way, the more insuperable as they were unforeseen to these ignorant fanatics. The savage countries of Hungary and Bulgaria were whitened with their bones; their vanguard was cut in pieces by the Turkish sultan; and the loss of the first adventure, by the sword, or climate, or fatigue, has already been stated at three hundred thousand men. Yet the myriads that survived, that marched, that pressed forwards on the holy pilgrimage, were a subject of astonishment to themselves and to the Greeks. The copious energy of her language sinks under the efforts of the princess Anne: 76 the images of locusts, of leaves and flowers, of the sands of the sea, or the stars of heaven, imperfectly represent what she had seen and heard; and the daughter of Alexius exclaims, that Europe was loosened from its foundations, and hurled against Asia. The ancient hosts of Darius and Xerxes labour under the same doubt of a vague and indefinite magnitude: but I am inclined to believe, that a larger number has never been contained within the lines of a single camp, than at the siege of Nice, the first operation of the Latin princes. Their motives, their characters, and their arms, have been already displayed. Of their troops, the most numerous portion were natives of France; the Low Countries, the banks of the Rhine, and Apulia, sent a powerful reinforcement; some bands of adventurers were drawn from Spain, Lombardy, and England; 77 and from the distant bogs and mountains of Ireland or Scotland 78 issued some naked and savage fanatics, ferocious at home but unwarlike abroad. Had not superstition condemned the sacrilegious prudence of depriving the poorest or weakest Christian of the merit of the pilgrimage, the useless crowd, with mouths but without hands, might have been stationed in the Greek empire, till their companions had opened and secured the way of the Lord. A small remnant of the pilgrims, who passed the Bosphorus, was permitted to visit the holy sepulchre. Their northern constitution was scorched by the rays, and infected by the vapours, of a Syrian sun. They consumed, with heedless prodigality, their stores of water and provision: their numbers exhausted the inland country: the sea was remote, the Greeks were unfriendly, and the Christians of every sect fled before the voracious and cruel rapine of their brethren. In the dire necessity of famine they sometimes roasted and devoured the flesh of their infant or adult captives. Among the Turks and Saracens, the idolaters of Europe were rendered more odious by the name and reputation of cannibals: the spies who introduced 76 Alexias, 1. x. p. 283. 305. Her fastidious delicacy complains of their strange and inarticulate names, and indeed there is scarcely one that she has not contrived to disfigure with the proud ignorance, so dear and familiar to a polished people. I shall select only one example, Sangeles, for the count of St. Giles. 77 William of Malmsbury (who wrote about the year 1130) has inserted in his history (1. iv. p. 130-154.) a narrative of the first crusade: but I wish that, instead of listening to the tenue murmur which had passed the British Ocean (p. 143.), he had confined himself to the numbers, families, and adventures of his countrymen. I find in Dugdale, that an English Norman, Stephen earl of Albemarle and Holdernesse, led the rearguard with duke Robert, at the battle of Antioch (Baronage, part i. p. 61.). 78 Videres Scotorum apud se ferocium alias imbellium cuneos (Guibert, p. 471.): the crus infectum, and hispida chlamys, may suit the Highlanders; but the finibus uliginosis, may rather apply to the Irish bogs. William of Malmsbury expressly mentions the Welsh and Scots, &c. (1. iv. p. 133.) who quitted, the former venationem saltuum, the latter familiaritatem pulicum. 79 This cannibal hunger, sometimes real, more frequently an arti themselves into the kitchen of Bohemond, were shown several human bodies turning on the spit ; and the artful Norman encouraged a report, which increased at the same time the abhorrence and the terror of the infidels.79 A. D. 1097, May 14June 20. I have expatiated with pleasure on Siege of Nice. the first steps of the crusaders, as they paint the manners and character of Europe: but I shall abridge the tedious and uniform narrative of their blind achievements, which were performed by strength and are described by ignorance. From their first station in the neighbourhood of Nicomedia, they advanced in successive divisions; passed the contracted limit of the Greek empire; opened a road through the hills; and commenced, by the siege of his capital, their pious warfare against the Turkish sultan. His kingdom of Roum extended from the Hellespont to the confines of Syria, and barred the pilgrimage of Jerusalem: his name was Kilidge-Arslan, or Soliman,80 of the race of Seljuk, and the son of the first conqueror; and in the defence of a land which the Turks considered as their own, he deserved the praise of his enemies, by whom alone he is known