J. Fr. Michaud

No. 1.—Page 2, Vol. I.

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

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

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

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

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No. 2.—Page 3, Vol. I.

The Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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No. 3.—Page 25, Vol. I.

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

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

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No. 4.—Page 53, Vol. I.

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

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

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No. 5.—Page 82, Vol. I.

Robert of Normandy.

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

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No. 6.

Charlemagne.

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

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

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No. 7.—Page 227, Vol. I.

The Chronicle of Tours.

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

“Jerusalem civitas Dei excelsi, ut universi nÔstis, magn difficultate, et non sine damno nostrorum, recuperata, propriis filiis hodie restituta est, et liberata de manu regis BabyloniÆ jugoque Turcorum. Sed modo cavendum est, ne avaritiÂ, aut pigriti vel misericordi erga inimicos habitÂ, hanc amittamus, captivis et adhuc residuis in urbe gentilibus, parcentes. Nam si forte À rege BabyloniÆ in multitudine gravi occupati fuimus. subito ab intus et extra impugnabimur, sicque in perpetuum exilium transportabimur. Unde primum et fidele nobis videtur consilium, quatenus universi Saraceni et Gentiles, qui captivi tenentur, pecunia redimendi, aut redempti, sine dilatione in gladio corruant, ne fraude aut ingenio illorum nobis aliqua occurrant adversa. Consilio hoc accepto, tertio die post victoriam egressa est sententia À majoribus; et ecce universi arma rapiunt, et miserabili cÆdi in omne vulgus gentilium, quod adhuc erat residuum, exagunt, alios producentes À vinculis, et decollantes; alios per vicos et plateas civitatis inventos trucidantes, quibus antea pecuniÆ causÂ, aut human pietate pepercerant. Puellis tenellis detruncabant, aut lapidibus obruebant, in nullis aliquam considerantes Ætatem. E contra puellÆ, mulieres, matronÆ, metu momentaneÆ mortis angustatÆ et horrere gravissimÆ necis concussÆ, Christianos, in jugulum utriusque sexus debacchantes ac sÆvientes, medios pro liberand vit amplexabantur, quÆdam pedibus eorum advolvebantur, de vit et salute su illos mirum miserando fletu et ejulatu sollicitantes. Pueri vero quinquennes aut triennes matrum patrumque crudelem casum intuentes, unÀ miserum clamorem et fletum multiplicabant; sed frustra hÆc pietatis et misericordiÆ signa fiebant. Nam Christiani sic neci totum laxaverunt animum, ut non sugens masculus aut foemina, nedum infans unius anni vivens manum percussoris evaderet. Unde plateÆ totius civitatis Jerusalem, corporibus extinctis virorum, mulierum, lacerisque membris infantium adeo stratÆ et opertÆ fuisse referuntur, ut non solÙm in vicis, soliis, et palatiis, sed etiam in locis desertÆ solitudinis, copia occisorum reperiebatur innumerabilis.”—Alb. Aq. lib. 6, cap. 30, ap. Bong. pp. 282, 283.

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No. 8.

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

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

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

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

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No. 9.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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No. 10.

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

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

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

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

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No. 11.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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No. 12.

Bull of Pope Eugenius III. for the Second Crusade.

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

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

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

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

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

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No. 13.

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

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

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

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

*******

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

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

*******

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

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

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

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No. 14.

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

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

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

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

*******

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

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

*******

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

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

*******

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

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

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No. 15.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We further order, that in all places where divine service is celebrated, it shall be at nine o’clock, and that from the Advent of the Lord to his Nativity.

Every one, without distinction, abstaining from eating flesh on the Friday and Saturday of each week, we and our brethren further interdict the use of it on Tuesdays among ourselves, unless personal infirmities, a festival, or some other good cause excuse us; hoping by this means that the Lord will be appeased, and will leave us his benediction.

Such are our regulations on this subject, and whoever shall infringe them shall be considered as a transgressor of the fast of Lent.

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

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No. 16.

The Council of Paris, held in 1188, under the Pontificate of Pope Clement III. The Tenths, called Saladin Tenths, were then decreed, to provide for the Expenses of the War against Saladin, King of the Turks.

In the month of March of the year of grace 1188, towards Mid-Lent, a general council, to which were summoned the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and barons of the kingdom, was convoked at Paris by King Philip. An infinite number of soldiers and people there took the cross. It was resolved, with the consent of the clergy and the people, that, considering the urgent wants then experienced (the king having nothing more at heart than the undertaking of the voyage to Jerusalem), a general tenth, from which no one should be exempt, which was named the Saladin tenth,[135] should be pre-levied for that year only.

Establishment of the Tenth.—In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, greeting. It is ordered by us, Philip, king of France, with the advice of the archbishops, bishops, and barons of our dominions, that the bishops, prelates, and clerks of the churches convoked, and the soldiers who have taken the cross, shall not be troubled for the repayment of the debts they may have before contracted, with Jews or Christians, until two years have revolved, reckoning from the first festival of All Saints which shall follow the decree of our said lord the king: so that at the following All Saints the creditors shall receive a third of that which is due to them, and thus, from year to year, at the same period, until the entire acquittal of the debt. The interests for anterior debts shall run no longer, dating from the day on which the debtor shall have taken the cross. The Crusader who is a legitimate heir, son or son-in-law of a soldier not a Crusader, or of a widow, shall procure for his father or his mother the advantage granted by the present decree, provided he be not in the enjoyment of other revenues than that arising from the labour of his father and mother; but if their son or son-in-law was not at their charge, or even if he did not bear arms and the cross, they shall not enjoy the said advantage; but the debtors who shall have lands and revenues, within the fortnight which follows the approaching festival of John the Baptist, shall point out to his creditors the lands and revenues upon which they shall be able to recover their debts, on the terms above expressed, and according to the form prescribed, by means of the lords in the jurisdiction of whom these lands shall be. The lords shall have no power to oppose this consignment, short of satisfying the creditor themselves. Those who shall not have lands or revenues enough to form such a consignment, shall furnish their creditors guarantees and securities for the acquittal of their debts at the term fixed; if within the fortnight after the festival of St. John the Baptist, they have not satisfied their creditors by a consignment of lands, or by guarantees and securities, if they have no property, as it has been ordered, they shall not enjoy the privilege granted to others. If a clerk or a crusade soldier be the debtor of a clerk or of a crusade soldier, he shall not be troubled before the next All Saints, provided he can furnish him with a good guarantee for payment at that time.

If one of the Crusaders, eight days before the Purification of the Virgin, or later, consign, in favour of his creditor, some money, some work, or some bill, the creditor cannot be forced on that account to consider him liberated. The bargain by which a man has bought of another Crusader the annual produce of an estate is good and valid. If a soldier or a clerk has engaged or consigned his lands or his revenue for some years to another Crusader, or to a clerk or a soldier not crossed, the debtor, for that year, shall collect the produce of the lands or the revenues; but the creditor, after the expiration of the years during which he has enjoyed the consignment or the guarantee, shall continue to enjoy it a year longer, to compensate for the loss of the first year; so that, however, the creditor shall have for that first year half of the revenue for the cultivation, if he has cultivated the vines and the lands which were consigned to him as security. All bargains which shall have been made eight days before the Purification of the Virgin, or which shall be made after, shall be authentic. It will be necessary for all the debts coming within the favour of the present decree, that the debtor shall give a guarantee as good, or even better than that which he had given before. If the parties are not agreed upon the goodness of the guarantee, it shall be referred to the lord of the creditor; if he do not answer to this demand, the affair shall be taken before the suzerain. If the lords or princes under whose direction the creditors or the debtors may be, refuse to give their hand to the execution of that which is ordered by the present decree, on account of the privileges given to the debtor, or of the consignments to be made, and if, warned by the metropolitan or the bishop, they have not done it within forty days, they will be liable to excommunication; but if the lord or the suzerain make it his duty to show, in presence of the metropolitan or the bishop, that he has not failed in this formality towards the creditor, or even the debtor, and that he is ready to execute what is ordered, the metropolitan or the bishop cannot excommunicate him. No Crusader, whether clerk, soldier, or other, shall be held responsible but for debts already demanded legally at the time at which they shall have taken the cross; he shall not be passible to others before his return from the Holy Land. They who are not Crusaders shall pay, at least this year, the tenth of all their property and revenues, except the monks of the order of Citeaux, of the Chartreux, of Fontevraud, and the lazar-houses, with regard to the property which belongs to them. Nobody shall meddle with the property of the communes, unless it be the lord of whom they hold. For the rest, every one shall retain the rights he had before in the commune. The grand justiciary of an estate shall always levy the tenths of it. Let it be observed, that they who are subject to pay the tenth, shall pay it upon all their goods and revenues, without beforehand subtracting their debts. It is not till after they have paid the tenth that they may pay their creditors from the remainder of their property; all laymen, as well soldiers as those that are subject to the taille (poll-tax, or something like land-tax), upon taking the oath, under pain of anathema, and clerks under pain of excommunication, shall pay the tenth. The soldier who is not crossed shall pay to his lord who is crossed, and of whom he holds, the tenth of his own property and of the fief which he holds of him. If he holds no fief of him, he will pay him the tenth of his own property, and will pay the tenth to those of whom he holds directly. If he holds of no lord, he will pay the tenth of his own property to him upon whose fief he lives. If a man possessing an estate in proper, finds upon his estate tenths belonging to another than to him to whom he owes them, and if the proprietor can prove that they legitimately belong to him, the former cannot retain these tenths. The crossed soldier, a legitimate heir or son-in-law of a non-crossed soldier, or of a widow, will receive the tenth of his father or mother. Nobody shall lay hands on the property of archbishops, bishops, chapters, or churches that depend upon them, but the archbishops, bishops, chapters, or churches themselves. If the bishops collect the tenths, they shall remit them to those who are appointed to receive them. The Crusader subject to the taille, or to the tenth, and who shall refuse to pay them, shall be arrested, and placed at the disposal of him to whom he is indebted. He who has arrested him cannot be excommunicated for doing so. He who shall pay his tenth with readiness, according to the law and without constraint, shall be recompensed by God.

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No. 17.

Note upon the Greek Fire, taken from the Manuscript Life of Saladin, by Renaudot.

It is certain that the artificial fire called Greek fire, sea fire, or liquid fire, the composition of which is found in the Greek and Latin historians, was very different from that which the Orientals began at this time to make use of, and the effect of which was the more surprising, from the cause of it being entirely unknown; for whereas the first was prepared of wax, pitch, sulphur, and other combustible materials, there was nothing in this but naphtha or petrol, of which there were springs near Bagdad, like those of which the ancients speak, near Ecbatana and on the frontiers of Media. All naturalists agree that this bituminous matter takes fire very easily, and that it is impossible to extinguish it with anything but sand, vinegar, and urine. An experiment was made with it before Alexander, by lighting a great quantity of it by trains, which burnt for a long time without being able to be extinguished; a buffoon, even, having been rubbed with it, the fire injured him so seriously that there was great difficulty in saving his life. And yet, notwithstanding the ancients were acquainted with it, it is not known that they frequently employed it in war, nor that it entered into the composition of the true Greek fire, invented, according to common opinion, by Callinichus, under Constantine Pogonatus, but which is, notwithstanding, more ancient by many centuries. Thus it is very probable that the Orientals, not having made any use of it before this siege, Ebn-el-Mejas employed it successfully as a new invention; and that the Christians, on account of the resemblance, called it the Greek fire, from the idea they conceived that it might be the same as that with which the whole Levant was acquainted. This fire having been in use for the defence of besieged places, was called oleum incendiarium, oleum medicum; and it was employed in the time of Valentinian, under whom Vegetius, a military author, who gives the composition of it, wrote his work. Æneas, an ancient author quoted by Polybius, also speaks of it in his Treatise upon the Defence of Cities, and Callinichus added nothing new to it, except the machines, or copper pipes, by means of which they employed it for the first time at sea, and burnt the Arabian fleet near Cyzicus. The Greeks continued afterwards to use these machines, with which they armed their fire-ships, and never communicated the knowledge of it to any other nation; any more than did the Mahometans their naphtha fire, when they had once learned the practice. Thus the names became confounded by the ignorance of the two nations; the Greeks calling, with much reason, the artificial fire of the Mussulmans, Media fire, and the Latins comprising both under the name of Greek fire; as the Orientals afterwards called gunpowder naphtha, from the relation they found between it and that fire which it made them abandon.

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No. 18.

Memoir upon the Forest of Saron, or the Enchanted Forest of Tasso.

Most of the places in Palestine, in which battles were fought between the Franks and the Saracens, were, towards the end of the eighteenth century, the theatre of many conflicts between the French and the Mussulmans. The French, in 1799, put the Syrians to flight in the neighbourhood of Arsur, on the same spot where Richard gained a great victory over Saladin. We feel pleasure in presenting to our readers the very interesting Memoir of M. Paultre, who made the campaign in Syria, and who identified the forest of Saron, or the enchanted forest of Tasso.

“The 24 Ventose, an 7 (14th of March, 1799), our army, leaving Jaffa to march upon St. Jean d’Acre, after an hour and a half’s progress, arrived on the edge of a torrent, which flowed from Lidda, and fell into the sea at a short distance on our left; the crossing of this torrent presented many difficulties to our artillery.

“Before us was a plain of about a league in width, but which, on our left, extended to the sea, where it was inclosed by dunes, or small sand-hills, covered with verdure; whilst on our right, it extended for two or three leagues, and was lost in the declivities of the mountains of Gofna and Naplouse, called by the Hebrews, Mount Garizim. The torrent we had just passed was the ancient boundary between the tribes of Dan and Benjamin with that of Ephraim, on the territory of which we were about to march.

“The plain appeared to be closed before us by a wooded ascent, extending from the principal chain which ran along the plains of Palestine, on our left, quite to the seashore; our route was through these woods, and it would have been dangerous to approach them without having reconnoitred them; the more so from our knowing the Syrian army to be at a small distance from us, and it might be expected they had thrown some parties into them, to oppose our passage, and take the advantage which difficult and covered places might offer them. This forest, placed upon a very elevated hill, presented to us a picturesque aspect, which pleasingly recalled the sites of our beautiful wooded countries of France.

“The French general availed himself of the moment which the passage of the torrent retarded the march of the army, to have the different issues of this forest reconnoitred by our vanguard, and to assure himself that the roads were practicable. At nine o’clock in the morning, the general who commanded the cavalry informed him that the route was free, that there was no party of the enemy in the woods, and that the army might advance with safety. According to this advice, the march was resumed, and after proceeding for an hour over a level plain, we began to enter the wood, and ascend a hill, where the road became very difficult for our pieces and our carriages. The route we followed appeared to be very little frequented, although our guides assured us it was the high road to Jaffa, St. Jean d’Acre, and Damascus. Sands, rocks, bushes, ravines, and steep hills, rendered our march very painful; it might have been said that routes had never been traced in these cantons; and I cannot better compare that which we followed than to the cross-roads of our least-frequented forests in France. Branches of trees, whole trunks, fallen from age or accident, with enormous rocks, at every step barred the way, and our sappers had infinite trouble to clear a passage for our carriages and loaded camels. If the enemy had known how to take advantage of the circumstance, and had augmented our difficulties by some redoubts or barricades of trees, it would have been impossible for us to have forced the passage; some parties of infantry, or only some armed peasants, would have been able to do us much injury, and entirely have stopped the march of our army, in places already nearly impassable by their nature. But happily, we had to do with enemies who had no suspicion of even the first elements of military tactics; for, whilst our columns traversed with so much difficulty these woody and rocky mountains, where it would have been so easy to stop us, and fight us with advantage, they awaited us peaceably, four leagues further on, in a clear plain, where our artillery and our manoeuvres gave us every advantage over them; as they had good reason to know on the morrow. After a painful march of two leagues, across the forest, the army halted on issuing from the wood, and took up a position on the northern side of the hill, near the village of Meski, where our headquarters were established. A torrent flowed at a small distance in front of our position; and our light troops, who had already passed it, informed us that they could perceive, in a vast plain which extended from the side of St. Jean d’Acre, parties of Syrian and Mameluke cavalry, which indicated the neighbourhood of the enemy’s army. Dispositions were then taken to keep us in readiness, in case they should march to attack us; but the evening and the night passed without a blow being struck; and, on the morrow, after having crossed the torrent without opposition, we presented ourselves before them in battle-array in the plain of Quoquoun, at the foot of the mountains of Naplouse, and, after a slight affair, we drove them back to the plain of Esdrelon, whence they effected their retreat upon St. Jean d’Acre.

“Description of the Forest of Saron.—The woods we had just crossed are known in the country under the name of the Forest of Saron; they extend over a vast hill, which is one of the western counterforts of the chain which separates the valley of the Jordan from the plains of Palestine, and which is itself a prolongation of Mount Libanus. This hill, designated by the Hebrews, Mount Saron, is detached from the principal chain below the city of Naplouse, and extends to the sea, where it terminates by low rocks and hills, between Jaffa and Arsouf, the ancient Apollonius; it may be of eight or nine leagues in length, from Mount Garizim, where it quits the principal chain, to the seashore; its mean width is between two and three leagues, and its height is progressive, from Naplouse to the shore of the Mediterranean, where it terminates in rocks and hills of a moderate height. It is bordered on the north by the torrent of Arsouf (Naher-el-Hadder), which has its source below Naplouse, in Mount Garizim; passes near the ruins of ancient Antipatris, and falls into the sea near Arsouf, after a course of seven or eight leagues. To the south, it is parallel with the torrent of Lidda, the ancient Disopolis, which rises in Mount Acrabatene, off Jericho, near Gofna and Gazer, passes Lidda, and falls into the sea at about a league north of Jaffa, after a course of from eight to ten leagues. These two torrents flow parallel with each other, and make almost the same turns, being directed by the declivity of the same hill. The mean distance between their beds is from five to six leagues, which was the width of the land of the ancient tribe of Ephraim, upon the centre of which extended Mount Saron, whose base, two or three leagues wide, terminates at these torrents, by two little lateral plains, of a league in width, or thereabouts.

“The forest covers the side of the hill, from the principal chain to within three-quarters of a league of the seashore; which gives it a length of from seven to ten leagues, and from two to three in width. The chain of Mounts Acrabatene and Garizim appeared to me barren, or covered only with brushwood. The declivities of Mount Saron are more steep and broken on the north than on the south side; its base is a limestone rock, which, in many places of the forest, rises above the surface in great blocks, heaped one upon another. In general, I cannot better compare the sites of this part of Palestine, than to those of the environs of Fontainebleau. The forest of Saron is composed solely of oaks, of the species designated by the ancients, Quercus cerrus; its leaves are more smooth and less indented than those of our common oaks. The capsule of the acorns is of very large dimensions; I have seen many of from ten to twelve lines in diameter, at their opening, and which had contained acorns of that size; the scales or shells which cover this capsule were not rounded and placed one upon another, as with that of the oaks of Burgundy, but were terminated in points, and bent outwards in a volute form, or like little hooked points, which has obtained for this oak the name of Quercus cunita; the leaves were covered with those tubercles, known in commerce as gall-nuts. These oaks did not appear to me to be susceptible of gaining any considerable size; most of them, although announcing great age, might be embraced by a single man, and had, at most, a square of from seven to eight inches. The trunk was knotty and not very straight, and in few cases was more than from twenty-five to thirty feet high; their top was rather orbicular than pyramidal, like that of our apple and chestnut-trees of Europe. Their bark was, however, more smooth and less furrowed than that of our oaks of the same age. In general, the growth of these trees was nearly like that in the gravelly woods of the dry and elevated coasts of Lower Burgundy, and I believe that the same cause, want of depth of vegetable earth and moisture, may produce this resemblance, although under different climates. And yet I suspect the wood to be very hard, and of good quality; but being knotty, twisted, and of small size, it can be of very little use for building purposes: thus, Solomon, to build his temple, was obliged to get his timber from Libanus, whilst the forest of Saron was at the very gates of Jerusalem. Our first Crusaders, at the time of the siege of the holy city, being obliged to bring thither the wood for the construction of their machines and towers of attack, complained that this forest could only furnish them with pieces of small dimension, which rendered their building labours long and difficult. Perhaps, since that period, there has been no occasion for having recourse to this forest, which now is only used by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who cut, on its outskirts, the wood they stand in need of. The government takes no notice of a property which can be turned to no public profit; considering the difficulty of transporting squared timber, in a country where carriages are not used, and where everything is carried upon the backs of camels; besides, so little wood is used for firing in hot climates, that this forest cannot have much value for that purpose even.

“I have now to prove that this forest of Saron was that in which our first Crusaders, at the siege of Jerusalem in 1099, went to cut their timber for the construction of the machines and towers they employed in the attack of the city.

“According to William of Tyre, it was a Syrian who pointed it out to the duke of Normandy and the count of Flanders. This historian places it at a distance of seven or eight miles from Jerusalem, and remarks that the trees of this forest being of small growth, and not capable of furnishing the strong timber of which they stood in need, the difficulty of procuring any other in a country in which woods were very rare, obliged them to form these machines of pieces fastened together, which required much time and labour.

“Casu affuit quidam fidelis indigena natione Syrus, qui in valles quasdam secretiores, sex aut septem ab urbe distantes milliaribus quosdam de principibus direxit, ubi arbores, etsi non ad conceptum opus aptas penitÙs, tamen ad aliquem modum bonas invenerunt plures.”

William of Tyre is mistaken in the distances, when stating this forest to be six or seven miles from Jerusalem, whilst it is really ten or eleven leagues from it. He places it likewise in a deep valley, which could only be correct if considered with reference to the mountains of Gosna and Naplouse, from which the Crusaders might have descended to cut the wood of which they stood in need.

“Raoul of CaËn, equally a contemporary historian, is more exact in the placing of this forest, and proves to us in an irrefutable manner, that it was that of Saron in which the Crusaders went to cut the timbers for the siege; for he places it at the foot of the mountains of Naplouse, exactly where it now exists.

“Lucus erat in montibus, et montes ad Hyerusalem remoti ei, quÀ modÒ Neapolis, olim Sebasta, ante Sychar dictus est, propiores, adhuc ignota nostratibus via, nunc celebris et fermÈ peregrinatium unica.”—Rad. Cad. cap. 121.

“In fact, to come from St. Jean d’Acre to Jerusalem, it is necessary to pass through this forest; and I do not know how the Crusaders could pass it without observing it, in their march from Antioch to the holy city. Apparently having followed the shores of the sea from CÆsarea to Jaffa, and the high hills that were on their left, prevented their seeing it.

“Le PerÈ Maimbourg does better; knowing that Palestine is a country in which woods have at all times been rare, in his History of the Crusades,’ he doubts the existence of this forest, which is, to the best of my belief, the only one in these cantons.

“Tasso, whose poetical and rich imagination delighted in creating so many wonderful things, was not stopped by such trifling considerations, and in his Jerusalem Delivered, the forest of Saron has supplied him with one of the finest episodes of his poem.

“I must here hazard some ideas upon the origin of the name of the forest, of the city, and of the country of Saron. M. D’Anville, in his map of Palestine, gives to the part of the territory of the tribe of Ephraim, comprised between the torrent of Lidda and that of Apollonias, the name of Saronas, which he writes as the name of the country; and it is precisely on this spot that the forest of Saron exists, of which, perhaps, M. D’Anville had no kind of knowledge. He likewise places between these two torrents above Lidda, a city called Thamnath Sara, in a country which he denominates Tamnitica, which now forms part of the forest where Mount Saron again unites with the principal chain.

“In the map of the Holy Land, by M. Robert, after the manuscripts of the Sieurs Sanson, there is a city of Sarona, situated between Lidda and Antipatris, towards the centre of the present forest. He makes this city a royal city of the Hebrews. He places, as M. D’Anville does, the city of Thamnath Sara; and at a short distance to the north, a city of Ozensara.

“The resemblance of these different names leads me to think they may be all formed from the primitive Sar, which, in many languages, signifies oaks, woods, forests as Diodorus points out, in book v., when saying that the Gauls gave the name of Saronides to certain philosophers of their country, because they dwelt in forests of oaks, and taught under the shade of those trees. We have preserved this sar in the word sarman, the wood of the vine; in serpe (or sarpe, low Breton), an instrument to cut wood; surbacane, a perforated stick, to throw small arrows or other projectiles; sarse, a wooden cask; esserter, or essarter, to pull up bushes in a place about to be cultivated.

“I leave it to pens more versed than mine in the science of etymology, to follow this subject in a more learned and certain manner.

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No. 19.

Ralph Dicet.

Ralph Dicet was of London, and lived, as it is said, in the reign of John; he was a man remarkable for his piety and learning.

He says: “In 1185, the king of England (Henry II.) convoked the conventual abbots, the counts and barons, near the Fountain of the Clerks,[136] at London.

“After having heard the patriarch, and the master of the Hospitallers, the king entreated all who were present to send to Jerusalem all the assistance in their power. They then deliberated whether it was proper for the king to go in person to Palestine, or whether he ought to remain in England, to govern it, as he had engaged to do, before the assembled church. The king promised to furnish succours, in men and money, to repress all violences and iniquities of every kind, and that equity and mercy should preside over all judgments. It appeared most prudent for the king to govern his kingdom with suitable moderation, and to defend it from the irruptions of the barbarians.

“In the same year, the kings of France and England had an interview at Gisors, where they received the cross from the hands of the archbishop of Tyre. It was agreed that all the French Crusaders should wear a red cross, those of England a white cross, and those of the counts of Flanders a green one.[137]

Ralph says that when the cross was taken in England, a general tenth upon all property was levied, for the assistance of Jerusalem. This levy was made with so much violence as to terrify both the clergy and the people. Under the title of alms, it was enforced with a spirit of exaction and rapacity.

After this observation, the historian places the letters patent of Philip, king of France, and Richard, king of England, which order that the Crusaders should set out from both countries in the octave of Easter, under pain of excommunication and interdiction; and forbid any one to do injury to the Crusaders during their absence. These letters are dated 30th December.

Ralph Dicet’s work terminates in the year 1199. It is excellent for dates, and for many passages of it.

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No. 20.

Ralph of Coggershall.

Ralph of Coggershall, an Englishman by birth, flourished about the year 1220, in the reign of Henry III., son of John. He was of the order of Citeaux. His merit and his learning raised him to the dignity of abbot of the monastery of Coggershall, in the county of Essex. He is the author of many works.

D. Martenne, when publishing Ralph’s “Chronicon Anglicanum,” is astonished, and apparently with reason, that the English, who are so jealous of the glory of their country, have shown such neglect for the works of this author, whom their scholars value so highly.

Ralph, like the other chroniclers, is dry and brief, and it is not before the invasion of Palestine by Saladin that he abandons the style of the chronicler to assume that of the historian.

After having spoken of the arrival of the kings of France and England in Sicily, of that which Richard did in the isle of Cyprus, of the victory which this prince gained over the Saracen vessels before landing at Acre, of the siege and reduction of that place, of the divisions which broke out between Philip Augustus and Richard, of the taking of several maritime cities by Richard, and of the death of the marquis of Montferrat, Ralph of Coggershall relates that the duke of Burgundy, left in Palestine by Philip Augustus, who had returned home, came to join Richard, in order to fight together against the enemies of Christ; and that it was resolved to go and besiege Jerusalem. He describes the victory which Richard gained over a rich caravan which was on its way to that city. He says, that while this prince was in his camp, before the castle of Ernald, and the duke of Burgundy, with his troops, was in the fortress of Betenoble, a spy came to warn the king that in the night he had heard some men and camels come down from the mountains, and that he had followed them. He added, that he had discovered they were sent by Saladin to the duke of Burgundy, and that the camels, to the number of five, were loaded with gold, silver, and silken vestments. The spy had orders from the king to take with him some of the king’s guards, and lie in ambush for the messengers of Saladin on their return. All which he did; he surprised them, took them, and brought them to the king. Richard drew from one of them by torture the secret intrusted to them. He acknowledged that the sultan had sent them to the duke. On the following day Richard sent for the duke, the patriarch, and the prior of Bethlehem. He had a private conference with them, and swore, before them, on the Gospel, that he was ready to go with his army and besiege Jerusalem, or Babylonia, or Berytus, without the possession of which places the king could not be crowned. Richard, after having taken this oath, desired the duke to take his. The duke refused, because the Templars and the French had assured him he should incur the anger of Philip, if Richard, by their means, triumphed in Jerusalem. Richard flew into a great rage, treated the duke as a traitor, and reproached him with receiving presents from Saladin. The duke denied all he was accused of. Then Richard sent for the messengers of Saladin. When they had been introduced, and had revealed their secret, the king ordered his guards to shoot them to death with arrows in presence of the whole army; which was done, without the troops of Richard or of the duke knowing the cause of this severity, or whence these messengers came, or what they had done. The duke of Burgundy, much ashamed, immediately retired with his troops, and took the road to Acre. Richard, upon hearing of this retreat, instantly sent messengers to the guards of the city, forbidding them to allow any Frenchman to enter. The duke encamped without the walls. The king struck his camp on the following day; and, following the duke, he also pitched his tents on the outside of the city.

Ralph then gives long details of the battle of Jaffa, which took place soon after. As this battle is one of those in which the valour and skill of Richard were displayed with the greatest advantage, and as the historians we have followed in our account of the third crusade, have only presented us with inexact details of this event, we think it but justice to the lion-hearted king to give an extract from that which Ralph says of it.

Richard had been reposing with his army three days before PtolemaÏs, when he was informed that Saladin was besieging Jaffa with all his troops; and that the city would soon be taken, and the garrison slaughtered, if he did not afford the besieged prompt assistance. Richard, afflicted with this news, endeavoured to bring back the duke of Burgundy to sentiments of concord; but this prince rejected all his advances, and set out with his troops that same night for Tyre. Shortly after arriving there, he finished his life miserably in the delirium of a fever; which Ralph considers as a just chastisement from heaven Richard embarks with a part of his army, and trusts himself to the seas; but the vessels were driven towards the isle of Cyprus, by contrary winds and the fury of the waves, so that they who remained on land believed that the king had retreated secretly. This likewise accounts for some authors having said that Richard went to the isle of Cyprus. The king, and those who accompanied him, after having struggled against the winds and waves for three days, at length succeeded, by rowing obliquely, in anchoring with three vessels in the port of Jaffa.

