The Knights TemplarsAddison, C. G. (Charles Greenstreet)
History
The Knights Templars
Addison, C. G. (Charles Greenstreet)
Templars
As soon as all fighting had ceased on the field of battle, Saladin
proceeded to a tent, whither, in obedience to his commands, the king
of Jerusalem, Gerard de Riderfort, the Grand Master of the Temple,
and Reginald de Chatillon had been conducted. This last nobleman had
greatly distinguished himself in various daring expeditions against
the caravans of pilgrims travelling to Mecca, and had become on that
account particularly obnoxious to the pious Saladin. The sultan,
on entering the tent, ordered a bowl of sherbet, the sacred pledge
amongst the Arabs of hospitality and security, to be presented to the
fallen monarch of Jerusalem, and to the Grand Master of the Temple;
but when Reginald de Chatillon would have drunk thereof, Saladin
prevented him, and reproaching the christian nobleman with perfidy and
impiety, he commanded him instantly to acknowledge the prophet whom he
had blasphemed, or to be prepared to meet the death he had so often
deserved. On Reginald’s refusal, Saladin struck him with his scimitar,
and he was immediately despatched by the guards. Bohadin, Saladin’s
friend and secretary, an eye-witness of the scene, gives the following
account of it: “Then Saladin told the interpreter to say thus to the
king, ‘It is thou, not I, who givest drink to this man!’ Then the
sultan sat down at the entrance of the tent, and they brought Prince
Reginald before him, and after refreshing the man’s memory, Saladin
said to him, ‘Now then, I myself will act the part of the defender of
Mohammed!’ He then offered the man the Mohammedan faith, but he refused
it; then the king struck him on the shoulder with a drawn scimitar,
which was a hint to those that were present to do for him; so they sent
his soul to _hell_, and cast out his body before the tent door!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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