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Illus
-41
THE SIEGE OF PTOLEMAIS
The roads of Galilee were covered with Mussulman soldiers coming
from Damascus ; and as Saladin looked daily for the arrival of a
fleet from Egypt, which would make him master of the sea, he hoped
soon to be able to triumph over the Christians, and deliver Ptolemais.
A few days after the victory he had gained, a great number of vessels
appeared upon the sea, directing their course towards the land.
Both armies were filled with hope and joy, the Mussulmans believing
them to be a fleet from the ports of Damietta and Alexandria, whilst
the Crusaders confidently hoped them to be a Christian armament
coming to their aid. The standard of cross was soon seen floating
from the the masts of the vessels, which, whilst it excited the
liveliest joy in the Christians, equally depressed the Mussulmans.
Two fleets from Western ports entered the road of Ptolmais. The
first bore the German Crusaders, commanded by the Duke of Gueldres
and the Landgrave of Thuringia, and the other warriors of Friesland
and Denmark, who, after having fought the Saracens in Spain, came
to defend the kingdom of Jerusalem. Conrad, Marquis of Tyre, could
not remain idle while this war was going on ; he armed vessels,
raised troops, and united his forces with those of the Christian
army. - Book VIII *Note page 239 Spain's Green Knight -Saladin offered
up his long time prisioner the old Marquis of Montferrat to his
son Conrad. History
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Illus
-42
THE SIEGE OF PTOLEMAIS
Baldwin had captured Ptolemais ; Saladin recovered it from the
Crusaders after two days' siege ; Saladin had captured and held
prisioner Guy de Lusignan while he besieged Jerusalem and drove
the Christians from it, then Saladin set free Guy, the ex-king
of Jerusalem, after extracting an oath that he would renounce
his kingdom and return to Europe. Guy immediately appeared at
Tyre to reclaim his sovereignty, but was rejected ; he then laid
siege to Ptolemais. In the battles of this siege the Crusaders
were generally successful in the morning, and at noon they would
begin to rob the Saracens' camp, which was the signal for Saladin
to make a sortie and repulse the careless, avaricious Christians.
Bad weather, want, and disease reduced the Crusaders' camp to
a pitiable condition, when Richard Coeur de Lion arrived, and
he at first sided with one fraction of the Crusaders, so that
when the French made an assault, Richard remained in his tent.
Necessity healed these factions, and the final rallies were made.
Moats were filled with bodies of the slain Crusaders, their battering
rams and wooden towers were reduced to ashes, they dug under the
ramparts, and the walls began to fall. "The tumultuous waves of
the Franks," says an Arabian author, "rolled towards the place
with the rapidity of a torrent ; they mounted the half-ruined
walls as wild goats ascend the steepest rocks, whilst the Saracens
precipitated themselves upon the besiegers like stones detached
from the summits of mountains." After sustaining a siege for nearly
three years, Ptolemais capitulated. - Book VIII *The author of
the Roudatains says that one thousand Mussulman horseman were
all that maintained and recovered the battle. Saladin, adds the
author, remained alone upon the field, and angels defended him.
*Notes; page 242 battle covered pages 239 to 242 Pages 243 to
246 tides turned in Saladins favor. pages 247 to 251 Phillip and
Richards quarrels -Richard sought repentance ventured to the mountains
of Calabria, to hear Abbot Joachim who passed for a prophet. Who,
in a voage to Jerualem, this solditary had, it is said, received
from Jesus Christ the faculty of explaining the Apocalypse, and
to read in it, as in a faithful history, all that was to take
place on earth. Joachim sawaladin as one of the seven heads of
the Apocalypse..
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Illus
-43
RICHARD COEUR DE LION IN REPRISAL MASSACRES CAPTIVES
The capitulation remained unexecuted ; Saladin, under various
pretexts, deferring the completion of the conditions. Richard,
irritated by a delay which appeared to him a breach of faith,
revenged himself upon the prisoners that were in his hands. Without
pity for the disarmed enemies, or for the Christians he exposed
to sanguinary reprisals, he massacred five thousand Mussulmans
before the city they had so valiantly defended, and within sight
of Saladin, who shared the disgrace of this barbarity by thus
abandoning his bravest and most faithful warriors. - Book VIII
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Illus
-44
CRUSADERS SURROUNDED BY SALADIN'S ARMY
In this army were Bedouin Arabs armed with arrows and round shields
; Scythians with long hair mounted on strong fleet horses and armed
javelins ; Ethiopians painted with white and red ; after these came
several other phalanxes with lances decorated with flags of all
sorts of colors. These barbarians advanced against the Crusaders
with the rapidity of light, the earth trembling under their feet,
and the noise of their clarions and cymbals would have drowned the
reverberations of thunder. They had among them men whose only occupation
was to make horrible howls, not only to frighten the enemy, but
to warm to the work of carnage the Mussulman warriors, chase fear
from their hearts, and give them the courage of the drunkeness of
victory. Their battalions aninated thus, now precipitated themselves
on the Crusaders, new battalions followed the first, and these were
followed by others. Soon the Mussulman army, as an Arabian historian
writes, surrounded the Christians "as the eyelashes surround the
eye." - Book VIII *Notes; pages 255 to 258 Outrages by Richard exhibiting
another of his nature -- Phillip leaving-- Richard Carrying on as
leader .. page 258 being one day hunting in the forest of Saron,
overcome by heat or fatique, he alighted from his horse and fell
asleep under a tree. All at once he was aroused by the cries of
those who accompanied him -- a troop of Saracens was close upon
them! He sprang upon his horse, and prepared to defend himself ;
but was near sinking beneath the force of numbers, when a knight
of his suite, named William Pourcelet, cried out in the Arabic tongue,
"I am the king ; spare my life." At these words, this generous warrior
was surrounded by the Mussulmans, who made him prisoner and conducted
him to Saladin. The King of England, thus was saved by the heroism
of a French knight. . . .