to posterity. Yielding to the first impulse of the torrent, he deposited his family and treasure in Nice; retired to the mountains with fifty thousand horse; and twice descended to assault the camps or quarters of the Christian besiegers, which formed an imperfect circle of above six miles. The lofty and solid walls of Nice were covered by a deep ditch, and flanked by three hundred and seyenty towers; and on the verge of Christendom, the Moslems were trained in arms, and inflamed by religion. Before this city, the French princes occupied their stations, and prosecuted their attacks without correspondence or subordination: emulation prompted their valour; but their valour was sullied by cruelty, and their emulation degenerated into envy and civil discord. In the siege of Nice, the arts and engines of antiquity were employed by the Latins; the mine and the battering-ram, the tortoise, and the belfry or moveable turret, artificial fire, and the catapult and balist, the sling and the crossbow, for the casting of stones and darts.81 In the space of seven weeks, much labour and blood were expended, and some progress, especially by count Raymond, was made on the side of the besiegers. But the Turks could protract their resistance and secure their escape, as long as they were masters of the lake 82 Ascanius, which stretches several miles to the westward of the city. The means of conquest were supplied by the prudence and in-. fice or a lie, may be found in Anna Comnena (Alexias, 1. x. p. 288.), Guibert (p. 546.), Radulph. Cadom. (c. 97.) The stratagem is related by the author of the Gesta Francorum, the monk Robert Baldric, and Kaymond des Agiles, in the siege and famine of Antioch. 80 His Musulman appellation of Soliman is used by the Latins, and his character is highly embellished by Tasso. His Turkish name of Kilidge-Arslan (A. H. 485-500, A. D. 1092-1106. See De Guignes's Tables, tom. i. p. 245.) is employed by the Orientals, and with some corruption by the Greeks: but little more than his name can be found in the Mahometan writers, who are dry and sulky on the subject of the first crusade (De Guigues, tom. iii. part. ii. p. 10 30.). 81 On the fortifications, engines, and sieges of the middle ages, see Muratori (Antiquitat. Italiæ, tom. ii. dissert. xxvi. p. 452-524.). The belfredus, from whence our belfry, was the moveable tower of the ancients (Ducange, tom. i. p. 608.). 82 1 cannot forbear remarking the resemblance between the siege and lake of Nice, with the operations of Hernan Cortez before Mexico. See Dr. Robertson, Hist. of America, 1. v. dustry of Alexius; a great number of boats was transported on sledges from the sea to the lake; they were filled with the most dexterous of his archers; the flight of the sultana was intercepted; Nice was invested by land and water; and a Greek emissary persuaded the inhabitants to accept his master's protection, and to save themselves, by a timely surrender, from the rage of the savages of Europe. In the moment of victory, or at least of hope, the crusaders, thirsting for blood and plunder, were awed by the Imperial banner that streamed from the citadel; and Alexius guarded with jealous vigilance this important conquest. The murmurs of the chiefs were stifled by honour or interest; and after an halt of nine days, they directed their march towards Phrygia under the guidance of a Greek general, whom they suspected of a secret connivance with the sultan. The consort and the principal servants of Soliman had been honour. ably restored without ransom; and the emperor's generosity to the miscreants 83 was interpreted as treason to the Christian cause. Battle of Dory- Soliman was rather provoked than dismayed by the loss of his capital: he admonished his subjects and allies of this strange invasion of the Western barbarians; the Turkish emirs obeyed the call of loyalty or religion; the Turkman hordes encamped round his standard; and his whole force is loosely stated by the Christians at two hundred, or even three hundred and sixty, thousand horse. Yet he patiently waited till they had left behind them the sea and the Greek frontier; and hovering on the flanks, observed their careless and confident progress in two columns beyond the view of each other. Some miles before they could reach Dorylæum in Phrygia, the left, and least numerous, division was surprised, and attacked, and almost oppressed, by the Turkish cavalry. 84 The heat of the weather, the clouds of arrows, and the barbarous onset, overwhelmed the crusaders ; they lost their order and confidence, and the fainting fight was sustained by the personal valour, rather than by the military conduct, of Bohemond, Tancred, and Robert of Normandy. They were revived by the welcome banners of duke Godfrey, who flew to their succour, with the count of Vermandois, and sixty thousand horse; and was followed by Raymond of Thoulouse, the bishop of Puy, and the remainder of the sacred army. Without a moment's pause, they formed in new order, and advanced to a second battle. They were received with equal resolution; and, in their common disdain for the unwarlike people of Greece and Asia, it was confessed on both sides, that the Turks and the Franks were the only nations entitled 83 Mécréant, a word invented by the French crusaders, and confined in that language to its primitive sense. It should seem, that the zeal of our ancestors boiled higher, and that they branded every unbeliever as a rascal. A similar prejudice still lurks in the minds of many who think themselves Christians. 