Saladin, by repeated assaults, had already rendered himself master of the city, and had put to death all the infirm and the wounded. The garrison had retired into the castle, and were already thinking of surrendering by capitulation, when the patriarch, who went freely from one army to the other, told them that Saladin’s soldiers had resolved to kill them all, to avenge their relations and friends, whom Richard had put to death without pity on several occasions; and that they would not escape death, if even Saladin should grant them permission to retire. In spite of this information, the garrison hesitated, and saw no hope of avoiding the fate which awaited them, when the vessels of the king appeared in the port. This sight restored their courage. On his part, Richard, perceiving that the fortress of the city was not taken, jumped on shore fully armed, followed by his troops, and like a furious lion, rushes amidst the hosts of enemies that cover the shore. He advances audaciously, through the arrows which pour upon him from all sides, cutting down all in his way. The Turks, unable to stand against such an attack, and believing that Richard had brought a more numerous army with him, precipitately abandoned the siege, and not without experiencing a great loss. They were so terrified, that nothing could stop them before they had got safely within the walls of Roemula. The king, after this encounter, went boldly and pitched his tents under the walls of the city, in a plain near to Saint Abacue, for the Crusaders could not remain in the city on account of the odour arising from the dead killed on both sides, which had been placed, by mistake, by the side of a number of carcasses of pigs.

When it was announced to Saladin, on the following day, that Richard had arrived with only eighty soldiers, and the four hundred cross-bowmen who formed his guard, he broke into a great rage with his army, for having fled before so small a number. He immediately ordered his cavalry to return to Jaffa, and to bring him, the next day, the king alive and a captive.

That night Richard reposed tranquilly in his camp, suspecting nothing; when, at daybreak, the infidels surrounded his camp so completely, that there was no passage by which he could take refuge in the city. Three thousand Saracens entered Jaffa; and the Christians, awakened by noise and cries, were struck with terror at finding themselves enveloped on all sides.

At the sight of such a sudden danger, Richard quickly assumes his armour, mounts on horseback, and banishing all fear, appears, on the contrary, more bold in proportion with the number of his enemies. He animates his men to the fight; he tells them they ought not to fear death when they have to defend their religion, and avenge the insults offered to Christ; that it would be more glorious for them to fall for the law of Christ, and in falling, courageously to strike down his enemies, than to give themselves basely up to them, or to seek safety in a flight which was become impossible. Whilst addressing them thus, Richard ranged his companions in a close battalion, so that, during the combat, the enemy might be able to find no open space through which to break them. He then caused to be planted, at the foot of every one, tent-poles, which served them for a rampart. Whilst they were thus employed, as well as the time permitted, and that, on their side, the infidels, armed and waited, talking among themselves, one of the chamberlains of the king rushed from the city, and arrived at the camp, crying out with a lamentable voice, as it has been reported to us by Hugh de Nevil, who was in this battle, “Alas! my lord, we shall all perish; we have no resource left. A numberless multitude of pagans have got possession of the city, and we have before us troops as uncountable, who threaten us with death.” The king, in great anger, commanded him to be silent; and swore he would strike off his head if he dared to speak such words before any one of the soldiers. Richard immediately harangued his troop afresh; he exhorted them not to be terrified by the numbers of the pagans; he told them he would go into the city to ascertain what was passing; and, taking with him six determined warriors and the royal standard, he intrepidly enters Jaffa, opens himself a road with sword and lance, precipitates himself upon the enemies, who are assembled in the public places, attacks them, cuts them down, kills them. The warriors who accompany him overturn all they meet, and slaughter them without mercy. The irruption of the king was so sudden and so violent, that most who fell were ignorant what power it was that destroyed them. The enemies fled before the king, who pursued them as flocks fly before a lion inflamed by hunger.

Richard having, by his incomparable valour, cut down or put to flight the infidels who were in the city, made some of the soldiers of the garrison, who had retired into the castle, come and take charge of the gates and walls of the place.

After this incredible victory, the king returned with his six warriors to the army. Nevertheless, he was much afflicted at having so few horses; for there were but six and a mule in all the camp. To animate his soldiers still further, Richard related to them what the Lord had done in the city, by means of his arm, and how so small a number had triumphed over such a host of enemies: “For this reason,” exclaimed he, “let us invoke the aid of the all-powerful God, in order that he may to-day crush our enemies. Be sure to resist the first shock, and sustain courageously the violence of the first blows. Beware of breaking; for if separated, you will be torn to pieces like sheep, without strength and without defence. If, on the contrary, you can sustain the first charge without breaking, you will have nothing to fear from the courage of your enemies. You will triumph, with the help of God, over the enemies of Christ. But if I see any one of you show the least fear, or leave a passage for the enemy, or turn aside, I swear, by the all-powerful God, I will myself strike off his head.”

When the king had thus exhorted and animated his men to the fight, all raised their lances, and, by their prayers, invoked the assistance of God; but whilst many among them, no doubt, were reflecting that they had nothing but a cruel death before them, the sound of trumpets and the noise of clarions announced the approach of the infidels, who came down upon the Christians like a torrent, with their lances directed towards them, and uttering loud and frightful cries. The Turks expected that the Christians would give way at the first charge; that they would disperse over the plain; that their ranks would be broken; and that they would allow themselves to be cut to pieces almost without resistance. But the Christian battalion remained firm and motionless, without yielding a foot to either the terror or the violence of the assault. The Turks wondered at this unheard of audacity in so small a number, and reining up their horses, retired backwards some distance, yet not so far but that they might touch each other with their lances on both sides. Not an arrow was discharged, not a javelin was thrown; they only threatened each other with gesture, voice, and countenance. The Turks remained thus for half an hour, and then returned to their first position, murmuring and talking to themselves. They drew back from the Christians nearly half a stadium. Upon seeing this, the king broke into loud laughter, crying, “Brave soldiers of Christ! did not I tell you so? Did not I tell you they would not dare to measure themselves with you, unless we attacked them first? They have shown us all their courage, and everything that they thought could inspire us with fear and terror. They thought to frighten us by their numbers, and that we should not dare to resist their first charge. They expected us to submit, like women, to their blows, and fly here and there over the plain. Cursed be he now who would seek to avoid their charge, or who would fear to measure himself with them. Sustain their assaults with courage, as you have just done, until, with the help of God, we triumph over them.”

Richard had scarcely ceased to speak, when the infidels advanced afresh, uttering their cries, and sounding their trumpets; they, however, halted at a short distance from the Christians. The latter remaining motionless as before, and showing, if possible, greater intrepidity, the infidels returned a second time to their position, without venturing to strike a blow. They repeated this five or six times, from the first hour of the day to the ninth. Richard, who began to be tired of such long inactivity, and whose courage increased proportionately with the intrepidity of those around him, ordered his troop, when the infidels came down again, to launch some arrows and darts at them, and let them feel the points of their lances, so as to provoke them to fight. He commanded his cross-bowmen to march before the soldiers, and discharge their arrows, bolts, and javelins at the enemy, which was done; and when the Turks, according to their custom, advanced uttering hideous cries, and appeared ready to overwhelm the Christians, the latter attacked them with their lances, their swords, and all sorts of weapons, overthrowing them and killing them. The carnage soon produced cries of agony and disorder in the ranks of the enemy. Some were run through with lances, others were cast headlong from their horses; these were wounded in the head, those were pierced by arrows; and a vast number were slain by darts and javelins. The intrepid Richard, whose resplendent arms glittered like fire, and who had till that moment neither given nor received a wound, now all at once dashed amidst the infidel ranks, with his sword in one hand, and his lance in the other,[138] striking sparks from the helmets and armour of all he encountered, right and left. He rushed among the thickest of the enemy’s battalions, without seeking to avoid their blows, and without ceasing to deal mortal ones. At one time he was surrounded by a hundred Saracens, who attacked him alone. He falls upon them; he strikes off the head of one at a blow; he divides the shoulders from the body of another; he cuts off the hand of this one, and the arm of that one; others he overthrows, and renders incapable of defence. The rest disperse, and seek to avoid his blows. Richard inspires such terror that no one dares to wait for him, no one dares encounter him. The soldiers of Richard follow their king as they would have followed their standard; they penetrate the enemy, slaughtering without compunction, all who either resist or fall in their way. The infidels fall with lamentable cries; striking the earth with head and feet, and their lives gush out with their blood. Although they attacked the Christians with vigour, and hurled a shower of darts, it pleased God, however, that not one of their blows should be mortal, and that in this fight not a single Christian should perish, with the exception of one soldier, who, separating himself from his comrades, met with the death he wished to avoid by flight. The soldiers to whom Richard had confided the guarding of Jaffa, admiring the invincible courage of the king and his companions, issued in a body from the city, and fell with vigour upon the Turks. The latter, pursued without any intermission by Richard and his little army, took to flight, after losing a great number of their men, and concealed themselves in holes and caves.[139]

Ralph, of Coggershall, after describing this astonishing victory, says that Richard being attacked by the plague, determined to return into Europe. He gives an account, in a few words, of the treaty made with Saladin. He says that that which confirmed the king of England in the resolution of leaving Asia, was the news he received of his brother John’s attempts to usurp his authority in his kingdom. The battle of Jaffa was fought in the dog-days, and it was in the autumn that Richard set sail for Europe. The account which the author gives of the manner in which the king was made prisoner in Germany, is sufficiently curious to be repeated here. Ralph is the only one of the chroniclers we have analyzed who furnishes minute details on this subject.

King Richard, says he, with some of his people, was annoyed during six weeks, by a tempestuous sea. When he arrived within three leagues of Marseilles, and learnt that the Count de St. Gilles, and some other nobles, through whose states he must pass, had agreed to place ambushes for him, he resolved to return to England through Germany. He went back, and landed at the isle of Corfu. He found there two pirate vessels, which had had the audacity to attack his, and which his pilot recognised. Richard, on account of the courage and hardihood they had shown, made a bargain with the pirates, and agreed to go on board their vessels. He only took with him a small number of his people. These were Baldwin de Betune; Master Philip, the king’s clerk; Anselm, his chaplain, who himself related to us all he saw and heard; and some knights of the Temple. They landed on the coast of Sclavonia, at a city named Gazara. They immediately sent a messenger to the neighbouring castle, to request of the lord, who was master of the province, and nephew to the marquis of Montferrat, liberty to pass through his states. The king, on his return, had purchased three rubies of a Pisan, for which he gave nine hundred byzants. He had had one of these rubies set in a gold ring; and he charged the messenger to offer this ring to the lord of the castle. The latter inquired the names of those who demanded the passage. The messenger replied that they were pilgrims returning from Jerusalem, and he named Baldwin de Betune, adding that it was a merchant called Hugh, who sent him the ring. The lord of the castle, after having for a long time examined the present, replied to the messenger, “His name is not Hugh, but Richard, king of England. I have sworn,” added he, “that I will make prisoners of all pilgrims who come into this country, and that I will not receive any present from them; but on account of the value of this, and of the dignity of him who sends it, and who has honoured me thus without knowing me, I return you the ring, and I grant free liberty of passage.” The messenger went and reported this answer to the king. The pilgrims, very little satisfied with the message, left the city secretly in the night, mounted upon horses they had purchased, and made the best of their way across the country. But the lord sent a spy after them, to follow their steps and arrest the king. When Richard entered a city in which dwelt the brother of the lord, the latter called to him a trustworthy person, named Roger d’Argenten, a Norman by birth, who had been with him twenty years, and to whom he had given his niece in marriage; and ordered him to go to all the houses in which pilgrims lodged, and endeavour to discover, by language, or by some other sign, if the king were not among them. He promised him half the city if he could arrest the prince. Roger, after a long search, discovered the king, who for a considerable time dissembled, and was only induced to reveal himself by the prayers and tears of Roger. The latter immediately advised Richard to steal away, and gave him the best horse he could procure. He then went to his master, and told him that the news of the arrival of Richard was false, and that it was only Baldwin de Betune and his companions, who were returning from pilgrimage. But the master flew into a great rage, and ordered them all to be arrested. The king had left the city secretly with William de l’Etang, and a servant who understood the German language. He travelled three days and three nights without taking any food. At last, pressed by hunger, he turned from his road, to enter a city called Ginana, in Austria, on the Danube. To complete his ill fortune, the duke of Austria was then at Ginana. The king’s servant, on going to the market, displayed several byzants, and created suspicions by his discourse; he was arrested and interrogated. He answered that he served a rich merchant, whom he expected in three days. He was then released; and he went instantly to the king, relating to him what had happened, and advising him to depart without delay. But the king, who was fatigued, determined to rest for a few days. The servant, after going to the market to buy provisions, had one day the imprudence to carry with him the king’s gloves, stuck in his girdle. These gloves were very remarkable, and the servant was again arrested. Being taken before a magistrate of the city, he was put to the torture, and threatened with having his tongue cut out if he did not at once reveal the truth. The servant yielding to the agony of the question, made the confession demanded of him. Information was instantly sent to the duke; the house in which the king lodged was surrounded, and he was summoned to surrender. The king declared he would only surrender to the duke himself. The latter arrived, and the king, making a few steps to meet him, gave up his sword to him.[140] The duke, highly elated, led away the king, whom he treated honourably. He afterwards placed guards about him, who never left him, night or day, but kept watch, with drawn swords in their hands.

After this recital, Ralph makes many sad reflections upon the captivity of Richard, which he can only explain as a secret judgment of God, so astonishing and deplorable does it appear to him, that a king who had escaped so many dangers in Syria, should become the prisoner of a Christian prince, without having an opportunity to defend himself or give battle. He follows the king through his captivity, and describes his deliverance and return to his dominions. He gives an account of what happened to this prince when he had regained his kingdom, and pursues his history to the time of his death, which was in 1229. Ralph has drawn such a portrait of Richard as cannot fail to interest our readers, on account of the prominent part which that king has played in the history of the crusades.

“We had reason to hope,” says he, “that Richard, considering the liberality of his excellent mind and his great skill in the art of war, would be the model of Norman kings. In the early days of his reign he was affable to everybody; being well disposed in religious affairs, and inclined to listen to just demands; he immediately filled up the vacant bishoprics and abbeys. He promised to render justice to all. He restored to many, for sums of money, their charters, privileges, and liberties, or else renewed them. The money he thus obtained served as means for his voyage to Jerusalem. He quitted his kingdom almost immediately afterwards, and commenced his expedition with much devotion, great preparation, and infinite expense. God protected him throughout, and caused him to escape all the dangers of this war; and, by his help, the king wrested from the hands of the infidels a great portion of the Holy Land. God still evidently watched over him during his return and his captivity, and preserved him from the hands of new and numerous enemies. But when Richard was restored to his subjects, he forgot the victorious hand that had preserved him: in the maturity of age he took no pains to correct the vices which had disfigured his youth. He displayed so much harshness and obstinacy, that he tarnished by excessive severity all the virtues that had graced the commencement of his reign. He always turned a threatening eye upon those who talked to him of state affairs; he made reproaches or censures with a terrible air, and showed a furious countenance to those who did not satisfy his demands for money, or perform the promises they had made to pay him some. In private he was affable and winning, and even condescended to play or to joke. He was so greedy of money that he wished to empty every purse. He pressed the English to such a degree, in order to discharge the amount of his ransom, that he spared no order and no condition. Nevertheless, Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury and justiciary of the kingdom, mitigated, as much as he could, the effects of the cruel edicts of the king.”

Ralph, in another part of his works, after having praised the new king of England for having restored to the ecclesiastical benefices their revenues and their titularies, adds, that Richard took great delight in the divine service, and particularly in the solemnities of religion. He says that his chapel was richly ornamented; that he accompanied, with his sonorous voice, and encouraged by presents, the singers of the church; but that from the secrÈte of the mass to the post-communion, he prayed in silence, and with an earnestness which nothing could disturb. He afterwards names two abbeys which he founded or repaired, both of the order of Citeaux; one was that of Bon-Port, in Normandy, in the diocese of RouËn; the other, that of the Pine, in the diocese of Poictiers.

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No. 21.

The continuator of the history of William of Tyre relates nothing which is not found in the text, except a little trick which Saladin attempted to play off upon Richard, at the time of the battle of Jaffa, and which we think worthy of being presented to our readers. We quote the chronicle:—

“Saladin asked where the king of England was. They answered him, Sire, see him yonder on the ground, on foot, with his men.’ How,’ said Saladin, is the king on foot among his men; is he not ashamed?’ Then Saladin sent him a horse, and charged the messenger to say, that such a one as he should not be on foot among his men in such danger. The sergeant performed the commands of his lord. He came to the king and presented to him the horse sent by Saladin. The king thanked him for it, and ordered one of his own sergeants to mount it and show its paces before him. After the sergeant had spurred the horse into a gallop, and wished to return towards his master, he found he could not; for the horse, in spite of all he could do, carried him away to the Saracen host. Saladin was much ashamed of this.”

This chronicle, when speaking of the deliverance of Richard from his captivity, does not hesitate to say that it was by the advice of Philip Augustus, that such an enormous ransom was required, and that the king of France had a good share of it.

Another chronicler, Gauthier Vinisauf, says that Richard gave eight noble Turkish prisoners in exchange for William de Protelles (others name him Porcelot), who had saved his master, when taken by surprise, by throwing himself in the way of the Saracens, exclaiming, “I am King Richard.”

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No. 22.

Extract from an anonymous Chronicle contained in the MSS. of the Sorbonne, No. 454, of the Thirteenth Century.[141]

Then the king Richard turned back, and directed his course as straight and as well as he was able towards Germany, where he landed, and, with a small train, wandered about till he came to Austria (Osterriche), where he was watched by spies, and known. When he fancied he was discovered, he took the dress of a servant, and set to work in the kitchen to turn the capons; but the spy knew him, and went and informed the duke; and when the duke heard it, he sent so many knights and people that they were much the stronger, and the king was taken and sent away to a fortress, and his companions to another; and the king was sent from castle to castle, so that no one knew where he was, nor did the soldiers who guarded him know who he was.

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How Richard the King was taken out of Prison by Blondel the Minstrel.—We have told you how King Richard was put in prison by the duke of Austria, and that no one knew where he was except the duke and those he trusted. It happened that the king had for a long time entertained a minstrel, born near Artois, whose name was Blondel. This person declared to himself that he would seek his lord over the whole earth till he had found him; and set out, and wandered about from day to day, by land and water, until he had sought for a year and a half without hearing anything of the king. And it so happened that he entered into Austria, and chance led him straight to the castle where the king was confined. And the Aubergiste, near the castle was a widow woman, and he asked her to whom that castle belonged, which was so fine, so strong, and well placed. The hostess replied that “it belonged to the duke of Austria.” “Pretty hostess,” said Blondel, “is there any prisoner confined in it?” “Certes,” said she, “there is one, who has been confined nearly four years, but we do not know who he is; they guard him very carefully, and we have no doubt he is a gentleman—somebody of high quality.” When Blondel heard this he was infinitely delighted, and his heart whispered him that he had at length found him he sought; but he was careful not to allow the hostess to know this. That night he slept soundly, for his mind was at rest; and when the cock announced the day, he arose and went to the church to pray God to assist him. He then came to the castle, and addressed himself to the castellan, telling him he was a minstrel, and played upon the lute, and that he would willingly remain with him if it were agreeable to him. The castellan was a young and handsome knight, and said he would gladly retain him. Then Blondel was delighted, and went to fetch his lute and his wallet; and he exerted himself so that he greatly pleased the castellan, and became a favourite with his household. Here he remained all the winter without being able to make out who the prisoner was. At length, near the festival of Easter, as he was one day walking in the garden which surrounded the tower, examining it in all directions, in the hope of seeing the prisoner, whilst his thoughts were thus engaged, the king perceived Blondel, and, wishing to make himself known to him, called to his mind a song which they had made together, and which no one knew but the king and Blondel. So he began to sing the first verse of it in a loud and clear voice, for he sang very well. And when Blondel heard it, he became certain it was his lord; and his heart had never experienced such joy as that day. And he went from the orchard to the chamber in which he slept, and fetched his lute; then he began to play, and in his playing expressed his pleasure at having found his lord. Thus Blondel remained till Pentecost, and performed his part so well that nobody suspected him. Then Blondel went to the castellan, and said to him: “Sir, if agreeable to you, I would willingly return to my own country, for it is a long time since I left it.” “Blondel, good brother,” said the castellan, “you will not do so if you will take my advice; but remain where you are, and I will advance your fortunes.” “Certes, sir,” said Blondel, “I cannot remain on any account.” When the castellan found that he could not detain him, he bade him farewell, and gave him a good new horse. Having left the castellan, Blondel travelled so quickly that he soon arrived in England, and informed the barons and the friends of the king where and how he had found him. When they heard this news they were much delighted, for the king was the bravest knight that ever wore spur. They then determined among themselves that they would send into Austria, to the duke, to procure the deliverance of the king; and selected two of the most valiant and prudent knights for the purpose. They travelled so quickly that they soon reached the duke of Austria, whom they found in his castle. They saluted him on the part of the barons of England, and said: “Sire, they pray and beseech you to take ransom for their lord; they will give you as much as you may require.” The duke replied that he would consider of it. And when he had taken advice upon the matter, he said: “If you wish to recover your lord, you must bring two hundred thousand marks sterling; if not, say no more about it, for it will be time and trouble thrown away.” Having received the answer, they bade farewell to the duke, and said they would report it to the barons. They then returned to England, and told the barons what the duke had said; and the barons replied that he should never be detained for that. Then they got together the ransom, and sent it to the duke, and the duke delivered the king to them; but not before he had given him good security that he would never molest him.

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No. 23.

Extract from a Journey made into the country of Wales by Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury.

We have spoken, in the seventh book, of the preaching of Archbishop Baldwin, and of the account written by Gerald the Welshman (Giraldus Cambrensis), known also under the name of Barri. We think we shall gratify our readers by giving an extract from this relation, which will furnish some idea of the manners of the inhabitants of Wales in the twelfth century. The preachers went first to Hereford and Radnor. In this latter city a bishop of the country and a monk of the order of Cluni took the cross; at the same time was enrolled Rhys, son of Gruffydh, prince of the southern part of Wales. Their example was followed by Eineon, son of Eineon Clyd, prince of Ekenia, and by several other inhabitants. Giraldus relates what had happened to the lord of Radnor, in the reign of Henry I. This nobleman entered a church, where, without respect to the sanctity of the place, he passed the night with his horses and hounds. Rising early, according to the custom of hunters, he found that he was struck blind, and was told that all his hounds were dead. He was conducted back to his castle by the hand, and when he had for a long time led a sad and an unhappy life, he determined to go to Jerusalem, in order that the light of the faith might not be extinguished within him. When arrived in Palestine, he proceeded to fight with the Saracens, and mounting a fiery horse, he rushed amidst the enemies’ ranks, and expired with glory.

In the province of Warthrenion, near Radnor, an adventure no less miraculous was related among the people. Einon, son-in-law of Rhys, lord of the country, was one day hunting in the forests. One of his people struck a hind with an arrow. This hind, contrary to custom, had horns of twelve years, and as large as those of the male. This animal was considered as a prodigy of nature; but the hunter who had killed it instantly lost his right eye, was struck with paralysis, and remained during the rest of his life in a languishing state.

The people of this province held in reverence a stick which had belonged to St. Cyricus; this stick was crooked at both ends, in the shape of a cross, and was ornamented with gold and silver. It possessed the special virtue of curing the evil and humours of the neck. Those who were attacked by this sort of complaint, touched the stick, after having paid a denier. “It happened in our time,” says Giraldus, “that a man suffering from the evil only placed a single obole before the stick, and the evil was only half cured; upon this the sick man offered a second obole, and was quite cured. Another man obtained his cure by promising a denier, but as he did not perform his promise, his evil returned, and did not entirely disappear until he had offered three deniers.”

Near Eleiven, in the church of Glascum, was a bell, which was said to have been that of St. David’s. A woman, to liberate her husband, who was shut up in a neighbouring castle, carried thither the bell, which she had secretly taken from St. David’s church; but the castellans would not deliver the husband, and retained the bell: the castle was consumed during the night by a miraculous fire, which spared nothing but the wall against which the bell was suspended. An almost similar miracle happened at the little village of Luel. The church, which had been set fire to, was entirely consumed, with all it contained, with the exception of the box which contained the host.

In the province of Elevein two great lakes burst their banks, one of which was constructed by nature, and the other by the hand of man. The natural dyke changed its place, and the lake appeared two thousand paces off, in a valley, where it preserved its fish. Giraldus, when relating this singular circumstance, adds, “that in Normandy, some time before the death of Henry II. all the fish in a lake were beheld fighting during a whole night, and that crowds were drawn together to witness this strange spectacle. The next morning, not a single fish was left alive.”

In the country of Haga and Brecknock, in a lake across which the river Wye passes, before Glastonbury, the water all at once appeared of a green colour. Old men said this phenomenon took place at the time when the country was desolated by NoËl, son of Meredith. It happened in the same country, that a little boy, endeavouring to take a nest of doves, in the church of St. David, his hand remained fastened to a stone, which was considered as a miracle wrought by the saint, who wished to preserve the birds of his church. This boy, followed by his parents and friends, came and threw himself at the foot of the altar, and passed three nights fasting and praying: the stone was detached from his hand, and he was delivered. Giraldus says that he saw this boy, then become an old man, in the course of his journey, and that he related this prodigy to him. The stone was preserved in the church of St. David, and the impression of the five fingers of the boy was still visible.

A miracle not less incredible happened near St. Edmondsbury. A poor woman, with the appearance of devotion, approached the box or tronc of a holy personage, and instead of placing an offering in it, found means to steal from it every day some portion of the alms of the faithful. She kissed the tronc in such a manner, that a piece of money stuck to her tongue, which she conveyed to her mouth without being observed. One day, whilst kissing the tronc in her customary manner, her lips became fixed to it; she spit out the money which she had in her mouth, but could not release her lips from the box, during a whole day. A great number of Christians, and even Jews, came to behold this miracle, and were struck with surprise and admiration.

Archbishop Baldwin and his train preached the crusade in the fields where they found the labourers and shepherds. They gave the cross to a great number of men, who joined them in a state of perfect nudity; their wives having concealed their clothes to prevent their enrolling themselves in the crusade.

Whilst crossing the territory of Brecknock, Giraldus heard that in the church of Heveden, the concubine of the rector of the church imprudently sat down on the wooden coffin of St. Orsana, sister of King Ofred. This coffin was more elevated than the altar. When the concubine wished to rise up, she could not release her thighs from the wood, to which they were firmly fixed. The people crowded in, she was overwhelmed with blows, her clothes were torn off her back, and she was only relieved by the help of the Divinity, who, at length, was moved to pity by her tears and prayers.

The psalm-book of Quindreda, sister of St. Kenelmus, likewise operated great prodigies. On the eve of the festival of St. Kenelmus, at Winehelcumbe, a crowd of women came from all the neighbouring places to be present at the festivities given by the monks. The subcellarius fornicationem incurrit with one of those in the corridors of the cloister. On the following day, in the procession, he carried the book of psalms of which we have spoken; but when he wished to lay it down, the book remained attached to his hands. He then remembered the sin he had committed the night before; he confessed, performed penance, and, seconded by the prayers of his brethren, at length succeeded in breaking the chains the Divinity had imposed upon him. This book of psalms possessed admirable and frequently tried virtues. When the body of Kenelmus was being carried to the cemetery, and the people, on the way, cried out, “He is a martyr!” Quindreda, who was suspected of having killed her brother, answered, “It is as true that he has been assassinated as it is true that my eyes, drawn from my head, are fastened to this psalter.” At these words the two eyes of Quindreda fell from their sockets upon the open book, and left the stains of blood upon the leaves.

They likewise exhibited, in the same country, a collar or crown, which they said had belonged to St. Canaucus. A thief having endeavoured to steal it, was deprived of sight, and spent his life in darkness.

Giraldus related many other prodigies no less extraordinary. We repeat some of them in his own words. A soldier named Gilbert Hagernill, was delivered, per fenestram ejectionis, of a foal, in the presence of a great number of witnesses. He had been ill three years before the event. A mare produced an animal of extraordinary swiftness, which in its fore quarters resembled a horse, and in its hind quarters a stag.

Near the rivers Avon and Neth Giraldus was told of an adventure which had happened to a curate named Elidore. This curate, when twelve years of age, had fled from the paternal roof. After having remained two days in a cavern, he perceived two little men, who came towards him, and said: “Will you come with us? We will take you to a land of delights.” The youth followed the pigmies along a subterraneous and dark road, and discovered a beautiful country which was intersected by woods, meadows, and rivers, but which was not lighted by the sun. Young Elidore was conducted before the king of this dark country, who, after admiring him for a long time, gave him to the prince, his son. The subjects of this prince were of very small stature; they had light curly hair, which flowed over their shoulders. They had little horses, as big as our hounds. They ate neither meat nor fish, and lived, for the most part, upon milk. They never swore or took oaths, and detested falsehood. When any of them went upon the earth, they could not at all comprehend the inconstancy, perfidy, and ambition of the men whom the sun enlightened. They appeared to have no exterior worship, no religious observances, but confined themselves entirely to the love of truth.

Young Elidore sometimes reascended to the earth, and came to see his mother, to whom he related his discoveries and adventures. His mother advised him to bring with him a little of the gold which he described as being so plentiful in that wonderful country. He wished to obey her, and stole a golden ball, with which the king’s son was accustomed to play. As he entered the paternal dwelling, his foot remained fixed to the sill of the door; the golden ball he had brought, rolled to the feet of his mother, but was immediately picked up by two pigmies, who loaded Elidore with jeers and raillery. The latter, quite ashamed of his fault, wishing to return to the country of the Gnomes, in vain endeavoured to find the road; and although he continued his search for more than a year, he never succeeded. He finished by seeking consolation in study, and became a priest. He had learnt, says Giraldus, the language of the pigmies, and retained several words of it: this language very much resembled Greek.

