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Illus
-31
TWO HUNDRED KNIGHTS ATTACK TWENTY THOUSAND SARACENS
TWO HUNDRED KNIGHTS ATTACK TWENTY THOUSAND SARACENS Conqueror of
the Saracens, the king of Jerusaelm had sent back his troop, and
was exposing at Jaffa, after the fatiques of the war, when he learnt
that the Mussulman army had rallied, and was in full march to attack
the Christians. Baldwin, whom victory had rendered rash, without
assembling all his troops, went immediatly to meet the enemy, at
the head of two hundred knights, and a few pilgrims lately arrived
from the west. Not at all dismayed by the number of the Saracens,
he gave battle ; but, at the first charge the Christians were surrounded,
and only sought a glorious death, fighting by the side of their
leader. The king of Jerusalem, obliged to fly, concealed himself
among the long dried grass and bushes which covered the plain. As
the Saracens set fire to these, Baldwin with difficulty escaped
being burnt alive. - Book V *Notes; page 162 -163 Birth of the order
of The Knights Templar after the knights of St. John Note to me
History of Knights of St. John originally written in italian by
Bosio translated into French by Boyssat.. re written by Abbe' de
Verot The templars have been written about eloquently bt M. Raynouard.
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Illus
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DEATH OF BALDWIN, KING OF JERUSALEM
He collected his chosen warriors, traversed the desert, carried
the terror of his arms to the banks of the Nile, and surprised
and pillaged the city of Pharamia, situated three days' journey
from Cairo. The success of this expedition gave him room to hope
that he should one day render himself master of a great kingdom,
and he was returning triumphant, and loaded with booty, to Jerusalem,
when he fell sick at El-Arrich, on the confines of the desert
which separates Egypt from Palestine. After having nominated Baldwin
du Bourg as his successor, he expired, surrounded by his companions,
who, though deeply grieved, endeavoured to conceal their tears,
that the Saracens might not learn the great loss the Christians
had experienced. -Book V *Notes; The death of Baldwin pages 154-156.
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Illus
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YLGAZY GIVES GAUTHIER HIS LIFE
The Mussulmans of Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria, whom former
defeats had not discouraged, swore to exterminate the Christian
race, and marched towards the Orontes, conducted by Ylgazy, prince
of Aleppo, the most ferocious of Islam warriors. The new prince
of Antioch, Roger, had called to his assistance the king of Jerusalem,
the counts of Edessa and Tripoli, but without waiting their arrival
he head the imprudence to give battle, with a result which imperilled
all the Christian colonies. Fortune was favoring the Crusaders
when they became demoralized at a tornado of wind, which laid
over the field of battle enormous black and sulphurous clouds.
The Mussulmans understood this, and took advantage of the panic.
. . . charged again on their enemies, who fled. Roger in vaintried
ti arrest his fleeing soldiers, and was himself mortally wounded.
After he fell the Mussulmans pursued, killed and captured. This
battle took place near Artesia, in a place called the field of
blood. The Mussulmans made a large number of prisoners, whom they
massacred in presence of Gauthier, the Chancellor, who was then
given his life by Ylgazy, to go and tell the Christians the fate
which awaited them in Palestine. - Book V
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Illus
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LOUIS VII RECEIVING THE CROSS FROM ST. BERNARD
"Hasten then to expiate your sins by victories over the infidels,
and let the deliverance of the holy places be the reward of your
repentance. . . . If it were announced to you that the enemy had
invaded your cities, your castles, and your lands, had ravished
your wives and your daughters, and profaned your temples, which
among you would not fly to arms? Illustrious knights, generous defenders
of the cross, remember the example of your fathers who conquered
Jerusalem, and whose names are inscribed in heaven ; abandon then
the things which perish to gather eternal palms, and conquer a kingdom
which has no end." All the barons and knights applauded the eloquence
of St. Bernard, and were persuaded that he had but uttered the will
of God. Louis VII., deeply moved by the words he had heard, cast
himself, in the presence of all the people, at the feet of St. Bernard,
and demanded the cross. - Book VI
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Illus
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DESTRUCTION OF THE ARMY OF CONRAD III OF GERMANY
Conrad was followed by an army so numerous, that, according to the
report of Otho, the waves were not sufficient to transport it, nor
the fields spacious enough to contain all its battalions. . . .
Impatient to be before the Frnch, he marched on in perfect ignorance
of the roads, and without provisions to feed the multitude which
followed him. . . . he was surprised by th Turks who covered the
summits of the mountains, and rushed down upon the exhusted and
famished Christians. The Mussulmans were lightly armed, and performed
their evolutions with the greatest rapidity. The Germans could scarcely
move under the weight of their bucklers, corselets and steel brassets
; such as were more lightly armed sometimes would rush among the
enemy and put them to flight, but the Turks soon rallied on the
heights, and darted down again like birds of prey, upon the terrified
christians. At length the rout became general, the country was covered
with fugitives. . . . some perished with want, others fell beneath
the swords of the Mussulmans ; the women and children were carried
off with the baggage, and formed a part of the enemy's booty. Conrad,
who had scarcely saved a tenth part of his army, was wounded by
two arrows, and only escaped the pursuit of the Saracens by a kind
of miracle. - Book VI *Notes;pages 190- 191 conduct of Eleanor Louis's
queen Future Richard I's future mother.
