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Illus
-71
DEATH OF ALMOADAM
Almoadam, nearly surrounded by the flames, precipitates himself
from the windows ; a nail catches his mantle, and he remains for
a moment suspended. At length he falls to the earth ; sabres and
naked swords wave over him on all sides ; he casts himself on his
knees, at the feet of Octai, one of the principal officers of his
guard, who repulses him with contempt. The unhappy prince arises,
holding forth his imploring hands to all the assembly, saying that
he was willing to abandon the throne of Egypt, and would return
into Mesopotamia. These supplications, unworthy of a prince, inspire
more contempt than pity ; nevertheless, the crowd of conspirators
hesitate ; but the eladers know too well there can be no safety
for them but in completing the crime they have begun. Bendocdar,
who had inflicted the first blow, strikes him a second time with
his sabre ; Almoadam, streaming with blood, throws himself into
the Nile, and endeavours to gain some vessels that appear to be
drawing near the shore to receive him ; nine Mamelukes follow him
into the water, and pour upon him a thousand blows, within sight
of the gallery which Joinville was on board of ! - Book XIV *Notes;
refer back to 138 139 Octai, the mamelukes exclaims that Almoadam
was no more, page 159 Louis 's Fleet returns home . . . Passing
by Auvergne, arrived at Vincennes 5th September, 1254, page 162
close of Louis crusades. . . . It has been said the hospital of
the Quinze-Vingts was established by Louis IX, as an asylum for
the three hundred gentleman who had returned blind from the holy
war.
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Illus
-72
THE EMIR'S HEAD SHOWN IN THE SERAGLIO
- Book XIV
.
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Illus
-73
THE SULTANA CHEGGER-EDDOUR AND THE EMIR SAIF-EDDIN
Chegger-Eddour could not pardon Aibek for having asked the hand
of a daughter of the prince of Mossoul, and the faithless husband
was assassinated by slaves. The sultana, after having gratified
her woman's vengeance, called in the ambition of the emirs and
the crimes of policy to her aid. She sent for the emir Saif-Eddin,
to ask his advice, and to offer him her hand and empire. Upon
being introduced into the palace, Saif-Eddin found the sultana
seated, with the bleeding body of her husband at her feet ; at
this spectacle, the emir was seized with horror, and the calmness
which the sultana displayed, together with the sight of the bloody
throne, upon which she proposed to him to take his seat with her,
added to his fright ; Chegger-Eddour summoned two other emirs,
who could not endure her presence, but fled away, terrified at
what they saw and heard. This scene passed during the night, at
break of day, the news of it was spread throughout Cairo, and
the indignation of the people and the army was general and active
; the mother of Aibek amply revenged the death of her son. Chegger-Eddour,
in her turn, perished at the hands of slaves, and her body, which
was cast naked into the castle ditch, might teach all the ambitious
who were contending for the empire, that all revolutions, likewise,
sometimes have their justice. - Book XV *Notes; pages 166, 167,
168 relay this pages 169 to . . . The moguls, under command of
Oulagon, lays seige .. The Christians who had applauded the moguls
victories . . . became subject to the mamelukes vengence under
Bibars leadership.
