounted to four thousand men in time of war.[97] Considerable remains of this famous fortress are still visible on the coast, a few miles to the south of Acre. It is still called by the Levantines, Castel Pellegrino. Pocock describes it as “very magnificent, and so finely built, that it may be reckoned one of the things that are best worth seeing in these parts.” “It is encompassed,” says he, “with two walls fifteen feet thick, the inner wall on the east side cannot be less than forty feet high, and within it there appear to have been some very grand apartments. The offices of the fortress seem to have been at the west end, where I saw an oven fifteen feet in diameter. In the castle there are remains of a fine lofty church of ten sides, built in a light gothic taste: three chapels are built to the three eastern sides, each of which consists of five sides, excepting the opening to the church; in these it is probable the three chief altars stood.” Irby and Mangles, referring at a subsequent period to the ruins of the church, describe it as a double hexagon, and state that the half then standing had six sides. Below the cornice are human heads and heads of animals in alto relievo, and the walls are adorned with a double line of arches in the gothic style, the architecture light and elegant.

On the death of Saladin, (13th of March, A.D. 1193,) the vast and powerful empire that he had consolidated fell to pieces, the title to the thrones of Syria and Egypt was disputed between the brother and the sons of the deceased sultan; and the pope, thinking that these dissensions presented a favourable opportunity for the recovery of the Holy City, caused another (the fourth) crusade to be preached. Two expeditions organized in Germany proceeded to Palestine and insisted on the immediate commencement of hostilities, in defiance of the truce. The Templars and Hospitallers, and the Latin Christians, who were in the enjoyment of profound peace under the faith of treaties, insisted upon the impolicy and dishonesty of such a proceeding, but were reproached with treachery and lukewarmness in the christian cause; and the headstrong Germans sallying out of Acre, committed some frightful ravages and atrocities upon the Moslem territories. The infidels immediately rushed to arms; their intestine dissensions were at once healed, their chiefs extended to one another the hand of friendship, and from the distant banks of the Nile, from the deserts of Arabia, and the remote confines of Syria, the followers of Mahomet rallied again around the same banner, and hastened once more to fight in defence of Islam. Al-Ma-lek, Al-a-del, Abou-becr Mohammed, the renowned brother of Saladin, surnamed Saif-ed-din, “Sword of the Faith,” took the command of the Moslem force, and speedily proved himself a worthy successor to the great “Conqueror of Jerusalem.” He concentrated a vast army, and by his rapid movements speedily compelled the Germans to quit all the open country, and throw themselves into the fortified city of Jaffa. By a well-executed manoeuvre, he then induced them to make a rash sortie from the town, and falling suddenly upon the main body of their forces, he defeated them with terrific slaughter. He entered the city, pell-mell, with the fugitives, and annihilated the entire German force. The small garrison of the Templars maintained in the Temple of Jaffa was massacred, the fortifications were razed to the ground, and the city was left without a single christian inhabitant.[98] Such were the first results of this memorable crusade.

The Templars on the receipt of this disastrous intelligence, assembled their forces, and marched out of the city of Acre, in the cool of the evening, to encamp at Caiphas, four miles distant from the town. The king placed himself at the castle window to see them pass, and was leaning forward watching their progress across the neighbouring plain, when he unfortunately overbalanced himself, and fell headlong into the moat. He was killed on the spot, and queen Isabella was a second time a widow, her divorced husband, Humphry de Thoron being, however, still alive. She had three daughters by king Henry, Mary, who died young, Alix, and Philippine. Radolph of Tiberias became an aspirant for the hand of the widowed queen, but the Templars rejected his suit because he was too poor, declaring that they would not give the queen and the kingdom to a man who had nothing. They sent the chancellor of the emperor of Germany, who was staying at Acre, to Amauri, king of Cyprus, offering him the hand of Isabella and the crown of the Latin kingdom. Amauri had succeeded to the sovereignty of the island on the death of his brother Guy de Lusignan, (A.D. 1194,) and he eagerly embraced the offer. He immediately embarked in his galleys at Nicosia, landed at Acre, and was married to queen Isabella and solemnly crowned a few weeks after the death of the late king.

On the arrival of a second division of the crusaders, under the command of the dukes of Saxony and Brabant, the Templars again took the field and overthrew the Arab cavalry in a bloody battle, fought in the plain between Tyre and Sidon. The entire Mussulman army was defeated, and Saif-ed-din, desperately wounded, fell back upon Damascus. Beirout was then besieged and taken, and the fall of this important city was followed by the reduction of Gabala and Laodicea, and all the maritime towns between Tripoli and Jaffa.[99] Intelligence now reached Palestine of the death of the emperor Henry VI., whereupon all the German chieftains hurried home, to pursue upon another theatre their own schemes of private ambition. After having provoked a terrific and sanguinary war they retired from the contest, leaving their brethren in the East to fight it out as they best could. These last, on viewing their desolated lands, their defenceless cities, and their dwellings destroyed by fire, exclaimed with bitterness and truth, “Our fellow Christians and self-styled allies found us at peace, they have left us at WAR. They are like those ominous birds of passage whose appearance portends the coming tempest.” To add to the difficulties and misfortunes of the Latin Christians, a quarrel sprung up between the Templars and Hospitallers touching their respective rights to certain property in Palestine. The matter was referred to the pope, who gravely admonished them, representing that the infidels would not fail to take advantage of their dissensions, to the great injury of the Holy Land, and to the prejudice of all Christendom. He exhorts them to maintain unity and peace with one another, and appoints certain arbitrators to decide the differences between them. The quarrel was of no great importance, nor of any long duration, for the same year pope Innocent wrote to both orders, praising them for their exertions in the cause of the cross, and exhorting them strenuously and faithfully to support with all their might the new king of Jerusalem.[100]

In the year 1201 the Grand Master of the Temple, Gilbert Horal, was succeeded by brother Philip Duplessies, or De Plesseis,[101] who found himself, shortly after his accession to power, engaged in active hostilities with Leon I., king of Armenia, who had taken possession of the castle of Gaston, which belonged to the Knights Templars. The Templars drove King Leon out of Antioch, compelled him to give up the castle of Gaston and sue for peace. A suspension of arms was agreed upon; the matters in dispute between them were referred to the pope, and were eventually decided in favour of the Templars. The Templars appear at this period to have recovered possession of most of their castles and strongholds in the principalities of Tripoli and Antioch. Taking advantage of the dissensions between the neighbouring Moslem chieftains, they gradually drove the infidels across the Orontes, and restored the strong mountain districts to the christian arms. Some European vessels having been plundered by Egyptian pirates, the Templars unfolded their war-banner, and at midnight they marched out of Acre, with the king of Jerusalem, to make reprisals on the Moslems; they extended their ravages to the banks of the Jordan, and collected together a vast booty, informing their brethren in Acre of their movements by letters tied to the necks of pigeons. Coradin, sultan of Damascus, assembled a large body of forces at Sepphoris, and then marched against the hill fort Doc, which belonged to the Templars. The place was only three miles distant from Acre, and the population of the town was thrown into the utmost consternation. But the military friars, assembling their forces from all quarters, soon repulsed the invaders, and restored tranquillity to the Latin kingdom.

