Jerusalem, the City of Herod and SaladinBesant, Walter
History
Jerusalem, the City of Herod and Saladin
Besant, Walter
Jerusalem -- Description and travel; Jerusalem -- History
that the Turks always displayed when brought to bay within stone
walls. It was not till June that the town, not the citadel, was
taken, by the treachery of one Pyrrhus, an Armenian renegade. He
offered secretly to put the town, which was in his charge, into the
hands of Bohemond. The Norman chief, always anxious to promote his
own interests, proposed, at the council of the Crusaders, to take
the town on condition that it should be given to him. Raymond of
Toulouse alone objected—his objection was overruled; and on the
night of the 2nd of June, Pyrrhus admitted the Christians. They made
themselves masters, under cover of the darkness, of ten of the
towers round the walls; and opening the gates to their own men, made
an easy conquest of the town in the morning, slaughtering every
Mussulman they could find. Baghi Seyan fled, and, being abandoned by
his guards, was murdered by some Syrian woodcutters, who brought his
head to the camp. And then, once more, untaught by their previous
sufferings, the Crusaders for a few days gave themselves up to the
enjoyment of their booty. But the citadel was not taken, and the
host of Kerboga was within a short march of the town. He came with
the largest army that the Christians had yet encountered. Robert of
Flanders defended the bridge for a whole day with five hundred men,
but was obliged to retire, and the Christians were in their turn the
besieged.
And then, again, famine set in. The seashore was guarded by the
Turks, and supplies could not be procured from the fleet; the
horses, and all the beasts of burden, were slaughtered and eaten;
some of the knights who were fainthearted managed to let themselves
down by ropes from the walls, and made their way to Stephen of
Blois, who had long since separated from the main army, and was now
lying at Alexandretta. They brought such accounts of the misery of
the army, that Stephen abandoned the cause as hopeless, and set sail
with his men for Cilicia. Here he found Alexis himself, with a large
army, consisting chiefly of those who had arrived too late to join
the army of Godfrey. The newcomers heard with dismay the accounts
given by Stephen; they gave themselves up to lamentation and
despair; they blasphemed the God who had permitted His soldiers to
be destroyed, and for some days would actually permit no prayers to
be offered up in their camp. Alexis broke up his camp, and returned
to Constantinople. And when the news arrived in Antioch, the
Crusaders, too wretched to fight or to hope, shut themselves up in
the houses, and refused to come out. Bohemond set fire to the town,
and so compelled them to show themselves, but could not make them
fight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account