84 Baronius has produced a very doubtful letter to his brother Roger (A. D. 1098, No. 15.). The enemies consisted of Medes, Persians, Chaldeans: be it so. The first attack was cum nostro incommodo; true and tender. But why Godfrey of Bouillon and Hugh brothers Í Tancred is styled filius; of whom? certainly not of Roger, nor of Bohemond. 85 Verumtamen dicunt se esse de Francorum generatione; et quia nullus homo naturaliter debet esse miles nisi Franci et Turci (Gesta Their en to the appellation of soldiers. 85 counter was varied and balanced by the contrast of arms and discipline; of the direct charge, and wheeling evolutions; of the couched lance, and the brandished javelin; of a weighty broadsword, and a crooked sabre; of cumbrous armour, and thin flowing robes; and of the long Tartar bow, and the arbalist or cross-bow, a deadly weapon, yet unknown to the Orientals, As long as the horses were fresh, and the quivers full, Soliman maintained the advantage of the day; and four thousand Christians were pierced by the Turkish arrows. In the evening, swiftness yielded to strength; on either side the numbers were equal, or at least as great as any ground could hold, or any generals could manage; but in turning the hills, the last division of Raymond and his provincials was led, perhaps without design, on the rear of an exhausted enemy; and the long contest was de termined. Besides a nameless and unaccounted multitude, three thousand Pagan knights were slain in the battle and pursuit; the camp of Soliman was pillaged; and in the variety of precious spoil, the curiosity of the Latins was amused with foreign arms and apparel, and the new aspect of dromedaries and camels. The importance of the victory was proved by the hasty retreat of the sultan: reserving ten thou sand guards of the relics of his army, Soliman evacuated the kingdom of Roum, and hastened to implore the aid, and kindle the resentment, of his Eastern brethren. In a march March through of five hundred miles, the crusaders the Lesser s traversed the Lesser Asia, through a September. wasted land and deserted towns, without finding either a friend or an enemy. The geographer? may trace the position of Dorylæum, Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Archelais, and Germanicia, and may compare those classic appellations with the modern names of Eskishehr the old city, Akshehr the white city, Cogni, Erekli, and Marash. As the pilgrims passed over a desert, where a draught of water is exchanged for silver, they were tormented by intolerable thirst; and on the banks of the first rivulet, their haste and intemperance were still more pernicious to the disorderly throng. They climbed with toil and danger the steep and slippery sides of Mount Taurus: 5: many of the soldiers cast away their arms to secure their footsteps; and had not terror preceded their van, the long and trembling file might have been driven down the precipice by an handful of resolute enemies. Two of their most respectable chiefs, the duke of Lorraine and the count of Thoulouse, were carried in lit ters: Raymond was raised, as it is said by miracle, from an hopeless malady; and Godfrey had been torn by a bear, as he pursued that July Francorum, p. 7.). The same community of blood and valour is aftested by archbishop Baldric (p. 99.). 86 Balista, Balestra, Arbalestre. Sce Muratori, Antis, tom p. 517-524. Ducange, Gloss, Latin. tom. i. p. 531, 55. In the time of Anna Comnena, this weapon, which she describes under the name of tzangra, was unknown in the East (1. 1. p. 291.). By mane inconsistency, the pope strove to prohibit it in Christian 87 The curious reader may compare the classic learning of Cells rius, and the geographical science of D'Anville. William of Tyres the only historian of the crusades who has any knowledge of quity; and M. Otter trod almost in the footsteps of the Franks from Constantinople to Antioch (Voyage en Turquie et en Perse, an p. 35-88.). rough and perilous chace in the mountains of Pisidia. Baldwin founds the principality of Edessa. A. D. 1097 -151. To improve the general consternation, the cousin of Bohemond and the brother of Godfrey were detached from the main army with their respective squadrons of five, and of seven, hundred knights. They over-ran in a rapid career the hills and sea-coast of Cilicia, from Cogni to the Syrian gates: the Norman standard was first planted on the walls of Tarsus and Malmistra; but the proud injustice of Baldwin at length provoked the patient and generous Italian; and they turned their consecrated swords against each other in a private and profane quarrel. Honour was the motive, and fame the reward, of Tancred; but fortune smiled on the more selfish enterprise of his rival. 