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Illus
-74
A CELESTIAL LIGHT
The capitulation of Sefed granted the Christians permission to retire
wherever they wished, upon condition that they would take away with
them nothing but their clothes. . . . On the morrow, two only of
those captives were set at liberty ; one was a brother Hospitaller,
whom Bibars sent to Ptolemais to announce to the Christians the
taking of Sefed ; the others was a Templar, who abandoned the faith
of Christ, and attached himself to the fortunes of the Sultan ;
all the others, to number of six hundred, fell beneath the sword
of the Mamelukes. It is impossible to describe the despair and consternation
of the Christians of Palestine, when they learned the tragical end
of he defenders of Sefed. Their superstitious grief invented or
blindly received the most marvellous accouunts, which the Western
chroniclers have not distained to repeat ; it was said that a celestial
light shone every night over the bodies of the Christian warriors
that remained unburied. It was added that the Sultan, annoyed by
this prodigy, which was every day renewed before his eyes, gave
orders that the martyrs of the Christian faith should be buried,
and that around their place of sepulture high walls should be built,
in order that nobody might witness the miracles operated in favour
of the victims he had immolated to his vengeance. - Book XV *Notes;
page 173 to 174 Described .. Bibars, To inflame the ardour of the
Mamelukes, he caused robes of honour and purses of money to be distributed
on the field of battle. . .The Christians however, defended themselves
valiantly. This resistance at first astonished their enemies, and
soon produced discouragement ; in vain the sultan endeavoured to
reanimate his soldiers, in vain he ordered those who fled should
be beaten with clubs, and placed several emirs in chains for deserting
their posts ; neither the dread of chastisements, nor the hopes
of reward, could revive the courage of the Mussulmans. Bibars would
have been obliged to raise the siege, if discord had not come to
his assistance. He himself took great pains to give birth to it
among the Christians ; in frequent messages sent to the garrison,
perfidious promises and well-directed threats sowed seeds of suspicion
and mistrust. *The arabian chroniclers describe this event in a
very obcure and equivocal manner ; they scarcely mention the massacre
of the prisoners, and say but little of the captiulation ; they
accuse the Franks of having taken Mussulman prisoners away with
them, which is not very probable.
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Illus
-75
THE CRUELTIES OF BIBARS
As Mussulmans enetered Antioch without capitulation,
they gave themselves up to all the excesses of license and victory.
In a letter which Bibars addressed to the count of Tripoli, the
barbarous conqueror takes a pleasure in describing the desolation
of the subdued city, and all the evils which his fury had caused
the Christians to undergo. "Death," says he, "came among the besieged
from all sides and by all roads ; we killed all that thou hadst
apponted to guard the city or defend its approaches. If thou hadst
seen thy knights trampled under the feet of the horses, thy provinces
given up by pillage, thy riches distributed by measure-full, the
wives of thy subjects put to public sale ; if thou hadsty seen the
pulpits and crosses overturned, the leaves of the gospel torn and
cast to the winds, and the sepulchres of the patriarchs profaned
; if thou hadst seen thy enemies, the Mussulmans, trampling upon
the tabernacle, and immolating in the sanctuary monk, priest, and
deacon ; in short, if thou hadst seen thy palaces given up to flames,
the dead devoured by the fire of this world, the Church of St. Paul
and that of St. Peter completely and entirely destroyed, certes,
thou wouldst have cried out ; 'Would to Heaven that I were become
dust ! ' " - Book XV *Note; page 175 and 176 . . . first Joinville
describes the fortification of Jaffa by Louis IX and then Bibars
assault on Antioch described.
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Illus
-76
THE CAPTIVES
After the capture of Antioch, Bibars, distributed the booty among
his soldiers, the Maelukes reserving as thier portion, the women,
girls, and children. "At that time," says an Arabian chronicle,
"THERE WAS NOT THE SLAVE OF A SLAVE THAT WAS NOT THE MASTER OF A
SLAVE." A little boy was worth twelve dirhems, a little girl, five
dirhems. In a single day the city of Antioch lost all its inhabitants,
and a conflagration, lighted by order of Bibars, completed the work
of the barbarians. Most historians agree in saying that seventeen
thousand Christians were slaughtered, and a hundred thousand dragged
away into slavery. - Book XV *Notes; pages 170 180 St. Louis and
nobles take up the cross at Lourve pages 181,181 Europe takes up
the cross.