At this period king Amauri, having partaken somewhat too plentifully of a favourite dish of fish, was seized with an alarming illness, and died at Acre on the 1st of April, A.D. 1205. He had issue by Isabella one daughter; but before the close of the year both the mother and the child died. The crowns of Jerusalem and Cyprus, which were united on the heads of Amauri and Isabella, were now after their decease again divided. Mary, the eldest daughter of the queen, by the famous Conrad, marquis of Montferrat, was acknowledged heiress to the crown of the Latin kingdom, and Hugh de Lusignan, the eldest son of Amauri by his first wife, succeeded to the sovereignty of the island of Cyprus. This young prince married the princess Alice, daughter of Isabella by king Henry, count of Champagne, and half sister to the young queen Mary by the mother’s side. The young and tender princess who had just now succeeded to the throne of the Latin kingdom, was fourteen years of age, and the Templars and Hospitallers became her natural guardians and protectors. They directed the military force of the Latin empire in the field, and the government of the country in the cabinet: and defended the kingdom during her minority with zeal and success against all the attacks of the infidels. As soon as the young queen arrived at marriageable years, the Templars and Hospitallers sent over the bishop of Acre and Aimar, lord of CÆsarea, to Philip Augustus, king of France, requesting that monarch to select a suitable husband for her from among his princes and nobles. The king’s choice fell upon the count of Brienne, who left France with a large cortÉge of knights and foot soldiers, and arrived in Palestine on the 13th of September. The day after his arrival he was married to the young queen, who had just then attained her seventeenth year, and on the succeeding Michaelmas-day, he was crowned king of Jerusalem.

At this period the truce with the infidels had expired, the Grand Master of the Temple having previously refused to renew it. Hostilities consequently recommenced, and the Templars again took the field with the new king of Jerusalem and his French knights. Some important successes were gained over the Moslems, but the Latin kingdom was thrown into mourning by the untimely death of the young queen Mary. She died at Acre, in the twentieth year of her age, leaving by the king her husband, an infant daughter, named Violante. The count de Brienne continued, after the example of Guy de Lusignan, to wear the crown, and exercise all the functions of royalty, notwithstanding the death of the queen. Pope Innocent III. had long been endeavouring to throw an additional lustre around his pontificate by achieving the re-conquest of Jerusalem. By his bulls and apostolical letters he sought to awaken the ancient enthusiasm of Christendom in favour of the holy war; and following the example of pope Urban, he at last called together a general council of the church to aid in the arming of Europe for the recovery of the Holy City. This council assembled at Rome in the summer of the year 1215, and decreed the immediate preaching of another crusade. The emperor Frederick, John, king of England, the king of Hungary, the dukes of Austria and Bavaria, and many prelates, nobles, and knights, besides crowds of persons of inferior degree, assumed the cross. Some prepared to fulfil their vow, and embark for the far East, but the far greater portion of them paid sums of money to the clergy to be exempt from the painful privations, dangers, and difficulties consequent upon the long voyage. The king of Hungary, and the dukes of Austria and Bavaria, were the first to set out upon the pious enterprise. They placed themselves at the head of an army composed of many different nations, embarked from Venice, and landed at the port of St. Jean d’Acre at the commencement of the year 1217. The day after the feast of All Saints they marched out of Acre, and pitched their tents upon the banks of the brook Kishon; and the next day the patriarch of Jerusalem, and the Templars and Hospitallers, came with great pomp and solemnity into the camp, bearing with them “a piece of the true cross!” It was pretended that this piece of the cross had been cut off before the battle of Tiberias, and carefully preserved by the oriental clergy. The kings and princes went out bare-foot and uncovered to receive the holy relic; they placed it at the head of their array, and immediately commenced a bold and spirited march to the Jordan.

Under the guidance of the Templars they followed the course of the brook Kishon, by the ruins of Endor, to the valley of Jezreel, and traversing the pass through the mountains of Gilboa to Bisan or Scythopolis, they descended into the valley of the Jordan, and pitched their tents on the banks of that sacred river. From Bisan they proceeded up the valley of the Jordan to the lake of Tiberias, skirted its beautiful shores to Bethsaida, passing in front of the strong citadel of Tiberias, and then proceeded across the country to Acre, without meeting an enemy to oppose their progress. The Templars then pressed the christian chieftains to undertake without further loss of time the siege of the important fortress of Mount Thabor, and at the commencement of the autumn the place was regularly invested, but the height and steepness of the mountain rendered the transportation of heavy battering machines and military engines to the summit a tedious and laborious undertaking. The troops suffered from the want of water, their patience was exhausted, and the four kings and their followers, being anxious to return home, speedily found excuses for the abandonment of the siege. The customary scene of disorder and confusion then ensued; a large body of Arab horsemen, which had crossed the Jordan, infested the rear of the retiring crusaders. The disordered pilgrims and foot soldiers were panic-stricken, and fled to the hills; and the retreat would have been disastrous, but for the gallant conduct of the Templars and Hospitallers, who covered the rear and sustained the repeated charges of the Arab cavalry. The two orders sustained immense loss in men and horses, and returned in sorrow and disgust to their quarters at Acre.[102]

The Grand Master Philip Duplessies had been unable to take part in the expedition; he was confined to the Temple at Acre by a dangerous illness, of which he died a few days after the return of the Templars from Mount Thabor. Immediately after his decease a general chapter of knights was assembled, and Brother William de Chartres was elevated (A.D. 1217) to the vacant dignity of Grand Master.[103] Shortly after his election he was called upon to take the command of a large fleet fitted out by the order of the Temple against the Egyptians. He set sail from Acre in the month of May, cast anchor in the mouth of the Nile, and proceeded, in conjunction with the crusaders, to lay siege to the wealthy and populous city of Damietta. The Templars pitched their tents in the plain on the left bank of the Nile, opposite the town, and surrounded their position with a ditch and a wall. They covered the river with their galleys, and with floating rafts furnished with military engines, and directed their first attacks against a castle in the midst of the stream, called the castle of Taphnis.