This story, which is very like one of the Thousand and One Nights, may have furnished Swift with the idea of Gulliver; it is given at great length by Giraldus. The curate, Elidore, adds our traveller, related these marvellous adventures in his old age, and could not repeat them without shedding tears.

In the country of Haverford and Ross, an innumerable multitude of people followed Archbishop Baldwin, and took the cross. The orators of the holy war preached in Latin and in French, and although the people did not understand a word they spoke, they were moved to tears. An old woman, who, during three years, had been blind, sent her son to Archbishop Baldwin, in order to obtain a morsel of the robe of that holy pontiff. The young man not having been able to penetrate the crowd which surrounded the archbishop, brought back to his mother a clod of earth upon which the archbishop had trodden, and left his footmark; the blind woman pressed this clod to her mouth, then applied it to her eyes, and recovered her sight.

The preachers of the crusade appeared in the isle of Mona, or Anglesea. In this isle, Roderick, the youngest of the sons of Awen, took the cross with a great number of his subjects. The inhabitants of this isle pointed out, with great respect, a stone which bore the shape of a man’s thigh, and which, by a miraculous virtue, when it was displaced, returned of itself, to the spot it had at first occupied. Count Hugh, of Chester, caused it to be fastened with strong chains to the bottom of the sea; but on the next day, it was again found in the place from which it had been taken.

The archbishop finished his tour by visiting the environs of Deva, or Chester; these countries were not less rich in marvels than the others. Many of the princes and nobles of this country took the cross.

When crossing the river Conway, Giraldus informs us that at the source of that river the enchanter Merlin lived; he gives, on this subject (chap. viii.), a curious notice upon the two Merlins; the one was of Scotland and the other of Wales; the latter was named Ambrose, and was born of a demon, in the city of Caermardyn, which owes its name to him.

————

No. 24.

Letter to M. Michaud upon the Assassins, by Am. Jourdain.

In the course of your labours, you must often, Monsieur, have met with the names of these sectaries, known by the appellation of Assassins, whose religious principle consisted in blind obedience to that Old Man of the Mountains, who reigned only by murder, and the most horrible crimes. More than once perhaps you will have attributed to the love of the marvellous which prevails in ages of ignorance, barbarism, and credulity, the accounts of Western authors, contemporaries of the crusades, respecting their perseverance, and their imperturbable audacity in the pursuit and execution of crime. Nevertheless, we must confess, to the disgrace of our species, these accounts are even below the truth, and are confirmed by the unanimous concurrence of Arabian and Persian writers.

I will not describe these sectaries to you according to William of Tyre, James of Vitry, and an infinite number of historians with whom you are well acquainted; I should, if I did so, teach you nothing you did not know before. But I will devote this letter to presenting you with a short sketch of the origin, the dogmas, and history of the Assassins, even of their present state; for some remains of them still exist in the mountains of Syria. I shall be highly gratified if I can add any interest to your work, or give you at least a proof of the pleasure I receive in being serviceable to you.

Before entering on the matter, it will not be useless to recall to your mind the origin of the two great religious sects which divide the Mussulmans—the Sunnites and the ChÜtes.

Mahomet dying without naming his successor, there arose two factions among the people, one of which wished to elevate to the caliphat, Ali, the son-in-law of this false prophet, and the other the pious Abou-Bekr. The courageous firmness of Omar cut the difficulties short, and the party of Abou-Bekr triumphed. Omar governed after him, and had Othman for his successor. It was not till the death of this weak prince, that Ali obtained possession of the throne, always regarded by his partisans as his heritage.

Nevertheless, scarcely had his reign begun, than factions arose on all sides, whose aim it was to deprive him of the sceptre. Ali had contributed to this state of things, by disdaining the arts of policy, and by offending by refusals and even by disgraces, some of the officers of Mahomet, whose credit was great. One of these factious persons, Moaviah, an ambitious and powerful rival, aided by the cunning of Ibn-el-Ass, the famous conqueror of Egypt, sustained by Ayesha, the widow of Mahomet, who could not pardon the husband of Fatima, for having suspected her conjugal fidelity, and profiting skilfully by the faults of Ali, succeeded at length in wresting an authority from him whose legitimacy could not be contested; at the same time terminated by murder the course of a life which was about, probably, to end in humiliation and troubles of all kinds. His two sons experienced a fate not in any way more fortunate; they perished, victims of the ambition of the Ommiades, a house of which Moaviah was the first prince.

From that time there existed in the Mussulman empire two parties, whose opposition had religion for its basis, and which exist even at the present day:[142] these are the Sunnites and the ChÜtes. The first recognised the legitimacy of the succession in the persons of Abou-Bekr, Omar, and Othman, and placed Ali in the same rank with these three caliphs. The second, on the contrary, treat the first vicars of Mahomet as usurpers, and maintain that Ali was his only and veritable successor.

The numbers of the partisans of Ali became very great, particularly in Persia; but these partisans were not long before they themselves were divided into several parties, united in their veneration for Ali and his posterity, but divided with regard to the prerogatives they attached to this noble origin, and to the branch which possessed the rights of the Imamat, that is to say, the spiritual and temporal power. Of all the sects to which this difference of opinions gave birth, the most powerful was that of the IsmaËlians. It was thus called because it pretended that the dignity of Imaun had been transmitted by an uninterrupted line of the descendants of Ali, to a prince named IsmaËl, and that after his death the Imamat had reposed upon persons unknown to men, up to the moment at which the triumph of the house of Ali was to be effected; to this sect belonged the Carmates and the Fatimite caliphs, who wrested Egypt and Syria from the Abasside caliphs of Bagdad, after having laid the foundation of their power in Africa, and formed a great empire, to the period when Saladin overturned their throne to erect one for a descendant of Abbas. But as the Fatimites acknowledged no other legitimate authority but their own, they employed a great number of missionaries in spreading their dogmas, and gaining proselytes in secret.

Such is, Monsieur, the sketch I have deemed it necessary to make, before proceeding with the founder of the sect which is the object of my letter.

This founder was named Hassan, son of Sabbah. He was born in the environs of Thous, a city of Korassan, celebrated for having given birth to several great men. His father lived in the practices of a mortified life and of an austere doctrine, but he followed in secret the sect of the Rafedhites, or the partisans of Ali. To divert, however, all suspicion from his opinions, he intrusted the education of his son to a famous doctor, Movaffeceddin, of Nichapour, who was a virtuous Sunnite. He pretended to an Arabian origin, and gave himself out as descended from the family of Sabbah-Homairi; but this was a fable to which no one gave faith, and it was very well known that his ancestors inhabited some villages in the dependence of Thous.

Hassan speaks thus of his first years of conversion to the sect of the IsmaËlians:—“From the age of seven years I laboured to acquire knowledge and talents. I made, as my fathers had done, profession of that sect of ChÜtes who recognise the succession of the twelve Imauns.

*******

I had occasion to become acquainted with a refik, named Amireh-Zanab, and a most intimate friendship grew up between us. I believed that the dogmas and opinions of the IsmaËlians were only those of philosophers, and I imagined that the sovereign of Egypt (that is to say, the Fatimite caliph) was a sectary of this philosophy. This persuasion engaged me in warm discussions with Amireh; whenever he wished to defend his own doctrines, we had disputes and controversies respecting the dogmas of them. It was in vain for him to attack the doctrines of my sect, I did not yield at all to his arguments, and yet he insensibly made an impression on my mind. Whilst things were in this state we separated, and I was afflicted with a long illness. I then said inwardly to myself: “The doctrine of the IsmaËlians is conformable with truth, and it is only obstinacy that prevents me from adhering to it. If then, as God forbid! the fatal moment is come for me, I shall die without having embraced the truth.” I was, however, restored to health, and soon after made acquaintance with another IsmaËlian, named Abou-Nedjm-Sanadj. I questioned him upon the true system of IsmaËlian belief: he explained it to me clearly, and I very soon penetrated all the depths of it. I afterwards met with an IsmaËlian Dai, named Moumen, to whom the cheik Abdelmelik-ben-Attach, dai of Irac, had given permission to exercise the functions of missionary. I informed him of the wish I had to make my profession of faith to him, and he acceded to my request. At the time that the cheik Abdelmelek came to Rey, I accompanied him, and my conduct having pleased him, he confided to me the ministry of a dai. You must go into Egypt,’ said he, in order to render your homage to the Imaun Mostanser, and may that be a blessing to you!’ Mostanser-billah, a descendant of Ali, then occupied the caliphat of Egypt and the Imamat. When, therefore, the cheik left Rey for Ispahan, I set out for Egypt.”

Hassan was received in Egypt with great distinction, for the fame of his merit had preceded him thither, and the Imaun Mostanser admitted him to the most familiar intimacy. This high degree of favour ruined him. The courtiers, jealous of his credit, laboured to procure his disgrace, and a difference having arisen between him and the celebrated Bedr-Al-djemali, generalissimo of the caliph’s troops, Hassan succumbed. His enemies seized him and threw him, with some Franks, into a vessel about to sail to Africa. Scarcely was he on the sea when a horrible tempest arose and placed the ship in great danger; all the passengers were overcome by terror, expecting nothing but death; Hassan alone preserved his self-possession and tranquillity. When interrogated upon this extraordinary conduct, “Our lord,” answered he, “has promised me that no harm should happen to us;” and, in effect, at the end of a short time, the sea resumed its calm. The cry of miracle soon arose, and Hassan made so many disciples of the companions of his voyage. Another time, the vessel was driven into the port of a Christian city, the governor of which allowed our pious doctor to reimbark, after having treated him with hospitality. At length, the vessel being cast upon the coast of Syria, Hassan abandoned it, and directed his course towards Persia, by land. He passed through Aleppo and Bagdad, and went from thence to Konsistan, Ispahan, Yezd, and Carmania, preaching his doctrine everywhere. From Carmania he returned to Ispahan, where he sojourned more than four months, at the end of which he set out for Konsistan. He remained here three months, and then went to Damegan, where he dwelt for three years, making a great number of proselytes. Hassan, after various other wanderings, took possession of Altamont, a strong castle, situated in the Roudbard, a country near Casbin. Mirkhond, a Persian historian, relates, that he proposed to Mehdi, a descendant of Ali, who possessed this place, to purchase as much land of him as could be comprised within the skin of an ox, for the sum of 3,000 dinars. Mehdi having consented to this bargain, Hassan took the skin of an ox, of which he made thongs, and tying these together, passed the line all round the castle. It was by means of this trick that he made himself master of Altamont, which afterwards became the central point of the power of the IsmaËlians.

This power, by the ability and activity of Hassan, made a rapid progress; it was already established throughout the province of Roudbar, in which his sectaries built a number of strong castles; nobody was talked of in Persia but Hassan, who threatened to bring the whole of that great country under his domination. Melik-chah, alarmed at what he heard, ordered one of his generals to destroy Hassan and his partisans, and to raze his fortresses; but in vain; and death overtook Melik-chah before his troops had obtained the least advantage.

The troubles which followed his death, and the division which arose among the children of this prince, on the subject of the succession to the throne, left the field free for Hassan to augment the number of his proselytes. The best-fortified castles of the north-west of Persia fell into his hands. At length, the sultan Sindjar, having made himself master of this kingdom, set seriously about the destruction of the IsmaËlians. Hassan, by artifice, got rid of this dangerous enemy. He seduced one of the servants of the prince; who, whilst he slept, placed a sharp stiletto near his head. When the sultan, on awaking, saw this poniard, he was seized with great fear; but as he was ignorant of the hand that placed it there, he preserved silence upon the circumstance. At the end of some days he received the following letter from the head of the IsmaËlians:—“If good intentions were not entertained towards the sultan, the poniard which he found near his head would have been plunged into his heart.” Sindjar was so terrified, that he consented to make peace with the IsmaËlians upon three conditions: the first was, that they should add no new constructions to their castles; the second, that they should purchase neither arms nor machines of war; and the third, that he should make no new proselytes. He even granted Hassan, by the title of pension, a portion of the revenues of the country of Coumes.

From that time Hassan lived peaceably in the castle of Altamont, in the greatest seclusion, practising the exercises of austere piety, and employing himself in the composition of dogmatic treatises upon his doctrine. It is said that he only ascended to the terrace of his palace, at Altamont, twice during thirty years. He required of his sectaries the most rigid exactitude in the observances of religion. Even paternal tenderness could not lead him to deviate from this severity. HossÉin, his son, having killed the daÏ of Couhestan, he punished him with death; another son, for having drunk wine, met with the same fate. A man having played upon the flute, in the castle of Altamont, he commanded him to be turned out of the place, and resisted all the prayers that were made to him to obtain his pardon. Some authors pretend, that by sacrificing his sons thus, he wished to prove to the IsmaËlians that he had no intention of fixing the sovereign power in his own family; I doubt whether such a reason can justify Hassan in his barbarity. And yet it would not be the first time that policy has sacrificed the feelings of the heart to state interests.

The ability of this man in the management of affairs equalled his fanaticism. History has preserved several proofs of this, of which I shall only quote the following. Hassan had studied under the imaun Movassek-eddin, in company with Nizam-el-Moulk, one of the greatest statesmen Islamism ever produced; and community of labours established the strictest friendship between them. They entered into a mutual promise that the first of the two that should obtain honours should share them with the other, and that fortune should not affect their attachment. Hassan, after having for a long time led a miserable life, went to Nichapour, where he found Nizam-el-Moulk minister of the great Melik-chah; this was about the year 1073 of the Christian era. Nizam-el-Moulk, faithful to his promise, received Hassan with great kindness, and procured him a post at the court. Endowed with an expansive mind, rare cunning, and great talents for administration, this aspirant was not long in insinuating himself into the good graces of the Sultan, and acquiring his confidence. One day, Melik-chah having conceived some doubt of the probity of his first minister, asked him in how short a time he could draw out a clear statement of the receipts and expenses of the provinces. We should observe, that at that period the dominions of this prince extended from Antioch, in Syria, to Kachkar, in Turkistan. Nizam-el-Moulk said it would require two years; Hassan offered to perform the labour in forty days, provided the Sultan would place at his disposal all the writers of the court; and his offer being accepted, he realized his promise. He was preparing to present the result of his researches to the prince, when Nizam-el-Moulk, who saw his ruin approach, found means to get the statements into his hands, and to mutilate them. When Hassan appeared before the Sultan, the prince put several questions to him relative to the situation and finances of the empire. Hassan had recourse to his papers, and found them incomplete; he hesitated, stammered, and could not answer. Nizam-el-Moulk skilfully took advantage of his tergiversations to degrade Hassan in the mind of Melik-chah. “Wise and prudent men,” said he, “required two years to perform the work commanded by your majesty; an ignorant man, who has pretended to terminate it in forty days, is unable to give satisfactory answers to the questions put to him.” The prince, in his anger, was desirous of punishing Hassan; but, as he was a creature of his court, he allowed the affair to drop, and satisfied himself with despising him. This anecdote, which does little honour to the character of Nizam-el-Moulk, and shows no delicacy on the part of Hassan, towards the man to whom he owed his fortune, proves at least that the latter possessed great aptitude for business.

Such was the man whom the IsmaËlians, or rather the Assassins of the Crusaders, recognised as their chief, and to whom they gave the name of SÉidouna,—Our Lord. But before we proceed, it is necessary to enter into some details upon the principles of this sect, upon the denominations that it bore, and upon its organization.

You have seen, sir, the origin of the denomination of IsmaËlian, given to the branch of the partisans of Ali to which Hassan belonged. This name is not, however, the only one under which these heretics were known by orthodox Mussulmans. They were likewise called Bathenians, Nezzarians, Molaheds, and Hachichens; but the two last epithets alone applied to the proselytes of Hassan.

The title of Bathenian designated the principles established by the IsmaËlians. One of the characters of their religion was to explain, in an allegorical manner, all the precepts of the Mussulman law; and this allegory was carried so far by some of their doctors, that it tended to nothing less than the destruction of all public worship; and to the elevation of a purely philosophical doctrine, and a very licentious morality, upon the ruins of all revelation and all divine authority. This is why they were called Bathenis, or Bathenians; which is to say, partisans of interior worship.

Molahed, the plural of the Arabian word Molhed, signifies impious; the partisans of Hassan did not receive this epithet till towards the year 1164 of Christ, and under the reign of one of his successors, named Hassan, the son of Mohammed. This prince, from his youth, gave himself up to the study of the dogmatic books of the sect; and as his father, to whom he succeeded, was unacquainted with science, he appeared in the eyes of the people a very profound scholar, and an extraordinary man. This good opinion, with respect to his person, increased daily, and the IsmaËlians became more blindly willing to execute his orders. Hassan, rendered bold by this success, put forth some extravagant opinions, and gave himself out to be the Imaun of the age. His father was still living; and, in his ignorance, scrupulously followed the doctrines of his sect. The pretensions of his son disgusted him, and he put to death two hundred and fifty of those who favoured them. As long as Mohammed lived, Hassan suppressed his real intentions; but he resumed them the moment the death of his father put him in possession of the throne. He permitted everything that religion prohibited, abolished the exterior practices of the Mussulman faith, allowed his subjects to drink wine, and dispensed with all the obligations which the law of Mahomet imposes on its sectaries; he declared that the knowledge of the allegorical sense of the precepts dispenses with the observance of the literal sense, and at length caused himself to be proclaimed son of Nezzar, son of the caliph Mostanser, and the caliph of God on the surface of the earth.[143] This heretical conduct procured for the IsmaËlians the denomination of Molahed, impious.

The surname of Nezzarians is derived from that Nezzar, of whom I have spoken, and was given to those IsmaËlians who adhered to the party of that prince, the eldest son of Mostanser, caliph of Egypt. The sectarians of Hassan were of the party of Nezzar.

I now come to the epithet of Assassins. The origin of this word had been the object of numerous researches, which still remained without any satisfactory result, when an illustrious scholar proved, in an evident manner, supporting all he advanced upon various Arabian texts, that it was a corruption of the word hachichen; and that it was given to the IsmaËlians, because they made use of an intoxicating liquor called hachich. This hachich is a preparation of the leaves of hemp, or some other part of that vegetable, which they employ in different manners; as a liquor, under the form of confections; or as pastilles, sweetened with saccharine substances; and even as fumigations. “The intoxication produced by the hachich,” says M. Silvestre de Sacy, “throws the person who takes it into an ecstasy similar to that which the Orientals experience in the use of opium; and according to the testimony of a great many travellers, we may be satisfied that men in this state of delirium imagine that they enjoy the ordinary objects of their wishes, and taste of a felicity, the acquisition of which costs them little, but the use of which, too often repeated, changes the animal organization, and leads to marasma and death. Some of them, in this state of transient insanity, losing the consciousness of their weakness, commit actions of a brutal nature, capable of disturbing public order. It cannot be forgotten that, during the sojourn of the French army in Egypt, the general-in-chief was obliged strictly to prohibit the sale and use of these pernicious substances, the indulgence in which has become a necessity for the inhabitants of Egypt, particularly the lower classes of the people. Those who give themselves up to this custom, are still called Hachichin, Hachachin; and these two expressions plainly show why the IsmaËlians have been called by the Latin historians of the crusades, sometimes Assissini, and sometimes Assassini.

With a small acquaintance with the Arabic tongue, and an observation upon the alterations certain words of that language have experienced in being transferred to the works of Latin and Greek authors, it is impossible to raise any objection to the correctness of the etymology advanced by M. Silvestre de Sacy. We may, however, believe that all IsmaËlians did not employ the hachich; that their chief alone was acquainted with this preparation, and that he only administered it to those whom he destined to exercise the infamous trade of fedai, or assassins; for there prevailed among the partisans of this sect a remarkable hierarchy: the dai, the refik, and the fedaÏ, formed three perfectly distinct classes.

The chief of the sect dwelt, as I have said, in the castle of Altamont, placed amidst mountains. It was the situation of this abode which gave him the title of Cheik Aldjebal,—Lord of the Mountain; but as cheik signifies equally lord and old man, our historians of the crusades took it in the latter sense, and called the prince of the Assassins the Old Man of the Mountain.

The daÏs formed the first class of the sect; it was reserved to them to propagate the doctrine.[144] They exercised the functions of missionaries, spreading themselves throughout the provinces, preaching the dogmas of their worship, and receiving the profession of faith of such as were converted. There were, still further, degrees among these. They called dai aldoat,—dai of dais, him who had several missionaries under his orders, and whose jurisdiction comprised several provinces. The IsmaËlians had dais aldoat in Syria, Irac, Dilem, Korassan, &c.

Under the name refik, it appears, the body of the sectaries was comprised.

The fedaÏs were the blind ministers of the Old Man of the Mountain; it was in their hands he placed the knife under which were to fall, without pity, all who opposed the establishment of his doctrine, or combated it by dangerous arguments; princes, generals, doctors,—nobody was safe from their blows; and they showed in the execution of the crime, a perseverance equalled only by their fanaticism.

The word fedaÏ, in its proper signification, means a devoted man, and the application of it was very just, since this class of the IsmaËlians had for the orders of their prince a devotedness without example. It is true this blind obedience was purchased by stratagem; for I have not the least doubt that we must apply to the fedaÏs that which Marco Paolo relates of the young people brought up by the Old Man of the Mountains. “This traveller, whose veracity is generally acknowledged,” says M. de Sacy, “informs us that this prince caused young people to be brought up, chosen from amongst the most robust of the inhabitants of the places over which he ruled, to make of them the executioners of his barbarous decrees. All their education had for object to convince them that by blindly obeying the orders of their chief, they would secure themselves, after their death, the enjoyment of all the pleasures which delight the senses.[145] To attain this aim, this prince caused delicious gardens to be made round his palace. There, in pavilions, decorated with all that Asiatic luxury can imagine that is rich and brilliant, dwelt young beauties, consecrated solely to the pleasures of those for whom these enchanting places were destined. It was to this spot the IsmaËlian princes caused to be transported, from time to time, the young men of whom they meant to make the blind instruments of their will. After having caused them to swallow a draught which plunged them into a profound sleep, and deprived them for some time of the use of all their faculties, they had them conveyed to these pavilions, worthy of the gardens of Armida. Upon awaking, everything which struck their ears or their eyes threw them into a ravishment of delight, which left reason no empire in their minds. Uncertain if they had already entered upon the enjoyment of the felicity of which a picture had so often been held up to their imagination, they abandoned themselves with transport to all the various seductions by which they were surrounded. After they had passed some days in these gardens, the same means as had been employed to bring them there, without their knowledge, were again had recourse to to remove them from them. Advantage was carefully taken of the first moments of an awakening, which for them had put an end to the charm of so much enjoyment, to cause them to describe to their young companions the wonders of which they had been witnesses, and to convince them that the happiness of which they had during several fast-flitting days partaken, was but the prelude or foretaste of what they could secure an eternal possession of by their submission to the orders of their prince.”

This draught, endowed with such wonderful powers, was nothing but the hachich, with the virtues of which the chief of the sect was acquainted, and the use of which was not spread till some centuries after.

This, sir, is what Oriental historians furnish us with respecting the origin, dogmas, and political organization of the sect of the Assassins. As to its history, the extent of its dominions, and its power, these are points, for the development of which a much greater space would be requisite than that to which I am obliged to limit myself. Nevertheless, I will devote a few lines to these articles, for the gratification of your curiosity.

Mirkhoud has left us, in his work entitled Bouzat Alsafa, a history of the IsmaËlians of Persia. This piece is the more valuable and authentic, from having been extracted word for word, from a history written by the celebrated vizier Atha-el-Mulk, who was sent by Holagon, after the ruin of the IsmaËlians, into the castle of Altamont, and had an opportunity of consulting their original historical memoirs. Mirkhoud, or rather Atha-el-Mulk, informs us, then, that the Persian dynasty of the IsmaËlians furnished eight princes, including Hassan-ben-Sabbah, and that it subsisted during a space of 166 years, to the time at which Holagon, at the instigation of several princes who detested the IsmaËlians on account of their excesses, conquered Persia, destroyed the castles of the sect, and sent Rokn-eddin-Karchar, the last sovereign of Altamont, to the other side of the Oxus. This great event took place in 1256.

But this principal branch, or rather this stock of the IsmaËlians, is not that of which such frequent mention is made in our crusades; Hassan Sabbah, after having laid the foundation of his power in Persia, sent missionaries, of both the first and second order, into all parts of the Mussulman world; and these missionaries were particularly active in Syria. A certain very celebrated Seljoukide emir, who governed Aleppo, seconded their designs wonderfully. Redoun (that was the name of this prince) formed a friendship with the IsmaËlians, embraced their principles even, and granted them open protection. From that period, that is to say 501 of the Hegyra, dates the origin of the great power they exercised in Syria, which subsisted nearly two hundred years; but these IsmaËlians were subject to the sovereign of Altamont, and were directed by daÏs: it is even remarkable that most of the fedaÏs, employed in committing murder in Syria, were Persians by nation, and had doubtless been educated for that execrable profession in the delicious gardens of Altamont, and by the virtue of the chich.

Europe has taken too little interest in the history of the IsmaËlians, as obtained from Oriental writers, to be certain of the extent of country occupied by these sectaries. The geography of Persia, likewise, is enveloped in too much obscurity to allow us to assign an exact position to the various castles they inhabited. But what I can affirm is, that the province of Roudbar, in which was placed the seat of their empire, is, according to the Ferhenk Choouri,—the Persian dictionary, explained in Turkish, a large district, comprising many villages, and situated between Casbin and Guilan, in the neighbourhood of Theheran, the present capital of Persia.

William of Tyre informs us that the IsmaËlians possessed ten fortresses in Syria, and reckons them at sixty thousand souls. Their principal establishment was at Massiat, an important, well-fortified place, situated to the west of Hamah, at the distance of a day’s march. They obtained possession of it in 505 of the Hegyra, after having assassinated the emir who governed it; and have kept it even up to our times. In addition to Massiat, they held seven fortresses in the parallel of Hamah, from Hemes to the Mediterranean, and in the neighbourhood of Tripoli. They began to appear in Syria towards the end of the fifth century of the Hegyra. Their power increased rapidly under the Seljoukide Redevan, who embraced their doctrine. During the whole course of his reign, they had a house in Aleppo, in which they exercised their worship. They were so much dreaded, that they carried off women and children out of the open streets in mid-day, without any one daring to oppose their violences. They publicly plundered people of a sect opposed to their own; gave asylum to the greatest criminals, and gathered from impunity fresh audacity for the commission of new crimes. These barbarians carried their insolence so far as to seize, by force of arms, cities and strong castles; it was thus they entered Apamea, from which place Tancred drove them.

Whatever may have been the extent of the dominions possessed by the IsmaËlians, either in Persia or Syria, it cannot be compared with their power, established by fanaticism, and maintained by the fear they inspired. Spread throughout the whole of the Mussulman world, from the extremities of Asia Minor to the depths of Turkistan, they were everywhere dreaded. In presenting you with a few instances of their fanaticism and audacity, if I do not afford you a precise idea of their power, I shall at least make you acquainted with the nature of it, and with what it may be presumed to have been. Let us begin with devotedness and fanaticism.

History informs us that Henry, count of Champagne, having made a journey into Lesser Armenia, paid a visit, on his return, to the king of the Assassins, and was received with the most distinguished honours. The prince led him to all parts of his abode, and having conducted him up a very lofty tower, upon every step of which stood men clothed in white: “I do not suppose,” said he to his guest, “that you have any subjects as obedient as mine?” At the same time he made a sign with his hand, when two of these men precipitated themselves from the top of the tower, and expired instantly. The head of the IsmaËlians added: “If you desire it, at the least signal on my part, those whom you see will precipitate themselves in the same manner.” When taking leave of Henry, he made him rich presents, and said: “If you have any enemy who aims at your crown, address yourself to me, and my servants shall soon relieve you from your anxiety, by poniarding him.”

Melik-chah, alarmed at the progress of Hassan-ben-Sabbah, sent one of his officers to him to require him to desist from his views, and to surrender his castles. Hassan ordered one of his servants into his presence, and commanded him to kill himself, which the servant instantly did. He then told another to throw himself from the summit of a high tower, and his orders were equally promptly obeyed. “Report to your master,” then said he to the ambassador, “what you have seen, and tell him that I have sixty thousand men at my command, whose devotedness and obedience are like that which you have seen.”

In 1120, some Bathenians having assassinated Boursiki, prince of Mossoul, they were cut to pieces on the spot. The mother of one of these IsmaËlians having learnt the death of the emir and the fate of the assassins, gave herself up to transports of joy; but her satisfaction was changed into as lively a grief when she learnt that her son, by some fortunate chance, had escaped the destiny of his companions. Thus fanaticism produced the same effect upon this woman as was produced by national honour and patriotism in the case of the Spartan mother, whom history has immortalized as sinking under her grief when she heard that her son had escaped from the massacre of ThermopylÆ. What becomes of the charm and power of virtue, if blind fanaticism, the disgrace of our nature, can rival her in the noblest actions she inspires?

