The age of the crusadesLudlow, James M. (James Meeker)
History
The age of the crusades
Ludlow, James M. (James Meeker)
Crusades
detained plundering the camp, few of the great multitude would have
escaped.”
Raymond claimed the city of Ascalon for his own possession. Godfrey
declared that all conquests belonged to their common kingdom of
Jerusalem. Raymond, in mean revenge, encouraged the Moslems not to
surrender their stronghold, which still resisted. By similar counsel he
prevailed upon the Saracen garrison of Arsuf to hold out. Godfrey could
not restrain his anger at this treachery, and turned his arms upon his
old comrade. Tancred and Robert of Normandy threw themselves between the
swords of the combatants and effected their reconciliation.
With the victory at Ascalon (August 19, 1099) the first crusade may be
said to have terminated. The events of the subsequent year relate to the
history of the new kingdom of Jerusalem. The closing months of the
eleventh century witnessed the return of the mass of crusaders to their
European homes. In almost every castle and hamlet of France the
thrilling events of three years were narrated by those whose scars
corroborated the story of their valor and sufferings. Nearly every
family remembered a father, a brother, or a son as a martyr, or rejoiced
in his return renowned as a hero or revered as a saint.
Few of the leaders enlarged their repute by any subsequent actions.
Peter the Hermit ended his days at advanced age in the monastery of Huy,
which his renown for sanctity had enabled him to found. Robert of
Normandy seems to have exhausted all the manliness of his nature in his
Eastern adventures. He allowed an amour to detain him in Italy for more
than a year, during which time his brother Henry took the throne of
England on the death of William Rufus, a reward which might easily have
come to Robert, had he shown disposition to defend his right of
inheritance. Henry wrested from him even his duchy of Normandy, and
confined him in the castle of Cardiff, where he died after twenty-eight
years of captivity.
Raymond retired to Laodicea, the government of which he had secured.
From this place he was summoned to command new bands of crusaders.
Multitudes set out under him. Some followed Stephen of Blois, brother to
the French king, whose desertion of the crusaders brought upon him such
dishonor that he was eager to restore his repute by a second enlistment.
William, Count of Poitiers, Lord of France, reputed as the first of the
Troubadours, departed with a retinue of soldiers and girls. A German
horde was led by Conrad, the marshal of the empire. Italians followed
Anselm, Archbishop of Milan, in whose train were lords, knights, and
noble ladies, among them the Princess Ida of Austria.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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