Large towers were erected upon floating rafts to protect their operations, but they were constantly destroyed by the terrible Greek fire, which was blown out of long copper tubes, and could be extinguished with nothing but vinegar and sand. At last a number of flat-bottomed boats were lashed together, and a tower, higher than the castle of the enemy, was erected upon them. It was ninety feet in height, thirteen cubits in length, and was divided into platforms or stages, filled with archers; numerous loop-holes were pierced in the walls, and the ponderous structure was thickly covered in every part with raw hides, to preserve it from the liquid fire of the enemy. Upon the top of the tower was a drawbridge, which could be raised and lowered with chains, and on each platform were grappling irons, to be made fast to the battlements and parapets of the castle. On the 24th of August, the vast floating tower was towed to the point of attack, and the left bank of the Nile was covered with a long procession of priests and monks, who traversed the winding shore, with naked feet and uplifted hands, praying to the God of battles for victory. Whilst the infidels were hurrying to the summit of the castle of Taphnis, to direct the Greek fire upon the wooden tower, and to pour boiling oil and red-hot sand upon the heads of the assailants, some Templars, who were stationed in the lowest platform of the structure near the water, threw out their grapling-irons, and made a lodgment upon the causeway in front of the castle. Without a moment’s delay, they handed out a battering-ram, and with one blow knocked in the door of the fortress. Combustibles were immediately thrown into the interior of the building, the place was enveloped in smoke and flames, and the garrison surrendered at discretion. The vast chain between the castle and the river was then rent asunder, and the large ships of the crusaders ascended the Nile, and took up a position in front of the town.

Toward the close of autumn, when the inundation of the Nile was at its height, a strong north wind arose, and impeded the descent of the waters to the Mediterranean. The christian camp was overflowed, the Templars lost all their provisions, arms, and baggage; and when the waters receded, several large fish were found in their tents. This catastrophe was followed by an epidemic fever, which carried off the Grand Master, William de Chartres, and many of the brethren. The Grand Master was succeeded (A.D. 1218) by the veteran warrior, Brother Peter de Montaigu, Grand Preceptor of Spain. At this period the renowned Saif-ed-din, “sword of the faith,” the brother and successor of Saladin, died, having appointed his fifteen sons to separate and independent commands in his vast dominions. After his decease they quarrelled with one another for the supremacy, and the Templars crossed the Nile to take advantage of the dispute. The infidels fiercely opposed their landing, and one of the Temple vessels being boarded by an overpowering force, the military friars cut a hole in the bottom of it with their hatchets, and all on board met with a watery grave in the deep bosom of the Nile. When the landing was effected, the Templars were the first to charge the enemy; the Moslems fled and abandoned their tents, provisions, and arms, and their camp was given up to plunder. A trench was then drawn around the city of Damietta, and the army took up a position which enabled them to deprive the town of all succour. Two bridges of boats were thrown across the Nile to communicate between the new camp of the crusaders and the one they had just quitted; and one of these bridges was placed under the protection of the Templars. After many brilliant exploits and sanguinary encounters, Damietta was reduced to great straits; terms of surrender were offered and refused; and on the 5th of November a wooden bridge was thrown over the ditch; scaling ladders were reared against the battlements, and the town was taken by assault. When the Templars entered the place, they found the plague in every house, and the streets strewed with the dead.

Immediately after the capture of Damietta, the Grand Master of the Temple returned with the king of Jerusalem to Palestine, to oppose a fresh army of Moslems who, under the command of Coradin, a famous chieftain, had invaded the country, blockaded the city of Acre, and laid siege to the Pilgrim’s Castle. In their intrenched camp at this castle, the Templars mustered a force of upwards of four thousand men, who valiantly and successfully defended the important position against the obstinate and persevering attacks of the infidels. During the different assaults upon the place, Coradin lost six emirs, two hundred Mamlooks, and a number of archers; and on one day alone he had a hundred and twenty valuable horses slain, one of which cost fourteen thousand marks.[104] The Templars sent urgent letters to the pope for succour. They exhorted his holiness to compel the emperor Frederick to perform his vow, and no longer to permit the crusaders to compound with money for the non-fulfilment of their engagements, declaring that such compositions had been most injurious to the cause of the cross. The Grand Master also wrote to the pope, complaining to his holiness of the misapplication by the clergy of the money collected from their flocks, towards the expenses of the holy war, declaring that not a twentieth part of it ever reached the empty treasury of the Latin kingdom. The holy pontiff, in his reply, protests that he has not himself fingered a farthing of the money. “If you have not received it,” says he, “it is not our fault, it is because we have not been obeyed.”

In a mournful letter to the bishop of Ely, the Grand Master gives the following gloomy picture of the state of affairs. “Brother Peter de Montaigu, Master of the Knights of the Temple, to the reverend brother in Christ, N, by the grace of God, bishop of Ely, salvation. We proceed by these our letters to inform your paternity how we have managed the affairs of our Lord Jesus Christ since the capture of Damietta and the castle of Taphnis. Be it known to you, that during the spring passage to Europe, immediately subsequent to the capture of Damietta, so many of the pilgrims returned home, that the residue of them scarce sufficed to garrison the town, and the two intrenched camps. Our lord the legate, and the clergy, earnestly desiring the advancement of the army of Jesus Christ, constantly and diligently exhorted our people forthwith to take the field against the infidels; but the chieftains from these parts, and from beyond the sea, perceiving that the army was totally insufficient in point of numbers to guard the city and the camps, and undertake further offensive operations for the advancement of the faith of Jesus Christ, would on no account give their consent. The sultan of Egypt, at the head of a vast number of the perfidious infidels, lies encamped a short distance from Damietta, and he has recently constructed bridges across both branches of the Nile, to impede the further progress of our christian soldiers. He there remains, quietly awaiting their approach; and the forces under his command are so numerous, that the faithful cannot quit their intrenchments around Damietta, without incurring imminent risk. In the mean time, we have surrounded the town, and the two camps, with deep trenches, and have strongly fortified both banks of the river as far as the sea-coast, expecting that the Lord will console and comfort us with speedy succour. But the Saracens, perceiving our weakness, have already armed numerous galleys, and have inflicted vast injury upon us by intercepting all the succours from Europe; and such has been our extreme want of money, that we have been unable for a considerable period to man and equip our galleys and send them to sea for our protection. Finding, however, that the losses go on increasing to the great detriment of the cause of the cross, we have now managed to arm some galleys, galliots, and other craft, to oppose the ships of the infidels.