The IsmaËlians were the more dangerous and redoubtable, from their practice of insinuating themselves into the courts of most princes, and their skill in adopting such disguises as circumstances required. They assumed the Syrian dress, in order to get rid of that Ahmed Bal, of whom I have just spoken; they entered the service of Tadjelmouth Bouri, prince of Damascus, in the quality of grooms of Korassan, and attacked him with impunity. The murderers of Bouriski took the dress of dervises, to avert all suspicion. The IsmaËlians deputed to poniard the marquis of Montferrat, embraced Christianity, wore religious habits, affected the most austere piety, gained the friendship and esteem of the clergy, acquired the good-will of their victim, and, after having killed him, endured the tortures in which they perished with admirable resignation. The imaun Fakr-eddin, a very celebrated Persian doctor, having been accused of practising the IsmaËlian doctrines in secret, in order to clear himself from the calumny, ascended the pulpit, and pronounced maledictions against the sect. This news reaching Altamont, Mohammed, who then reigned, charged a fedaÏ with the execution of his vengeance. This man repaired to the dwelling of the imaun, and told him that he was a jurisconsult, that he was desirous of being instructed by so able a master, and with his caresses and flattery, played his part so well, that he was admitted into the family of the doctor; he passed seven months with him without obtaining an opportunity to execute his purpose. At length, finding himself one day alone with the imaun, he shut the doors of the house, drew his poniard, rushed upon the doctor, struck him to the ground, and seated himself upon his chest. “I will rip you up,” said he, “from the navel to the breast.” “What for?” replied the imaun. Then the fedaÏ reproached him with having cursed the IsmaËlians from the pulpit. The imaun swore several times never to speak ill of that sect in future; upon which the fedaÏ released him, saying: “I have no orders to kill you, otherwise I should not delay the execution of those orders, or hesitate in performing them; know, then, that Mohammed salutes you, and desires that you would do him the honour of visiting him at his castle. You will become an all-powerful governor, for we shall obey you blindly.” And he added, “We take no account of the discourse of common people; their insults have no effect upon us. But you, you ought never to permit your tongue to utter anything against us, or to censure our conduct; because your words sink into the people’s hearts as the strokes of the engraver penetrate the stone.” The imaun said: “It is impossible for me to go to the castle, but I will, henceforward, never pronounce a word that may be displeasing to the sovereign of Altamont.” After this conversation, the fedaÏ took from his girdle three hundred and sixty pieces of gold, and said to the imaun: “Here is your salary for one year, and it has been ordered by the sublime divan, that you should receive every year a similar sum from the reis Modhaffer. I have in my chamber two Yeman robes; when I am gone your servants must take them, for our master has sent them to you.” The fedaÏ instantly disappeared. The imaun took the pieces of gold and the robes, and during five years received the appointed salary.

This miraculous devotedness, this confidence in an after-life, the felicity of which was beyond description, produced the audacity and perseverance in the execution of the orders of the prince, and the imperturbable courage which led the IsmaËlians to endure death, without allowing the most severe tortures to draw a confession from them. Caliphs and emirs fell beneath their blows, in mosques, in streets, within the walls of palaces, amidst crowds of people and courts of nobles. If they were taken with the fatal knife in their hands, they thanked heaven for bringing them nearer to the goal of their desires, and hailed death as leading them the first step towards felicity. Moudoud and Ac Sancar Albourski, princes of Mossoul, were assassinated as they were coming out of the great mosque of the city, although surrounded by their officers and domestics. Ahmed Bal, governor of some castles of the Azerbaidjan, had several times declared himself an enemy to the Lord of the Mountain; he was struck dead in the midst of the hall of audience of the sultan Mohammed at Bagdad. The great Saladin refused to embrace or protect the IsmaËlian doctrine, and announced his intention of destroying it. Whilst he was carrying on the siege of Akka, or PtolemaÏs, a fedaÏ threw himself upon him, and dealt him a blow of a poniard upon his head. Saladin seized him by the arm, but the murderer never ceased striking till he was killed. A second and a third fedaÏ continued the attack, but without obtaining better success. Nevertheless, says the historian, Saladin retired to his tent in great fear.

I have told you, sir, that the irruption of Holagon into Persia, and the expeditions of Biban into Syria, ruined the IsmaËlian power. But, whilst destroying their castles, these two great warriors were not able to completely exterminate the sect. When Tamerlane penetrated into Mezinderan, he found a great number of IsmaËlians. Mention is often made of these sectaries in the history of the conquest of Yemen by the Turks. We know that they are at present scattered through many parts of Persia, and that the government tolerates them. They even pretend that they have preserved their imaun to this moment; that he is descended from IsmaËl himself, the son of Djafar Elasdie, and is named Chah Kalil. He dwells in the city of Khekh, near to Kom. This imaun is almost venerated as a god, among his proselytes, who attribute to him the gift of miracles, and often decorate him with the title of caliph. The IsmaËlians are found as far as the banks of the Ganges and the Indus, whence they piously come every year to receive the blessings of their lord in return for the magnificent offerings they bring him. There likewise still exist many families of them in the mountains of Libanus, upon whom M. Rousseau, consul-general of France to Aleppo, has given us some valuable information.

The IsmaËlians of Syria are divided into two classes,—the Soueidanis and the Khedhrewis. The latter, who form the most numerous part of the sect, have for chief the emir Ali Zoghbi, successor of the emir Mustapha Edris. Their principal place of abode is at Messias, which M. de Sacy thinks ought to be called Mesiat. This ancient fortress is situated at twelve leagues west of Hamah, upon an isolated rock. At three leagues west of Messias, the IsmaËlians possess another fortress, named Kadmous, of not less consequence than the other.

The second class, which comprises the Soueidanis, is much less numerous than the preceding one, and is concentrated in the village of Feudara, of the district of Messias. Its poverty has drawn upon it the contempt of the Khedhrewis; its present chief is named Cheikh Soleiman.

The sect of the IsmaËlians at the present moment only consists of some wretched families scattered here and there, whom the persecutions of the Turks are daily annihilating. The following is the sinister event which has plunged them into these circumstances. We will leave M. Rousseau to speak:—“The Reslans, one of the most distinguished families of the sect of the NosaÏris, possessed from time immemorial the fortress and territory of Messias, when the IsmaËlians, having become sufficiently powerful to encroach upon their domains, suddenly attacked them, and drove them from the country, in which they established themselves. This manifest usurpation increased the inveterate hatred which all the neighbouring peoples entertained for them. The NosaÏris, after having uselessly attempted, by several means, to regain their possessions, at length had recourse to stratagem. They sent some of their people to Messias, who, under borrowed names, and without creating any suspicion of their designs, entered the service of the Chich emir, Mustafa Edris, who then commanded in the fortress.

“Abou Ali Hammour and Ali Bacha, chief of the conspirators, had not long to wait for the opportunity they wished for. One day when the emir remained alone in his dwelling, they assailed him, and slew him with several dagger-wounds. This unexpected murder was the signal for great misfortunes for the IsmaËlians. Measures were so well concerted among their enemies, that at a given signal, a numerous band of NosaÏris, posted in the avenues of Messias, were to precipitate themselves upon it on a sudden, and massacre all the inhabitants who attempted to defend themselves. This project was completely carried out. The IsmaËlians, attacked sharply, terrified, and, for the most part, killed in the open streets, offered but weak resistance to their enemies, to whom they were compelled to swear submission and obedience for the future. The booty made on this day was valued at more than a million piastres, reckoning the plunder of the villages and the country. This event took place in the year 1809.”

These IsmaËlians have a book which contains the dogmas of their present belief, the practices of their worship, &c. Its author was a certain Cheikh Ibrahim, who seems to have been one of the visionaries of the sect; it was made public after the pillage of Messias. It is an assemblage of absurd reveries and incoherent, ridiculous, insignificant principles, in which the primitive doctrine of these sectaries is joined to a crowd of dogmas which are foreign to it, and which time, communication with other sects, and ignorance, have introduced into their belief. Nevertheless, the study of them ought not to be entirely neglected, as they serve to prove to what a degree the human mind may deceive itself.

To avoid fatiguing your patience, I will pass over that which relates to mystic theology, and the different incarnations of the Imaun or Messiah, who was manifested in the persons of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Ali, fourth caliph, according to orthodox Mahometans. I will likewise be silent upon the mysteries of the alphabetical letters, which are divided into the luminous and the obscure, the substantial and the corporeal; were at first twenty-two in number, were augmented by six, at the time of the revelation of the Koran; are connected with the houses of the moon, with the signs of the zodiac, with the planets, and the elements; designate sometimes a prophet, sometimes a holy personage; in short, are susceptible of an infinity of allegorical applications; but I will give in its entirety the description of Paradise.

“I have reserved an abode more permanent, and filled with eternal delights for those who follow my law, and fear the effects of my justice. This abode is paradise, to which entrance may be obtained by eight different gates, which lead to the same number of inclosures; there are in each inclosure or division, 70,000 meadows of saffron, and 70,000 abodes of mother-of-pearl and coral; in each dwelling-place or abode, there are 70,000 palaces and 70,000 galleries of topaz; in each gallery there are 70,000 golden saloons; in each saloon, 70,000 silver tables; upon each table, 70,000 exquisite dishes, &c. &c. Each of these 70,000 palaces contains 70,000 springs, or streams of milk and honey with as many purple pavilions, occupied by beautiful young women. Still further, each saloon is surmounted by 70,000 domes of amber, and upon each dome are set forth 70,000 wonders from the hand of Omnipotence. The inhabitants of these enchanted places are immortal and are unacquainted with infirmities, tears, laughter, prayers, or fasting.”

I ought to tell you, with regard to this passage, that in the true doctrine of the IsmaËlians, paradise is the true religion, and the epoch of its manifestation, and that this description, or any other like it, must be considered as an allegory.

To this quotation I cannot refrain from adding two others: one upon the duties of man, the other upon the metaphysical ideas of this sect.

“Oh! son of Adam, the empire of the universe belongs to me; all that you possess comes from me; but learn that the aliments which nourish you, will not preserve you from death, nor the clothes which cover you from the infirmities of the flesh; you will advance or go back, as you employ your tongue in falsehood or in truth. Thy being is composed of three parts: the first is mine, the second is thine; and the third belongs to us in common. That which is mine, is thy soul; that which is thine, is thy actions; and that which we share between us, is the prayers which thou addressest to me. Thou oughtest to implore me in thy wants; my delight is to listen to the prayers of the good. Oh! son of Adam, honour me, and thou wilt know me; fear me, and thou wilt see me; adore me, and thou wilt draw near to me. Oh! son of Adam, if kings are cast into flames for their tyranny, magistrates for their treachery, doctors for their jealousies, artisans for their frauds, the great for their pride, the low for their hypocrisy, the poor for their falsehoods,—where will they be found who can aspire to enter into paradise?

*******

There are three sorts of existence: the first, usual and relative, exposed to the influence of the stars, subject to alterations, and susceptible of being and not being at the same time; that is matter: the second, intellectual, which has been preceded by non-existence, but which becomes permanent from the moment it begins; that is the soul, upon which the celestial bodies cannot act: the third, necessary, absolute, and eternal, superior by its nature to the two others, that is the Supreme Being, by whom everything has been produced, who has always subsisted, and will subsist for ever.

“The Being whose existence is eternal, the first principle, is unlimited, One, and without companions.

“Man exists then doubly,—by his soul and by his body; his spiritual existence survives his bodily existence, which, sooner of later, is dissolved.

“The soul is a simple substance, homogeneous and immaterial, an indestructible breath of the Divinity. The body is a compound of material parts heterogeneous and destructible, which only exists as long as its parts remain united together. The soul is not essentially inherent to the body; the latter is not the subject of it; we only know that it is present in it, as we are aware of the splendour of the sun upon the surface of any object whatever.

“The soul is immortal.

*******

Souls were created before bodies: they resided, whilst waiting for them, in the intellectual world, the abode of true essences.

“After their union with the body, they constantly endeavour to preserve the reminiscence of their productive cause; and if, in their new state, they do not forget this first essence, they return to their former dwelling; otherwise they continue wandering and unhappy in the material world, there to perpetually experience the vicissitudes and pains of the present life.

“In order not to deteriorate, or lose its rights to proximity with its author, the soul must be constantly filled with the idea of that first cause which is disposed to attract it, unceasingly, towards it. It is its true state of perfection, that in which it maintains itself by becoming insensible to all terrestrial affections.

“In addition to his immaterial and reasonable soul, man has still another, which is the natural soul; this is born and dies with the body; it is a certain inexplicable, but active and actual force, which is common to him and animals devoid of reason, and which elevates him above these; it is the immortal breath which the Divinity has communicated to him, to the exclusion of the other beings of the universe.”[146]—Receive, monsieur, I beg, &c. &c.

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No. 25.

Treaty made under the Walls of Constantinople.

This is certainly one of the most extraordinary documents we have ever seen. A handful of warriors, in a strange and foreign country, without any certainty of reinforcements, are before the second city of the world, well peopled, completely fortified, and prepared for defence; and yet they, before giving an assault, coolly draw up a treaty, by which the city and its empire are divided amongst them; and what completes the wonder is, that they succeeded, and, for a while, obtained what they contemplated.

“We, Henry Dandolo, by the grace of God doge of Venice, Dalmatia, and Croatia, and the very illustrious lords, Boniface, marquis of Montferrat; Baldwin, count of Flanders and Hainault; Louis, count of Blois and Clermont; and Henry, count of St. Pol; each on his own part, in order to maintain among us union and concord, and to avoid every subject of offence, with the co-operation of Him who is our peace, who made everything, and for whose glory we have thought fit to establish the following order, after having reciprocally engaged ourselves with the bonds of an oath. In the first place, we all agree (after having invoked the name of Jesus Christ) to cause the city to be attacked; and if, by the aid of divine power, we succeed in entering it, we will remain and serve under the command of those who shall be established leaders of the army, and follow them as it shall be ordered. All the wealth that shall be found in the city, shall by every one be deposited in a common place, which shall be chosen for this purpose, we reserving always, as well as for our Venetians, three parts of this wealth, which are to be remitted to us as an indemnity for that which the Emperor Alexius was bound to pay to us, as well as to you. On your side, you will retain a fourth part, until we have all obtained equal satisfaction; and if there should be anything left, we will share it equally between us and you, so that all may be satisfied. And if the said wealth should not prove sufficient to discharge that which is due to us, this wealth, from whatever source it may arise, shall be shared in the same manner between you and us, as it has been thereupon agreed, except the provisions and forage, which shall be set aside and divided equally among your people and ours, in order that all may subsist in a suitable manner; and all that may be found besides shall be shared with the other booty, according as it has been agreed thereupon. We and our Venetians are to enjoy, throughout the empire, in a free and absolute manner, and without any kind of contradiction, all the prerogatives and possessions which we have been accustomed to enjoy, as well in spiritual as in temporal matters; as well as all privileges and usages, written or not written. There shall also be chosen six members on our part, and six on yours, who, after having taken an oath, shall choose in the army and raise to the empire, him whom they shall believe to be most fit to exercise it, and to command in this land for the advantage and glory of God, of the holy Romish church, and of the empire. If they agree among themselves, we will recognise as emperor him whom they shall have elected with one common voice. But if it should happen that six shall be on one side and six on the other, it shall be left to chance, and him upon whom the lot shall fall we will acknowledge as emperor. If there should be a majority on one side, we will acknowledge as emperor him in favour of whom this majority shall be declared. If the council should be divided into more than two parts, we will acknowledge for emperor him whom the most numerous party shall have elected. The person who may be chosen emperor, shall have the quarter of all that shall be conquered from the empire, the palace of BlachernÆ, and the Lion’s Mouth. The three other quarters shall be shared equally among you and us. As to the clerical members who shall be of the side on which the emperor shall not have been chosen, they shall have the privilege of composing the clergy of the Church of St. Sophia, and to elect a patriarch for the glory of God, of the holy Roman church, and the empire. But as regards the clerical members on one side and the other, they shall compose the clergy of the churches which shall fall to their share. As to the wealth of the churches, care will be taken to distribute to the ecclesiastics as much as will be sufficient to provide honourably for them, and to the churches as much as will be requisite to maintain them properly. Whatever may remain of this wealth shall be divided and shared as above directed. We will, in addition, make oath, on both sides, that, dating from the last day of the present month of March, we will remain during the space of an entire year in the service of the emperor, in order to contribute to and strengthen his power, for the glory of God, the holy Romish church, and the empire; and that all those who shall have previously sojourned in the empire, shall swear fidelity to the emperor, according to the good and praiseworthy custom. Thus then, all those who now dwell in the empire, as has been mentioned, shall swear they will hold as good and authentic the regulations and treaties which have been made. It is also proper to observe that, as well on your side as on ours, there shall be chosen twelve members, at most, as it may be convenient, who, after having taken the oath, shall be charged with the duty of distributing the fiefs and honours among individuals, and of regulating the rights of service to which these same individuals shall be subjected as regards the emperor and the empire, according to what these members shall think suitable; that the fief which shall be assigned to any one shall be possessed freely and without any obstacle, by his posterity, as well masculine as feminine, and that the possessor shall have entire power to execute whatever to him may seem good, saving his obedience to the laws and the duty he shall owe to the service of the emperor and the empire. There shall be likewise done for the emperor all the service necessary, independently of that to which the possessors of fiefs and privileges shall be bound, according to the order that shall be assigned to them. It is further enacted, that no inhabitant of a nation which shall be at war with us or our successors, or the Venetians, shall be admitted into the empire until that war shall be entirely terminated. Moreover, each party is held to labour sincerely to obtain from our holy father the pope, that if any one shall attempt to contravene the present constitution, he shall be struck by excommunication. On his side, the emperor is bound to swear that he will hold the acts and gifts which shall be made, irrevocable, conformably with all which has hereupon been named. That if the present treaty should require any addition or suppression, it will be within our power and liberty to make it, assisted by our six counsellors, conjointly with the said lord marquis, assisted equally by his six counsellors. On the other side, the above-named lord doge cannot take the oath to the emperor for any service, for any fief or privilege that may be granted to him; but he or they whom he shall delegate in that which concerns him, shall take the oath to do, towards the emperor and towards the empire, all services required, conformably with all which has been thereupon mentioned.

Given, in the year of grace 1204, the 7th day of the month of March.

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No. 26.

In the year 1195, Walter Hemingford, an English chronicler, says that the Old Man of the Mountain sent to all the princes of Europe a letter, in which he exculpates the illustrious king Richard from the death of the marquis of Montferrat. Although this letter may be a little apocryphal, we publish it, to show our readers how the Old Man of the Mountain was then spoken of.

“The Old Man of the Mountain to the princes and all the people of the Christian religion, salutation. As we do not wish ill to him who is innocent and merits it not, we will not allow that the innocence of another should be compromised by any act that we have done. We will never suffer, with the permission of God, that they who have offended us shall rejoice long in the injuries inflicted on our simplicity. We signify then to you all, and we take as witness him by whom we hope to be saved, that it was not by any machinations of the king of England that the marquis was killed. He was justly killed, by our will and by our order, by our satellites, because he had offended us, and had neglected, in spite of our warnings, to make us reparation: for it is our custom first to warn those who have offended us in anything, either us or our friends, in order that they may give us satisfaction; and it is our custom, if they despise our warning, to avenge ourselves by the hands of our ministers, who obey us with the greater devotion from being convinced they shall be gloriously recompensed by God, if they fall whilst executing our orders. We have learnt likewise that it is said of the same king that he had engaged us, as less incorruptible than others, to send some one of our people to lay an ambush for the king of Franco. This is false, and the effect of a vain suspicion. God is our witness, that he never proposed anything of the kind to us, and that our honesty would not permit us to allow anything evil to be attempted against a person who had not merited it. Fare ye well.”

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No. 27.

Fragment from Nicetas Choniates, concerning the Statues of Constantinople destroyed by the Crusaders.[147]

The Latins manifested that love of gold which characterizes their nation, by thinking of a new species of plunder, till that time unknown to all the former spoilers of this city of cities. After opening the coffins of the emperors which are in the HeroÜm, erected near the magnificent church of the disciples of Jesus Christ, they pillaged them all during the night; and, in violation of the laws of equity, they took away all the ornaments in gold, pearls, and precious transparent stones, which had so long remained untouched in that sacred place.

Having found, likewise, the body of the emperor Justinian, still perfect and undecomposed, after the lapse of so many years, this spectacle struck them with admiration; but they paid no more respect, on that account, to the ornaments with which the body had been buried.

It may be affirmed that the Occidentals spared neither the living nor the dead, and beginning with God and his servants, they made all, indifferently, sensible to the effects of their impiety. A short time after, they bore away from the great church that veil which was valued at many thousand silver minÆ, and which was ornamented with thick golden embroidery. But as even all these riches could not satisfy the boundless cupidity of these barbarians, they cast their eyes upon the bronze statues, and consigned them to the flames. The Juno of bronze, which stood in the Square of Constantine, was taken to pieces and sent to the melting-house, to be transformed into staters;[148] so large was this statue that the head was as much as four pairs of oxen could draw to the palace.

After the Juno, they took down from its base a group of Paris and Venus; the shepherd offering the goddess the golden apple of discord.

Whoever beheld without admiration that square obelisk of bronze, the height of which was almost equal to that of the loftiest columns? Upon it were sculptured all the birds which, in spring, make the air resound with their melodious concerts, the labours of husbandmen, musical instruments, bleating sheep, and bounding lambs. The sea there spread forth its waves, with vast numbers of fish, part of which were taken alive, and the rest, bursting through the nets, were plunging back into their watery home. Naked cupids, sporting by twos and threes, pelting each other with apples, and indulging in the wildest gambols. At the top of this square obelisk, which terminated in a pyramidal form, was placed a female figure, which turned with the least breath of wind; whence she was called Anemodoulos (that is to say, the slave of the winds). This work, of admirable beauty, was likewise melted, as was a colossal statue, which stood in the Place of Taurus, and represented a man on horseback in heroic costume. This figure, whose base was a trapezium, was said by some to be Joshua, because his hand was extended towards the declining sun, and that he seemed to be commanding it to stay its course. But most persons thought it was intended for Bellerophon, the hero born and brought up in the Peloponnesus, mounted upon Pegasus; for the horse had no bridle, and it is thus Pegasus is represented, striking, at will, the plain with his hoof, and, whether flying or running, disdaining to submit to his rider. There was an ancient tradition, which was preserved to our times, and known to everybody, that under the left forefoot of this horse was concealed the figure of a man, representing, according to some, a Venetian, and according to others, some other enemy from the West, bearing a Roman name, or else it was a Bulgarian. Efforts had often been made to render this foot so firm and so solid that it might not be possible to discover what was said to be hidden beneath it. When this horse and his rider were taken to pieces to be melted, the figure was really found concealed under the foot of the horse; it was clothed in a mantle, much in appearance like one of wool; but the Latins, troubling themselves very little about the predictions concerning it, cast it also into the fire. Many other statues and admirable works, standing in the Hippodrome, shared the same fate, and were destroyed by these barbarians, who, incapable of admiration for the beautiful, converted all these masterpieces into coin, and annihilated monuments which had cost so much, for the sake of such an inconsiderable amount of money. They broke to pieces a Hercules, reclining upon an osier-basket (or mattress), covered by a lion’s skin, the head of which had, even in the bronze, so terrible an aspect, that it appeared about to roar, and spread terror among the idle multitude who stopped to look at it. The hero was seated, without quiver, bow, or club; his right arm and leg were stretched out to their full length, whilst his left leg was bent; placing his left elbow on his knee, he raised his fore-arm, and with an air of sadness, reposed his head upon the palm of his hand. He appeared to deplore his destiny, and to be thinking over with indignation the troubles to which Eurystheus constrained him, from jealousy, and not from necessity. His chest and shoulders were broad, his hair curly, his thighs large, his arms muscular, and his height was such as Lysimachus might, upon conjecture, have assigned to the true Hercules. This bronze Hercules was his first and last work: it was so large that the cord which went round his thumb was long enough for a common man’s girdle, and that with which his leg was measured was equal in length to the height of a man. They did not, however, fail to annihilate such a Hercules; these men who had separated courage from the virtues allied to it, who attributed it to themselves particularly, and professed to esteem it above everything! They took away the ass with his pack-saddle, walking and braying, with the ass-driver following him, which CÆsar Augustus had caused to be placed at Actium or Nicopolis, in Greece, to perpetuate the remembrance of his having gone out one night to observe the army of Antony, and having met with this man, of whom he asked who he was, and whither he was going, the man answered his name was Nico, and that of his ass Nicander, and that he was going to CÆsar’s army. Neither could they keep their hands from the hyena, and the wolf which suckled Remus and Romulus;—they melted this precious monument of the Roman nation for the sake of some paltry pieces of copper coin. They destroyed, in the same manner, the man contending with a lion; an hippopotamus of the Nile, the body of which ended in a tail covered with scales; the elephant shaking his trunk; the sphynxes, whose upper parts were those of women of rare beauty, but who, below, resembled fearful and horrid animals; these sphynxes were the more admirable from appearing to be able to walk, and at the same time to fly, and to dispute the palm of swiftness with the largest birds. A horse without a bridle, pricking up his ears and neighing; a tamed bull, walking with slow, heavy steps; and Scylla, that ancient monster, a woman to the waist, with her long neck, her large breasts, and an air full of cruelty; her inferior parts divided, to form those animals which attacked the vessels of Ulysses, and devoured several of his companions.

There was, likewise, in the Hippodrome, a bronze eagle, a wonderful monument of the magic art of Apollonius of Tyana. Being at Byzantium, he was implored to put an end to the trouble the inhabitants endured from the bites of serpents. Having recourse to his criminal arts, in which he had been instructed by demons and men initiated in their wicked mysteries, he placed upon a column an eagle which could not be looked upon without pleasure, and which drew passers-by to stop and contemplate it, as the songs of the Syrens fascinated those who listened to them. His wings were extended as if he were about to fly; but the folds of a serpent, which he held in his talons, impeded his efforts. The reptile stretched out its head as if to reach the wings of the bird; but its efforts were in vain; for, pierced by the claws of the eagle, its ardour relaxed, so that it appeared rather to be about to sleep or die than to fasten on the wings of the eagle. Thus the serpent was breathing its last sigh, and its venom was exhaling with it; whilst the eagle, with a haughty glance, and actually appearing to utter cries of victory, endeavoured to raise the serpent, and bear it away into the heavens with him; all which was expressed by the eagle’s superb look, and the death of the serpent. It might almost be said, in seeing the serpent thus forced to slacken its flexible folds, and forego its venomous bites, that it drove away, by its example, other serpents from Byzantium, and exhorted them to conceal themselves in their holes. And this was not all that rendered the figure of this eagle admirable; for it indicated, very correctly to the eye of an instructed spectator, the twelve hours of the day, by twelve lines traced upon its wings, when the rays of the sun were not veiled by clouds.

What shall I say of the Helen, with arms whiter than snow, with small delicate feet, and a bosom of alabaster? Of Helen, who brought all Greece together against Troy, who occasioned the ruin of that city, who from the Trojan shores, passed to those of the Nile, and thence at length returned to LacedÆmon? Was she able to subdue these inexorable men, and soften these hearts of iron? She had not the power; she, whose beauty charmed every spectator, whose robing was magnificent, who, although of bronze, was full of delicious languor, and who, even to her tunic, her veil, her diadem, and her elegantly arranged hair, appeared to respire the very spirit of voluptuousness. Her tunic was of a fabric more delicate than the tissues of Arachne; her veil was of the most admirable workmanship; the diadem which encircled her brow, glittered with the brilliancy of gold and precious stones; and her floating tresses, agitated by the wind, were gathered together behind, and descended to her legs. Her lips, slightly separated, like the cup of a rose, appeared ready to breathe soft and pleasant words, whilst her inexpressibly sweet smile seemed, in a manner, to meet the spectator, and fill him with delicious emotion. But language cannot describe or transmit to posterity the charm of her look, the arch so exquisitely marked of her eyebrows, or the graces which adorned her person. But thou, Helen, daughter of Tyndarus, lovely with natural beauty, work of the Loves, object of the cares of Venus, the most admirable gift of nature, the prize of victory proposed to Greeks and Trojans, where is the Nepenthe, that remedy against sadness, which the wife of Thoas remitted to thee? Where are those philters which none can resist? Why didst thou not employ them as formerly? But I see how it was. Thy inevitable destiny was to become the prey of the flames, thou, whose image alone had power to kindle the flames of love in the hearts of all who beheld thee. Perhaps I may say, that these descendants of Æneas condemned thee to the fire, to avenge in thy own person Ilium, consumed by the fires which thy loves had created. But the fury of gold which possessed the Latins, and led them to annihilate in every spot the most beautiful masterpieces of art, is beyond my power of imagining or describing. But I may venture to say this; they separate themselves from their wives, and yield them to the embraces of others for a few oboles; they are incessantly occupied in plunder, or in games of chance; they put on armour, and fight with each other, with a senseless and furious ardour, and not with a prudent, regulated valour; expose all they possess as the prize for victory, without excepting the young brides who have given them the pleasures of paternity, or even their own lives, a treasure so dear and valuable to all other men, and for the preservation of which there is nothing they will not undertake.—Barbarians even, without letters, know and repeat these verses upon thee, Helen:—“It is just that both Greeks and Trojans should undergo long misfortunes for the woman whose beauty equals that of immortal goddesses.”

There stood upon a column another woman of singular beauty, apparently in the period of brilliant youth, whose hair descended in tresses on each side of her face, and was fastened behind; she occupied a situation but slightly elevated, so that she could be touched by the hand. In the right hand, although the arm had no support, this statue bore a horseman, whose horse she held by one foot, and that apparently as easily as a cup of wine is carried. This horseman, of a manly, noble bearing, clothed in his cuirass, and with booted legs, seemed actually to breathe war. The horse’s ears were raised as if he heard the sound of the trumpet, his head elevated, his look fiery, and the ardour painted in his eyes denoted his impatience for the course; his feet, prancing in the air, seemed springing forward with a warlike bound.

After this statue, next to the eastern boundary of the Quadriges, called of the yellow faction, were placed statues of charioteers, examples and models of the art of skilfully driving a chariot. They appeared almost, by the disposition of their hands, to warn charioteers, not to loosen the reins on approaching the boundary; but to hold the horses with a tight hand whilst turning, and to make a sharp and continual use of the whip, so as to keep as close to the boundary as possible, and leave the unskilful rival charioteer, to make too wide a sweep, and lose the advantage, even with the best horses.