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Illus
-45
RICHARD COEUR DE LION AND SALADIN AT THE BATTLE OF ARSUR
Profound
silence prevailed in the Christian army ; the black cuirasses of
the Crusaders seeming to darken the horizon, while sixty thousand
swords gleamed out from amidst clouds of dust. All at once the Christian
infantry opened their ranks, and the cavalry rushed forward towards
the enemy, drawn up on the banks of the torrent of Arsur. The king
of England advanced with the main body, sweeping away the crowd
of Saracens that opposed his passage, and pursuing them to the other
side of torrent ; but whilst he yeilded to his ardour, and advanced
before the Christian army, the chosen troops of the Mussulman descended
from the mountains of Naplouse, and poured down upon the reae of
the Christians. Richard was forced to retrace his steps to support
the French and German, who were beginning to give way. The plain
to which the battle was fought could scarcely contain all the combatants.
The Christians and Mussulmans closed, and attacked each other man
to man ; the foot fought pell-mell with the horse, exhorting each
other to brave death. The cries of rage, despair, and agony were
mingled with the clashing of swords, lances, and shields. The two
armies, confounded and mixed together, became nothing but one horrible
spectacle. - Book VIII
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Illus
-46
RICHARD
COEUR DE LION DELIVERING JAFFA
Richard, who had conquered the Saracens, was not wise
enough to profit by their defeat ; instead of pursuing the enemy,
or marching straight to Jerusalem, he led his army to Jaffa, the
ramparts of which Saladin had demolished, and which the Mussulmans
had abandoned. He occupied himself with repairing the fortifications,
and sent for Queen Berengaria, Jane, the widow of the king of Sicily,
and the daughter of Issac. Surrounded by a brilliant court, he forgot,
in the intoxication of pleasure and festivities, the conquest of
Jerusalem for which he had come to Asia. At the head of a weak detachment,
he took a convoy of seven thousand camels on the way to Jerusalem
; on another occasion, going on board a vessel with a few knights,
he landed at Jaffa, where the banner of Saladin floated over the
towers and ramparts ; he pursued the conquerors sword in hand, and
forced them to abandon their temporary conquest. A few days after,
the king, with a troop of chosen knights, attacked a body of seven
thousand Mussulman horse ; he rushed in amongst them, and with a
stroke of his sabre struck dead at his feet the leader of the Saracens,
who all appeared stupefied and motionless with surprise and fear.
- Book VIII *Notes; page 262 to 264 the Treaty of Peace between
Saladin and Richard . . . *Notes; Chivalry also made great progress
in this crusade ; it was held in such honour, and the title of KNIGHT
was so glorious, even in the eyes of the infidels, that Saladin
did not disdain to be decorated with it. The sentiment of honour,
and the humanity which is inseparable from it, often dried tears
that the disasters of war had caused to flow ; tender and viruous
passions associated themselves in the minds of Heros with the austere
maxims of religion and the sanquinary images of battle. Amidst the
corruption of camps, love, by inspiring the knights and troubadours
who had taken the cross with noble and delicate sentiments, preserved
them from the seductions of gross debauchery. More than one warrior,
animated by the rememberance of beauty, caused his bravery to be
greatly admired, whilst fighting against the Saracens. It was in
this crusade that the Chatelain de Coucy fell, mortally wounded,
by the side of Richard. In a song, which is still extant, he had
bid adieu to France, saying that he went to the Holy Land to obtain
three things of inestimable value to a knight, . . . Paradise, glory,
and the love of his mistress. Notes: pages 265 to 267 more about
Richard in closing. The remainder of Saladin's days and the remainder
of Richard's including the trials he was subject to. .page . . .
Richard a captive of the Duke of Austria, later the Emperor of Germany.
. . . The hero of the crusade, who had filled the world with his
renown, was cast into a dark dungeon, and remained a long time a
victim to the vengeance of his enemies ---and they were Christian
princes. ...
