III. trustful of the approach, and fearful of the designs, of CHAP. the crusaders. He was especially jealous of those who were coming from South Italy, a land from which the Normans had finally expelled the Greeks. Towards Godfrey he behaved with alternate friendship and enmity. It was a law and habit of the country, that none could sell provisions save the Emperor himself. Government had the monopoly of purchase and sales; "and by this," says Albert d'Aix, "the sovereign was enabled to fill his treasury." The crusaders were only anxious to be allowed to purchase; and this Alexis often denied; a refusal which was always followed by attacks and demonstrations on the part of the Latins. Godfrey, however, and his army passed the winter quartered in the small towns along the Bosphorus, the leader himself, if tradition tells us true, remaining encamped under the huge plane tree which still exists and flourishes in the valley of Buyukdere. Three weeks after Easter Boemond arrived, Godfrey having already passed into Asia. After him came the two Roberts of Normandy and Flanders, Stephen of Blois, and Eustace of Boulogne; all of whom, as well as Raymond of St. Gilles, the Emperor Alexis contrived to wheedle into a kind of homage and acknowledgment of his suzerainty in the East. Tancred of Sicily, Boemond's nephew, alone refused to perform the humiliating act, and passed at once the Straits with his soldiers, to avoid what he considered the ignominy of such allegiance. The united army of crusaders then formed the siege of Nicea. When the city was on the point of surrendering, the Emperor Alexis was sufficiently adroit to intervene, and have it made over to himself. The conquest of Nicea was, however, not achieved without two serious engagements, in which the Italian princes displayed their brilliant valour, and the Flemish Godfrey his firmness and prudence. William, brother of Tancred, CHAP. and Robert of Paris, a renowned warrior, perished in these actions. Quitting Nicea towards the end of January, the crusaders proceeded by Iconium or Konia, suffering much from privation and from heat. Two of the most adventurous spirits of the army, Baldwin brother of Godfrey, and Tancred, took each with them a chosen band, and advanced by quick marches into Cilicia. The conquest of the province and its littoral was easy, but led to fierce disputes between the rival adventurers. Tancred took Tarsus; Baldwin made himself master of Edessa. At length, on the 18th of October, the crusaders reached Antioch, which they immediately invested, notwithstanding the approach of winter. Antioch, built in a strong position, was still more strong by its high ramparts and its works of defence. Numerous as were the crusaders, they could not at first invest its circumference nor close up all its issues. Their chief efforts were spent in the building of towers and machines, wherewith to shake and destroy the wall. As long as the fine weather lasted, the siege did not weary out the patience of the besiegers. But when the winter months came, and with winter a scarcity of provisions, then the most valiant in war found their hardihood fail under the pressure of famine. One of the boldest and stoutest warriors, William of Melun, called the Carpenter from the vigour with which he hacked at the enemy, ran away in frenzied despair. Even Peter the Hermit's ardour failed him, and he followed the example. Tancred brought back both the fugitives. A more signal defection was that of Stephen, Count of Chartres, who withdrew to the seaside. On the other hand Raymond of Toulouse, who had shown backwardness during the commencement of the siege, displayed fresh zeal and courage as difficulties thickened, and recovered the good opinion of his comrades. During a truce Boemond contrived to draw one of the Turkish chiefs into his con fidence. This man promised to admit the crusaders into one of the towers, and thus make them masters of the city. On the third of January he kept his word, and the crusaders then penetrated into Antioch, which they completely pillaged, sparing not a Mussulman life. "Ten thousand inhabitants," says William of Tyre, "perished in Antioch. There was found there no provisions, but a great quantity of gold, silver, precious stones, and riches of every kind. Those who were beggars before became rich at once." The sack was not well over when Corbogath or Kerbogha, the general of the Seldjoucid Sultan, appeared with an army far superior to the reduced forces. of the crusaders. These accordingly became in their turn besieged in Antioch, where they had also to resist the sorties of the Turks from the citadel. Ere a month elapsed the crusaders were hard pressed, and many began to despair: when the Bishop of Puy most seasonably announced the discovery of the identical lance point which had pierced the Saviour's side. This was an invention of Raymond's, a fact questioned and disapproved of by Boemond. It was said to be revealed, in a dream or a vision to a female, where this lance was to be found. Unburied it was forthwith, and it was immediately raised at the head of the Christian army on the 28th of January, which marched to attack the Saracens and drive them from Antioch. Hugh the Great of France, and Robert of Normandy, led the advance; and the battle became general over the whole extent of the plain. The Turks, making a circuit, fell upon the division of Boemond and put it to the rout. But he was soon succoured by Godfrey and Tancred, who charged the Turks and put them to flight in turn. These abandoned the plain, to rally on uneven ground, and muster their forces in the ravines. But from these they were also driven by the fury of the crusaders. Corbogath, seeing his army defeated, took CHAP. III CHAP. to flight, leaving the crusaders masters of the field. Boemond was delared Prince of Antioch. The Greek Patriarch John was maintained in the archiepiscopal seat; but finding himself "little useful to the Latins," he withdrew to Constantinople after a time, and the Bishop of Puy's chaplain was appointed in his place. One of the first acts of the conquerors of Antioch was to despatch Hugh of France and Baldwin of Haynault to Constantinople, to summon the Emperor Alexis to perform his promises, and aid the crusaders in their enterprise upon Jerusalem. Baldwin perished in the journey, and Hugh, although he reached Constantinople, rendered no account of his mission, but betook himself home to France. As for the crusaders themselves, diminished by war and suffering from malady, they languished long in the captured city, delayed to march from it till the year was nearly spent, and did not appear before Jerusalem until a twelvemonth had elapsed after the capture of Antioch. They were not more, says William of Tyre, than forty thousand persons of the two sexes, of which there were but twenty thousand foot soldiers well equipped, and fifteen thousand knights. With such a diminished force did the crusaders pitch their camp on the north side of Jerusalem. Their first care was to find wood to construct their engines of attack; their next to procure water for their own use. Both were no easy task. The garrison of Jerusalem, however, was by no means so formidable as that of Antioch. The Seldjoucid Turks had been driven from it by the Caliph of Egypt, in whose name the defence was carried on. The garrison allowed the small army of the crusaders to erect their machines, and prepare for the attack. They were much aided by the arrival of some Genoese artificers from a fleet of that nation that had touched at Joppa. When everything was ready for the assault, Peter the Hermit III. assembled the chiefs, some of whom were divided by CHAP. fierce quarrels, especially Raymond of Toulouse and Tancred, on the Mount of Olives, and compelled them to a reconciliation. The assault then commenced, and the besieged succeeded in repelling every effort for the space of two days. The zeal of the besiegers was at this time reanimated by the sight of an armed warrior on the Mount of Olives, which Raymond and Godfrey declared to be St. George. The duke was the first to penetrate into the town on a plank let down from an engine; the Count of Flanders, Robert of Normandy, and Tancred were by his side, the Count of Toulouse and southrons entering from the other side. The inhabitants fled for refuge to the portico of the temple, whither Tancred rushed after them, even this hero of romance setting the example of indiscriminate slaughter and rapine. Ten thousand are said to have perished there no mercy was shown. It was only when the massacre was over, that the princes laid aside their arms, bared their feet, and approached the church of the Passion and the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem was captured on the 15th of July, 1099. |