I will only add one particularity, for I have not undertaken to describe everything. That which excited remarkable pleasure and admiration, was a stone basis, upon which was placed an animal in bronze, which might have been taken for an ox, but that its tail was too small; like the oxen of Egypt, it had not long dewlaps, and its hoofs were not cloven. It crushed within its jaws, almost to the point of stifling it, another animal, whose body was bristling with scales, so pointed, that although of bronze, they would wound those who ventured to touch them: this animal was supposed to be a basilisk, and the creature it had seized, an aspick; but by others one was said to be an ox from the banks of the Nile, and the other a crocodile. For my part, I will not undertake to reconcile these opinions; I will content myself with saying that they were engaged in a most astonishing contest, and inflicted serious wounds upon each other; for sometimes the more strong, sometimes the mere weak, they were at the same time conquerors and conquered. The animal, which many supposed to be a basilisk, was all swollen from head to feet, and the poison circulating throughout its body, and flowing through all its members, gave it a colour greener than that of frogs,—a colour of death. It was upon its knees, with languishing eyes, and appeared to have lost all strength and vigour. It might have been believed even, that it had long been dead, had not its hind legs, at least, still stood firmly under it. The other animal which it held in its jaws, still waved its tail a little, and opened its long mouth under the pressure of the teeth which held and stifled it. It appeared to use its utmost efforts to escape from the teeth and jaws which held it so tenaciously, but could not succeed; for its body was fast between the jaws, and transpierced by the teeth of its enemy from the shoulders and the fore-feet to the part next to the tail. It was thus they died, the one by the other; the combat was mutual, the vengeance reciprocal, the victory equal, and the death common.[149] For my part, I believe I may remark on this subject, that it is not only in effigy, or among fierce and strong animals, that beings wicked and fatal to man thus inflict a mutual death upon each other; but that we often see nations, which bring war to the Romans, destroy each other; which is an effect of the power of Christ, who disperses nations that are friends to war, who holds blood in horror, and shows the just marching against the aspick and the basilisk, and trampling under foot the lion and the dragon.

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No. 28.

Letter to M. Michaud upon the Crusade of Children of 1212, by M. Am. Jourdain.

The expedition beyond the seas, undertaken about 1212, and composed entirely of children, if not one of the most striking events of the crusades, certainly appears to me to be not one of the least extraordinary. That institutions dictated by the spirit of religion, and destined either to propagate our religion, or to elevate its splendour, have not always found in their object a preservative against the corruption attached to human beings, is a truth established by numberless examples; but that fanaticism or the genius of evil, should be sufficiently powerful to extinguish in childhood the natural sentiment of its weakness, and draw it away from its natural supports, to inspire it with this train of ideas, this perseverance in resolutions, this accordance required by every enterprise formed by a numerous concourse of individuals, is what we can scarcely believe, although the memory of the fact is preserved by several historians. Whoever is acquainted with the taste of the middle ages for the marvellous, and has only read the incomplete account of the modern historians of the crusades, is at first tempted to range this expedition among fabulous adventures; and to procure it any credit, it is necessary to produce evidences worthy of our confidence.

In my first incredulity, I employed myself in collecting these evidences; I offer them to you in this letter, monsieur, in order to furnish, if possible, one trait more for the varied picture of the errors of the human mind.

We must distinguish various circumstances in this strange event; its date, the means which prepared it, the places that witnessed it, and its issue. Although criticism has not sufficient data to determine each of these points with precision, nevertheless the chronicles of the middle ages furnish us with documents sufficiently extensive to satisfy a prudent curiosity.

With regard to the date, contemporary historians all place this crusade under the year 1212,[150] or 1213 at the latest.[151] It is only by an error very easy to be reconciled, that others advance it twelve years,[152] or put it back ten.[153]

As to the places that witnessed the birth and growth of such an enterprise, it appears that the Crusaders belonged to two nations, and formed two troops, which followed different routes: one, leaving Germany, traversed Saxony and the Alps, and arrived on the shores of the Adriatic Sea;[154] France furnished the others, who, after collecting in the environs of Paris, crossed Burgundy, and arrived at Marseilles, the place of embarkation.[155]

Prestiges, fanaticism, the announcement of prodigies, were all employed to rouse the youth of these countries, and put them in motion. It was reported, according to Vincent de Beauvais that the Old Man of the Mountain, who was accustomed to educate arsacides from the tenderest age, detained two clerks captives, and would only grant them their liberty upon condition that they brought him back some young boys from France. The opinion then was, that these children, deceived by false visions, and seduced by the promises of these two clerks, marked themselves with the sign of the cross.

The promoter of the crusade in Germany was a certain Nicolas, a German by nation.[156] “This multitude of children,” says Bezarre, “were persuaded, by the help of a false revelation, that the drought would be so great that year, that the abysses of the sea would be dry; and they went to Genoa, with the intention of passing over to Jerusalem, across the arid bed of the Mediterranean.”

The composition of these troops corresponded with the means employed to seduce them. There were children of all ages and conditions, and of both sexes; some of them were not more than twelve years old; they set out from villages and towns, without leaders, without guides, without provisions, and with empty purses. It was in vain their parents or friends thought to dissuade them by showing them the folly of such an expedition: the captivity to which they condemned them redoubled their ardour; breaking through doors, or opening themselves passages through walls, they succeeded in escaping, and went to rejoin their respective bands. If they were questioned upon the object of their voyage, they answered that they were going to visit the holy places. Although a pilgrimage commenced under such auspices, and stained with all sorts of excesses, must have been an object of scandal rather than of edification, there were people senseless enough to see in it an act of the all-powerful God; men and women quitted their houses and their lands to join these vagabond troops, believing they pursued the way of salvation: others furnished them with money and food, thinking they aided souls inspired by God, and guided by sentiments of divine piety. The pope, when informed of their proceedings, exclaimed, with a groan: “These children reproach us with being buried in sleep, whilst they are flying to the defence of the Holy Land.”[157] If some few of the clergy, endowed with a little foresight, openly blamed this expedition, their censures were at once attributed to motives of avarice and incredulity; and, in order to avoid public contempt,[158] wisdom and prudence were condemned to silence.

The event, however, proved that all which man undertakes without employing the balance of reason and earnest reflection, does not come to a fortunate issue; “for soon,” says Bishop Sicard, “this multitude entirely disappeared:—quasi evanuit universa.”

But we must carefully distinguish between the fate of the German and that of the French Crusaders, although a part of the latter directed their course towards Italy.

It required nothing beyond wearing the cross to be admitted into the crusade; if the watchful care of princes and prelates in expeditions directed by ecclesiastical and secular power could not succeed in excluding from them men of bad morals, what sort of people must have been mixed with a host got together without the least care, and under the eye of no superior intelligence, the greater part of whom fled, like the prodigal son, from the paternal dwelling, in order to give themselves up, without restraint, to their vicious inclinations? The account of Godfrey the Monk, therefore, does not at all astonish us when he says that thieves insinuated themselves among the German pilgrims, and disappeared after having plundered them of their baggage and the gifts the faithful had bestowed upon them. One of these thieves being recognised at Cologne, ended his days on the rack. To this first misfortune a crowd of evils quickly succeeded, the necessary result of the want of foresight of the Crusaders. The fatigue of a long journey, heat, disease, and want, swept away a great number of them. Of those who arrived in Italy, some, dispersing themselves over the country, and plundered by the inhabitants, were reduced to servitude; others, to the amount of seven thousand, presented themselves before Genoa. At first the senate gave them permission to remain six or seven days in the city; but reflecting afterwards upon the folly of the expedition, fearing that such a multitude would produce famine, and, above all, apprehending that Frederick, who was then in a state of rebellion against the Holy See and at war with Genoa, might take advantage of the circumstance to excite a tumult, they ordered the Crusaders to depart from the city. Nevertheless, it was a received opinion in the time of Bizarre, that the republic granted the rights of citizenship to several of the young Germans of this formidable body, who were distinguished by birth; they acquired afterwards so much consideration, that they were admitted into the order of patricians; “and it is from them,” adds the same historian, “that several of the great families of the present day derive their origin; among whom may be remarked that of the Vivaldi.” The others, finding their error, turned back towards their own country again; and these Crusaders, who had been seen advancing in numerous troops, and singing animating songs, returned singly, robbed of everything, walking barefooted, undergoing the pangs of hunger, and subjected to the scoffs and derision of the population of the cities and countries they passed through: it is not to be wondered at, that in such circumstances many young girls lost the chastity which had been their ornament in their homes.

The Crusaders from France experienced a nearly similar fate: a very slender portion of them returned: the rest either perished in the waves or became an object of speculation for two Marseilles merchants. Hugh Ferrers and William Porcus, so were they named, carried on a trade with the Saracens, of which the asle of young boys formed a considerable branch. No opportunity for an advantageous speculation could be more favourable; they offered to transport to the East all the pilgrims who arrived at Marseilles, without any kind of charge for the voyage; assigning piety as the motive for this act of generosity. This proposition was joyfully accepted; and seven vessels, laden with these pilgrims, set sail for the coast of Syria. At the end of two days, when the ships were off the isle of St. Peter, near the rock of the Recluse, a violent tempest arose, and the sea swallowed up two of them, with all the passengers on board. The other five arrived at Bugia and Alexandria, and the young Crusaders were all sold to the Saracens or to slave-merchants.[159] The caliph bought forty of them, all of whom were in orders, and caused them to be brought up with great care in a place set apart for the purpose: twelve of the others perished as martyrs, being unwilling to renounce their religion. None of the clerks purchased by the caliph, according to the account of one of them who afterwards obtained his liberty, embraced the worship of Mahomet: all faithful to the religion of their fathers, practised it constantly in tears and slavery. Hugh and William having at a later period formed the project of assassinating Frederick, were discovered, and perished in an ignominious manner, with three Saracens, their accomplices, receiving, in this miserable end, the wages due to their treachery.

Pope Gregory IX. afterwards caused a church to be built in the island of St. Peter, in honour of those who were shipwrecked, and instituted twelve canonships to provide for the duties of it. In the time of Alberic the spot was still pointed out where the bodies cast up by the waves were buried.

As for the Crusaders who survived so many calamities, and remained in Europe, with the exception of some old and infirm persons, the pope would not release them from their vows; they were obliged either to perform the pilgrimage at a maturer age, or to redeem it by alms.

Such was the issue of this crusade, so justly designated by two chronicles, expeditio nugatoria, expeditio derisoria.[160]

Two facts strike us as extraordinary in this account: the condition attached by the Old Man of the Mountain to the liberty of the clerk of whom Vincent of Beauvais speaks, and the trade in children carried on by the merchants of Marseilles.

Upon the first point we can offer nothing but the opinion received among the nations of the West. It was generally believed in the thirteenth century, that the Old Man of the Mountain kept up a connection with Christian Europe; several princes were even accused of having had recourse to the daggers of his assassins to get rid of their enemies. Frederick received ambassadors from him in Sicily.[161] Roger Bacon complains bitterly of the fascinations secretly employed by the Saracens to seduce the young servants of Christ;[162] the name of Assassins had already passed into the vulgar tongue in the thirteenth century, and was the object of general terror. In spite, then, of the opinion of some critics, a more extended examination than comes within the scope of this letter is necessary, before we reject the account of Vincent of Bauvais.

As to the trade in young boys, that is not at all a new fact; many traces of it are to be found much anterior to this period. The Greeks and Venetians practised it openly enough. Pope Zacharias repurchased, in 748, many Christian slaves, who had been taken away from Rome by Venetian merchants; the people of Verdun, as witnessed by Lilprand, were about to sell to the Arabs of Spain some young boys they had mutilated, and who were to serve as guards to the women of seraglios.[163] Besides, the fate of the young Crusaders who embarked at Marseilles, and found degradation and slavery instead of the sacred soil promised to their blind zeal, is attested by two contemporary writers, worthy of perfect confidence: these are the illustrious Thomas de ChamprÉ[164] and Roger Bacon.[165] I do not then perceive any reasonable doubt that can be raised against this fact, but I find in it a fresh example of human cupidity, which sacrifices, in order to satisfy its cravings, that which nature and religion hold most sacred.—Receive, Monsieur, &c. &c.

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No. 29.

A Letter from Pope Innocent III.[166]

Now that motives more pressing than ever call Christians to the assistance of the Holy Land, and that we have reason to expect, from the present aid, more fortunate results than have been hitherto obtained, we again raise our voice, and make you to hear our cries in the name of Him who, when dying, cried with a loud voice from the cross, and who carried obedience towards God, his father, so far as to die upon the cross, crying in order to drag us from the torments of an eternal death; who cried also by himself, and said: “If any one desires to come with me, let him entirely renounce himself, let him take up his cross, and follow me.” This is as if he said in a more manifest manner, Let him who desires to follow me to the crown, follow me also to the fight, which is now proposed to all to serve as a trial. There is no doubt that the Omnipotent God was able, if it had been his will, to prevent this land falling into the hands of the enemies; he is able even now, if it were his will, to wrest it from them easily; since nothing can resist his will. But as iniquity was carried almost to its height, and as the zeal of charity was chilled in most, to arouse his faithful servants from the sleep of death, and to recall to them the desire of life, he offers this conflict to them, in order to prove their faith, like gold in the crucible; offering to them in this, an opportunity, nay more, an assured pledge of obtaining salvation. For this, they who shall have fought valiantly for him, shall obtain of him a crown of happiness; but they who, in such a pressing necessity, shall have drawn back from the service they owed to the glory of the Lord, will deserve to hear, at the great day of judgment, their just condemnation pronounced. What happy effects will this holy enterprise produce! How many, turning towards penitence, will range themselves under the standard of the cross, and will merit, by their efforts, a crown of glory, who perhaps would have perished in their iniquity, after having passed a life entirely consecrated to carnal voluptuousness and to the frivolities of this world. This is an old artifice of Jesus Christ, which he has deigned to repeat in our days for the salvation of his faithful servants. In fact, if any earthly monarch were driven by his enemies from his states, would not, when he should have recovered them, such of his vassals be condemned as infidels, and destined to all the punishments which the greatly guilty deserve, as had not exposed for his sake, not only their lives but their persons? In the same manner the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you a body and a soul, and all the other blessings you enjoy, will condemn you as guilty of black ingratitude, and of the crime of infidelity, if you fail to march to his succour at a time when he is in a manner driven from the kingdom he has acquired by his blood. Let whoever then shall refuse, in this pressing necessity, to hasten to the help of his Redeemer, know that he will exhibit a criminal hardness, and that he will be grievously guilty. If any one should be unjustly deprived of a portion, however small, of the heritage of his fathers, soon, according to the usages of the world, he would labour with all his strength to have this injustice repaired, and to repel this violence; and would spare neither his person nor his property, until he had succeeded in regaining all that he had lost. What excuse, then, can he bring who shall have declined some trifling labours to punish offences committed against his Redeemer, and avenge the outrages he has received; and who, by sparing his person and his goods, prevents the recovery of the places which witnessed the passion and the resurrection of our Lord, in which God, our king, deigned, some centuries ago, to operate, upon the earth, the salvation of men? How, also, according to the divine precept, can he love his neighbour as himself (as it is written), who knows that his brethren, Christians in belief and in name, are groaning in the prisons of the perfidious Saracens, and are suffering all the horrors of the hardest captivity, and shall refuse to labour in an effective manner for their deliverance, transgressing by this, this precept of the natural law, which God has made known in his Gospel: “Do unto other men that which you wish they should do unto you.” Are you ignorant, that among these people, many thousands of Christians groan in slavery and in chains, and are constantly subject to the most cruel tortures? All the provinces now in the power of the Saracens were inhabited by Christian nations till after the time of St. Gregory; but towards that period, there arose a child of perdition, a false prophet, named Mahomet, who, by the attractions of the joys of this world, and by the bait of carnal voluptuousness, found means to seduce a great number and turn them aside from the path of truth. Although his perfidy may have triumphed up to the present day, we place, nevertheless, our confidence in the Lord, who has hitherto so well inspired us, and we hope that we shall soon see the end of this beast, of which, according to the Apocalypse of St. John, “the number is included in six hundred and sixty-six.” He will soon end by the operation of the Holy Ghost, who will revive, with the fire of charity, the chilled hearts of the faithful; and of these years, nearly six hundred have already passed away. In addition to the other grave and considerable insults that the perfidious Saracens have inflicted on our Redeemer on account of our sins, lately, upon Mount Tabor, where he revealed to his disciples the image of future glory, these same perfidious Saracens have erected a fortress for the confusion of the Christian name. They hope, by means of this fortress, easily to obtain possession of the city of Acre, which is near to it, and afterwards invade, without the least obstacle, the rest of the Holy Land, almost entirely destitute of strength and means of defence. For this, then, my dear children in Christ, change into sentiments of peace and love your brotherly dissensions and discords, and let every one of you hasten to range himself under the standard of the cross, without hesitating to expose his person and his wealth for Him who offered up his soul for you, and shed his blood for you. March with security, upon this holy expedition, certain that if you are truly repentant, this short and transient labour will be for you a certain means of obtaining life eternal. For us, depositaries of the Divine mercy, and to whom has been transmitted the authority of the blessed St. Peter and St. Paul, according to the power which, although we were unworthy of it, God has given us to bind and unbind, we grant, to all who shall undertake in person and at their own expense this meritorious labour, the absolute pardon of their sins, after they shall heartily have repented of them, and shall have confessed them by word of mouth, and we give them the certain hope, by this means, of obtaining more easily life everlasting. As for those who, without assisting in person in the expedition, shall contribute to it by sending, according to their rank and their means, men fit for the purpose, in the same manner to those who shall go in person, although at the expense of others, we grant to all pardon for their sins. We grant the same pardon, in proportion with the extent of their sacrifices and the fervour of their devotion, to those who shall deprive themselves of a part of their worldly goods to provide for the expenses of the enterprise. We equally take under the protection of Saint Peter and of ourselves, the persons and the property of the faithful, from the moment they shall receive the sign of the cross; we place them under that of the archbishops and bishops, and all the prelates of the Church; and we declare that no infringement shall be made upon the possessions of the absent, until certain intelligence be obtained of their death or of their return. If any one shall make an attempt to do so, he shall be cited before the prelates of the Church, and shall be subjected to ecclesiastical censure. If it should happen, moreover, that any one of those who are disposed to set out for the Holy Land, should be obliged, by oath to pay any usurious amounts, we enjoin the prelates of the Church, to employ the same means to force their creditors to liberate them from their oath, and to desist from their usurious demands; and if it should happen that any one of these creditors should undertake to force his debtor to the payment of the usuries, let him incur the same censure, and be forced to make restitution. As for the Jews, we order that they be forced, by the secular power, to make remission of all usury to them who are going to the Holy Land; and, until they have made that remission, they shall be deprived, by means of excommunication, of all kinds of commerce with Christians. But in order that the succour furnished to the Holy Land should become less burdensome and more easy, from being levied upon a greater number, we beg all the faithful in general, and every one individually, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the only true, the only Eternal God, demanding in the name of Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ, of all archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priors; of all chapters of churches, whether cathedral or conventual; of all clerks, as well as of all cities, towns, and villages, to furnish each, according to their faculties, the required number of warriors, with everything necessary for their support for three years. If, for this purpose, each individual contribution should appear insufficient, several should be joined together; for we entertain no doubt that enough persons will present themselves, if the means be not wanting. We particularly request kings, princes, counts, barons, and other wealthy men who do not assist in the expedition in person, to contribute their part according to their means. As to maritime cities, we require of them the assistance of vessels. And for fear that we should appear to impose heavy and serious burdens upon others, which we are unwilling to put our hand to ourselves, we declare in our conscience, and before God, that all which we require of others we will eagerly do ourselves. We have thought it our duty to state, with respect to the clerks who shall form part of the expedition, that, all contestation ceasing, they may, to that effect, pledge the revenues of their benefices for three years. But as the succour which the Holy Land requires may meet with many obstacles and delays, if, before conferring the cross upon every one, it were necessary to stop to examine if he were capable of performing personally all the obligations imposed by such a vow, we consent that, regulars excepted, all who desire it shall take the cross; and that, if reasons of a pressing necessity, or of an evident utility require it, their vow may be, in virtue of an apostolic mandatory letter, changed, redeemed, or deferred; and, for the same reason, we revoke the pardons and indulgences granted by us, up to this day, to those who offered to march against the Moors in Spain, or against the heretics of Provence; particularly as they were granted to them for a time which is now entirely passed away, and for reasons which, in a great degree, have ceased to exist. For, with the grace of God, these affairs have so progressed, that they no longer require active measures; and if, by chance, they should again require them, we should take care quickly to turn our attention towards them. We grant, however, that the ProvenÇals and Spaniards should still enjoy these indulgences. Moreover, as corsairs and pirates greatly impede the measures taken for the succour of the Holy Land, by seizing and plundering those who are going thither, we excommunicate them, as well as their principal accomplices and abettors; forbidding under pain of anathema, any person, wittingly, to treat with them for any sale or any purchase, and enjoining the governors of cities and places which they inhabit, to reclaim them from this trade of iniquity, and put an end to their brigandages. Besides, as not being willing to trouble the wicked is nothing else but encouraging them; and as this is not foreign to the manoeuvres of a secret society which neglects to oppose these manifest crimes, we cannot refrain from employing ecclesiastical severity against the persons and the property of those who shall be in this condition; because they would become no less dangerous to the Christian name than the Saracens themselves. Moreover, we renew the sentence of excommunication, passed in the Council of the Lateran, against those who supply the Saracens with armour and weapons, or serve as pilots to the corsairs of those nations; we declare also that they shall be deprived of all they possess, and shall remain in slavery, if they chance to fall into it. We order that this sentence be published in all maritime cities, every Sunday and festival. But as we have much more to look for from divine clemency than from human power, we must, in such a conjuncture, contend less with corporeal arms than with spiritual arms; therefore we order and decree, that once in every month there shall be made, separately, a general procession of men, and in the same manner separately, as much as possible, one of women, during which, with minds filled with the spirit of humility, all will ask, with fervent prayers, that it may please the divine mercy to remove from us opprobrium and confusion, by delivering from the hands of pagans, that land upon which all the mysteries of our redemption were effected, and by restoring it, for the glory of the Omnipotent, to the Christian people. Care must always be taken, in these processions, to make a fervent exhortation to the people, and to repeat to them the name of the sign of our salvation. To prayer must be added fasting and charity, in order that they may be like wings to prayer, and carry it more easily and more promptly to the pious ears of the Eternal, who will listen to us with kindness in his own good time. Every day, likewise, at the solemn mass, after the kiss of peace, at the moment in which the salutary host, offered for the sins of the world, is upon the point of being consumed, all present, men as well as women, shall prostrate themselves humbly to the earth, and the clerks shall sing with a loud voice, the psalm, Deus venerunt gentes in hÆreditatem tuam; to which they shall add: Exurgat Deus et dissipentur inimici ejus; et fugiant À facie ejus qui oderunt eum. Then the officiating priest shall sing with a loud voice upon the altar, the prayer, Deus qui admirabile, &c. In churches in which the general procession shall assemble, care shall be taken to place a tronc, which shall be fastened with three keys, one of which shall remain in the hands of an honest priest, another in those of a devout layman, and the third in those of a monk, that they may be faithfully taken care of. It is in these troncs that clerks, laymen, men, and women shall deposit the alms destined for the aid of the Holy Land, according to the dispositions of those to whom these cares shall have been confided. As to the departure and the voyage, which should be made with modesty and order, we will, as yet, state nothing regarding them until the army of the Lord shall have taken the cross. But as all the circumstances are now prepared for, we will make all the arrangements which may appear necessary, aided by the counsels of wise and prudent men. To this effect, we have chosen our beloved son De Sales, the late abbots of Novo Castro, C. dean of Spire, and the guardian of the Augustines, all men of probity and known fidelity, who, after having associated themselves with other worthy and honest men, shall regulate and dispose, in our name, all that they shall deem necessary for the success of this enterprise, causing their orders to be faithfully and carefully executed by men fit for the business and specially appointed to it. This, therefore, is why we pray you all, we supplicate and conjure you, in the name of the Lord, command you by this present apostolic letters, and enjoin you by the authority of the Holy Ghost, to take care to prove, on every occasion, to these legates of Jesus Christ, by your eagerness to furnish them with all things necessary, that they will find, by you and in you, the means of attaining the so much desired end.

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No. 30.

Poetry of the Troubadours for the Crusades.

See how great is the folly of him who remains here! Does not Jesus command his apostles to follow him, and that he who should follow him should leave his friends and his wealthy abode? The time is come to obey this order: he who dies beyond the seas is more happy than if he lived; and he who lives on this side of them is more unfortunate than if he died. What is a cowardly, shameful life worth? Ah! he who dies generously triumphs over death itself, and lives again in felicity.

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Let him cease to boast of being brave, the knight who does not arm to succour both the cross and the sacred tomb! Yes, with rich equipments, with valour, with courtesy, and with all that is fair and irreproachable, we cannot obtain glory and happiness in paradise. What more could counts and kings require, if, by honourable deeds, they could redeem themselves from hell and from fire eternal, in which so many wretches would live tormented for ever?

Whoever is forced by old age or sickness to remain at home, let him give his money to those who are willing to take arms: it is a good deed to send another in your place; particularly when you are not kept back by cowardice. Ah! at the day of judgment, what will they answer who have remained at home? God will appear, and will say: “False men! men full of cowardice! for your sakes I died, for your sakes I was scourged.” Then, the just man himself, will he be without fear?—(Pons de Capducil: Er nos sia.)

I would that the king of France and the king of England were at peace! Certes, God would greatly honour him of the two who should consent the first, and would never forget his merits. Yes, that king would be crowned in heaven. Ah! why are the king of Apulia and the emperor not friends and brothers, until the holy tomb be recovered? Are they ignorant that the pardon they grant here, they themselves shall obtain at the day of the great judgment?—(Pons de Capducil: En honor.)

What mourning! what despair! what tears! when God shall say, “Go, wretches, go into hell, where you shall be tormented for ever in tortures, in agonies. This is your punishment for not having believed that I underwent a cruel passion: I died for you, and you have forgotten it.” But they who, in the crusade, shall meet with death, will be able to say, “And we, Lord, we died for thee.”—(Folquet de Romans: Quan lo dous.)

To-day will the brave, the gallant, and the courageous show themselves; it will be their audacity and their bravery that will distinguish them: this is the moment to display skill and valour. God calls, he himself calls, he chooses true knights, he who knows them, and he rejects the base who are wanting in courage and faith: it is the valiant alone whom his mercy will distinguish.—(Pierre d’Auvergne: Lo Senhor.)

The time is come, the day is arrived, in which it will be put to the test who are the men worthy of serving the Eternal: he calls, but he only calls upon the gallant and the brave. They shall be ever his, who, knowing faithfully how to suffer, devote themselves, and fight, shall be full of frankness, generosity, courtesy, and loyalty. Let the cowardly and the avaricious remain where they are; God only wants the good: he is willing that they should save themselves by their own high deeds. What a worthy and glorious salvation!

If ever William Malespine appeared brave among us, he has now furnished God himself with the proof of it; he took the cross the first, he took the cross voluntarily, to deliver the holy sepulchre and the sacred heritage. What shame! how wrong it is of the kings and the emperor that they do not deign to conclude treaties and truces with one another, in order to be able to succour the kingdom of the law, the holy light, and the tomb and the cross which the Turks have so long retained. The repetition alone of this disaster overwhelms us with profound sadness—(Aimerie de Peguilhan: Evas pana.)

It will soon be known what gallant men entertain the noble ambition of meriting the glory of this world and the glory of God. Yes, they may obtain the one and the other, they who devote themselves to the pious pilgrimage to deliver the holy tomb. Great God, what grief! the Turks have assailed and profaned it! Let us be sensible, even to the depths of our hearts, of this mortal disgrace; let us clothe ourselves with the sign of the Crusaders, let us pass over the seas; we have a safe and courageous guide, the sovereign pontiff Innocent himself.

Yes, every one is invited thither, every one is required; let every one march forward and cross himself in the name of that God who was crucified between two thieves, when he was so unjustly condemned by the Jews. If we still set a value on loyalty and bravery, we must fear the opprobrium of leaving Christ thus disinherited; but we love, we wish for that which is evil, and despise that which would be good and useful. But what! life, in our countries, is for us, nothing but a continual danger; and death, in the Holy Land, is for us eternal happiness.

Ah! ought we to hesitate to suffer death in the service of God, of that God who deigned to suffer for our deliverance! Yes, they shall be saved with St. Andrew, they who shall march towards Mount Tabor: let no one feel dread in the passage of this fleshly death. That which is to be feared is spiritual death, which delivers us up to the place where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, as St. Matthew shows and assures us.

Signor, saciez-tu or ne s’en ira
En cele terre u diex fu mors et vis,
Et ki la crois d’outre mer ne prendra
A paines mais ira en Paradis:
Ki a en soi pitiÉ et ramembrance
Au haut Seignor, doit guerre sa vengeance,
Et delivrer sa terre et son pays....
Or s’en iront cil vaillant bacheler
Ki aiment Dieu et l’oneur de cest mont
Ki sagement voilent À Dieu aler,
Et li morveux, li cendreus demourront:
Avugle sunt, de ce ne dont je mie,
Ki au secours ne font Dieu en sa vie
Et por si poc pert la gloire del mont.
Diex se laissa per nos en crois pener;
Et nous dira au jour oÙ tuit venront:
“Vos, ki ma crois m’aidÂtes À porfer,
Vos en irez lÀ oÙ li angele sont;
LÀ me verrez, et ma MÈre Marie;
Et vos, par qui je n’oi onques aie,
Descendez tuit en enfer le parfont.”[167]

—Thibault, king of Navarre. He took the cross in 1236; he set out from Marseilles in the month of August, 1238 or 1239.

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No. 31.

