The night was passed on both sides in a state of anxious inquietude,
each deploring their losses, and trembling at the prospect of fresh
ones. The Saracens expected a surprise; the Christians feared that
the Saracens would burn the machines they had left at the foot of the
ramparts. The besieged were employed in repairing the breaches made in
their walls; the besiegers in attempting to put their machines in a
state for another attack. The following day brought the same combats
and the same dangers as the preceding one. The leaders endeavoured to
revive the courage of the Crusaders by their speeches. The priests and
bishops went among the tents of the soldiers, announcing the certain
succour of Heaven. The Christian army, filled with new confidence in
victory, appeared under arms, and advanced in silence towards the
points of attack, whilst the clergy walked in procession round the city.
The first shock was impetuous and terrible. The Christians, indignant
at the resistance they had met with the day before, fought with fury.
The besieged, who had learnt the arrival of an Egyptian army, were
animated by the hopes of victory; formidable machines covered their
ramparts. Javelins were heard hissing on all sides; stones and large
timbers, launched by the Christians and the infidels, met in the air
with a fearful crash, and fell upon the assailants. From the height
of their towers the Mussulmans incessantly hurled blazing torches and
fire-pots. The wooden fortresses of the Christians approached the walls
amidst a conflagration which seemed spreading in all directions. The
infidels directed most of their efforts against the tower of Godfrey,
upon which glittered a cross of gold, the sight of which provoked
their fury and their insults. The Duke of Lorraine had seen one of his
esquires and several of his soldiers fall by his side; himself a mark
for all the arrows and darts of the enemy, he fought on amidst the dead
and the wounded, never ceasing to shout encouragement to his companions
in arms. The Count of Toulouse, who attacked the city on the south
side, opposed all his machines to those of the Mussulmans; he had to
contend with the Emir of Jerusalem, who animated his troops by his
words, and showed himself upon the walls, surrounded by the _élite_ of
the Egyptian soldiery. Towards the north, Tancred and the two Roberts
appeared at the head of their battalions. Motionless upon their rolling
fortress, they looked impatient to be wielding lance and sword. Already
their rams had, upon several points, shaken the wall, behind which the
Saracens closed their ranks, and presented themselves as a last rampart
to the attack of the Crusaders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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