88 He was called to the assistance of a Greek or Armenian tyrant, who had been suffered under the Turkish yoke to reign over the Christians of Edessa. Baldwin accepted the character of his son and champion; but no sooner was he introduced into the city, than he inflamed the people to the massacre of his father, occupied the throne and treasure, extended his conquests over the hills of Armenia and the plain of Mesopotamia, and founded the first principality of the Franks or Latins, which subsisted fifty-four years beyond the Euphrates. 89 Siege of Antioch. Oct. 21 A. D. 10.8, June 3. Before the Franks could enter A.D. 1097, Syria, the summer, and even the autumn, were completely wasted : the siege of Antioch, or the separation and repose of the army during the winter season, was strongly debated in their council: the love of arms and the holy sepulchre urged them to advance; and reason perhaps was on the side of resolution, since every hour of delay abates the fame and force of the invader, and The multiplies the resources of defensive war. capital of Syria was protected by the river Orontes; and the iron bridge, of nine arches, derives its name from the massy gates of the two towers which are constructed at either end. They were opened by the sword of the duke of Normandy: his victory gave entrance to three hundred thousand crusaders, an account which may allow some scope for losses and desertion, but which clearly detects much exaggeration in the review of Nice. In the description of Antioch, it is not easy to define a middle term between her ancient magnificence, under the successors of Alexander and Augustus, and the The Temodern aspect of Turkish desolation. trapolis, or four cities, if they retained their name and position, must have left a large vacuity in a circumference of twelve miles; and that measure, as well as the number of four hundred towers, are not perfectly consistent with the 88 This detached conquest of Edessa is best represented by Fulcherius Carnotensis, or of Chartres (in the collections of Bongarsius, Duchesne, and Martenne), the valiant chaplain of count Baldwin (Esprit des Croisades, tom. i. p. 13, 14.). In the disputes of that prince with Tancred, his partiality is encountered by the partiality of Radulphus Cadomensis, the soldier and historian of the gallant marquis. 89 See De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 456. 90 For Antioch, see Pococke (Description of the East, vol. ii. part i. p. 188-193.), Otter (Voyage en Turquie, &c. tom. i. p. 81, &c.), the Turkish geographer (in Otter's notes), the Index Geographicus of Schultens (ad calcem Bohadin. Vit. Saladin.), and Abulfeda (Tabula Syriæ, p. 115, 116. vers. Reiske). five gates, so often mentioned in the history of the siege. Yet Antioch must have still flourished as a great and populous capital. At the head of the Turkish emirs, Baghisian, a veteran chief, commanded in the place: his garrison was composed of six or seven thousand horse, and fifteen or twenty thousand foot: one hundred thousand Moslems are said to have fallen by the sword; and their numbers were probably inferior to the Greeks, Armenians, and Syrians, who had been no more than fourteen years the slaves of the house of Seljuk. From the remains of a solid and stately wall, it appears to have arisen to the height of threescore feet in the valleys; and wherever less art and labour had been applied, the ground was supposed to be defended by the Notriver, the morass, and the mountains. withstanding these fortifications, the city had been repeatedly taken by the Persians, the Arabs, the Greeks, and the Turks; so large a circuit must have yielded many pervious points of attack; and in a siege that was formed about the middle of October, the vigour of the execution could alone justify the boldness of the attempt. Whatever strength and valour could perform in the field was abundantly discharged by the champions of the cross: in the frequent occasions of sallies, of forage, of the attack and defence of convoys, they were often victorious; and we can only complain, that their exploits are sometimes enlarged beyond the scale of probability and truth. The sword of Godfrey 91 divided a Turk from the shoulder to the haunch; and one half of the infidel fell to the ground, while the other was transported by his horse to the city gate. As Róbert of Normandy rode against his antagonist, "I devote thy head," he piously exclaimed, "to the dæmons of hell;" and that head was instantly cloven to the breast by the resistless stroke of his descending falchion. But the reality or the report of such gigantic prowess 92 must have taught the Moslems to keep within their walls; and against