Upon the Funeral Ceremonies of the Prussians.

When a man, particularly a noble, died, he was placed upon a seat in the midst of his family and his friends, who said to him, “Hilloa! hadst thou not a comfortable house and a handsome wife, why didst thou die? Hadst thou not large flocks, horses of speed, and dogs of sure scent? What has driven thee from the world?” They then spread out the riches of the dead man, asking him the same questions; and as he made them no answer, those who were present charged him with messages to their deceased friends and relations.[168] They made the defunct funeral presents: for the men, this was a sword, to defend them against their enemies; for the women, it was a needle and thread, with which they might mend their clothes during their long voyage. The poor were buried, the rich were consumed upon a funeral pile.[169] The relations accompanied the convoy on horseback, sword in hand, uttering cries to drive away evil spirits. When arrived at the place of the ceremony, the cortÈge went three times round the pile, repeating these words: “Hilloa! why hast thou quitted life?” With the dead they burnt household goods, horses, dogs, falcons, everything which had ministered to the wants or pleasures of the deceased upon earth; sometimes even the wives, and the slaves who were attached to him, were cast into the lighted pile. Panegyrists, whom they called talissons[170] and ligastons, pronounced the eulogy of the dead; and whilst the flames ascended towards the heavens, they fancied they beheld him in the clouds, mounted upon a white horse, clad in brilliant armour, holding three stars in the right hand, a falcon on the left hand, and advancing towards another world in all the splendour of power and glory.

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No. 32.

Letter from the Count of Artois upon the taking of Damietta.

To his very excellent and very dear mother, Blanche, by the grace of God, illustrious queen of France, Robert, Count d’Artois, her devoted son, salutation, filial piety, and a will always obedient to hers. As you take much interest in our prosperity, in that of ours and of the Christian people, when you shall learn them with certainty, your excellence will no doubt rejoice to know that the lord, our brother and king, the queen and her sister, and ourselves also, are enjoying, thanks to God, perfect health. We ardently desire that you may be in the enjoyment of the like. Our dear brother, the Count of Anjou, is still afflicted with his quartan fever, but it is less violent than it was. The lord, our brother, with the barons and pilgrims who passed the winter in the isle of Cyprus, assembled on board their vessels, at the port of Limisso, on the evening of the Ascension, in order to proceed against the enemies of the Christian faith. After much labour, and much opposition on the part of the winds, they arrived, under the guardianship of God, on the Friday after Trinity, and towards mid-day, upon the coast, where, having cast anchor, they assembled in the king’s vessel, to deliberate upon what was to be done. As they saw before them Damietta, and the port guarded by a great multitude of barbarians, on horseback as well as on foot, and the mouth of the river covered with a great number of armed vessels, it was resolved that on the following day, all should land with our lord the king.

On the morrow, the Christian army, leaving the large vessels, descended into the galleys and small boats. Full of confidence in the mercy of God, and in the succour of the holy cross, which the legate carried near the king, they directed their course towards the shore and against the enemy, who launched a great number of arrows against them. Nevertheless, as the small boats, on account of the too great depth of the sea, could not gain the shore, the Christian army, leaving their boats to the care of Providence, threw themselves into the sea, and gained land, although loaded with their armour. Although a multitude of Turks defended the shores against the Christians, nevertheless, thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, the latter made themselves masters of it without loss, and killed a great number of the horse and foot soldiers, and some, as we hear, of great name. The Saracens retreated into the city, which was well fortified by the river, its walls and strong towers; but the All-Powerful Lord gave it up, on the next day, which was the octave of the Trinity, to the Christian army; the Saracens flying away, after having abandoned it. This was done by the favour of God alone. Know that these same Saracens have left the city full of provisions of all kinds, and of machines of war. The Christian army, after having fully supplied itself, left half for the provisioning of the city. The king, our lord, has sojourned there with his army, and, during his sojourn, has caused to be brought from the vessels all he requires. We have thought it best to remain here till the retreat of the waters of the Nile, which will, as we hear, inundate the country, and would cause great losses in the Christian army.

The countess of Anjou was confined in the isle of Cyprus, of a fine well-made boy, whom she has left at nurse there. Given at the camp of Jamas, in the year of our Lord 1249, in the month of June, and on the eve of St. John the Baptist.

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No. 33.

Letter of St. Louis upon his Captivity and Deliverance.

Louis, by the grace of God, king of the French, to his beloved and faithful prelates, barons, warriors, citizens, burgesses, and all the other inhabitants of his kingdom, to whom these present letters may come, salutation!

For the honour and glory of the name of God, desiring, with all our soul, to pursue the enterprise of the crusade, we have thought proper to inform you all that after the taking of Damietta, which our Lord Jesus Christ, by his ineffable mercy, as by miracle, gave up to the power of the Christians, as you have no doubt learnt, by the advice of our council, we set out from that city the 20th day of the month of November last. Our armies of land and sea were united; we marched against that of the Saracens, which was gathered together, and encamped in a place vulgarly called Mansourah. During our march, we sustained the attack of the enemy, who constantly experienced considerable loss. Upon one day among others, many men belonging to the Egyptian army, who came to attack ours, were killed. We learnt by the way that the Sultan of Cairo had just terminated his unhappy life; that before dying he sent for his son, who was in the eastern provinces, and made all the officers of his army take the oath of fidelity to this prince; and that he had left the command of all his troops to one of his emirs, named Fakr-eddin. Upon our arrival at the spot I have named, we found the news true. It was on the Thursday before the festival of Christmas that we arrived there; but we were not able to approach the Saracens, on account of a stream of water, which was between the two armies, called the river Thanis, a stream which separates itself at this spot from the great river of the Nile. We placed our camp between these two rivers, and it extended from the greater to the lesser one. We had there some engagements with the Saracens, who had many of their men killed by the swords of ours, but a great number of them were drowned in the waters. As the Thanis was not fordable, on account of the deepness of its waters, and the height of its banks, we began to throw a causeway across it, in order to open a passage for the Christian army; we worked at it for many days with great labour, dangers, and expense. The Saracens opposed all the efforts of our toil: they built machines to act against our machines; and they broke to pieces with stones, and burned with their Greek fire the towers and timbers which we placed upon the causeway. We had almost lost all hope of passing over by means of the causeway, when a Saracen fugitive informed us of a ford by which the Christian army might cross the river. Having called together our barons, and the principal leaders of the army, on the Monday before Ash-Wednesday, it was resolved that on the following day, that is to say, the day of CarÊme penant (three days before Lent), we should repair early in the morning to the place pointed out for crossing the river, leaving a small part of the army to guard the camp. The next day, having ranged our troops in order of battle, we proceeded to the ford, and crossed the river, not without incurring great dangers; for the ford was deeper and more difficult than it had been represented to us. Our horses were obliged to swim, and it was not easy to get out of the river, on account of the elevation of the banks, which were besides very muddy. When we had crossed the river, we arrived at the place where the Saracens had raised machines in face of our causeway. Our vanguard, attacking the enemy, killed a vast many people, and spared neither sex nor age. Among the number, the Saracens lost a general and several emirs. Our troops having afterwards dispersed themselves over the country, some of our soldiers passed through the camp of the enemy, and arrived at the village named Mansourah, killing all they met with; but the Saracens perceiving the imprudence of our men, resumed their courage, and fell upon them, surrounding them on all sides, and overwhelming them with numbers. A great carnage ensued of our barons and warriors, ecclesiastics as well as others, whom we have with reason deplored, and whose loss we still continue to deplore. There we lost also our brave and illustrious brother, the count d’Artois, worthy of eternal remembrance. It is with bitterness of heart we recall the memory of that painful loss, although we ought to rejoice at it; for we believe and hope that having received the crown of martyrdom, he is gone into the heavenly country, and that he there enjoys the reward accorded to holy martyrs. On that day the Saracens pouring down upon us from all parts, and piercing our troops with showers of arrows, we withstood their fierce assaults till the ninth hour, although we were entirely without the assistance of our cross-bowmen.[171] In the end, after having a great number of our warriors and horses killed and wounded, with the help of our Lord, we preserved our position, and having rallied, we went that same day and pitched our tents close to the machines of the Saracens. We remained there with a small number of our people, and made a bridge of boats, that those who were on the other side of the river might come to us. The next day many of them crossed, and encamped near us. Then the machines of the Saracens being destroyed, our soldiers were able to go and come freely, and safely, from one army to the other, over the bridge of boats. On the following Friday, the children of perdition having collected their forces from all parts, with the intention of exterminating the Christian army, came to attack our lines, with much audacity, and with infinite numbers. The shock was so terrible on both sides, that it is said never was such a one beheld on these shores. With the help of God, we stood our ground on all sides; we repulsed the enemy, and made a great number of them fall beneath our blows. At the end of a few days, the son of the late Sultan, returning from the eastern provinces, arrived at Mansourah. The Egyptians received him as their master, and with transports of joy. His arrival redoubled their courage; but from that moment, we know not by what judgment of God, everything on our side went contrary to our desires. A contagious disease broke out in our army, and carried off men and animals, in such a manner that there were very few who had not to regret companions or attend upon the sick. The Christian army was, in a very short time, much diminished. There was such a scarcity of food, that many died of want and hunger; for the boats of Damietta could not bring to the army the provisions embarked upon the river, because the vessels of pirates and of the enemy cut off the passage. They even captured many of our boats, and afterwards took, successively, two caravans, which were bringing us provisions, and killed a great number of sailors and others who formed part of it. The extreme scarcity of food and forage spread desolation and terror throughout the army, and with the losses we had experienced, forced us to quit our position, and to return to Damietta, if it were the will of God; but as the ways of man are not within himself, but in Him who directs his steps, and disposes all things according to his will, whilst we were on the road, that is to say, the 5th of the month of April, the Saracens, having got together all their forces, attacked the Christian army, and by the permission of God, and on account of our sins, we fell into the power of the enemy. We and our dear brothers, the counts of Anjou and Poictiers, and the others who were returning with us by land, were all taken prisoners. The greater part of those who were returning by the river were, in the same manner, either taken prisoners or killed. The vessels on which they were aboard were mostly burnt with the sick who were in them. Some days after our captivity, the sultan proposed a truce to us; he demanded earnestly, but without threats, that Damietta and all that it contained should be given up to him without delay; and that he should be indemnified for all the losses and all the expenses he had incurred up to that day, from the moment the Christians entered Damietta. After many conferences, we concluded a truce with him for ten years, on the following conditions:—

The sultan will deliver from prison, and allow to go whither we will, ourselves and all that have been made prisoners since our arrival in Egypt, and all other Christians, of whatever country they may be, who have been made prisoners since the sultan Kamel, grandfather of the present sultan, made a truce with the emperor; the Christians retaining in peace all the lands they possessed in the kingdom of Jerusalem, at the time of our arrival. On our part, we consent to give up Damietta, with eight hundred thousand Saracen byzants, for the liberty of the prisoners, and for the losses and expenses of which we have just spoken (we have already paid four hundred), and to deliver all Saracen prisoners which the Christians have made since we have been in Egypt, as well as those who had been made captives in the kingdom of Jerusalem, since the truce concluded between the aforesaid sultan and the aforesaid emperor. All our household goods, and those of all others who were at Damietta, shall be, after our departure, placed under the care of the sultan, and be transported into the country of the Christians when an opportunity shall offer itself. All the Christian sick, and those who shall remain at Damietta to sell what they possess there, shall be in equal safety, and shall depart either by land or by sea, when they shall please, without obstacle or molestation.—The sultan was bound to give safe conduct to the countries of the Christians to those who should wish to depart by land.

This truce, concluded with the sultan, had just been sworn to on both sides, and the sultan had already set forward on his march to go with his army to Damietta, and fulfil the conditions which had been stipulated, when, by a judgment of God, some Saracen warriors, doubtless with the connivance of the greater part of the army, rushed upon the sultan at the moment he was rising from table, and wounded him severely. The sultan, in spite of this, came out of his tent, hoping to be able to escape by flight; but he was killed by sword-cuts, in presence of almost all the emirs, and of a multitude of other Saracens. After this many Saracens, in the first moments of their fury, came with arms in their hands to our tent, as if they wished, and as many among us feared, to slay both us and the other Christians; but divine clemency having calmed their fury, they pressed us to execute the conditions of the truce. Their words and their requests were, however, mingled with terrible threats: at last, by the will of God, who is the father of mercies, the consoler of the afflicted, and who listens to the lamentations of his servants, we confirmed by a new oath the truce which we had made with the sultan. We received from all, and from each one in particular of them, a similar oath, sworn according to their law, to observe the conditions of the truce. The time was fixed for the giving up of the prisoners and the city of Damietta. It had not been without difficulty that we agreed with the sultan for the giving up of that place; it was not without difficulty again that we agreed afresh with the emirs. As we could have no hopes of holding it, after what we were told by those who came back from Damietta, and who knew the true state of things; by the advice of the barons of France, and of many others, we judged it would be better for Christendom, that we and the other prisoners should be delivered by means of a truce, than to retain that city with the remains of the Christians that were in it, ourselves and the others remaining prisoners, exposed to all the dangers of such a captivity. For this reason, on the day fixed, the emirs received the city of Damietta, after which they set us at liberty, ourselves, our brothers, the counts of Flanders, Brittany, and Soissons, and many other barons and warriors of the kingdoms of France, Jerusalem, and Cyprus. We had then a firm hope that they would render up and deliver all the other Christians, and that, according to the tenor of the treaty, they would keep their oaths.

This done, we quitted Egypt; after having left the persons charged to receive the prisoners from the hands of the Saracens, and to take care of the things we could not bring away, for want of vessels to convey them in. Upon our arrival here, we sent vessels and commissaries into Egypt, to bring away the prisoners; for the deliverance of these prisoners is the object of all our solicitude; and the other things which we had left behind, such as the machines, arms, tents, a certain number of horses, and several other articles; but the emirs detained our commissaries a long time at Cairo, to whom they have, at length, only delivered four hundred prisoners out of twelve thousand that there are in Egypt. Some of these were only liberated upon the payment of money. As to the other things, the emirs would restore nothing; but what is most odious, after the truce concluded and sworn to, according to the account of our commissaries and captives worthy of credit, who have returned from that country, they have chosen from among their prisoners some young men, whom they have forced, the sword held over their heads, to abjure the Catholic faith, and embrace the law of Mahomet, which many have had the weakness to do; but others, like courageous athletes, rooted in their faith, and constantly persisting in their firm resolution, have not been moved by either the threats or the blows of the enemies, and have received the crown of martyrdom. Their blood, we do not doubt, cries to the Lord for the Christian people; they will be, in the heavenly court, our advocates before the Sovereign Judge; and they will be more useful to us in that country than if we had been able to keep them upon earth. The Mussulmans likewise slaughtered many Christians who were left sick in Damietta. Although we should have observed the conditions of the treaty that we have made with them, and were always ready to observe them, we had no certainty of seeing the Christian prisoners delivered, or of having that restored which belonged to us. When the truce was concluded, and our deliverance had taken place, we had a firm confidence that the country beyond the sea, occupied by the Christians, would remain in a state of peace until the expiration of the truce; and we had both the desire and the intention to return to France. We were already making preparations for our passage; but when we clearly perceived, by that which we have just related, that the emirs were openly violating the truce, and, in contempt of their oath, did not fear to make a sport of us and Christendom, we assembled the barons of France, the prelates, the knights of the Temple, of the Hospital, of the Teutonic order, and the barons of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and we consulted with them upon what was best to be done. The greater number were of opinion that if we were to return at this moment, and abandon this country, which we were upon the point of losing, it would be exposing it entirely to the attacks of the Saracens, particularly in the state of misery and weakness to which it was reduced, and we might consider the deliverance of the Christian prisoners now in the power of the enemy, as lost and hopeless. If, on the contrary, we remained, we had hopes that time would bring about something favourable, such as the deliverance of the captives, the preservation of the castles, and the fortresses of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and other advantages for Christendom; particularly as discord had sprung up between the sultan of Aleppo and those who governed at Cairo. The sultan has already, after gathering together his armies, got possession of Damascus, and some castles belonging to the sovereign of Cairo. It is said he is about to come into Egypt, to avenge the death of the sultan, whom the emirs killed, and to make himself master, if he can, of all the country. In consequence of these considerations and compassionating the miseries and degradation of the Holy Land, we who came to succour it, pitying the captivity and the sorrows of our prisoners, although many dissuade us from remaining longer beyond the seas, we have preferred putting off our passage, and continuing still some time in Syria, to abandoning entirely the cause of Christ, and leaving our prisoners exposed to so many and such great dangers. But we have determined upon sending back into France our dear brothers, the counts of Poictiers and Anjou, for the consolation of our dear lady and mother, and of the whole kingdom. As all those who bear the name of Christian ought to be filled with zeal for the enterprise we have formed, and you in particular, who are descended from the blood of those whom the Lord chose as a privileged people, for the conquest of the Holy Land, which you ought to look upon as your property, we invite you all to serve Him who served you upon the cross, shedding his blood for your salvation; for this criminal nation, in addition to the blasphemies they vomited in the presence of Christian people against the Creator, beat the cross with rods, spat upon it, and trampled it under-foot, in hatred of the Christian faith.

Courage, then, soldiers of Christ! arm, and be ready to avenge these outrages and these affronts. Take example of your ancestors, who distinguished themselves among all nations by their devotion, by the sincerity of their faith, and filled the universe with the fame of their noble actions. We have gone before you in the service of God. Come and join us. Although you arrive late, you will receive from the Lord the recompense which the father of the family, in the Gospel, accorded without distinction to the labourers who came to labour in the vineyard at the end of the day, as to the labourers who came at the beginning of it. They who shall come, or who shall send succour whilst we are here, will obtain, in addition to the indulgences promised to Crusaders, the favour of God and of man. Make, then, your preparations, and let them whom the virtue of the Most High shall inspire to either come themselves or send assistance, be ready by the month of April or of May next. As for such as cannot be prepared for the first passage, let them at least be in a situation to make that which will take place about the festival of St. John. The nature of the enterprise requires promptness, and every delay must produce fatal consequences. For you, prelates and others, faithful servants of Christ, help our cause with the Most High by the fervour of your prayers; order it so that this be done in all places under your direction, so that they may obtain for us from divine clemency the blessings of which our sins render us unworthy.

Done at Acre, the year of our Lord 1250, in the month of August

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No. 34.

A List of the Great Officers or Knights who followed St. Louis to Tunis, according to Agreements entered into between them and the King, in the year 1269, as set forth in the Manuscript from which this List is taken; which Manuscript was inherited by M. Malet de Graville, formerly Admiral, and was printed at the end of the Preface to the History of St. Louis, by Joinville, edition of the Louvre.

Monseigneur de Valery is to go himself, and thirty knights, and the king is to give him eight thousand livres Tournois, and he is to have food for his horses of the king during the passage; but they shall not be fed at court (n’auront pas bouche À court), and shall remain a year, he and his people, which year shall commence as soon as they shall have arrived on dry land; and if it should so happen that by agreement or by the accidents of the sea they should sojourn in some island with the king, by which they should remain with the sea behind them, the year shall commence with their sojourn, and the knights must be paid half of their dues when the year begins, and the other half when the first half shall have passed away; and if it be required to know what shall be allowed to each banneret, it is to be two horses; and to each knight not a banneret, one horse; and the horses to carry the groom who shall take care of them; so that grooms have six horses each in charge.[172] The constable shall go likewise, he and fifteen knights, upon the same condition as the sieur de Valery, but he shall only receive four thousand livres Tournois of the king.

Monseigneur Florent de Varannes, the admiral, shall go also upon the same conditions, himself and twelve knights, and shall receive of the king three thousand two hundred livres Tournois.

Monsieur Raoul d’EstrÉes, the marshal, shall go also on the same conditions, himself and six knights, and shall receive sixteen hundred livres Tournois.

Monseigneur Launcelot de St. Marc, marshal, shall go on the same conditions, himself and five knights, and shall have fourteen hundred livres Tournois.

Monsieur Pierre de Moleines shall go, himself and five knights, on the same conditions, except that he and his companions shall eat at court, and shall receive of the king fourteen hundred livres Tournois, and four hundred livres as a gift.

Monsieur Collart de Moleines, his brother, shall go on the same conditions, and in the same manner as Monsieur Pierre, his brother.

Monsieur Gilles de la Tournerelle shall go, himself and four knights, on the same conditions, and shall eat at court.

Monsieur Malry de Roie shall go, himself and eight knights, on these same conditions, and shall eat at court, and shall have two thousand livres, and two hundred livres separately for himself.

Monsieur Gerard de Mortroise shall go, himself and ten knights, to receive three thousand livres Tournois.

Monsieur Raoul de Neele, himself and fifteen knights, to receive four thousand livres Tournois, and shall eat at their own expense (À son hostel).

Monseigneur Almaury de Meulane, himself and fifteen knights, four thousand livres Tournois, and shall eat at their own expense.

Monsieur Ausoat d’Offemont, himself and ten knights, twenty-six hundred livres Tournois, and shall eat at the expense of the king (en l’hostel du roy).

Raoul de Flamant, six knights; Baldwin de Longueval, four knights; Louis de Beangen, ten knights; Jean de Ville, four knights; Malry de Tournelle, four knights; William de Courtenay, ten knights; William de Patay, himself and his brother, with many others, all receiving pay in proportion to the number of their knights, and all eating at the king’s expense (en l’hostel du roy).

The archbishop of Rheims to receive 1,111 m. l.

The bishop of Lengres to receive 1,111 m. l., with a vessel for his thirty-two knights.

Monsieur Robert de Bois-Gencelin, quite alone, one hundred and sixty livres, to eat at the king’s expense. Pierre de Sanz, Etienne Gauche, Macy Delene, all the same, that is, quite alone, one hundred and sixty livres, or, as the text is, eight twenty livres each, and eat at the king’s expense.

Monsieur Gilles de Mailley, himself and ten knights, three thousand livres, and passage and return for his horses; eat at court.

Monsieur Ytien de Morignac, himself and five knights, twelve hundred livres, and passage and return for his horses; eat at court.

The Fourrier de Vernail, for himself and four knights, twelve hundred livres, and eat at the king’s expense.

Monsieur Guillaume de Fresne, ten knights, twenty-six hundred livres, and eat at the king’s expense. The count de Guynes, exactly the same.

The count de St. Pol, himself and thirty knights, for passage and return of horses, for eating and for all other things, twelve thousand livres, and two thousand private gift.

Monsieur Lambert des Limons, himself and ten knights in the pay of the king, that is to say, to each, ten sols Tournois per diem, and shall not eat at court,—amounts to eighteen hundred and twenty-five livres.

Monsieur Gerard de Campandu, himself and fifteen knights in the king’s pay, shall not eat at court, as with M. Lambert, two thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven livres ten sols Tournois.

Monsieur Raymond Alan, himself and five knights, at the king’s pay, amounts to nine hundred and twelve livres ten sols Tournois.

Monsieur Jehan de Debeines, himself and ten knights, three thousand livres, and passage and return for six horses, shall eat at court.

The mareschal de Champagne shall go, with ten knights, and shall receive nothing of the king.

Monsieur Gaillard Darle, himself and five, in the king’s pay, nine hundred and twelve livres ten sols.

Monsieur Guillame de Flandres, himself and twenty knights, six thousand livres, and passage and return for his horses, and shall eat at court.

Monsieur Aubert de Longueval, himself and five knights, eleven hundred livres, passage and return for horses, and eat at court.

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No. 35.

Instructions of St. Louis, addressed, on his Death-bed, to Philip-le-Hardi.[173]

Dear Son,—As it is the most earnest desire of my heart that thou shouldst be well informed on all subjects, I think thou mayest derive much instruction from this writing; often having heard thee say that thou retainest better that which proceeds from me than from any other person.

Dear Son, my first instruction to thee is, that thou shouldst love God with all thy heart and with all thy power, for without that all that thou doest is nothing worth: thou shouldst avoid all things that thou thinkest may displease him, and which are within thy power, and particularly thou shouldst have so strong a resolution that thou wouldst not commit a mortal sin for anything that could happen to thee, and that thou wouldst suffer all thy members to be hacked off, and thy life taken away by the most cruel martyrdom, rather than knowingly commit a mortal sin.

If our Lord should afflict thee with any persecution, malady, or other thing, thou shouldst suffer cheerfully, and thank him for it and be pleased; for thou must think that he hath done it for thy good, and thou must further think that thou hast merited it, and more still if it be his will; because thou hast but too little served him, or too little loved him, and because thou hast done many things against his will.

If our Lord shall please to send thee any prosperity, health of body, or other thing, thou shouldst thank him humbly, and shouldst take great care not debase thyself by pride, or any other offence; for it is a great sin to wage war against the Lord with his own gifts.

Dear Son, I advise thee to confess frequently, and always to choose a confessor of holy life and sufficient knowledge, by whom thou mayest be instructed upon the things thou shouldst shun and upon the things thou shouldst do; and bear thyself in such a manner that thy confessors and friends may dare boldly to instruct and reprove thee.

Dear Son, I advise thee to hear willingly the service of the Holy Church, and when thou art in the chapel, beware of daring to utter vain words. Repeat thy orisons with earnest attention, either by mouth or by thought, and be particularly observant when the body of our Lord shall be present at the mass.

Dear Son, have a compassionate heart for the poor, and for those whom thou thinkest are enduring sufferings of either heart or body, and according to thy power comfort them willingly with consolation or with alms. If thou art sick at heart, tell it to thy confessor, or any other person whom thou thinkest to be loyal and can keep thy secret: in order that thou mayest be ever at peace, never do anything that thou canst not tell of.

Dear Son, entertain willingly the company of good men, whether religious or secular, but eschew the company of the wicked; hold willingly good conversation (parlements) with the good, and willingly hear our Lord spoken of in sermons; and in private seek earnestly for pardon. Love good in others, and hate evil, and never suffer words to be spoken in thy presence that may lead people to sin, never hear willingly others spoken ill of, or any words that may disparage our Lord, or our Lady, or the saints. Never suffer any such speech without reproving it; and if it should proceed from a clerk, or so great a person that thou canst not punish him, cause it to be told to him who can inflict justice for it.

Dear Son, take care that thou beest so good in everything, that it may appear thou art grateful for the blessings and honours that God has heaped upon thee, so that if it please our Lord that thou shouldst come to the honour of governing the kingdom, thou mayest be worthy to receive the holy unction with which the kings of France are consecrated.

Dear Son, if thou shouldst attain the kingdom, take care to possess the qualities which belong to kings; that is to say, be so just as never to swerve from justice, whatever may happen to thee. If a quarrel should arise between a poor man and a rich man, take the part of the poor man against the rich man, until thou shalt ascertain the truth, and when thou shalt know it, do justice. If it should so happen that thou shouldst have a dispute with another person, maintain the cause of the stranger before thy council: do not appear to be too forward in thy quarrel, until thou shalt be certain of the truth; for those of thy council might fear to speak against thee, which thou oughtest not to desire.

Dear Son, if thou learnest that thou art possessed of anything wrongfully, either in thy own time or in that of thy ancestors, immediately restore it, however great the matter may be, in land, money, or other property. If the affair be obscure, so that thou canst not arrive at the truth, make such peace, according to the advice of worthy men, that thy soul or that of thy ancestors may be entirely freed from it: and if ever thou hearest that thy ancestors have made any restitution, take great pains to learn whether nothing still remains to be restored; and if thou findest there is, make restitution instantly, for the good of thy soul and that of thy ancestors. Be diligent to protect in thy territories all kinds of people, particularly persons belonging to the holy Church; defend them from injury both in their persons and their property, and I hereupon remind thee of a saying of King Philip, one of my ancestors, as one of his council has told me he heard him speak it. The king was one day with his privy council, and some of his counsellors said that the clerks did him great wrong, and they wondered that he suffered it. He replied: “I believe that they do me great wrong; but when I think of the honours our Lord has conferred on me, I by far prefer suffering my loss or injury, to doing anything which might create a misunderstanding between me and the holy Church.” I repeat this to thee, that thou mayest not lightly believe those who speak against persons connected with the holy Church. In such a way honour and protect them, that they may be able to perform the service of our Lord in peace. I teach thee this, in order that thou mayest principally love religious people, and mayest succour them in their wants; and those by whom thou shalt think our Lord is best honoured and served, such love better than others.

Dear Son, I desire that thou shouldst love and honour thy mother, and that thou shouldst willingly receive and observe her good instructions, and be inclined to place faith in her good counsels; love thy brothers, and always watch over their good and their advancement; be to them in the place of a father, to lead them to all that which is good; but take care, that for the love of any one, thou dost not fall off from acting rightly, or do anything that ought not to be done.

Dear Son, I advise thee, that all the benefices of the holy Church which thou shalt have to bestow shall be given to persons judged worthy by the great council of prud’hommes; and it appears better to me that thou shouldst give to them who have nothing, and will employ thy gifts well, if thou searchest for them diligently.

Dear Son, I advise thee to avoid, as much as it shall be possible, to enter into war with any Christian; and, if any one do thee wrong, try by every means to learn if there be no way of maintaining thy right without going to war, observing that this is to avoid the sins that are committed in war. And if it should happen that it be proper for thee to make it, or that any one of thy men fail in his duty, or commit wrong against any church, or any poor person whatever, and will not make amends, for which, or for any reasonable cause, it be proper for thee to make war, carefully give orders that the poor people, who have committed neither crime nor offence, be protected, let no injury fall upon them either by fire or other means; for it will be much better for thee to contend with the evil-doer, and take his castles by storm or siege: but be sure to be well advised before thou movest in any war; be sure that the cause be perfectly just, that thou hast summoned the evil-doer, and hast waited as long as thy duty will permit.

Dear Son, I advise thee, that when wars shall arise in thy dominions among thy men, that thou shouldst take all possible pains to appease them; for that is a thing which is pleasing to our Lord; and Messire Saint Martin has given a very great example of it, for he went to restore concord among the clerks who were in the archbishop’s palace, although at the time he knew from our Lord that he must die; and it appeared to him that by doing so he ended his life worthily.

