Peter the Hermit: A Tale of EnthusiasmGoodsell, Daniel A. (Daniel Ayres)
History
Peter the Hermit: A Tale of Enthusiasm
Goodsell, Daniel A. (Daniel Ayres)
Peter, the Hermit, -1115
Raymond D'Agiles carried the lance-head and fixed their attention on it.
Some of the priests chanted a warlike psalm in the front rank, while
others blessed the outgoing army from the walls. The walls and the hills
echoed the cry, "God wills it! God wills it!" The appearance of the army
was such as to fill the Mussulmans with contempt. Ragged, thin, and
weak, mounted on asses and camels, on anything which could carry them,
they deployed to meet the fifteen masses of Saracens. The Crusaders soon
cut to pieces the two thousand who guarded the bridge of Antioch, and
ranged themselves where the mountain protected them from surprise. The
great names commanded the wings and the center, with Bohemond in
reserve. The early hours were friendly to the Christians. Later they
were sorely hurt by a surprise from a body of Saracens who had passed
around the mountain and had attacked their rear. The grass was fired in
front of the Christians by the sultan of Nicea, a fact which was near
ruining the prospects of the Christians.
[Sidenote: _Prodigy of Horsemen_]
[Sidenote: _Hundred Thousand Turks Killed_]
Once again a prodigy is reported. A squadron descends from the
mountains, led by three white horsemen. A bishop, perhaps himself the
inventor of this pious fraud, cries out to the wavering Crusaders:
"Behold, heavenly succor has come!" Instantly the Christians revive and
renew the attack, and the Saracens were put to rout. Failing even to
rally on the other side of the river, they left behind them their arms
and their baggage. Their general had only a small body-guard as he fled
toward the Euphrates. With horses captured on the field, the Christians
kept up the pursuit. A hundred thousand of the infidels died, and four
thousand Christians won the martyr's crown. The battle enriched the
Crusaders beyond any hope or experience, and Antioch was filled with the
captured booty. The historian declares, "Horrors had made the Christians
invincible. This was the only miracle."
[Sidenote: _Disputes Follow Victory_]
With this astounding victory the march of the Crusaders almost ceased to
meet armed resistance. The mass of the army clamored to march on to
Jerusalem. The leaders were divided. Some said, "Let us march before the
enemy recovers from the terror of our arms." The majority of the leaders
forgot the Holy City in the pleasures, securities, and conquests of
Syria. This gave strength to their arguments to wait for the
re-enforcements of men and horses for which they asked the home
authorities.
[Sidenote: _Fifty Thousand Christians die of Pestilence_]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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