those walls of earth or stone, the sword and the lance were unavailing weapons. In the slow and successive labours of a siege, the crusaders were supine and ignorant, without skill to contrive, or money to purchase, or industry to use, the artificial engines and implements of assault. In the conquest of Nice, they had been powerfully assisted by the wealth and knowledge of the Greek emperor his absence was poorly supplied by some Genoese and Pisan vessels, that were attracted by religion or trade to the coast of Syria: the stores were scanty, the return precarious, and the communication difficult and dangerous. Indolence or weakness had prevented the Franks from investing the entire circuit; and the perpetual freedom of two gates relieved the wants and recruited the garrison of the city. At the end : 91 Ensem elevat, eumque à sinistra parte scapularum, tantâ virtute intorsit, ut quòd pectus medium disjunxit spinam et vitalia interrupit; et sic lubricus ensis super crus dextrum integer exivit: sicque caput integrum cum dextrâ parte corporis immersit gurgite, partemque quæ equo præsidebat remisit civitati (Robert. Mon. p. 50.). Cujus ense trajectus, Turcus duo factus est Turci: ut inferior alter in urbem equitaret, alter arcitenens in flumine nataret (Radulph. Cadom. c. 53. p. 304.). Yet he justifies the deed by the stupendis viribus of Godfrey; and William of Tyre covers it by, obstupuit populus facti novitate .. - mirabilis (1. v. c. 6. p. 701.). Yet it must not have appeared incredible to the knights of that age. 92 See the exploits of Robert, Raymond, and the modest Tancred, who imposed silence on his squire (Radulph. Cadom. c. 53.). of seven months, after the ruin of their cavalry, and an enormous loss by famine, desertion, and fatigue, the progress of the crusaders was imperceptible, and their success remote, if the Latin Ulysses, the artful and ambitious Bohemond, had not employed the arms of cunning and deceit. The Christians of Antioch were numerous and discontented: Phirouz, a Syrian renegado, had acquired the favour of the emir and the command of three towers; and the merit of his repentance disguised to the Latins, and perhaps to himself, the foul design of perfidy and treason. A secret correspondence, for their mutual interest, was soon established between Phirouz and the prince of Tarento; and Bohemond declared in the council of the chiefs, that he could deliver the city into their hands. But he claimed the sovereignty of Antioch as the reward of his service; and the proposal which had been rejected by the envy, was at length extorted from the distress, of his equals. The nocturnal surprise was executed by the French and Norman princes, who ascended in person the scaling-ladders that were thrown from the walls: their new proselyte, after the murder of his too scrupulous brother, embraced and introduced the servants of Christ : the army rushed through the gates; and the Moslems soon found, that, although mercy was hopeless, resistance was impotent. But the citadel still refused to surrender; and the victors themselves were speedily encompassed and besieged by the innumerable forces of Kerboga, prince of Mosul, who, with twenty-eight Turkish emirs, advanced to the deliverance of Antioch. Five and twenty days the Christians spent on the verge of destruction; and the proud lieutenant of the caliph and the sultan left them only the choice of servitude or death. In this extremity they collected the relics of their strength, sallied from the town, and in a single memorable day annihilated or dispersed the host of Turks and Arabians, which they might safely report to have consisted of six hundred thousand men.94 Victory of the Their supernatural allies I shall proceed to consider: the human causes crusaders. A. D. 1098, June 28. of the victory of Antioch were the fearless despair of the Franks; and the surprise, the discord, perhaps the errors, of their unskilful and presumptuous adversaries. The battle is described with as much disorder as it was fought: but we may observe the tent of Kerboga, a moveable and spacious palace, enriched with the luxury of Asia, and capable of holding above two thousand persons; we may distinguish his three thousand guards, who were cased, the horses as well as the men, in complete steel. 93 After mentioning the distress and humble petition of the Franks, Abulpharagius adds the haughty reply of Codbuka, or Kerboga; "Non "evasuri estis nisi per gladium" (Dynast. p. 242.). 94 In describing the host of Kerboga, most of the Latin historians, the author of the Gesta (p. 17.), Robert Monachus (p. 56.), Baldric (p. 111.), Fulcherius Carnotensis (p. 392.), Guibert (p. 512.), William of Tyre (1. vi. c. 3. p. 714.), Bernard Thesaurarius (c. 39. p. 695.), are content with the vague expressions of infinita multitudo, immensum agmen, innumera copine or gentes, which correspond with the uera avupibuntov xixador of Anna Comnena (Alexias, 1. xi. p. 318–320.). The numbers of the Turks are fixed by Albert Aquensis at 200,000 (1. iv. c. 10. p. 212 ), and by Radulphus Cadomensis at 100,000 horse (c. 72. p. 309.). 