Dear Son, be sure that thou hast good judges and provosts in thy dominions, and frequently examine whether they are doing justice, and whether they are doing wrong to nobody, and are acting as they ought; in the same manner be sure that they who live in thy court (ton hostel), commit no injustice; for however thou mayest hate doing ill to others, thou oughtest still more to hate the ill which should come from those who receive the power from thee, and shouldst take great heed that this never should happen.

Dear Son, I advise thee to be always devoted to the Church of Rome, and to our holy father the pope, and to pay him the respect and honour due to thy spiritual father.

Dear Son, confer power freely upon well-intentioned people who know how to employ it properly, and take great pains to remove all sins from thy territories,—that is to say, profane swearing and everything that may be said or done in contempt of God, our Lady, or the saints; carnal sins, gaming with dice, tavern-drinking and other vices. Suppress, in thy dominions, wisely and prudently, all rebels and traitors against thy power; drive them and all ill-disposed persons from the land, until it be quite purged of them. When, by the sage counsel of worthy people, thou shalt hear of any good thing to be done, forward it by every means in thy power, giving proofs that thou acknowledgest the blessings our Lord has bestowed upon thee, and that thou art willing to return him thanks for them.

Dear Son, I advise thee to take great care that the money thou shalt spend shall be properly expended, and, moreover, that it be justly levied: this is a thing of which I should wish thee to be particularly heedful; that is to say, avoid extravagant expenses and unjust extortion, let thy money be justly received and well employed; and this may our Lord teach thee, with everything that may be profitable and suitable to thee!

Dear Son, I pray thee, if it shall please our Lord that I should quit this life before thee, that thou wilt help me with masses and prayers, and that thou wilt send to the congregations of the kingdom of France, to make them put up prayers for my soul, and that thou wilt desire that our Lord may give me part in all the good deeds thou shalt perform.

Dear Son, I give thee every blessing that a father can and ought to give to a son, and I pray our Lord Jesus Christ, that by his great mercy, and by the prayers and the merits of his blessed mother the Virgin Mary, and of the angels and archangels, and of all the male and female saints, that he will keep and defend thee from committing anything that may be against his will, and that he will give thee grace to perform his will, and that he may be served and honoured by thee: and may he grant to thee and to me, by his unbounded generosity, that after this mortal life, we may come to him for life everlasting, there where we may see him, may love him, and may praise him without end. Amen.

To him be all glory, honour, and praise, who is one God with the Father and the Holy Ghost, without beginning and without end. Amen.

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No. 36.

Edward I., King of England.

As our author has said but little to show English readers what part this, one of their greatest kings, played in the holy wars, we offer an extract from the chronicler Walter Hemingford, canon of Gisseburne, of whom Michaud speaks highly.

Edward, son of Henry III., took part in the crusade of Louis IX. He set out, about the feast of St. Michael, to Aigues-Mortes, where he embarked, and at the end of ten days, landed at Carthage, and was received with much joy by the Christian princes who were then there; that is to say, Philip of France, who had just succeeded Louis IX., his father; Charles king of Sicily, and the king of Navarre. Walter relates that Edward was disgusted with the treaty made between the Christian kings and the king of Tunis, and would take no part in it. The English prince went to Acre with a thousand picked men, and reposed for a month, in order to refresh his troops, and become acquainted with the country. At the end of the month, many Christians joined him, and leaving Acre, at the head of seven thousand men, he marched to a distance of twenty leagues from that city, took Nazareth, and killed a great number of Saracens. The army then returned towards Acre, but were followed by the enemy, who hoped to surprise them in some valley, or confined place. The Christians, upon becoming aware of their intentions, faced about, killed many, and put the others to flight.

Towards the feast of St. John, Edward, learning that the Saracens were within fifteen miles of Acre, marched out, fell upon them, at break of day, killed about a thousand of them, and put the rest to flight. The name of Edward was soon spread among the enemies of Christ, and beginning to dread him, they devised means to get rid of him. The great emir of Jaffa, feigning a wish to be converted to the Christian faith, sent to him several times a slave, bearing letters, but charged secretly with the commission of assassinating the king, which the slave executed. But fortunately Edward escaped the consequences by the assistance of skilful leeches. As soon as he was cured, he concluded a truce for ten years, and returned to Europe with his Crusaders.

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No. 37.

The Openings of the Troncs.

M. Michaud has given a very long account of the openings of the troncs, of which we only think it necessary to offer our readers a small portion, to show them the nature of the thing. The continued repetition of the names of French towns, &c., with the amount of money found in the troncs, can be interesting to nobody.

On Low Sunday, the 19th day of April, in the year 1517, between the hours of eight and nine after mid-day, was raised and carried away the tronc of the metropolitan church of St. Stephen of Thoulouse, closed and fastened with three keys, and sealed with two seals, and placed in the archiepiscopal house of the said Thoulouse, by the said commissary, treasurer, or receiver and comptroller, in the presence of Messire Jehan de Verramino, canon and chancellor of the said church; Thomas le Franc, rector of the said church; Domengo Vaussenet, burgess, and several others; and on the next day, in the presence of as above, the said commissary, receiver, and comptroller opened the said tronc, where they took and found for the confessionals the sum of six hundred and fifty-one livres, six sols, six deniers in full, for one thousand one hundred and fifteen confessions, which have been distributed; for this

6c. 51 liv. 6s. 4d. (sic)

Of other money found in the said tronc on the day and year aforesaid, arising from the pardons and jubilee of the crusade, the sum of four hundred and ninety-nine livres, fifteen sols, four deniers Tournois

ci. 499 liv. 15s. 4d.

From another opening of the trone of Thoulouse, at the feast of the following Christmas, in the said year 1517, the sum of twenty-seven livres, three sols, nine denier Tournois.

27 liv. 3s. 9d.

From another opening of the said trone of Thoulouse, made the first day of May, 1518, which is the second of the year 1518, in which there was found, as well for money for the jubilee as for confessionals, the sum of two hundred and five livres, ten sols, six deniers Tournois; for this

205 liv. 10s. 6d.

From another opening made the 7th day of June, of the said year, there was found, as well for jubilee as for confessionals, the sum of one hundred and twenty-seven livres, two sols Tournois; for this

127 liv. 2s.

From an opening of the tronc of Castannet, in the diocese of Thoulouse, there was found, as well for confessionals as for the jubilee, the sum of fourteen livres, one sol, five deniers Tournois; for this

14 liv. 1s. 5d.

&c. &c. &c.

From the opening of the various troncs in the diocese of Thoulouse, within and without the city, in the years 1517 and 1518, many being opened several times, they collected an amount which stands thus at the end: Summa Totalis receptoe presentis computi

3,700 liv. 18s. 6d.

The expenditure of this money is detailed equally minutely; of which we will offer a few examples.

EXPENDITURE

OF THIS PRESENT ACCOUNT,

AND, IN THE FIRST PLACE,

Moneys paid to People who are to account for them.

To Master Jehan Grossier, notary and secretary of the king our lord, and by him commissioned to keep the account, and receive the moneys for the crusade granted by our holy father the pope to the king our lord, in his kingdom and other lands and lordships owing allegiance to him, the sum of fifteen hundred and thirty-two livres, seventeen sols, four deniers Tournois, which the present receiver owes on account of the said receipt which he has made of the moneys for the said crusade to the said city of Thoulouse, which sum has been paid to the said Grossier, in virtue of the letters missive of our lord the king, given at Amboise, the 25th day of January, there rendered, as by his quittance, signed by his hand, the 26th day of February, in the year 1517, thus so rendered, as appears; and for this

1,532 liv. 17s. 4d.

To the said Master Jehan Grossier, by his written quittance, the 10th day of June, in the year one thousand five hundred and eighteen, the sum of two hundred and forty-eight livres, three sols Tournois, which the said receiver ought, upon receiving the said receipt, pay him, by virtue of the letters missive of the king our lord, given at Amboise, the last day of April, as by said quittance, here rendered, as appears; for this

248 liv. 3s.

To the same Master Jehan Grossier, for another written quittance on the 20th day of May, 1520, the sum of six hundred and twenty-five livres, fourteen sols, five deniers Tournois, which the said receiver ought to pay him, as by his said quittance, here rendered, as appears; for this

625 liv. 14s. 5d.

Other Expenses made by the said Master Jehan Clucher, by the order of Messire Josse de la Garde, Doctor of Theology, Vicar-General of the Very Reverend Father in God, Monseigneur the Archbishop of Thoulouse, Commissary, ordered by the King our Lord, on the matter of the Crusade, and according to the Letters Missive and Instructions signed by the hand of the King, transcribed and rendered at the commencement of this Account.

For the expenses of the commissaries, receiver, comptroller, and notary, for having been, with seven horses, setting out on the 22nd day of April, in the year 1517, through the diocese of the archbishopric of Thoulouse, to collect the troncs and boxes, in which they were engaged for the space of thirteen days, the sum of twenty livres, nine sols, five deniers Tournois, which has been paid by the present receiver by order of the said commissary, as appears by the papers signed and certified by his hand, and by Monsieur Raymond Raffin, canon in the metropolitan church of Thoulouse, comptroller, deputed by our lord the king to assist in collecting the money for the said crusade,[174] containing the expense of this account rendered, and containing likewise a certification of the payment of all the said expense, instead of quittance (receipt); for this the sum of

20 liv. 9s. 5d.

To Pierre Langiere, the sum of sixteen sols Tournois, for having pasted up four hundred articles, and for having placed and fixed about two hundred of them at the doors and cross-ways of the said Thoulouse, for the feast of Easter; for this

16s.

To Messire Pierre Ferrestiere, Anthoine Chassantre, and Durant Veissiere, priests, for having carried the said articles, at the said time, to Montastruc, Versveil, and Carmaing, the sum of sixty sols Tournois; this

60s.

To Georges Ruveres, for having made two tin cases to put over the tronc, the sum of ten sols Tournois; this

10s.

To Thomas Noel, for having made the tronc for the said crusade, at Thoulouse, the sum of sixty-three sols, four deniers Tournois; this

63s. 4d.

To Jehan Dernent, for having bound about with iron the coffer of the said tronc, and made the padlock for the same, the sum of eleven livres, T.; this

11 liv.

To Master Stephen Fabry and Jehan Galmart, for having carried the said articles into several places, and for writing-paper and packthread to tie up the packets, the sum of four livres, two sols, nine deniers Tournois; this

4 liv. 2s. 9d.

To William Perolle, for having carried some confessionals to Cluriac, the sum of twelve sols Tournois; this

12s.

To Lion de Veausclera, for four padlocks for the said tronc, the sum of forty sols Tournois; this

40s.

To the bell-ringers of St. Stephen of Thoulouse, for what may be due to them for having rung the Pardon, at the late festival of Easter, the sum of sixty sols Tournois; this

60s.

To la Roussignolle, for twelve cloth bags to put the money into, the sum of eight sols, six deniers Tournois; this

8s. 6d.

To Master Jehan Galmar, for having been to fix the troncs in various places, and having furnished nails for the padlocks, the sum of twenty-seven sols, six deniers

27s. 6d.

To Bertrand Beix, for having served, or waited at, the tronc of St. Stephen of Thoulouse, for the space of fifteen days, the sum of seventeen sols, six deniers Tournois

17s. 6d.

For the dinner[175] which was made for those who were present to see the money counted from the tronc of the said St. Stephen of Thoulouse, and for the cook, the sum of seventy-two sols Tournois

72s.

To the preachers of Thoulouse, for having preached the said pardons, the sum of eighteen livres Tournois; this

18 liv.

To Master Jehan Bourlier, notary,[176] for having attended the placing and removing of the said troncs, in the said diocese of Thoulouse, for the space of fifteen days, at the period of Easter, the sum of fifteen livres Tournois

15 liv.

To Master Jehan Terrein, of Thoulouse, the sum of a hundred sols Tournois, for having superintended the giving out of the letters, and obtaining the names and surnames of those who took them to the church of Thoulouse, at Easter, this

100s.

To the bell-ringers of the said St. Stephen, for ringing the bells and cleaning the church, the sum of forty sols Tournois; this

40s.

To those who sealed the confessionals of the said crusade and jubilee, the sum of six livres Tournois, this

6 liv.

To Messire Jehan Bonissent, secretary of Monseigneur de Thoulouse, for having made eight mandatory letters on parchment, and having signed four hundred articles to be posted upon the doors of churches, the sum of six livres Tournois, this

6 liv.

To Jehan Grant, printer, for having printed a thousand small articles, and a hundred confessionals, on parchment, the sum of one hundred and ten livres Tournois; this

110 liv.

To Jehan Bodret, apothecary, of Thoulouse, for thirty-one pounds of red wax, and also for four quires of paper, the sum of ten livres, seventeen sols, six deniers Tournois; this

1O liv. 17s. 6d.

To Master Guillaume de Villano, notary, for having signed and filled up the confessionals and commissions, and having made the other acts of the said crusade, the sum of ten livres Tournois; this

10 liv.

To the Receiver of the said crusade, for having been to place the troncs and collect the money, for the attendance of thirteen days, the sum of twenty-eight livres Tournois

28 liv.

To Monsieur the Comptroller of the said crusade, for the same cause, the sum of twenty-eight livres Tournois; this

28 liv.

To Monsieur the Commissary of the said crusade, with three horses, for the same cause, the sum of forty livres Tournois; this

40 liv.

To Master Jehan Bourlier, for having made two duplicates of the receipt and expense of the said crusade, the sum of thirty sols Tournois; this

30s.

To Raymond de Vlino, for having made three hundred and fifty coats of arms, at twelve deniers Tournois each, amounting to the sum of seventeen livres, ten sols Tournois; this

17 liv. 10s.

To those who sealed the said confessionals, both on parchment and on paper, and for having folded them, the sum of four livres Tournois

4 liv.

Then follows a list of amounts paid to preachers of the crusade, which is far too long for insertion, but all tending to prove that the task was not performed gratuitously. We have extracted the above articles from the interminable account to show our readers something of the nature of the charges made by various classes for work done early in the sixteenth century, but more particularly to point out, after the money had been extorted from the pious or the charitable, how many hands were dipped into the troncs before their contents were applied to their destined purpose. The preachers, as appears by the following items and many others of the account, took a fifth part of what was found in the troncs at the time of opening them.

To the preachers who have preached in the city of Thoulouse, for the fifth part of four hundred and nine livres, sixteen sols, eight deniers Tournois, which have been found in the said tronc, opened at several festivals, has been paid over the sum of eighty-one livres, nineteen sols, four deniers Tournois; this

81 liv. 19s. 4d.

To the preacher of Lisle en Jourdain, for HIS fifth part of one hundred and ninety-eight livres, three sols, seven deniers Tournois; this

39 liv. 3s. 7d.

Nobody seems to have touched the tronc without benefit; thus there are sixty sols to Jehan Turein for taking charge of the tronc, at Easter; and fifteen sols to a child who cried at the tronc. The high officials took each one hundred livres per annum whilst the crusade was being preached, and their underlings did nothing without remuneration.

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No. 38.

Memoir of Leibnitz, addressed to Louis XIV.

After the example of M. Michaud, we do not hesitate to lay before our readers the following paper, although it bears little relation to our history. A document passing between two such men as Leibnitz and Louis XIV., upon a speculative, yet an important question, cannot be without interest; besides which, there is very little doubt that it fell into the hands of Buonaparte before he undertook his expedition to Egypt. It is generally believed that this Memoir of Leibnitz, upon the expedition to Egypt, was preserved, up to the period of the revolution, in the archives of Versailles, and that this historical document disappeared during the political troubles of France. An extract from it was published in an English pamphlet in 1805; and another extract was made in a book entitled Voyage en Hanovre, published in 1805. M. Michaud has made more use of the English pamphlet than of the latter publication. M. Mangourit, the author of the Voyage, saw in the library of Hanover a copy of the Memoir addressed to Louis XIV., written by the hand of Leibnitz; it had for title, De Expeditione Egyptiatica, Epistola ad Regem FranciÆ scripta. M. Mangourit informs us that Marshal Mortier ordered a copy to be made of it, to be sent to Paris, where it was placed in the library of the king. It appears that the Memoir was sent a short time before the famous passage of the Rhine and the war against Holland. M. Mangourit is persuaded that Leibnitz, whom he represents as the instrument of some cabinet, had no other motive in persuading Louis to invade Egypt but to divert him from his threatened attack upon the Batavian republic. M. Michaud says that this opinion appears improbable, and that the author gives no satisfactory proof of it. We think some of our readers, at least, will incline to the opinion of M. Mangourit.

Leibnitz commences his Memoir by declaring that the fame of his majesty’s wisdom has induced him to present to him some reflections upon a subject familiar to preceding ages, but recently neglected and forgotten; it concerns an enterprise, “the greatest that can be attempted, and at the same time the most easy of such as are considered great. I venture to add,” continues he, “that it is the most holy, the most just (addere audeo, sanctissimum justissimumque), and that it is not accompanied by any danger, even should it be attempted in vain. It agrees likewise so well with the kind of preparations already made, that it would appear to have been a long time in contemplation, and would thus increase the admiration of those who justly call the conceptions of your majesty the miracle of secrecy. It would do more harm to Holland than could be hoped for from the most brilliant success of an open war, without leaving them the power of opposing any obstacle to it. It would accomplish the object of the present armament, by procuring for France the empire of the seas and of commerce. In short, all hatreds and all jealousies being thus extinguished at a single blow, your majesty would find yourself raised by it, with general assent, to the rank of supreme arbiter of Christendom—the highest possible to be conceived, and it would cover your name with an immortal glory, for having cleared, whether for yourself or your descendants, the route for exploits similar to those of Alexander.”

After having made it plain that the present moment was exceedingly favourable, that there was no sovereign more powerful than the king of France, or one more beloved by his subjects; “I am persuaded,” says he, “that there is not in the known world any country the conquest of which deserves so much to be attempted, or which would be so likely to give supremacy, as the Egypt which I delight in calling the Holland of the East, as I call France the China of the West.”

“The marriage between this prince and this country, that is to say, between the king of France and Egypt, appears to me to interest equally the human race and the Christian religion.”

Leibnitz afterwards says, that upon examining the motives which determined Louis IX. to attempt the conquest of Egypt rather than that of Jerusalem, he had become convinced that they merit the greatest attention.

“After the death of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Philip, surnamed Augustus, and Richard, king of England, besieged and took St. Jean d’Acre. There was among the prisoners an Arabian named Caracous, whom history represents as a prophet. This man, hearing Philip frequently speak of the aim the Christian powers proposed to themselves in this war, declared that they could never retain Jerusalem and the Christian sovereignty in Asia, unless the Egyptian monarchy were overthrown; and for that purpose it was of the greatest importance to get possession of Damietta. From this arose a dissension between Philip and Richard, &c. Richard himself, after having failed in Palestine, wished to undertake an expedition against Egypt, but death prevented him.

“The Christian powers at length became aware of their error, and Pope Innocent III. promoted an expedition against Egypt, the issue of which was unfortunate. Then came the expedition of St. Louis, which failed from the imprudence and want of skill in the leaders. Louis exposed his army in the interior of the country, between two branches of the Nile, with his rear and the course of the river in the power of the enemy. Instead of getting possession of the coasts and securing the Nile for his fleet, the only means of establishing his conquest, provisioning his army, and making himself safe from all attacks, he allowed himself to be surrounded; the Saracens intercepted his supplies, and finished by destroying the Christian army.

“Afterwards, the wars between France and England, as well as those which broke out between France and the house of Austria, put an end to all idea of invading Egypt, till the time of Ximenes, who was the author of a league, formed for the conquest of this country, by Ferdinand of Castile, Emanuel of Portugal, and Henry VIII. of England.[177] Three princes,” says Leibnitz, “of whom it may, with reason, be said, that each of them laid the foundation of the power and commerce of their respective people; and that it is which France now expects from Louis XIV.

“This project was defeated by the death of Ferdinand, which caused the crown of Spain to pass to the house of Austria.”

Leibnitz then gives a sketch of the revolutions of Egypt, from the earliest ages to the time it was subdued by the Turks; to show the importance that has always been attached to the possession of Egypt, and to prove that it has never opposed much resistance to a skilful and powerful conqueror.

“Egypt, now become a province of the Turkish empire, will be, on that account, more easily subdued; not only from the difficulty the Port will have in throwing in succours, and the inclination the inhabitants always have for revolt, but still more from its being no longer the seat of an empire.”

After this preamble, Leibnitz, developing his plan, argues that the conquest of Egypt is the most certain road to supremacy in Europe; or, in other terms, that it will strengthen the best interests of France,—that, considering the magnitude of the object, the enterprise is very easy;—that there is no risk;—that it is in accordance with sound policy;—that it should not be delayed;—in short, that it is great, just, and pious.

“This supremacy, which it is so important for France to obtain, consists in the possession of as much power as can be reasonably hoped for; for it cannot look to a universal monarchy, but only the general direction or arbitration of affairs. Universal monarchy is an absurdity; the history of Europe proves it. By making war upon Christian states, weak aggrandisements can alone be obtained, and a small accession of territory acquired. Such means are not suitable for a most Christian king, or a great monarch:—marriages, elections, and successions produce more.

“War should alone be directed against barbarous nations; and among these, it is incontestable that by a single fortunate blow (and the French are particularly formed to strike such), empires may be in an instant overthrown and founded. In such wars are found the elements of high power, and of an exalted glory.

“It is certain that the power of France must increase with the peace of Europe, and that it must be weakened by ill-timed wars. Let it then be employed against the barbarians, and for the restoration of Egypt. In America, the Spaniards, the English, and the Dutch would render every enterprise impossible; but, directed towards Turkey, no one would dare to oppose it; Egypt being once invaded, the war that we should then make would be rendered sacred by universal approbation; and instead of the deserted countries of Palestine, only celebrated by its ruins, we should have, as the rewards of our efforts, that eye of countries, that mother of grain, that seat of commerce. (Non, deserta illa, ruinis tantÙm nobilis PalÆstina, sed oculus regionum, mater frugum, sedes commerciorum acquiretur.)

“Of all the regions of the earth, Egypt ought to be considered, after China, as the first. It possesses so many advantages, that the imagination can add nothing to them. It is the principal isthmus of the globe, the seas of which it divides in such a manner, as to create the necessity for passing round Africa. It is at the same time the barrier and the passage between Africa and Asia. It is the point of communication, and the general entrepÔt of the commerce, on one side, of India, and on the other, of Europe. It is in some sort the eye of the adjacent countries, rich by the fertility of its soil, and by its great population, amidst the deserts which surround it. It unites the wonders of nature and of art, which, after so many ages, ever appear to furnish subjects for fresh admiration.”

After having supported his opinions by numerous quotations upon the resources Egypt possesses, Leibnitz continues thus:—

“Suppose Egypt should be occupied by an army of the most Christian king, we shall see how much this event must contribute to political supremacy. (Pars melior FranciÆ cedet; hÆc maris Mediterranei domina, imperium Orientalis resuscitabit.)

“It is evident that the Turkish empire might be overthrown by the attacks of the Germans and the Poles, if the germs of rebellion, which are there now forming, were developed generally; and there is no doubt that Muscovy and Persia would take advantage of that circumstance. Then, the most valuable portion of that monarchy would fall to France; which, becoming thus mistress of the Mediterranean, would reËstablish the Eastern empire. From Egypt it would extend its empire over the ocean, and would take, without difficulty, possession of the Red Sea, and the isles near Madagascar. It would not be long in gaining the Sea of Ethiopia, the Persian Gulf, and the isle of Ormuz, which commands it.

“The conquest of Egypt would likewise be followed by great and important changes in Europe. The king of France could then, by incontestable right, and with the consent of the pope, assume the title of emperor of the East; he could add to his title of eldest son, that of patron (advocatus) of the Church, and by the great advantages procured to the Holy See, hold the pontiffs much more in his power than if they resided at Avignon. Italy and Germany would be definitively delivered from the fear of the Turks, and Spain from that of the Moors. The commerce of the world would be shared between France and the house of Austria; at length, the reconciliation between the most powerful families would be cemented to the satisfaction of both, France having for its share the East, and Spain the West.[178] And if they should wish to be united by the indissoluble tie of their common interest, they would gain the object which the wisest of ministers have endeavoured to attain in the conferences of the Pyrenees; they would become the arbitrators between other powers; they would prepare the happiness of the human race, and they would create an everlasting reverence for the memory of the great king, to whom so many miracles were due.

“With Egypt, the Dutch might easily be deprived of the commerce of India, upon which great part of their power depends, and they would by that be more directly and necessarily injured than by the most brilliant success in an open war. The Christian religion would again flourish in Asia; the world would obey the same laws, and the whole human race would be united by the same ties; so that, with the exception of the philosopher’s stone, I know nothing that can be imagined of more importance than the conquest of Egypt.”

When discussing the facility of the execution, Leibnitz considers siders—“The forces to be employed—the means of transporting the troops—the climate of the country—its fortifications and military strength—the manner of making war there—the interior troubles of Egypt—the dispositions of the neighbouring nations—and the allies and auxiliaries, as well of the aggressors as of the invaded country.”

With respect to the forces of France, Leibnitz refers to Louis, who must be better acquainted with their numbers than he; he however believes that there is in fact already more strength than would be required.

Francis, duke of Urbino, demanded 50,000 men to overturn the Ottoman empire. For the conquest of Egypt, thirty thousand picked men would be sufficient. Emanuel the Wise, king of Portugal, flattered himself that he could succeed with a much smaller number. “There is no doubt,” adds Leibnitz, “that our numbers would prodigiously increase in a short time, by the accession of Arabs and Numidians, whilst the Turkish forces in that province must be very inconsiderable.

“But suppose,” continues Leibnitz, “we were compelled to embark 50,000 men; that is a force which France would easily provide. For, although I am persuaded that 20,000 would amply suffice to occupy and guard the coast of Egypt, it would be prudent to draw advantage from the forces now assembled, and to effect by one stroke, by one vigorous operation, the conquest of the whole of Egypt.” Leibnitz further advises that the troops should be encouraged by speeches, indulgences, rewards, honours, &c. &c.; thinks it of much less importance to employ a great number of troops than it is to select them well.

“Some persons are averse to the transporting of large armies by sea; but wiser persons are of a contrary opinion, and think that the trifling inconveniences of this mode of transport are more than compensated by very great advantages. The first inconveniences to which they are subject on board, are neither dangerous nor of long duration; they may be considered even as evacuations favourable to health. Scorbutic affections appear only in long voyages, and acute diseases are occasioned by intemperance, which discipline may prevent, or by a change of climate, which cannot be experienced in the Mediterranean. No mutiny need be apprehended, because the soldiers are in some sort in the power of the sailors.”

The memorial of Leibnitz here presents an historical summary of the armies embarked at different periods, from the Punic wars to the last conquests made in Asia and America, by the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the English, &c.; and whilst recommending that the vessels should not be too heavily laden as regards troops, he remarks that the navigation of the Mediterranean has, for a long time, become familiar to French sailors, and that there could be no danger, if proper attention were paid to seasons. French and Venetian vessels constantly visit Candia, and from that island to Egypt the passage is not difficult. Let us add, that the isle of Malta is a secure station for the fleet, that isle being united to France by an infinite number of ties, since the major part of the knights and the grand master of the order are French.

“After the port of Alexandria shall have been taken by a coup-de-main (which cannot fail of succeeding), the coasts of Syria, as well as the isles of Cyprus and Candia, will necessarily fall, provided that the Turks are not able to undertake anything by sea to oppose it.”

The memorial of Leibnitz then rejects all fear of the insalubrity of the climate of Egypt; he expatiates upon the healthy qualities of the waters of the Nile, gives dietic rules, recommends abstinence from wine, and points out the variations in the weather in the different months of the year.

Then he speaks of the saltpetre which Egypt produces in such abundance, and continues: “The means of the natural defences of Egypt are the deserts and seas that surround it, and the Nile; its artificial means are its castles and its cities. The sea and the Nile, far from injuring, facilitate the employment of naval forces, and the deserts will interrupt communications with the other parts of the Ottoman empire, and will prevent the Turks from throwing imposing succours into the Egyptian territory. The strong places are either upon the Red Sea or upon the Mediterranean.” Here Leibnitz describes Alexandria, Rosetta, and Damietta, with the Bozag, pointing out the weakness of these places. “The coast of the Red Sea is still more neglected, and would fall quickly into the power of a Portuguese fleet, acting in concert with a French force from Madagascar;” for Leibnitz supposes that the Portuguese would be more disposed to second the views of the French than to oppose them.

The memorial describes very minutely the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Bab-el-Mandel; he affirms that all places on the coast want fortifications; he speaks particularly of Suez, Cossier, Souakem, and at length of Cairo, which would not offer, any more than the rest, a strong resistance.

“Could the resistance of Cairo,” says Leibnitz, “alone prevent France from raising itself above all glory past or present? It would be disgraceful for so powerful a nation, when engaged in such a mighty enterprise, to entertain a moment’s doubt of final success in presence of this last obstacle. For France would not be fighting then for either Dunkirk or Gravelines, or for MaËstricht; but for the dominion of the seas, for the empire of the East, for the overthrow of the Port, and for universal supremacy;—all results from the conquest of Egypt.”

Then follow some geographical details upon the coast of Syria, and the ports and cities of that country; that is to say, El-Aresch, Byblos, Tripoli, Alexandretta, Aleppo, and Damascus.

“Alexandretta commands the defiles of Cilicia. By the possession of this place, an army marching from Asia Minor upon Palestine could be forced to make a long and painful circuit, across a country half desert, and across portions of Cilicia, Armenia, and Mesopotamia.

“Aleppo and Damascus are the only cities capable of resisting for a moment our ulterior operations after the reduction of Cairo. Although they are distant from the sea, they must be secured, since then we shall command all the country on this side of Mount Amanus.