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Illus
-47
DANDOLO,
DOGE OF VENICE, PREACHING THE CRUSADE
Nobody was more skilful in seizing a favorable opportunity, or of
taking advantage of the least circumstance for the furtherance of
his designs. at the age of ninety, the doge of Venice exhibited
no symtoms of senility but virtue and experience. Everything that
could save his country aroused his activity and inflamed his courage
; with the spirit of calculation and economy which distinguished
his compatriots. Dandolo mingled passions the most generous, and
threw an air of grandeur over all the enter-prises of a trading
people. Dandolo praised with warmth an enterprise that appeared
glorious to him, and in which the interests of his country were
not opposed to those of religion. The deputies required vessels
to transport four thousand five hundred knights and twenty thousand
foot, with provisions for the Christian army for nine months. Dandolo
promised, in the name of the republic, to furnish the necessary
provisions and vessels, on condition that the Crusaders should engage
to pay the Venetians the sum of eighty-five thousand silver marks.
As he was not willing that the people of Venice should be unconnected
with the expedition of the French Crusaders, Dandolo proposed to
the deputies to arm, at the expense of the republic, fifty galleys,
and demanded for his country half the conquests that might be made
in the East. - Book X *Note; pages 294 to 295 Deputies of the Crusaders
arrive in Venice with letters to conduct negotiations with the Venetians.
II
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Illus
-48
THE EMPEROR ALEXIUS POISONED AND STRANGLED BY MOURZOUFLE
Mourzoufle then presented himself before Alexius ; he employed every
means to aggravate the alarm of the young prince, and, under the
pretext of providing for his safety, drew him into a secluded apartment,
where his creatures, under his direction, loaded him with irons,
and cast him into a dungeon. Coming forth, he boldly informed the
people what he had done for the salvation of the empire ; and the
throne, from which he had dragged his master, benefactor, and friend,
appeared but a just recompense for the devotedness of his services
; he was carried in triumph to the church of St. Sophia, and crowned
emperor amidst the acclamations of the people. Scarcely was Mourzoufle
clothed with the imperial purple, than he resolved to possess the
fruit of his crime in security ; dreading the caprice of both fortune
and the people, he repaired to the prison of Alexius, forced him
to swallow an empoisoned draught, and because death did not keep
pace with his impatience, strangled him with his own hands. - Book
VI *Notes; page 324
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Illus
-49
MOURZOUFLE PARLEYING WITH DANDOLO
Henry Dandolo repaired in his galley to the point of the gulf, and
the usurper, mounted on horseback, approached him as near as possible.
The conference was long and animated. The doge required Mourzoufle
to pay immediately fifty centenaries of gold, to aid the Crusaders
in their expedition to Syria, and again to swear obedience to the
Romish church. After a long altercation, Mourzoufle promised to
give the Latins the money and assistance they demanded ; but he
would not consent to submit to the yoke of the Church of Rome. The
doge, astonished that, after having outraged all the laws of Heaven
and nature, he should attach so much importance to religious opinions,
casting a glance of contempt at Mourzoufle, asked him if the Greek
religion excused treachery and parricide? The usurper, although
much irritated, dissembled his anger, and was endeavouring to justify
his conduct, when the conference was interrupted by some latin horsemen.
- Book XI *Notes; page 326
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Illus
-50
ENTRY OF THE CRUSADERS INTO CONSTANTINOPLE
The banners of the bishops of Troie and Soissons were planted on
the top of the towers, and attracted the eager eyes of the whole
army. This sight inflames those who are still on board the vessels
; on all sides they press, they rush forward, they fly to the escalade.
The Franks obtain possession of four towers, terror prevails among
the Greeks, and the few who resist are slaughtered at every point
they endeavour to defend ; three gates fall to pieces beneath the
strokes of the rams ; the horseman issue from the ships with their
horses, and the whole army of the Crusaders precipitates itself
at once into the city. A horseman ( Pierre Bacheux ), who preceded
his fellows, advances almost alone to the hill upon which Mourzoufle
was encamped, and the Greeks, in their fright, took him for a giant.
Nicetas himself says that his helmet appeared as large as a tower
; the soldiers of the emperor could not stand against a single Frank
horseman. Mourzoufle, abandoned by his troops, fled ; the Crusaders
took possession of every Greek they met with. "IT WAS A HORRIBLE
SPECTACLE," says Villehardouin, "TO SEE WOMEN AND YOUNG CHILDREN
RUNNING DISTRACTEDLY HERE AND THERE, TREMBLING AND HALF DEAD WITH
FRIGHT, LAMENTING PITEOUSLY AND BEGGING FOR MERCY." The Crusaders
set fire to the quarter they had invaded, and the flames, driven
by the wind, announced to the other extremities of city the presence
of an irritated conqueror. - Book XI
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