95 See the tragic and scandalous fate of an archdeacon of royal by victory or sunk in despair; either swelled with plenty or emaciated with hunger. A speculative reasoner might suppose, that their faith had a strong and serious influence on their practice; and that the soldiers of the cross, the deliverers of the holy sepulchre, prepared them selves by a sober and virtuous life for the daily contemplation of martyrdom. Experience blows away this charitable illusion: and seldom does the history of profane war display such scenes of intemperance and prostitution as were exhi bited under the walls of Antioch. The grove of Daphne no longer flourished; but the Syrian air was still impregnated with the same vices; the Christians were seduced by every temptation 95 that nature either prompts or reprobates; the authority of the chiefs was despised; and sermons and edicts were alike fruitless against those scandalous disorders, not less pernicious to military discipline, than repugnant to eva gelic purity. In the first days of the siege and the possession of Antioch, the Franks consumed with wanton and thoughtless prodigality the frugal subsistence of weeks and months: the desolate country no longer yielded a sup ply; and from that country they were at length excluded by the arms of the besieging Turks Disease, the faithful companion of want, was envenomed by the rains of the winter, the summer heats, unwholesome food, and the close imprisonment of multitudes. The pictures of famine and pestilence are always the same, and always disgustful; and our imagination may suggest the nature of their sufferings and their resources. The remains of treasure or spoil were eagerly lavished in the purchase of the vilest nourishment; and dreadful must have been the calamities of the poor, since, after paying three marks of silver for a goat and fifteen for a lean camel, 96 the count of Flanders was reduced to beg a dinner, and duke Godfrey to borrow a horse. Sixty thousand horse had been reviewed in the camp: end of the siege they were diminished to two thousand, and scarcely two hundred fit for service could be mustered on the day of battle. Weakness of body and terror of mind extin guished the ardent enthusiasm of the pilgrims; and every motive of honour and religion was subdued by the desire of life.97 Among the chiefs, three heroes may be found without fear or reproach: Godfrey of Bouillon was sup ported by his magnanimous piety; Bohemand by ambition and interest; and Tancred declared, in the true spirit of chivalry, that as long as be was at the head of forty knights, he would never relinquish the enterprise of Palestine. But the count of Thoulouse and Provence was suspected of a voluntary indisposition: the birth, who was slain by the Turks as he reposed in an orchard, playing at dice with a Syrian concubine. before the 96 The value of an ox rose from five solidi (fifteen shillings Christmas to two marks (four pounds), and afterwards much higher a kid or lamb, from one shilling to eighteen of our present mone the second famine, a loaf of bread, or the head of an animal, sold for a piece of gold. More examples might be produced, but it is th onlinary, not the extraordinary, prices, that deserve the notice of the philosopher. 97 Alii multi, quorum nomina non tenemus; quis, deleta de libro zit, præsenti operi non sunt inserenda (Will. Tyr. 1. vi. c.5. p. 715.4 Guibert (p. 518. 523.) attempts to excuse Hugh the Great, and even Stephen of Chartres. duke of Normandy was recalled from the seashore by the censures of the church; Hugh the Great, though he led the vanguard of the battle, embraced an ambiguous opportunity of returning to France; and Stephen count of Chartres basely deserted the standard which he bore, and the council in which he presided. The soldiers were discouraged by the flight of William viscount of Melun, surnamed the Carpenter, from the weighty strokes of his axe; and the saints were scandalised by the fall of Peter the Hermit, who, after arming Europe against Asia, attempted to escape from the penance of a necessary fast. Of the multitude of recreant warriors, the names (says an historian) are blotted from the book of life; and the opprobrious epithet of the rope-dancers was applied to the deserters who dropped in the night from the walls of Antioch. The emperor Alexius,98 who seemed to advance to the succour of the Latins, was dismayed by the assurance of their hopeless condition. They expected their fate in silent despair; oaths and punishments were tried without effect; and to rouse the soldiers to the defence of the walls, it was found necessary to set fire to their quarters. For their salvation and victory, Legend of the Holy Lance. they were indebted to the same fanaticism which had led them to the brink of ruin. In such a cause, and in such an army, visions, prophecies, and miracles, were