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Illus
-36
SURPRISED BY THE TURKS
On quitting Laodicea, a city situated on the Lycus, the Crusaders
had directed their course towards the mountains which separate Phrygia
from Pisidia. These mountains offered nothing but narrow passages,
in which they constantly marched between rocks and precipices. The
French army was divided into two bodies, commanded every day by
new leaders, who received their orders from the king. Every evening
they laid down in council the route they were to follow the next
day, and appointed the place where the army was to encamp. The count
de Maurienne, brother of the king, Queen Eleanor, and all the ladies
of her suite, who had accompanied the vanguard, pressed Geoffrey
de Rancon to descend into the plain. He had the weakness to comply
with their wishes ; but scarcely had he gained the valley, than
the Turks took possession of the heights he had passed, and ranged
themselves in order of battle. . . . During this time the rearguard
of the army, in which was the king, advanced full of confidence
and security ; on seeing troops in the woods and on the rocks, they
supposed them to be French, and saluted them with cries of joy.
They marched without order, the beasts of burden and the chariots
were mingled with the battalions, and the greater part of the soldiers
had left their arms with the baggage. The Turks, perfectly motionless,
waited in silence till the Christian army should be enclosed in
the defiles. - Book VI
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Illus
-37
LOUIS VII
The bravest rallied around the king, and advanced toward the top
of the mountain. Thirty of the principal nobles that accompanied
Louis perished by his side, selling their lives dearly. The king
remained almost alone on the field of battle, and took refuge upon
a rock, whence he braved the attack of the infidels who pursued
him. With his back against a tree, he singly resisted the efforts
of several Saracens, who, taking him for a simple soldier, at length
left him, to secure their share of the pillage. Although the night
began to fall, the king expected to be attacked again, when the
voices of some frenchmen who had escaped the carnage, gave him the
agreeable information that the Turks had retired. He mounted a stray
horse, and, after a thousand perils, rejoined his vanguard, where
all were lamenting his death. - Book VI *Notes;- page 201
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Illus
-38
SALADIN
Saladin was sprung from the people who inhabit the mountains situated
beyond the Tigris. . . . Brought up at the court of Damascus, people
saw in him nothing but a young dissipated soldier, without ambition
; . . . but he changed his conduct and reformed his manners ; hitherto
he had appeared fit only for the idleness and the obscurity of a
seraglio ; but, all at once, he came forth a new man, like one born
for an empire. . . . The Mussulmans, always governed by fear, were
astonished that a sovereign could inspire them with much love, and
followed him with joy to battle. His generosity, his clemency, and
particularly his respect for an oath, were often the subjects of
admiration to the Christians, whom he reendered so miserable by
his victories, and of whose power in Asia he had completed the overthrow.
- Book VII *Notes;pages 202 to 218 Saladin and the raiding of mussulman
merchants by the christians leaders and power struggle alliances.
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Illus
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GLORIOUS DEATH OF DE MAILLE MARSHALL OF THE TEMPLE
Above all rest, nothing could equal the heroic valour of Jacques
de Maille, a knight of the Temple. Mounted on a white horse, he
remained alone in the field of battle, and fought on, surrounded
by heaps of slain. Although hemmed in on all sides, he refused to
surrender. The horse which he rode, worn out with fatique and exhusted
by wounds, sank under him, and dragged him with him ; but the intrepid
knight arose, lance in hand, covered with blood and dust, and bristling
with arrows, and rushed upon the ranks of the Mussulmans, astonished
at his audacity ; at length he fell, covered with wounds, but fighting
to the last. The Saracens took him for St. George, whom the Christians
believed they saw descend from heaven to join their battalions.
After his death the Turkish soldiers, whom and old historian calls
THE CHILDREN OF BABYLON AND SODOM, drew near with signs of respect
to his body, slain by a thosand wounds ; they wiped off the blood,
they shared the rags of his clothes and the fragments of his arms,
and, in their brutal excitement, evinced their admiration by actions
which make modesty blush when speaking of them. - Book VII *Notes;
pages 219 to 220 this battle was fought on the first of May, 1187.
Templars siding with Guy and the Templar Grand Master's strong convictions
against Raymond causing a further deep divide pages 218 -230 Saladin's
capture of Jerusalem.
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Illus
-40
DEATH OF FREDERICK OF GERMANY
The leader of this formidable army had conquered several nations,
and dictated laws to two empires, without having yet done anything
towards the aim of his enterprise. After having crossed Mount Taurus,
near Laurenda, he had resumed his march towards Syria at the beginning
of spring, and was proceeding along the banks of the river Selef.
Attracked by the freshness and limpidity of the waters, he wished
to bathe ; but, seized all at once by a mortal coldness, he was
dragged out insensible, and soon after died, humbly bowing to the
will of God, who would not allow him to behold the land he was going
to defend. His death was more fatal to his army than the loss of
a great battle ; all the Germans wept for a chief who had so often
led them to victory, and whose name alone was the terror of the
Saracens. The bones of this unfortunate monarch were preserved for
the purpose of being buried in that Jerusalem he had sworn to deliver,
but in which he could not even obtain a tomb. William, who had been
to preach the crusade in Europe, buried the remains of Frederick
in the city of Tyre, and pronounced the funeral oration of the most
powerful monarch of the Christians. - Book VII . *The Arabian historian
Omad relates that Frederick of Barbarossa was drowned in endeavoring
to cross the river on horseback ; the force of the stream carried
him towards and tree, against which he struck his head. He was dragged
out of the water, adds Omad, and his soul being ready to quit his
body, the angel of death took possession of it, and carried it to
hell. *Notes; pages 230 to 237 William archbishop of Tyre appeals
to England and France to take up the cross.
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