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Illus
-77
THE DEPARTURE FROM AIGUES-MORTES
The king of Sicily had taken the cross without the
least inclination to embark for Asia ; and when the question was
discussed in council, he gave it as his opinion that Tunis should
be the object of the first attack. The kingdom of Tunis covered
the seas with pirates, who infested all the routes to Palestine
; it was, besides, the ally of Egypt, and might, if subdued, be
made the readiest road to that country. These were the ostensible
reasons put forth ; the true ones were, that it was of importance
to the king of Sicily that the coasts of Africa should be brought
under European subjection, and that he did not wish to go too far
from Italy. The true reason with St. Louis, and that which, no doubt,
determined him, was, that he believed it possible to convert the
king of Tunis, and thus bring a vast kingdom under the Christian
banners. At length the unwilling Crusaders, stimulated by repeated
exhortations, and by the example of Louis, set forward on their
march from all the provinces, and directed their course towards
the ports of Aigues-Mortes and Marseilles. Before he embarked, the
king wrote once more to the regents of the kingdom, to recommend
them to watch carefully over public morals, to deliver France from
corrupt judges, and to render to everybody, particularly to the
poor, prompt and perfect justice, so that He who judges the judgements
of men might have nothing to reproach them with. - Book XV *Notes;
pages 183, Louis finds the principal nobles nor the Genoese fleet
who were to embark with him. . pages 184, 185 . . . Such were the
last farewells that Louis took of France. The fleet set sail on
the fourth of July, 1270 and in a few days arrived in the road of
Cagliari.
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Illus
-78
THE NIGHT OF AUGUST 25TH, 1270
We have spoken of the profound grief which prevailed among the Crusaders
when Louis fell sick. There was not a leader or a soldier that did
not forget his own ills in his anxiety for the king. At every hour
of the day and night these faithful warriors crowded round the monarch's
tent, and when they beheld the sad and apprehensive air of all who
came out of it, they turned away, with their eyes cast to the earth,
and their sould filled with the most gloomy thoughts. In the camp,
the soldiers scarcely durst ask each other a question, for they
heard none but sorrowful tidings. At length, when the event that
all had dreaded was announced to the army, the French warriors abandoned
themselves to despair ; they saw in the death of Louis a signal
for all sorts of calamities, and anxiously inquired of each other
what leader was to conduct them back to their homes. - Book XV *Note;
page 186, 187, 189, 190 . . . St Louis's last words and deeds. pages
190, 191 truce
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Illus
-79
PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD
The return from the siege of Tunis. It was not the flag of victory,
but a funeral pall that preceded the French warriors in their march.
Funeral urns, the wreck of an army but lately so flourishing, a
young sick prince, who had only escaped by a miracle the death that
had swept away his family ---this was all that came back from the
crusade ! The people came from all parts to meet the melancholy
train ; theysurrounded the young king, they strove to approach the
remains of St. Louis, and it was made evident, by their pious propriety
and their religious sadness, that the sentiments which led them
there were not such as generally precipitate the multitude upon
the steps of the masters of the earth. On the arrival of Philip
in his capital, the bones and the heart of St. Louis were conveyed
to the church of Notre Dame, where ecclesiatics sang the hymns of
the service of the dead during the whole night. On the following
day the funeral of the royal martyr was celebrated in the church
of St. Denis. In the midst of an immense assemblage of all classes
of the people, deeply affected by what they saw, the young monarch
advanced, bearing on his shoulders the mortal remains of his father.
He stopped several times on his way, and crosses, which were placed
at every station, recalled, up to the last century, this beautiful
picture of filial piety. - Book XV *Notes; page194 described
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Illus
-80
ASSASSINATION OF HENRY OF GERMANY
Passage by Viterbo, Philip witnessed the tragical end of one of
the most illustrious of his companion in arms ; Henry d' Allemagne
was attacked by Simon and Guy de Monfort, the sons of the earl of
Leicester, pursued into a church, and massacred at the foot of the
altar. Henry was nephew of the king of England. He had entered the
church to hear Mass and suddenly was surprised by a well-known voice
crying, "Traitor Henry, thou shall not escape me." Turning, he saw
his two cousins running towards him with swords in their hands.
The unfortunate prince threw himself on the altar, two priests interposed,
but they were pushed aside. Henry was assassinated, his body mutilated,
and then dragged to the door of the church. Thus, great crimes were
joined with great calamities, to add to the cruel remembrances that
this crusade was destined to leave behind it. - Book XV
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