“Also be it known to you that Coradin, sultan of Damascus, having collected together a vast army of Saracens, hath attacked the cities of Tyre and Acre; and as the garrisons of these places have been weakened to strengthen our forces in Egypt, they can with difficulty sustain themselves against his attacks. Coradin hath also pitched his tents before our fortress, called the Pilgrim’s Castle, and hath put us to immense expense in the defence of the place. He hath also besieged and subjugated the castle of CÆsarea of Palestine. We have now for a long time been expecting the arrival of the emperor, and the other noble personages who have assumed the cross, by whose aid we hope to be relieved from our dangers and difficulties, and to bring all our exertions to a happy issue. But if we are disappointed of the succour we expect in the ensuing summer (which God forbid) all our newly-acquired conquests, as well as the places that we have held for ages past, will be left in a very doubtful condition. We ourselves, and others in these parts, are so impoverished by the heavy expenses we have incurred in prosecuting the affairs of Jesus Christ, that we shall be unable to contribute the necessary funds, unless we speedily receive succour and subsidies from the faithful. Given at Acre, xii. kal. Octob., A.D. 1220.”[105]

The urgent solicitations of the Templars for money created loud murmurs in England, and excited the wrath of the great historian, Matthew Paris, the monk of St. Albans, who hated the order on account of its vast privileges, and the sums it constantly drew away from the hands of other religious bodies. The clergy, who had probably misapplied the money collected by them for the relief of the Holy Land, joined eagerly in an outcry against the Templars, accusing them of squandering their funds upon magnificent churches and expensive buildings in Europe, or of spending them at home in luxurious ease at their different preceptories, instead of faithfully employing them in the prosecution of the holy war. The pope instituted an inquiry into the truth of the charges, and wrote to his legate at Damietta, to the patriarch of Jerusalem, and the principal chieftains of the army of the crusaders, for information. In their reply, the legate and the patriarch state that the charges were untrue, and that the Templars had expended their money in the prosecution of the siege of Damietta, and had impoverished themselves by their heavy expenses in Egypt. During the summer of the year 1221, considerable succours arrived in Palestine and Egypt from Europe; the troops of the sultan of Damascus were repulsed and driven beyond the frontier of the Latin kingdom, and the Grand Master of the Temple returned to Damietta to superintend the military operations in Egypt. Cardinal Pelagius, the papal legate, though altogether ignorant of the art of war, had unfortunately assumed the inconsistent character of commander-in-chief of the army of the cross. Contrary to the advice of the Templars, he urged the crusaders, during the autumnal season, when the waters of the Nile were rising, to march out of Damietta to undertake an expedition against Grand Cairo. The disastrous results of that memorable campaign are narrated in the following letter from Peter de Montaigu to the Master of the English province of the order.

“Brother Peter de Montaigu, humble Master of the soldiers of Christ, to our vicegerent and beloved brother in Christ, Alan Marcell, Preceptor of England. Hitherto we have had favourable information to communicate unto you touching our exertions in the cause of Christ; now, alas! such have been the reverses and disasters which our sins have brought upon us in the land of Egypt, that we have nothing but ill news to announce. After the capture of Damietta, our army remained for some time in a state of inaction, which brought upon us frequent complaints and reproaches from the eastern and the western Christians. At length, after the feast of the holy apostles, the legate of the holy pontiff, and all our soldiers of the cross, put themselves in march by land and by the Nile, and arrived in good order at the spot where the sultan was encamped, at the head of an immense number of the enemies of the cross. The river Taphneos, an arm of the great Nile, flowed between the camp of the sultan and our forces, and being unable to ford this river, we pitched our tents on its banks, and prepared bridges to enable us to force the passage. In the mean time, the annual inundation rapidly increased, and the sultan, passing his galleys and armed boats through an ancient canal, floated them into the Nile below our positions, and intercepted our communications with Damietta.”... “Nothing now was to be done but to retrace our steps. The sultans of Aleppo, Damascus, Hems, and Coilanbar, the two brothers of the sultan, and many chieftains and kings of the pagans, with an immense multitude of infidels who had come to their assistance, attempted to cut off our retreat. At night we commenced our march, but the infidels cut through the embankments of the Nile, the water rushed along several unknown passages and ancient canals, and encompassed us on all sides. We lost all our provisions, many of our men were swept into the stream, and the further progress of our christian warriors was forthwith arrested. The waters continued to increase upon us, and in this terrible inundation we lost all our horses and saddles, our carriages, baggage, furniture, and moveables, and everything that we had. We ourselves could neither advance nor retreat, and knew not whither to turn. We could not attack the Egyptians on account of the great lake which extended itself between them and us; we were without food, and being caught and pent up like fish in a net, there was nothing left for us but to treat with the sultan.

“We agreed to surrender Damietta, with all the prisoners which we had in Tyre and at Acre, on condition that the sultan restored to us the wood of the true cross and the prisoners that he detained at Cairo and Damascus. We, with some others, were deputed by the whole army to announce to the people of Damietta the terms that had been imposed upon us. These were very displeasing to the bishop of Acre, (James de Vitry, the historian,) to the chancellor, and some others, who wished to defend the town, a measure which we should indeed have greatly approved of, had there been any reasonable chance of success; for we would rather have been thrust into perpetual imprisonment than have surrendered, to the shame of Christendom, this conquest to the infidels. But after having made a strict investigation into the means of defence, and finding neither men nor money wherewith to protect the place, we were obliged to submit to the conditions of the sultan, who, after having extracted from us an oath and hostages, accorded to us a truce of eight years. During the negotiations the sultan faithfully kept his word, and for the space of fifteen days furnished our soldiers with the bread and corn necessary for their subsistence. Do you, therefore, pitying our misfortunes, hasten to relieve them to the utmost of your ability. Farewell.”[106]

Shortly after the disasters in Egypt, and the conclusion of the eight years’ truce with the infidels, John de Brienne, the titular king of Jerusalem, prepared to bid adieu for ever to Palestine. Since the death of the young queen, his wife, he had regarded his kingdom as a place of exile, and was anxious to escape from the toil and turmoil and incessant warfare in which his feeble dominions were continually involved. His daughter Violante, the young queen of Jerusalem, had just attained her thirteenth year, and the king was anxious to seek a suitable husband for her from among the European princes. Accompanied by the fair Violante, he landed in Italy, and attended a council of the clergy and the laity assembled at Ferentino, in the Campagna di Roma, in the summer of the year 1223. Pope Honorius the Third, the emperor Frederick, the patriarch of the Holy City, the bishop of Bethlehem, the Grand Master of the Hospital, and one of the Grand Preceptors of the Temple, were present at this council, and the pope urged the emperor to fulfil the vow which he had made eight years before to lead an army to the succour of the Holy Land; offering him the hand of the lovely Violante, and with her the crown of the Latin kingdom. This offer was accepted, the nuptials were shortly afterwards celebrated, and the emperor solemnly took his oath upon the Holy Gospel to lead in person a great expedition for the recovery of Jerusalem.

