Jerusalem, the City of Herod and SaladinBesant, Walter
History
Jerusalem, the City of Herod and Saladin
Besant, Walter
Jerusalem -- Description and travel; Jerusalem -- History
Tancred, nearly killed in the _mêlée_,
was saved by Bohemond; Robert of Normandy performed prodigies; the
camp was retaken, and the women rescued. But the day was not won.
Nor would it have been won, but for the arrival of Godfrey, to whom
Bohemond, early in the day, had sent a messenger. He brought up the
whole of his army, and the Saracens, retreating to the hills, found
themselves attacked on all sides. They fled in utter disorder,
leaving twenty-three thousand dead on the field, and the whole of
their camp and baggage in the hands of the Christians. These had
lost four thousand, besides the number of followers killed in the
camp. The booty was immense, and the soldiers pleased themselves by
dressing in the long silk robes of the Mussulmans, while they
refurnished themselves with arms from those they found upon the
dead. Conscious, however, of the danger they had escaped, they were
careful to acknowledge that they would not have carried the day, had
it not been for St. George and St. Demetrius, who had been plainly
visible to many fighting on their side; and the respect which they
conceived for the Saracens’ prowess taught them, at least, a
salutary lesson of caution.
While they were rejoicing, the enemy was acting. The defeated Turks,
retreating southwards, by the way which the Christians must follow,
devastated and destroyed every thing as they traversed the country,
procuring one auxiliary at least in the shape of famine. They had
two more—thirst and heat.
The Crusaders, once more on the march, resolved not to separate
again, and formed henceforth but one army. But they journeyed
through a desert and desolate country; there was no food but the
roots of plants; their horses died for want of water and forage; the
knights had to walk on foot, or to ride oxen and asses; every beast
was converted into a beast of burden, until the time came when the
beasts themselves perished by the way, and all the baggage was
abandoned. Their path led through Phrygia, a wild and sterile
country, with no fountains or rivers; the road was strewn as they
went along by the bodies of those who died of sunstroke or of
thirst; women, overcome by fatigue and want of water, lay down and
were delivered of children, and there died, mothers and infants; in
one terrible day five hundred died on the march; the falcons and
hawks, which the knights had been unable to leave behind, fell dead
from their perches; the hounds deserted their masters, and went away
to seek for water; the horses themselves, in which the hope of the
soldier was placed, lay down and died. At last they came to a river;
even this timely relief was fatal, for three hundred killed
themselves by drinking too much. They rested, after this disastrous
march, at Antiocheia, the former capital of Pisidia. Here Raymond
fell ill, but happily recovered, and Godfrey was dangerously wounded
in a conflict with a bear. To account for the discomfiture of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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