“The Turks may, it is true, if they are warned, place reinforcements in Egypt, and even fortify Alexandria and render Egypt nearly inaccessible. It will therefore be essential to preserve the most profound secrecy upon the project, and accelerate the departure of the armament for its destination. When the expedition shall be once made, it will be no longer in the power of the Turks to place an obstacle in the way of its success, since the departure of so formidable a fleet will give alarm for the seat of government itself. Under this point of view it will be even useful to spread a report that it is in fact destined against Constantinople, in order that the Port should unite and concentrate, for the protection of the capital, its divided forces, and thus render the distant provinces the weaker. The French army being thus suddenly thrown into Egypt, it would require six months for the Turks to assemble an equal force, or even a much longer time, if Turkey were at the same time engaged in a Polish or Hungarian war. Moreover, as soon as the expedition should have succeeded, Persia, which cannot declare itself upon our promises alone, will not fail to rise likewise. And if the expedition took place in that season of the year which, according to the opinion of experienced persons, would appear the most suitable, it would be absolutely impossible for the Turks to arrive in any useful time, if even they had 100,000 disposable forces; because Egypt would be then inundated with the waters of the Nile, in which our fleet would dominate; and because the Turkish army could not set out on its march before the following winter, &c.

“Suppose now that Egypt should be in our power, and, which is not at all improbable, the Turks should find themselves at peace with all their neighbours, that there should be no trouble among themselves, and that they should be in a condition to advance with 100,000 effective men; suppose, on the other side, that we were only able to oppose this force with 30,000 men, since we must leave 20,000 behind, to maintain our position in Egypt, and reduce the places not yet subdued: I affirm that these 30,000 men would be sufficient to repulse the Turks: let us add, that if measures be well taken, there is no doubt that considerable reinforcements might arrive from Europe, and that the Christian subjects of the Port, as well as the natives, would flock eagerly to range themselves under our Banners. But suppose our force did not exceed 30,000 men, this troop would be perfectly in a state to resist the Turks by two different manoeuvres, whether by waiting for them in the plains of Egypt, between Suez and Cairo; or whether in marching forward to meet them in Arabia PetrÆa, between Gaza and the mountains, or in Syria between Alexandretta and Mount Amanus, called now the mount of Scanderoun, or El Lucan.

“There are in Arabia PetrÆa three narrow defiles, through which the caravans pass on their way from Egypt into Asia. One of these defiles is on the right, when we are coming from Egypt, and leads to the eastern shores of the Red Sea; another passage is on the left, on the shores of the Mediterranean,—it leads into Palestine and Syria; the third, situated between the two preceding ones, comes out at Mount Horeb, and at the monastery of St. Catherine. The two first passages lead into Arabia, where no army could penetrate without great difficulty. There only remains then the third route, which goes from Egypt into Palestine, across Idumea. But this passage is so narrowed on one side by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the other by the foot of the mountains of Arabia PetrÆa, that the sultan of Egypt would easily have expelled the army of Selim from his country, if he had taken care to secure the passage between Syria and Cilicia: it was by neglecting this precaution that Darius very much facilitated the conquest of Asia by Alexander. If the sultan of the Mamelukes, abandoning Palestine, had taken up a position in the narrow strait near Gaza, or near Sihor (called in Scripture the river of Egypt), which is a species of hollow ravine, running from the mountains to the sea, and if he had there awaited his enemy, it is certain that in that position, 30,000 men would have been able to resist hundreds of thousands.

“Suppose the Turks were able to force not only the passage of Alexandretta, but likewise that of Gaza, they yet could not recover Egypt; for, in this case, our army would keep in its rear the Nile and a very fertile country, whilst the enemy would have nothing in their rear but the deserts of Arabia. And if, in this position, we were to avoid a pitched battle, which would be easy from the nature of the country, the Turkish army would necessarily waste away, and would be forced, by want of provisions, to retire into Syria, and leave us in the tranquil enjoyment of our conquests.”

Leibnitz brings several historical facts to the support of his opinion; he proves that the Turks are much less formidable, less warlike, less numerous than they formerly were; he enters into details upon the seraglio, the revenues, and the military and maritime establishments of the Ottoman empire.

The author assigns reasons for hoping that, after the first news of the success of Louis XIV., there would ensue partial revolts, and then a general insurrection of the pachas, the civil functionaries, the soldiers, the Christians, and finally of the whole people. “I venture to affirm,” says he, “that all the subjects of the Ottoman empire are unhappy, discontented, anxious for change, and that at this moment they are only restrained by the disheartening remembrance of their former attempts to throw off the yoke.

“A French author, very well acquainted with the affairs of Turkey, and who is surprised that an empire so constituted subsists so long, forms the conjecture that God, who does everything for the best, had raised and sustained this powerful nation for the good of his Church, and to punish Christians for their sins and vices;’ but I,” continues Leibnitz,—“I am convinced that the time approaches in which the Omnipotent will visit his people, in which the fury of barbarians will be at an end, in which a far happier epoch will open on the Christian world. Much might be said with regard to prophecies; upon periods in human affairs; upon the inevitable catastrophes of empires; even upon the traditions of the Turks themselves, which make them look for their destruction from a country between two seas. This prediction has been commonly applied to Constantinople, and sometimes to the Morea; but no one has hitherto thought of Egypt.

“Let us, however, without presuming to penetrate the secrets of destiny, draw our conclusions from the ordinary course of affairs. It is notorious that the Sultan has entirely lost, in the opinion of his subjects, his character of inviolability, and this circumstance must necessarily facilitate his defeat.”

All that follows this is but a picture of the disorder which reigns in the political organization of the Turkish empire. Therefore, Leibnitz thinks that the conquest of Egypt would shake the Port to its foundation. He adds: “Audaciter dico, flagrabit Turcia seditionibus, si volumus; and if the Port were at the same time engaged in a war with Poland or Hungary, jam ruina ipsa,” says he, “et totius corporis paralysis universalis indubitata est.”

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No. 39.

Capitulations between France and the Ottoman Port.

Francis I. was the first of our kings who made treaties with the Port. He obtained in 1535, from Soliman the Canonist, the first capitulations in favour of commerce and of the Catholic religion, in the states of the Grand Seignor; in 1604, Henry IV. obtained from the Sultan Ahmid I. the renewal of them with some additions; in 1675 they were renewed and augmented under the reign of the Sultan Mehemed IV., at the demand of Louis XIV.; in 1740, Louis XV. obtained from the Sultan Mahmoud the renewal of the ancient treaties, with considerable additions.

France has had since that period other negotiations with the Port; but these negotiations have not produced any treaty, the dispositions of which are either new or important. The documents necessary for the history of the relations of France with the Ottoman empire have always been carefully preserved in the chancery of the French embassy at Constantinople. It is there we must search for exact notices to add to that which we have been able to advance upon this question.

We will give, from these capitulations, as much as particularly concerns the subject of our history, or which may throw a light upon the Ottoman policy.

“The Emperor Sultan Mahmoud, son of Sultan Moustapha, ever victorious.[179]

“Here is that which ordains this glorious and imperial signature, conqueror of the world, this noble and sublime mark, whose efficacy proceeds from divine aid.

“I, who by the excellence of the favours of the Most High, and by the eminence of the miracles filled with blessings from the chief of the prophets (to whom be the most ample salutations, as well as to his family and his companions), am the Sultan of glorious sultans, the emperor of puissant emperors, the distributor of crowns to the Cosroes, who are seated on thrones, the shadow of God upon earth, the servant of the two illustrious cities of Mecca and Medina, august and holy places, to which Mussulmans address their vows; the protector and master of the holy Jerusalem; the sovereign of the three great cities of Constantinople, Adrianople, and Broussa, as well as of Damascus, the odour of Paradise; of Tripoli, of Syria, of Egypt, the wonder of ages, and renowned for its delights; of all Arabia; of Africa, of Cairovan, of Aleppo, of Irak, Arab, and Adgen; of Bassora, of Lahra, of Dilem, and particularly of Bagdad, capital of the caliphs; of Rakka, of Mossoul, of Chehregour, of Diarbeker, of Zulkadric, of Ergerum the Delightful; of Sebarta, of Adana, of Caramenia, of Kars, of Ichidder, of Van, of the isles of the Morea, of Candia, of Cyprus, Chio, and Rhodes; of Barbary, of Ethiopia; of the places of war, Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis; of the isles and the coasts of the White Sea and of the Black Sea; of the countries of Natolia, and the kingdom of Romelia; of all Kurdestan, of Greece, of Turkomania, of Tartary, of Circassia, of Cabarta, and of Georgia; of the noble tribes of the Tartars, and of all the hordes which depend upon them; of Caffa, and other surrounding places; of all Bosnia and its dependencies; of the fortress of Belgrade, a place of war; of Servia, as well as of the fortresses and castles existing in it; of the countries of Albania, of all Wallachia, of Moldavia, and of the forts and holds which are in these cantons; possessor besides of a number of cities and fortresses, of which it is superfluous to repeat or boast the names. I, who am emperor, asylum of justice and king of kings, the centre of victory, Sultan, son of the Sultan, Emperor Mahmoud the conqueror, son of Sultan Mustafa, son of Sultan Muhammed: I, who by my power, the origin of facility, am adorned with the title of emperor of the two lands, and as a crowning grandeur to my caliphate, am illustrated by the title of emperor of the two seas.

“The glory of the great princes of the faith of Jesus, the elect of the great and the magnificent of the religion of the Messiah, the arbitrator and mediator in the affairs of Christian nations, clothed with true marks of dignity and honour, filled with grandeur, with glory and majesty, the emperor of France, and of other vast kingdoms which depend upon it, our very magnificent, very honoured, sincere, and ancient friend, Louis XV., to whom God grant all success and felicity, having sent to our august court, which is the seat of the caliphate, a letter containing evidences of the most perfect sincerity, and of the most particular affection, candour, and uprightness, and the same letter being destined for our Sublime Port of felicity, which, by the infinite goodness of the incontestably majestic Supreme Being, is the abode of sultans the most magnificent, of emperors the most respectable; the model of Christian nobles, skilful, prudent, esteemed, and honoured minister, Louis Sauveur, marquis de Villeneuve, your present counsellor of state, and your ambassador to our Port of felicity (may the end of which be crowned with good fortune), having demanded permission to present and remit the said letter, which has been granted to him by our imperial consent, conformably with the ancient usages of our court; and consequently the said ambassador having been admitted to the foot of our imperial throne, surrounded with the light of glory, he has there delivered the said letter, and has been the representative of your majesty, in participating our imperial grace and favour; the translation of its friendly tenor was afterwards presented and reported, according to the ancient customs of the Ottomans, at the foot of our sublime throne, by the channel of the very honoured Elhadjy Mehemed Pacha, our first minister, the absolute interpreter of our ordinances, the ornament of the world, the support of the good order of nations, the orderer of the grades of our empire, the instrument of the glory of our crown, the channel for the favours of royal majesty, the very virtuous Grand Vizier, my venerable and fortunate minister and lieutenant-general, of whose power and prosperity may God perpetuate the triumph!

“And as the expressions of this friendly letter make known the desire and eagerness of your majesty to preserve, as heretofore, all the honours and ancient friendship, hitherto maintained from time immemorial between our glorious ancestors (may the light of God be upon them), and the very magnificent emperors of France; and as in the said letter there is question, in consideration of the sincere friendship and the particular attachment that France has always evinced towards our imperial house, again to renew, during the happy period of our glorious reign, and to strengthen and enlighten, by the addition of some articles, the imperial capitulations, already renewed in the year of the Hegyra 1084, under the reign of the late Sultan Mehemed, our august grandfather, noble and generous during his life, and happy in his death; which capitulations had for object, that the ambassadors, consuls, interpreters, merchants, and other subjects of France, should be protected and maintained in all peace and tranquillity,[180] and it has at length arrived at our imperial knowledge that these points have been conferred upon by the said ambassador and the minister of the Sublime Port: the foundations of the friendship which, from time immemorial, has subsisted with firmness between the court of France and our Sublime Port, and the convincing proofs which your majesty has given of it, particularly during our glorious reign, giving reason to hope that the ties of such a friendship can only be drawn closer, and become stronger from day to day; these motives have inspired us with sentiments conformable with your desires; and wishing to procure activity in commerce, and security to goers and comers, which are the fruits such a friendship ought to produce; we not only confirm by these presents in their full extent, the ancient and renewed capitulations, as well as the articles concerted at the above date, but to procure more ease for our merchants and greater vigour in commerce, we have granted them exemption from the right of Mezeterie, which they have paid at all times, as well as several other points concerning commerce, and the safety of comers and goers, which have been discussed, treated of, and regulated, in good and due form, in the divers conferences which have been held upon the subject, between the said ambassador, furnished with sufficient power, and the persons deputed on the part of our Sublime Port. After the entire conclusion of all, my supreme and absolute Grand Vizier, having rendered an account of it to our imperial Stirrup, and it being our will to show specially on this occasion the value and esteem that we entertain for the ancient and constant friendship of the emperor of France, who has just given us fresh and particular marks of the sincerity of his heart, we have granted our sign imperial for the execution of the articles newly concluded, and consequently of the ancient and renewed capitulations; having been transcribed and reported exactly, word for word from the commencement, and followed by the articles newly regulated and granted; these present imperial capitulations have been placed and consigned, in the above-said order, in the hands of the aforesaid ambassador.”

Articles 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 of the capitulations contain what follows:—“As inimical nations, who have no positive ambassadors at my Port of felicity, formerly went and came in our states, under the banner of the emperor of France, whether for commerce, whether for pilgrimage, according to the imperial permission they had had for it under the reigns of our ancestors of glorious memory, as likewise it was granted by the ancient capitulations accorded to the French: and as afterwards, for certain reasons, the entrance to our states was positively prohibited to these same nations, and they were even withdrawn from the said capitulations; nevertheless, the emperor of France having evinced by the letter he has sent to our Port of felicity, that he should wish that the inimical nations, to whom trading in our states has been forbidden, might have liberty to come and go to Jerusalem, in the same manner as they were accustomed to go and come, without being in any way interrupted; and that if consequently it were permitted them to come and traffic in our states, it should be under the banner of France, as formerly, the demand of the emperor of France has been complied with, in consideration of the ancient friendship, which from the times of my glorious ancestors has subsisted, from father to son, between your majesty and the Sublime Port, and we have issued an imperial edict, of which the following is the tenor:—That the Christian and inimical nations which are at peace with the emperor of France, and who shall desire to visit Jerusalem, may go thither and return, within the boundaries of their state, in the customary manner, and in full liberty and security, without any person causing them trouble or impediment; and if it should afterwards prove convenient to grant to the said nations the liberty of trading in our states, they will then go and come under the banner of the emperor of France as formerly, without being allowed to go and come under any other banner.

“The ancient imperial capitulations, which have been in the hands of the French since the reigns of my magnificent ancestors to the present day, and which have just been reported in detail above, having been now renewed with an addition of some new articles, conformably with the imperial order, issued in virtue of my khatt-cherif; the first of these articles declares, that the bishops dependent upon France, and the other ecclesiastics who profess the French religion, of whatever nation or race they may be, as long as they shall keep within the limits of their state, shall not be troubled in the exercise of their functions in those parts of our empire where they have been long settled.

“The French ecclesiastics who, according to ancient custom, are established within and without the city of Jerusalem, in the church of the Holy Sepulchre called Kamama, shall not be disturbed in the places of visitation which they inhabit, and which are in their hands, which shall remain still in their hands as formerly, without being disturbed in that respect, or by the imposition of tributes; and should any dispute arise, which cannot be decided on the spot, it shall be sent to my Sublime Port.

“The French, or those who depend upon them, of whatever nation or quality they may be, who desire to go to Jerusalem, shall not be molested either in going or returning.

“The two religious orders which are at Galata, that is to say, the Jesuits and the Capuchins, having two churches there, which have been in their hands ab antiquo, they shall remain in their hands, and they shall retain the possession and the advantages of them: and as one of these churches has been burnt, it shall be rebuilt as justice requires, and it shall remain, as formerly, in the hands of the Capuchins, without molestation or disturbance. There shall be no uneasiness entertained with regard to the churches the French have at Smyrna, Seyda, Alexandria, and other Echelles; and no money shall be required of them under any pretence.

“The French shall not be disturbed, when, within the bounds of their own quarter, they read the Gospel in their hospital of Galata.”

Several of these dispositions not having been strictly executed, the Port renewed them in 1740; this is the renewal, as it is expressed in article 82.

“When the places, of which the ecclesiastics dependent upon France have possession at Jerusalem, as has been mentioned in the articles solemnly granted and now renewed, shall be in want of repair, to prevent the ruin to which they would be exposed by the course of time, it shall be permitted to grant, at the request of the ambassador of France, residing at my Port of felicity, orders for their being repaired in a way conformable to justice; and the cadis, commandants, and other officers, shall not be allowed to throw any impediment in the way of the things granted by order; and as it has happened that our officers, under pretext of having made secret repairs in the said places, made many visits in the course of the year, and extorted money from the ecclesiastics, we command that, on the part of the cadis, commandants, and other officers who may be there, there shall be only one visit made in the year to the church of the place that is called the Sepulchre of Jesus; and the same in the other churches and places of visitation. The bishop and ecclesiastics dependent upon the emperor of France, who are in my empire, shall be protected as long as they confine themselves to the limits of their own state, and nobody shall prevent them from performing their rites according to their own customs, in the churches which are in their hands, as well as in the other places in which they dwell: and when our tributary subjects and the French shall go and come among one another, for the purpose of buying, selling, or other affairs, they shall not be molested, against the same laws, on account of this intercourse; and as it is decreed in the preceding stipulated articles that they shall be allowed to read the Scriptures in the hospital of Galata, and this has, nevertheless, not been done, we order, that in whatever place that hospital may for the future be, in a juridical form, they may be allowed to read the Scripture there, as is their duty, without any inquietude upon the subject.”

The capitulations or treaties with the Port are too extensive to allow us to give them entirely here. The articles, which amount to eighty-five, regulate the rights of persons and the commercial privileges of which the Port has granted the enjoyment to all the French established or travelling in the countries of its domination; they regulate also the diplomatic relations between the two powers, and the prerogatives of the ambassadors of the king of France.

————

No. 40.

Note by M. Raynouard upon the Work by M. Hammer, entitled Mysterium Baphometi Revelatum, &c.

Since the proscription of the knights of the Temple and the abolition of the order, five hundred years had passed away, when accusations, evidences, and judgments, were again submitted to the revision of history;—the renown of the order and the memory of the knights are again reËstablished in the opinion of impartial persons.

A new adversary of the Templars presented himself, and setting aside the accusations which contemporary persecutors had imagined, invented other crimes. In spite of the interval of time, he boasted of being able to produce material proofs: “There is no need of words,” says M. Hammer, “when stones serve as witnesses.”

What are these monuments with which the persons who prepared and achieved the ruin of the Templars were unacquainted, or which they neglected? How did they escape the industrious perquisitions of the envy, hatred, and sagacity of the inquisitors? Why did not the divers apostates, who, from ambition or fear, gave evidence against the order, point out monuments which then would have been more numerous and more striking, and whose existence might have justified their shameful desertion? And when the churches and houses of the Templars were occupied by successors who had so much interest in procuring pardon for the rigour of the spoliation, how was it that none of these successors discovered these material proofs, which, according to M. Hammer, proclaim to the present day the apostasy of the Templars?

The work of this scholar is entitled, Le MystÈre du Baphomet rÉvÉlÉ; or, the Brothers of the Military Order of the Temple convicted, by their own Memorials, of sharing the Apostasy, Idolatry, and Impiety of the Gnostics, and even of the Ophianites.

The following contains the exposition, the analysis, and the recapitulation of M. Hammer.

“We read, in the procedure undertaken against the order of the Temple, that the knights worshipped an idol of Bafomet form—in figuram Bafometi.[181] The decomposition of this word furnishes bafo and meti. Bafo, in Greek, signifies dyeing, or dipping, and, by extension, baptism; meti, signifies spirit. The Bafomet of the Templars was then the baptism of the spirit—the Gnostic baptism, which was not performed by the waters of redemption, but which was a spiritual lustration by fire. Bafomet signifies, then, the illumination of the spirit.

“As the Gnostics had furnished the Templars with Bafometic ideas and images, the word meti (metis) became venerated among the Templars: “I shall, therefore,” adds M. Hammer, “furnish proofs of this decisive circumstance.

“The Gnostics were accused of infamous vices. The metis was represented under symbolical forms, principally under that of serpents, and of a truncated cross in the shape of Tau—T.

“The Gnostics,” continues M. Hammer, “did not always employ the word meti in their monuments; they likewise made use of the word gnosis, which is synonymous, and is found among the Templars.”

Developing his system of accusation, M. Hammer constantly maintains that it is proved by the proceedings instituted against the Templars, that they adored Bafometic figures; he produces medals which bear these pretended Bafometic figures, and particularly some medals upon which may be read, meti, with a truncated cross,[182] and others which represent a temple, with the legend, Sanctissima Quinosis, that is to say, Gnosis. He indicates likewise Gnostic vases and chalices; and attributing them to the Templars, advances, that the romance of the Saint Graal, or holy cup, is a symbolic romance, which at the same time conceals and proves the apostasy of the knights; and believes that he recognises in churches which formerly belonged to the Templars, or which he pretends to have belonged to them, Bafometic figures, and Gnostic and ophitic symbols.

M. Hammer expends much erudition in describing the various and numerous systems which preceded and produced the sect of the Gnostics; at length he comes to the Bafometic figures; he produces twenty-four of them, which appear to him to bear the characters of the Bafomet; they are covered with astrological signs; many are encircled by a serpent, and hold this cross by a handle, which was called key of the Nile by the Egyptians, and which has been considered the symbol of fecundity; they bear inscriptions, some in Latin, some in Greek, which denote nothing but proper names; and others in Arabic would be unintelligible, if we had not the means of comparing them with those upon the vases. The principal vase bears an Arabic inscription, which refers to the worship of a divinity named MÉtÉ; it has the title of Teala—all-powerful, and of Nasch—producer. M. Hammer pretends that the MÉtÉ was the same as the Sophia and Achamet of the various sects of Gnostics.

But no relation presents itself, either near or remote, with the Templars.

It was M. NicolaÏ who, in a German work, entitled, An Essay upon the Secret of the Templars, first employed this word Bafomet, and who attached to it the idea of the image of the supreme God, in the state of quietude attributed to him by the Manichean Gnostics; it was this learned man who first supposed that the Templars had a secret doctrine and initiations of several grades; and he pretends that the Saracens had communicated this doctrine to them.

In order to destroy all these systems, it is sufficient to prove that it is impossible to prove that the word Bafometi, which is reported in the proceedings against the Templars, signified anything but Mahomet.

M. le Baron Sylvestre de Sacy had already condemned this explanation of M. Hammer; and if the latter persisted in not recognising in Bafomet the name of Mahomet, it would be easy to prove to him that authors of the middle ages often wrote Bafomet for Mahomet;—authorities are not wanting.

If the word even of the Bafometic or Gnostic sect does not exist, if it never has existed, the entire system is without a basis.

But even if it could be proved that a Bafometic sect had existed, if we were in possession of certain details upon its opinions and mysteries, how could M. Hammer prove that the Templars belonged to this sect?

M. Hammer has collected and caused to be engraved as many as a hundred medals and other monuments which he attributes to the Templars, because he fancies he finds upon them the Mete and the Tau of the Gnostics.

The medals he produces are not even proofs of the existence of a sect of Gnostics; and even if this existence could be demonstrated, these medals and these monuments being entirely foreign to the Templars, why should they be applied to them?[183]

To give an idea of the manner in which M. Hammer tries to prove, by the medals, that the Templars were Gnostics, I will cite only these upon which this savant fancies he reads the word Quinosis or Gnosis.

In the coin 80, we see, according to M. Hammer, the temple of Jerusalem with four towers; the inscription is: + S. S. SIMOONJU[prostrate d]A; but reading it the reverse way, and beginning, not by the final A, but by the prostrate d, which M. Hammer has taken for a Q, whilst other savants, who have quoted this medal, have thought it a D, he reads SSTA QUINOMIS, although there is no T in the inscription; and considering the M as a sigma reversed, M. Hammer has found Quinosis; then Qui into G, and only making a single O of the two, he obtains Gnosis; which, according to his account, reveals and proves the secret of the Gnostic Templars.

M. Hammer not only reads it backwards, but he begins by the penultimate letter, and leaves the A, after which is a + which separates the beginning of the inscription from its end. He adds a T, and supposes a Greek letter mixed with the Latin inscription; and yet, after all these changes, he cannot produce the word Gnosis.

And what prevented him from seeing in this inscription what it really is, SS. SIMON JUDA?

In the medal 99 we read in the same manner, S. Simon Vel Juda; in the 93rd, S. Simon Juda, &c. Nothing was more common in the middle ages than coins which, on one side bear the name of a saint, and on the other side the name of a city or prince.

Two of the coins upon which, instead of St. Simon and St. Jude, M. Hammer records Saint Gnostic, bear also the name of Otto, or Otto Marchio. This circumstance is embarrassing for M. Hammer; he explains it by saying that this Marquis Otho was a Gnostic, a protector of the Templars, and initiated into their secret doctrines.

Seelander only reads St. Simon and St. Jude upon these coins; he believes that this Otho might be Otho II., marquis of Brandenburg, who lived about the year 1200. If the opinion of Seelander will not induce M. Hammer to adopt this simple, natural, and evident explanation, he may find in Otto Sperlingius the explanation of a similar coin, with the inscription of St. Simon and St. Jude. The heads of the two saints are close together, under the same crown. A. Mellen thought that this coin was struck at Goslar, and Sperlengius adopts his opinion.

But even if it were allowed that these coins belonged to a sect of Gnostics, I should continue to assert that M. Hammer does not at all prove that the Templars made use of them. The reasoning of this savant is reduced almost to this:—“These monuments are Gnostic, therefore they relate to the Templars;” and to this:—“These monuments relate to the Templars, therefore they are Gnostic.”

But let me be permitted to say once more, if the Templars had had amongst them such Gnostic signs, how was it that these signs were not made known and denounced when the question was to destroy the order? How is it that they are never found anywhere but in Germany?

I should obtain the same result if I were to examine in this manner in detail all that relates to the cups and chalices in which M. Hammer believes he sees Gnostic emblems; not only is there nothing upon them concerning the Templars, but M. Hammer has only collected them in places and upon monuments quite foreign to the order of the Templars.

As to the Gnostic sculptures which M. Hammer persists in seeing in some churches, is it not well known that we find in the churches of the middle ages sculptures and monuments which it is very difficult to explain, either on account of the moral and religious ideas which the artists of the time expressed under very unsuitable images; or on account of the pious allegories, the tradition of which is not come down to us?

The relievos of the capitals of the church of St. Germaine des PrÉs have embarrassed antiquaries, and if M. Hammer had found such in a church of the Templars, he would not have failed to magnify by them his act of accusation.

He cites seven churches in Germany, in which he pretends to recognise Gnostic emblems: but he offers no proof that these churches belonged to the Templars; and, even if the Order had built them, is it to be conceived, that if there existed a secret doctrine among them, the leaders would have exposed the symbols of it in public in their churches? And how is it that they selected seven German churches to receive these irreligious signs, whilst they did nothing of the same kind in the three thousand churches they possessed in Christendom?

M. Hammer is not more fortunate when he seeks in romances, which speak of the Saint Graal, the emblematic history, or the symbol of the order of the Temple.

These romances present nothing contrary to religion; the knights, who are the personages, promise fidelity to God and the ladies; they arm and fight for religion and beauty. Can we then be astounded that at the period when these romances were composed, the search for the St. Graal, or holy cup, was considered an exploit worthy of chivalry?

M. Hammer fancies he finds something very favourable to him in the following passage:—“As the St. Graal came to Tramelet on the day of Pentecost,”—he remarks that the festival of St. Graal was not celebrated on Christmas-day, but at Pentecost; “if by this cup,” says he, “had been meant, as some people suppose, the Lord’s cup, the festival would have been celebrated either on Christmas-day or Holy Thursday, and not on the day of Pentecost, which the Gnostics regarded as very holy, as the day of the Holy Ghost, which was for the Gnostics Sophia, and for the Templars Mete.”

The reply to this is very easy:—1st. King Artus held his plenary court on the great festivals of the year; it is not, then, surprising that the St. Graal should arrive at Pentecost. 2nd. The author of the romance could not choose the day of Christmas-day, which festival was not appointed in the time of King Artus. 3rd. It is even probable that the romance in question was composed before the institution of that festival by Urban IV., in 1264.

M. Hammer has been sensible that it was strange to form, after a lapse of five centuries, an accusation against the Templars quite different from that which served as a pretext for the contemporary oppressors. Therefore he advances that the pope, by the sentence which was pronounced against the Templars, was willing to conceal the knowledge of their true crimes; but he maintains, that when the archives of Rome shall come to light, as everything does sooner or later, we shall there find the proof of the crimes he now denounces.

How is it possible to be believed, that if the knights had been guilty of the crimes M. Hammer attributes to them, the pope and kings would have preferred the absurd system of accusation which they employed, to a system such as that which M. Hammer puts forth?

But, besides, it is very certain that ALL the pieces which the archives of Rome contained are now known: they are ALL marked with their numbers in the notice of the unpublished pieces which have assisted in the composition of Les Monuments Historiques relatifs À la Condemnation des Chavaliers du Temple, etc. M. Hammer has nothing, therefore, to hope from the archives of the Vatican.

This distinguished savant will some day acknowledge that he ought not to have yielded to the desire of putting forth a new system of denunciation against the order and the knights of the Temple. Their terrible and celebrated catastrophe imposes the obligation of being very circumspect and very severe in the choice of the means by which we may allow ourselves to endeavour to deprive them of the just pity which posterity has not refused to their fate.