Violante had been accompanied from Palestine by a female cousin, possessed of powerful charms and many graceful accomplishments. The emperor became captivated with her beauty, he dishonoured her, and treated his young wife, who was a mere child in years, with coldness and neglect. He then, in the middle of August, A.D. 1227, set sail for Acre with a powerful army, and was at sea three days, when he became sea-sick, and returned to land on a plea of ill health. He was consequently publicly excommunicated by the pope in the great church of Anagni. Without troubling himself to obtain a reconciliation with the holy see, he again embarked with his forces, and arrived in the port of St. Jean d’Acre on the 8th of September, A.D. 1228. The pope then sent letters to Palestine denouncing him as publicly excommunicated, and commanded the Templars not to join his standard. They accordingly refused to take the field, and as the forces under the command of the emperor did not amount to ten thousand men, he was obliged to remain inactive during the winter. He, however, carried on friendly negotiations with the infidels, and a treaty was entered into whereby Jerusalem was nominally surrendered to him. It was stipulated that the Christian and Mussulman religion should meet with equal toleration in the Holy City; that the followers of Mahomet should possess the Mosque of Omar, and the Christians the great church of the Resurrection; that the Moslems should be governed by their own laws, and that the court of judicature in the forum of Al Rostak should be under the direction of a Moslem governor.[107]

Immediately after the conclusion of this curious treaty, the emperor made a peaceful march to the Holy City with a few attendants, and performed the solemn farce of crowning himself in the church of the Resurrection. After a stay of a few days in Jerusalem, he hurried back to Acre to prepare for his departure for Europe. No christian garrison was established in the city, nor did the Templars and Hospitallers venture to return to their ancient abodes. His conduct, immediately preceding his departure, is thus described in a letter from the patriarch of Jerusalem to the pope. “The emperor placed archers at the gates of the city of Acre, to prevent the Templars from entering into or proceeding out of the town. He moreover placed soldiers in all the streets leading to our quarter and the Temple, keeping us in a state of siege; and it is evident that he has never treated the Saracens half so badly as he has treated the Christians. For a long time he refused to permit any provisions to be brought to us, and instructed his soldiers to insult the priests and the Templars whenever they met them. He moreover got possession of the magazines, and removed all the military machines and arms, preserved for the defence of the city, with a view of rendering good service to his kind friend the sultan of Egypt; and afterwards, without saying adieu to anybody, he embarked secretly on the 1st of May, (A.D. 1229,) leaving us worse off than he found us.”[108]

The Grand Master of the Temple, Peter de Montaigu, died at Acre at an advanced age, and was succeeded (A.D. 1233) by Brother Hermann de Perigord, Grand Preceptor of Calabria and Sicily.[109] Shortly after his accession to power, the truce with the sultan of Aleppo expired, and Brother William de Montferrat, Preceptor of Antioch, having besieged a fortress of the infidels, refused to retreat before a superior force, and was surrounded and overwhelmed; a hundred knights of the Temple, and three hundred cross-bowmen were slain, together with many secular warriors, and a large number of foot soldiers. The Balcanifer, or standard-bearer, on this occasion, was an English Knight Templar, named Reginald d’Argenton, who performed prodigies of valour. He was disabled and covered with wounds, yet he unflinchingly bore the Beauseant aloft with his bleeding arms into the thickest of the fight, until he at last fell dead upon a heap of his slaughtered comrades. The Preceptor of Antioch, before he was slain, “sent sixteen infidels to hell.” As soon as the Templars in England heard of this disaster, they sent, (A.D. 1236,) in conjunction with the Hospitallers, instant succour to their brethren. “Having made their arrangements,” says Matthew Paris, “they started from the house of the Hospitallers at Clerkenwell in London, and passed through the city with spears held aloft, shields displayed, and banners advanced. They marched in splendid pomp to the bridge, and sought a blessing from all who crowded to see them pass. The brothers indeed, uncovered, bowed their heads from side to side, and recommended themselves to the prayers of all.”