frequent and familiar. In the distress of Antioch, they were repeated with unusual energy and success : St. Ambrose had assured a pious ecclesiastic, that two years of trial must precede the season of deliverance and grace; the deserters were stopped by the presence and reproaches of Christ himself; the dead had promised to arise and combat with their brethren; the Virgin had obtained the pardon of their sins; and their confidence was revived by a visible sign, the seasonable and splendid discovery of the HOLY LANCE. The policy of their chiefs has on this occasion been admired, and might surely be excused; but a pious fraud is seldom produced by the cool conspiracy of many persons: and a voluntary impostor might depend on the support of the wise and the credulity of the people. Of the diocese of Marseilles, there was a priest of low cunning and loose manners, and his name was Peter Bartholemy. He presented himself at the door of the council-chamber, to disclose an apparition of St. Andrew, which had been thrice reiterated in his sleep, with a dreadful menace, if he presumed to suppress the commands of Heaven. "At Antioch," said the apostle," in the church of my brother St. "Peter, near the high altar, is concealed the "steel head of the lance that pierced the side "of our Redeemer. In three days, that in"strument of eternal, and now of temporal, "salvation, will be manifested to his disciples. "Search and ye shall find: bear it aloft in"battle; and that mystic weapon shall pene 98 See the progress of the crusade, the retreat of Alexius, the victory of Antioch, and the conquest of Jerusalem, in the Alexiad, 1. xi. p.317 -327. Anna was so prone to exaggeration, that she magnifies the exploits of the Latins. 99 The Mahometan Aboulmahasen (apud de Guignes, ton. ii. "trate the souls of the miscreants." The pope's legate, the bishop of Puy, affected to listen with coldness and distrust; but the reve. lation was eagerly accepted by count Raymond, whom his faithful subject, in the name of the apostle, had chosen for the guardian of the holy lance. The experiment was resolved; and on the third day, after a due preparation of prayer and fasting, the priest of Marseilles introduced twelve trusty spectators, among whom were the count and his chaplain; and the church-doors were barred against the impetuous multitude. The ground was opened in the appointed place; but the workmen, who relieved each other, dug to the depth of twelve feet without discovering the object of their search. In the evening, when count Raymond had withdrawn to his post, and the weary assistants began to murmur, Bartholemy, in his shirt, and without his shoes, boldly descended into the pit; the darkness of the hour and of the place enabled him to secrete and deposit the head of a Saracen lance; and the first sound, the first gleam, of the steel was saluted with a devout rapture. The holy lance was drawn from its recess, wrapped in a veil of silk and gold, and exposed to the veneration of the crusaders; their anxious suspense burst forth in a general shout of joy and hope, and the desponding troops were again inflamed with the enthusiasm of valour. Whatever had been the arts, and whatever might be the sentiments of the chiefs, they skilfully improved this fortunate revolution by every aid that discipline and devotion could afford. The soldiers were dismissed to their quarters, with an injunction to fortify their minds and bodies for the approaching conflict, freely to bestow their last pittance on themselves and their horses, and to expect with the dawn of day the signal of victory. On the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, the gates of Antioch were thrown open; a martial psalm, "Let the Lord arise, and let his "enemies be scattered!" was chanted by a procession of priests and monks; the battle. array was marshalled in twelve divisions, in honour of the twelve apostles; and the holy lance, in the absence of Raymond, was intrusted to the hands of his chaplain. The influence of this relic or trophy was felt by the servants, and perhaps by the enemies, of Christ; 99 and its potent energy was heightened by an accident, a stratagem, or a rumour, of a miraculous complexion. Three knights in white Celestial garments, and resplendent arms, warriors. either issued, or seemed to issue, from the hills; the voice of Adhemar, the pope's legate, proclaimed them as the martyrs St. George, St. Theodore, and St. Maurice; the tumult of battle allowed no time for doubt or scrutiny; and the welcome apparition dazzled the eyes or the imagination of a fanatic army. In the season of danger and triumph, the revelation of Bartholemy of Marseilles was unanimously asserted; but as soon as the temporary service was ac part. ii. p. 95.) is more correct in his account of the holy lance than the Christians, Anna Comnena and Abulpharagius: the Greek princess confounds it with a nail of the cross (1. xi. p. 326.); the Jacobite primate, with St. Peter's staff (p. 242.). |