The History of the Crusades (vol. 1 of 3)Michaud, J. Fr. (Joseph Fr.)
History
The History of the Crusades (vol. 1 of 3)
Michaud, J. Fr. (Joseph Fr.)
Crusades
Baldwin, who, some few days before, had been believed to be dead,
reëntered Jerusalem in triumph. He gave a great part of the booty to
the hospitallers of St. John, whose office it was to entertain the poor
and all pilgrims; and, to employ the expression of an old chronicle, he
thus shared with God the spoils of the Saracens.
The Christians assembled in the churches rendered thanks to God for the
deliverance of the kingdom; but this last victory could not dry all
the tears which a first reverse had caused to flow, and funereal hymns
were mingled with the songs of joy. In this campaign perished many of
the princes and knights who had left Europe after the first crusade.
Stephen, count of Chartres and Blois, and Stephen, duke of Burgundy,
who had arrived in Palestine with the remains of an army dispersed by
the Turks in Asia Minor, were killed under the walls of Ramla. As the
Greeks were accused of having prepared the ruin of the armies sent
to the assistance of the Latins, murmurs arose in all the Christian
colonies against the emperor Alexius. This prince, constantly in dread
of the powers of the West, sent to congratulate the king of Jerusalem
on his victories, and exerted himself to procure the liberty of the
Christians who had fallen into the hands of the Egyptians and Turks.
After having delivered or ransomed some Christian knights, he received
them at Constantinople, loaded them with presents, and sent them back
to their own country.
But whilst thus breaking the chains of a few captives, he was equipping
fleets and raising armies to attack Antioch, and obtain possession
of the cities on the coast of Syria which belonged to the Latins. He
offered to pay the ransom of Bohemond, still a prisoner among the
Turks, not for the purpose of setting him at liberty, but to have
him brought to Constantinople, where he hoped to obtain from him
the renunciation of his principality. Bohemond, who saw through the
projects of Alexius, gained the good-will of the emir who detained him
prisoner, promised him his alliance and support, and persuaded him
to accept for his ransom, half the sum offered by the emperor of the
Greeks. After a captivity of four years, he returned to Antioch, where
he employed himself in repulsing the aggressions of Alexius. The fleets
of the Pisans and the Genoese came to his relief, and several battles,
both by sea and land, were fought with various success; the Latins and
the Greeks, by turns, obtaining the advantage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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