A new crusade had already been preached in Europe by Pope Gregory IX., and the Templars, expecting the arrival of speedy succour, and being desirous of taking advantage of the dissensions that had arisen amongst the Saracens, had recommenced hostilities with the sultans of Egypt and Damascus. Thibaut I., king of Navarre, and count of Champagne, the duke of Burgundy, and the counts of Brittany and Bar, who had arrived in Palestine with several other nobles and knights, and a considerable force of armed pilgrims, marched with a party of Templars to attack the sultan of Egypt, whilst the Grand Master prepared to invade the territory of the sultan of Damascus. In a bloody battle fought with the Mamlooks, near Gaza, the count de Bar and many knights and persons of quality, and all the foot soldiers, were slain; the count de Montfort was taken prisoner, and all the equipage and baggage of the army was lost. The king of Navarre and the survivors then retreated to Jaffa, and set sail from that port for St. Jean d’Acre. On their arrival at this place, they joined the Grand Master of the Temple, who was encamped at the palm-grove of Caiphas. Thence they marched towards Tiberias, and on their arrival at Sepphoris, they met some messengers who were proceeding from Saleh Ismael, the sultan of Damascus, to the Grand Master of the Temple, with overtures of peace, and offers to surrender Jerusalem upon the following terms:—The Moslem and christian prisoners of war were immediately to be set at liberty; all Palestine, between the sea-coast and the Jordan, excepting the cities of St. Abraham, Naplous, and Bisan, was to be surrendered to the Christians; the Christians were to assist the sultan of Damascus in a war which had broken out between him and Nojmoddin Ayoub sultan of Egypt; they were to march with all their forces to the south to occupy Jaffa and Ascalon, and prevent the latter potentate from marching through Palestine to attack the sultan of Damascus; and lastly, no truce was to be entered into with the sultan of Egypt by the Christians, unless the sultan of Damascus was included therein. The Grand Master of the Temple acceded to these terms, and induced the chiefs of the crusaders to assent to the compact; but the Grand Master of the Hospital refused to be a party to it. It is said that he entered into a separate and independent treaty with Nojmoddin Ayoub, who had just mounted the throne of Egypt, so that one of the great military orders remained at war with the sultan of Damascus, and the other with the sultan of Egypt. Immediately after the conclusion of this treaty, the Templars assembled all their disposable forces and proceeded to Jaffa with the count de Nevers, and a body of newly arrived crusaders, and co-operated with an army which the sultan of Damascus had sent into that neighbourhood to act against the Egyptians. In the mean time, Richard, earl of Cornwall, the brother of Henry III., king of England, having assumed the cross, arrived in Palestine, and proceeded with a small force of English pilgrims, knights, and foot soldiers, to the camp of the Templars at Jaffa. With this welcome reinforcement the Grand Master of the Temple marched at once upon Ascalon, re-constructed the castle and restored the fortifications to the state in which they were left by Richard Coeur de Lion. The Templars then endeavoured to obtain possession of their ancient fortress of Gaza, (ante, p. 49,) a place of very great importance. An invading army from the south could approach Jerusalem only by way of Gaza, or by taking a long and tedious route through the desert of Arabia PetrÆa, to Karac, and from thence to Hebron, by the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. The want of water and forage presented an insuperable obstacle to the march of a large body of forces in any other direction. Towards the close of autumn, the Templars marched against Gaza in conjunction with Saleh Ismael, sultan of Damascus; they drove out the Egyptians, and obtained possession of the dismantled fortifications. Large sums of money were expended in the re-construction of the walls of the castle, a strong garrison was established in the important post, and the Templars then marched upon Jerusalem.

The fortifications of the Holy City had been dismantled by Malek Kamel, at the period of the siege of Damietta, when alarmed at the military success of the Franks in Egypt, he was anxious to purchase the safety of the country by the cession of Jerusalem. The Templars, consequently, entered the Holy City without difficulty or resistance; the Mussulman population abandoned their dwellings on their approach, and the military friars once more entered the city of David, bare-footed and bare-headed, singing loud hymns and songs of triumph. They rushed to the church of the Resurrection, and fell prostrate on their knees before the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre; they ascended Mount Calvary, and visited the reputed scene of the crucifixion, and then hastened in martial array, and with sound of trumpet, through the forlorn and deserted streets of the city of Zion, to take possession of their ancient quarters on Mount Moriah.

The golden crescent was once more removed from the lofty pinnacle of the Temple of the Lord, or Mosque of Omar, and this Holy Mussulman house of prayer was once again surmounted by the glittering cross. The Temple of the Knights Templars or Mosque at Acsa, (ante, p. 12,) was again purified and re-consecrated, and its sombre halls and spacious areas were once more graced with the white, religious, and military habit of the knights of the Temple. The greater part of the old convent, adjoining the Temple, had been destroyed, as before mentioned, by the great Saladin, and the military friars were consequently obliged to pitch numerous tents in the spacious area for the accommodation of the brethren. The sound of the bell once more superseded the voice of the muezzin, “the exiled faith returned to its ancient sanctuary,” and the name of Jesus was again invoked in the high places and sanctuaries of Mahomet. The great court of the Mussulmen around the revered Mosque of Omar, called by them El Scham Schereef, “the noble retirement,” again rung with the tramp of the war-steed, and its solitudes were once more awakened with the voice of the trumpet.

Nothing could exceed the joy with which the intelligence of the re-occupation of Jerusalem was received throughout Palestine, and through all Christendom. The Hospitallers, now that the policy of the Templars had been crowned with success, and that Jerusalem had been regained, no longer opposed the treaty with the sultan of Damascus, but hastened to co-operate with them for the preservation of the Holy City, which had been so happily recovered. The patriarch returned to Jerusalem, (A.D. 1241,) with all his clergy; the churches were re-consecrated, and the Templars and Hospitallers emptied their treasuries in rebuilding the walls. The following account of these gratifying events was transmitted by brother Hermann de Perigord to the Master of the Temple at London. “Brother Hermann de Perigord, humble minister of the poor knights of the Temple, to his beloved brother in Christ Robert de Sandford, Preceptor in England, salvation through the Lord.

“Since it is our duty, whenever an opportunity offers, to make known to the brotherhood, by letters or by messengers, the state and prospects of the Holy Land, we hasten to inform you, that after our great successes against the sultan of Egypt, and Nasser, his supporter and abettor, the great persecutor of the Christians, whom we have unceasingly endeavoured with all our might to subdue, they were unwillingly compelled to treat with us concerning the establishment of a truce, promising us to restore to the followers of Jesus Christ all the territory on this side Jordan. We despatched certain of our brethren, noble and discreet personages, to Cairo, to have an interview with the sultan upon these matters. But the latter broke the promise which he had made to us, retaining in his own hands Gaza, St. Abraham, Naplous, Varan, and other places; he detained our messengers in custody for more than half a year, and endeavoured to amuse us with deceitful words and unmeaning propositions. But we, with the Divine assistance, were enabled to penetrate his craft and perfidy, and plainly saw that he had procured the truce with us that he might be enabled the more readily to subjugate to his cruel dominion the sultan of Damascus, and Nasser lord of Carac, and their territories; and then, when he had got possession of all the country surrounding our christian provinces, we plainly foresaw that he would break faith with us, after the custom of his unbelieving generation, and attack our poor Christianity on this side the sea, which in its present weak and feeble state would have been unable effectually to resist him.

