The city of JerusalemConder, C. R. (Claude Reignier)
History
The city of Jerusalem
Conder, C. R. (Claude Reignier)
Jerusalem -- Antiquities; Jerusalem -- History
When this strange episode in Moslem history ended in 1021 A. D., the
relations between Christians and Fâṭemites improved. Palestine had been
torn by civil wars under Ḥâkim; by riots at Damascus; and by rebellion
at Tyre, where a Greek fleet appeared to aid the oppressed Sunnîs, but
suffered defeat from the Ḳarmathian governor. The Greek emperor Romanus
III. obtained, in 1028 A. D., the consent of Ed Ḍâher, son of Ḥâkim, to
the rebuilding of the churches.[484] The news of the destruction of the
Holy Sepulchre had spread with returning pilgrims to Europe, and had
excited great indignation. Funds were no doubt easily collected for the
restoration, but it seems that the new buildings were small and poor,
as compared with those that preceded them. They were still standing in
1099 A. D., when the Crusaders arrived, and were included in the new
cathedral later. They were complete by 1048 A. D. under El Mustanṣir,
but William of Tyre[485] speaks of the Golgotha Chapel as “a very small
oratory”; and the Russian abbot Daniel (about 1106 A. D.) says, “This
was once a large church, but is now only a small one.”
From these accounts, and that of Sæwulf, we find that several additions
were made to the four churches of Modestus. The sepulchre still
stood in a rotunda, and south of this were three chapels, while to
the north was a fourth, all of which now exist, with apses to the
east. The northern one is now the Latin Chapel of Mary Magdalene.
The chapel nearest the rotunda on the south, over which the Norman
belfry--built later--still rises, was then consecrated to the Trinity,
and became the Latin baptistery. South of this was the Chapel of St.
John, and the fourth, at the extreme south end of the buildings, was
the Chapel of St. Mary, having a great fresco of the Virgin painted
outside on its west wall. East of the north side of the rotunda was an
arcade of pillars, which may have belonged to the “Paradise” of the
seventh-century church. It does not run quite parallel to the axis of
the Norman cathedral, and the later piers can still be seen added on
the line of the Norman choir. At the end of this arcade, on the east,
was the small chapel of the “Prison,” which is now mentioned for the
first time. Calvary was a separate chapel on the old site, and another
square building stood over the crypt, where the crosses were said to
have been found by Helena.
[Sidenote: THE ROTUNDA MOSAICS]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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