History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6Gibbon, Edward
History
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6
Gibbon, Edward
Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
18 (return) [ Cqamalh edra, which Cinnamus translates into Latin
by the word Sellion. Ducange works very hard to save his king and
country from such ignominy, (sur Joinville, dissertat. xxvii. p.
317—320.) Louis afterwards insisted on a meeting in mari ex æquo,
not ex equo, according to the laughable readings of some MSS.]
19 (return) [ Ego Romanorum imperator sum, ille Romaniorum,
(Anonym Canis. p. 512.) The public and historical style of the
Greeks was Ριξ... _princeps_. Yet Cinnamus owns, that Ἰμπεράτορ
is synonymous to Βασιλεὺς.]
20 (return) [ In the Epistles of Innocent III., (xiii. p. 184,)
and the History of Bohadin, (p. 129, 130,) see the views of a
pope and a cadhi on this _singular_toleration.]
III. The swarms that followed the first crusade were destroyed in
Anatolia by famine, pestilence, and the Turkish arrows; and the
princes only escaped with some squadrons of horse to accomplish
their lamentable pilgrimage. A just opinion may be formed of
their knowledge and humanity; of their knowledge, from the design
of subduing Persia and Chorasan in their way to Jerusalem; 201 of
their humanity, from the massacre of the Christian people, a
friendly city, who came out to meet them with palms and crosses
in their hands. The arms of Conrad and Louis were less cruel and
imprudent; but the event of the second crusade was still more
ruinous to Christendom; and the Greek Manuel is accused by his
own subjects of giving seasonable intelligence to the sultan, and
treacherous guides to the Latin princes. Instead of crushing the
common foe, by a double attack at the same time but on different
sides, the Germans were urged by emulation, and the French were
retarded by jealousy. Louis had scarcely passed the Bosphorus
when he was met by the returning emperor, who had lost the
greater part of his army in glorious, but unsuccessful, actions
on the banks of the Mæander. The contrast of the pomp of his
rival hastened the retreat of Conrad: 202 the desertion of his
independent vassals reduced him to his hereditary troops; and he
borrowed some Greek vessels to execute by sea the pilgrimage of
Palestine. Without studying the lessons of experience, or the
nature of the war, the king of France advanced through the same
country to a similar fate. The vanguard, which bore the royal
banner and the oriflamme of St. Denys, 21 had doubled their march
with rash and inconsiderate speed; and the rear, which the king
commanded in person, no longer found their companions in the
evening camp. In darkness and disorder, they were encompassed,
assaulted, and overwhelmed, by the innumerable host of Turks,
who, in the art of war, were superior to the Christians of the
twelfth century.
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