“Having therefore deliberated, long and earnestly, upon these matters, we determined, with the advice of the bishops and some of the barons of the land, to break off at once with the sultan of Egypt, and enter into a treaty with the sultan of Damascus, and with Nasser lord of Carac, whereby all the country on this side Jordan, excepting St. Abraham, Naplous, and Bisan, has been surrendered to the christian worship; and, to the joy of angels and of men, the holy city of Jerusalem is now inhabited by Christians alone, all the Saracens being driven out. The holy places have been re-consecrated and purified by the prelates of the churches, and in those spots where the name of the Lord has not been invoked for fifty-six years, now, blessed be God, the divine mysteries are daily celebrated. To all the sacred places there is again free access to the faithful in Christ, nor is it to be doubted but that in this happy and prosperous condition we might long remain, if our Eastern Christians would from henceforth live in greater concord and unanimity. But, alas! opposition and contradiction, arising from envy and hatred, have impeded our efforts in the promotion of these and other advantages for the Holy Land. With the exception of the prelates of the churches, and a few of the barons, who afford us all the assistance in their power, the entire burthen of its defence rests upon our house alone. With the assistance of the sultan of Damascus, and the lord of Carac, we have obtained possession of the city of Gaza, situate on the confines of the territory of Jerusalem and the territory of Egypt. And as this important place commands the entrance from the latter country into the Holy Land, we have, by vast exertions, and at an enormous expense, and after having incurred great risk and danger, put it into a state of defence. But we are afraid that God will take heavy vengeance for past ingratitude, by punishing those who have been careless, and indifferent, and rebellious in the prosecution of these matters.

“For the safeguard and preservation of the holy territory, we propose to erect a fortified castle near Jerusalem, which will enable us the more easily to retain possession of the country, and to protect it against all enemies. But indeed we can in nowise defend for any great length of time the places that we hold, against the powerful and crafty sultan of Egypt, unless Christ and his faithful followers extend to us an efficacious support.”[110]

We must now refer to a few events connected with the English province of the order of the Temple.

Brother Geoffrey, who was Master of the Temple at London, at the period of the consecration of the Temple Church by Heraclius, patriarch of Jerusalem, died shortly after the capture of the Holy City by Saladin, and was succeeded by Brother Amaric de St. Maur, who is an attesting witness to the deed executed by king John, (A.D. 1203,) granting a dowry to his young queen, the beautiful Isabella of Angouleme. King John frequently resided in the Temple for weeks together, the writs to his lieutenants, sheriffs, and bailiffs, being dated therefrom. The orders for the concentration of the English fleet at Portsmouth, to resist the formidable French invasion instigated by the pope, are dated from the Temple at London, and the convention between the king and the count of Holland, whereby the latter agreed to assist King John with a body of knights and men-at-arms, in case of the landing of the French, was published at the same place. In all the conferences and negotiations between king John and the Roman pontiff, the Knights Templars took an active and distinguished part. Two brethren of the order were sent to him by Pandulph, the papal legate, to arrange that famous conference between them which ended in the complete submission of the king to all the demands of the holy see. By the advice and persuasion of the Templars, John repaired to the preceptory of Temple Ewell, near Dover, where he was met by the legate Pandulph, who crossed over from France to confer with him, and the mean-hearted king was there frightened into that celebrated resignation of the kingdoms of England and Ireland, “to God, to the holy apostles Peter and Paul, to the holy Roman church his mother, and to his lord, Pope Innocent the Third, and his catholic successors, for the remission of all his sins and the sins of all his people as well the living as the dead.” The following year, the commands of king John for the extirpation of the heretics in Gascony, addressed to the seneschal of that province, were issued from the Temple at London, and about the same period, the Templars were made the depositaries of various private and confidential matters pending between king John and his illustrious sister-in-law, “the royal, eloquent, and beauteous” Berengaria of Navarre, the youthful widowed queen of Richard Coeur de Lion. The Templars in England managed the money transactions of that fair princess. She directed her dower to be paid in the house of the New Temple at London, together with the arrears due to her from the king, amounting to several thousand pounds.

John was resident at the Temple when he was compelled by the barons of England to sign Magna Charta. Matthew Paris tells us that the barons came to him whilst he was residing in the New Temple at London, “in a very resolute manner, clothed in their military dresses, and demanded the liberties and laws of king Edward, with others for themselves, the kingdom, and the church of England.”[111]

Brother Amaric de St. Maur, the Master of the English province of the order, was succeeded by brother Alan Marcell, the friend and correspondent of the Grand Master Peter de Montaigu (ante p. 161). He was at the head of the order in England for the space of sixteen years, and was employed by king Henry the Third in various important negotiations. He was Master of the Temple at London, when Reginald, king of the island of Man, by the advice and persuasion of the legate Pandulph, made a solemn surrender at that place of his island to the pope and his catholic successors, and consented to hold the same from thenceforth as the feudatory of the church of Rome. On the 28th of April, A.D. 1224, the Master, Brother Alan Marcell, was employed by king Henry to negotiate a truce between himself and the king of France. The king of England appears at that time to have been resident at the Temple, the letters of credence being made out at that place, in the presence of the archbishop of Canterbury, several bishops, and Hubert, the chief justiciary. The year after, Alan Marcell was sent into Germany, to negotiate a treaty of marriage between king Henry and the daughter of the duke of Austria.[112] Brother Alan Marcell was succeeded by Brother Amberaldus. The next Master of the English province was Robert Mounford, and he was followed by Robert Sanford (ante p. 56).

During the Mastership of Robert Sanford, on Ascension Day, A.D. 1240, the oblong portion of the Temple Church, which extendeth eastward from “THE ROUND,” was consecrated in the presence of king Henry the Third and all his court, and much of the nobility of the kingdom. This portion of the sacred edifice was of a lighter and more florid style of architecture than the earlier Round Church consecrated by the patriarch Heraclius (ante p. 46). The walls were pierced with numerous triple lancet windows filled with stained glass, and the floor was covered with tesselated pavement. The roof was supported by dark grey Purbeck marble columns, and the vaulted ceiling was decorated with the star of Bethlehem, and with ornaments of frosted silver placed on a blue ground. The extensive area of the church was open and unencumbered by pews, and the beauty of the columns and windows, the lively colours of the tiled floor, and the elegant proportions of the fabric were seen at a glance. After the consecration, the king made provision for the maintenance in the Temple of three chaplains, who were to say three masses daily for ever, one for the king himself, another for all christian people, and the third for the faithful departed.[113]

King Henry III. was one of the greatest of the benefactors of the order. He granted to the Templars the manors of Lilleston, Hechewayton, and Saunford, the wood of Carletone, Kingswood near Chippenhan, a messuage, and six bovates of land with their appurtenances in Great Lymburgh; a fair at Walnesford, in the county of Essex, every three years for three days, to commence on the anniversary of the beheading of St. John the Baptist; also annual fairs and weekly markets at Newburgh, Walnesford, Balsall, Kirkeby, and a variety of other places; he granted them free warren in all their demesne lands; and by his famous charter, dated the 9th day of February, in the eleventh year of his reign, he confirmed to them all the donations of his predecessors, and of their other benefactors, and conferred upon them vast privileges and immunities in the following pious and reverential terms.

