The city of JerusalemConder, C. R. (Claude Reignier)
History
The city of Jerusalem
Conder, C. R. (Claude Reignier)
Jerusalem -- Antiquities; Jerusalem -- History
The present groined roof of the Calvary Chapel, supported on heavy
piers, is also probably Crusaders’ work. Two pictures in this chapel
represented the Crucifixion and the Descent from the Cross. The
ante-chapel of Golgotha beneath (built in 1808) did not exist, nor
apparently did the flights of steps now leading up on the west from the
floor of the church. For, facing Calvary, the first two rulers of the
Latin kingdom were buried, and the monuments of their six successors
were against the south wall of the choir. Godfrey’s tomb was to the
right, and that of his brother Baldwin I. to the left, in front of the
Golgotha Cave. The former was marked by a plain block on which stood a
stone roof or pediment, supported by four twisted dwarf pillars at the
corners, according to Zuallardo’s picture. It bore the simple Latin
text, in “Lombard” letters, “Hic jacet inclitus Dux Godefridus de
Bullion, qui totam istam terram acquisivit cultui divino. Cujus anima
requiescat in pace. Amen.” The tomb of Baldwin I. was probably much
like Godfrey’s, with the inscription:
Rex Balduinus, Judas alter Maccabæus
Spes patriæ: vigor ecclesiæ: virtus utriusque
Quem formidabant, cui dona tributa ferebant
Cedar, Ægypti, Dan, ac homicida Damascus
Proh dolor, in modicó clauditur hoc tumulo.
These tombs apparently escaped the fury of the Kharezmians, and were
only removed by the Greeks in 1808, but they were ransacked in 1244
A. D. There is some doubt as to the exact position of the six later
tombs, but the description by Theodorich (about 1172 A. D.) seems to
show that Baldwin II. lay immediately north of Baldwin I., in the same
line with Godfrey, and the remaining five kings were to the west, in
line with Baldwin II., in proper order, Fulk next to him, followed by
Baldwin III., Amaury, Baldwin IV., and Baldwin V., the latter being a
child, and placed farthest from Calvary. Their graves are distinctly
stated to have been “contiguous to the choir.” The same writer says
that the vaulted roof of Calvary was painted with representations of
David, Solomon, Isaiah, and other prophets, and that the pilgrims laid
wooden crosses on the rock, where the holes for the three crosses were
shown (as now); these votive offerings were removed and burned in a
great bonfire at Easter-time.
[Sidenote: THE HOLY FIRE]
The Easter ceremony of the Holy Fire is described by the Russian
abbot Daniel in the reign of Baldwin I. On Good Friday the church was
cleansed, and all the lamps put out and filled with fresh oil. Every
candle in Jerusalem was extinguished, and on Easter Eve the rotunda was
crowded with pilgrims holding unlighted tapers. The cathedral rang with
their cry, “Lord, have mercy upon us,” and the Syrians perhaps already
sang as they still do:
“The eve of fire’s our feast-day;
This is the tomb of the Saviour.
O thou Jew, O thou Jew,
A feast of apes is the feast for you.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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