“The king, &c., to all the archbishops, bishops, barons, &c. &c., to whom these presents shall come, salvation through the Lord. Be it known to you that we have granted and confirmed to God and the blessed Mary, and the brethren of the chivalry of the Temple of Solomon, all reasonable donations of lands, men, and eleemosynary gifts, bestowed on them by our predecessors, or by others in times past, or by ourselves at this present period, or which may be hereafter conferred on them by kings or by the liberality of subjects, or may be acquired, or be about to be acquired in any other manner, as well churches as worldly goods and possessions; wherefore we will and firmly command that the aforesaid brethren and their men may have and hold all their possessions and eleemosynary donations with all liberties and free customs and immunities, in wood and plain, in meadow and pasture, in water and water-mills, on highways and byeways, in ponds and running streams, in marshes and fisheries, in granges and broad acres, within burgh and without the burgh, with soc and sac, tol and theam, infangenethef and unfangenethef, and hamsoc and grithbrich, and blodwit and fictwit, and flictwit and ferdwite, and hengewite and lierwite, and flemenefrith, murder, robbery, forstall, ordel, oreste, in season and out of season, at all times and in all places, &c.

“We ordain, likewise, that the aforesaid brethren shall for ever hereafter be freed from royal aids, and sheriff’s aids, and officer’s aids, and from hidage and carucage, and danegeld and hornegeld, and from military and wapentake services, and scutages and lastages and stallages, shires and hundreds, pleas and quarrels, ward and wardpeny, and averpeni and hundredspeni, and borethalpeni and thethingepeni, and from the works of castles, parks, bridges, and inclosures; and from the duty of providing carriages and beasts of burthen, boats, and vessels, and from the building of royal houses, and all other works. And we prohibit all persons from taking timber from their woods and forests for such works, or for any other purposes whatever: neither shall their corn, nor the corn of their men, nor any of their goods, nor the goods of any belonging to them, be taken to fortify castles. We will also that they shall have free and full liberty to cut and fell timber whenever they please, in all their woods, for the use of their fraternity, without any let or hindrance whatever; and for doing so they shall not incur forfeiture or waste, or in any way be punishable by law. And all their lands, and the ground which they or their men have cleared of wood, and recovered from the forest, or which they may clear in time to come, with the assent of the king, we make quit and free for ever hereafter from waste regard, and view of foresters, and from all other customs. And we concede also to the aforesaid brethren the privilege of cutting down trees in all the woods they possess at present within the forest boundaries, and of clearing and bringing the land into cultivation without any license from our bailiffs, so that they may never at any time hereafter be in any way called to account by ourselves, or our heirs, or any of our bailiffs.

“We ordain, moreover, that the aforesaid brethren and their men shall be quit and free from every kind of toll in all markets and fairs, and upon crossing bridges, roads, and ferries, throughout the whole of our kingdom, and throughout all lands in which we are able to grant liberties; and all their markets, and the markets of their men, shall in like manner be quit and free from all toll. We grant and confirm also to the aforesaid brethren, that if any of their men be condemned to lose life or limb for crime, or shall have fled from justice, or have committed any offence for which he hath incurred forfeiture of his goods and chattels, the goods and chattels so forfeited shall belong to the aforesaid brethren, whether the cognizance of the offence belongeth to our court or to any other inferior court; and it shall be lawful for the aforesaid brethren, under such circumstances and in such cases, to put themselves in possession of the aforesaid goods and chattels at such time as our bailiffs would or ought to have seized them into our hands, had such goods and chattels belonged to ourselves, without the molestation or hindrance of the sheriffs or bailiffs, or any other persons whatever.

“We concede also to the aforesaid brethren, that animals called waif, lost by their owners, and found within the feud of the Templars, shall belong to the aforesaid brethren, unless they are followed by some one able and willing to prove that they are his own, and unless they shall be sought after and taken possession of by the owner within a moderate period of time, according to the custom of the country. And if any of the tenants of the aforesaid brethren shall happen to have incurred a forfeiture of his feud, it shall be lawful for the said brethren to take possession of the said feud, and hold the same, notwithstanding the law which concedes to ourselves the possession of the feud of fugitives and criminals, for the space of a year and a day. In like manner, if any of the men of the aforesaid brethren shall have incurred a fine to be paid to ourselves or to any of our bailiffs, under any process, or for any crime, or any other matter, the amercements of money shall be collected and brought in a purse to our exchequer, and there handed over to the aforesaid brethren; judgment of death and limb being always reserved to the royal authority.

“We moreover ordain, that if any of the liberties and privileges contained in this our charter shall happen to have been disused for a length of time, such disuse shall in no respect prejudice the right, but such liberty or privilege may be again exercised without contradiction, notwithstanding that it may have been discontinued and disused as aforesaid. And all the aforesaid things, and all other secular services and customs which are not included in this present writing, we, through love of God, and for the good of the soul of the lord king John, our father, and for the good of the souls of all our predecessors and successors, grant and confirm to them, as a perpetual alms-gift, with all liberties and free customs, as fully, freely, and effectually as the royal power can confer them upon any religious house. And we prohibit all persons, on pain of forfeiture, from proceeding against them or their men contrary to this our charter, for we have taken the aforesaid brethren, and all their goods, and possessions, and all their men, under our especial guardianship and protection. As witness the king, at Westminster, the 9th day of February, in the eleventh year of our reign.”[114]

By the royal grant of soc and sac, tol and theam, &c. &c., the Templars were clothed with the power of holding courts to impose and levy fines and amerciaments upon their tenants, to judge and punish their villeins and vassals—to take cognizance of quarrels and controversies that arose amongst them—to try thieves and malefactors belonging to their manors, and all foreign thieves taken within the precincts thereof—to try and punish trespasses and breaches of the peace, and all unlawful entries into the houses of their tenants—to impose and levy amerciaments for cutting and maiming, and for bloodshed—to judge and punish by fine or imprisonment the seducers of their bond women, and all persons who committed adultery and fornication within their manors. They had the power of trying criminals by ordeal, or the terrible test of fire and water; and they had, lastly, the tremendous privilege of pit or gallows, i. e. the power of putting convicted thieves to death, by hanging them if they were men, and drowning them if they were women! By the royal charter, the Templars were, in the next place, freed from the fine of right payable to the king for the hanging of thieves without a formal trial and judgment according to law; they were exempted from the taxes on pasture-lands, and plough-lands, and horned cattle; from the Danish tribute, and from all military services, and from all the ordinary feudal burthens.[115]