LIX. CHAP. lion-hearted prince, was long dear and glorious to his English fubjects; and, at the distance of fixty years, it was celebrated in proverbial fayings by the grandfons of the Turks and Saracens, against whom he had fought: his tremendous name was employed by the Syrian mothers to filence their infants; and if an horfe fuddenly ftarted from the way, his rider was wont to exclaim, "Doft thou think king Richard is in that "bufh73 ?" His cruelty to the Mahometans was the effect of temper and zeal; but I cannot believe that a foldier, fo free and fearless in the use of his lance, would have defcended to whet a dagger against his valiant brother Conrad of Montferrat, who was flain at Tyre by fome secret affaffins 7+. After the furrender of Acre, and the departure of Philip, the king of England led the crufaders to the recovery of the fea-coaft; and the cities of Cæfarea and Jaffa were added to the fragments of the kingdom of Lufignan. A march of one hundred miles from Acre to Afcalon, was a great and perpetual battle of eleven days. In the diforder of his troops, Saladin remained on the field with seventeen guards, without lowering his ftandard, or fufpending the found of his brazen kettle-drum: he again ral 73 Joinville, p. 17. Cuides-tu que ce foit le roi Richart? 74 Yet he was guilty in the opinion of the Mollems, who atteft the confeffion of the affaffins, that they were fent by the king of England (Bohadin, p. 225.); and his only defence is an abfurd and palpable forgery (Hift. de l'Academie des Infcriptions, tom. xvi. p. 155-163.), a pretended letter from the prince of the affaffins, the Sheich, or old man of the mountain, who juftified Richard, by affuming to himself the guilt or merit of the murder. LIX. lied and renewed the charge; and his preachers CHAP. or heralds called aloud on the unitarians, manfully to ftand up against the Chriftian idolaters. But the progress of these idolaters was irresistible: and it was only by demolishing the walls and buildings of Afcalon, that the fultan could prevent them from occupying an important fortress on the confines of Egypt. During a severe winter, the armies flept; but in the spring, the Franks advanced within a day's march of Jerufalem, under the leading standard of the English king, and his active spirit intercepted a convoy, or caravan, of seven thousand camels. Saladin 75 had fixed his ftation in the holy city; but the city was ftruck with confternation and difcord: he fafted; he prayed; he preached; he offered to fhare the dangers of the fiege; but his Mamalukes, who remembered the fate of their companions at Acre, preffed the fultan with loyal or feditious clamours, to reserve his person and their courage for the future defence of their religion and empire 7. The Moflems were delivered by the fudden, or, as they deemed, the miraculous, retreat of the Chriftians "; and the laurels of Richard 76 77 75 See the diftrefs and pious firmness of Saladin, as they are defcribed by Bohadin (p. 7-9. 235-237.), who himself harangued the defenders of Jerusalem; their fears were not unknown to the enemy (Jacob. à Vitriaco, 1. i. c. 100. p. 1123. Vinifauf, 1. v. c. 50. p. 399.). 76 Yet unless the fultan, or an Ayoubite prince, remained in Jerufalem, nec Curdi, Turcis, nec Turci affent obtemperaturi Curdis (Bohadin, p. 236.). He draws afide a corner of the political curtain. 77 Bohadin (p. 237.) and even Jeffrey de Vinifauf (l. vi. c. 1–8. P. 403 L 2 LIX. CHAP. Richard were blafted by the prudence, or envy, of his companions. The hero, afcending an hill, and veiling his face, exclaimed with an indignant voice, "Those who are unwilling to refcue, are "unworthy to view, the fepulchre of Chrift!" After his return to Acre, on the news that Jaffa was furpifed by the fultan, he failed with fome merchant veffels, and leaped foremost on the beach; the caftle was relieved by his prefence; and fixty thousand Turks and Saracens fled before his arms. The difcovery of his weakness provoked them to return in the morning; and they found him carelessly encamped before the gates with only feventeen knights and three hundred archers. Without counting their numbers, he sustained their charge; and we learn from the evidence of his enemies, that the king of England, grafping his lance, rode furiously along their front, from the right to the left wing, without meeting an adversary who dared to encounter his career 78 Am I writing the hiftory of Or lando or Amadis? P. 403-409.) afcribe the retreat to Richard himself; and Jacobus à Vitriaco obferves, that in his impatience to depart, in alterum virum mutatus eft (p. 1123.). Yet Joinville, a French knight, accuses the envy of Hugh duke of Burgundy (p. 116.), without fuppofing, like Matthew Paris, that he was bribed by Saladin. 78 The expeditions to Afcalon, Jerufalem, and Jaffa, are related by Bohadin (p. 184-249.) and Abulfeda (p. 51, 52.). The author of the Itinerary, or the monk of St. Alban's, cannot exaggerate the Cadhi's account of the prowess of Richard (Vinisauf, 1. vi. c. 14—24. p. 412–421. Hift. Major, p. 137—143.); and on the whole of this war, there is a marvellous agreement between the Chriftian and Mahometan writers, who mutually praise the virtues of their enemies. 79 1 Some acts of LIX. His treaty parture, and de A. D. 1192, During these hoftilities, a languid and tedious CHAP. negociation between the Franks and Moflems was ftarted, and continued, and broken, and again refumed, and against broken. royal courtesy, the gift of fnow, and fruit, the exchange of Norway hawks and Arabian horfes, September. foftened the afperity of religious war: from the viciffitude of fuccefs, the monarchs might learn to suspect that Heaven was neutral in the quarrel; nor, after the trial of each other, could either hope for a decifive victory". The health both of Richard and Saladin appeared to be in a declining state; and they refpectively fuffered the evils of diftant and domeftic warfare: Plantagenet was impatient to punish a perfidious rival who had invaded Normandy in his abfence; and the indefatigable fultan was fubdued by the cries of the people, who was the victim, and of the foldiers, who were the inftruments, of his martial zeal. The first demands of the king of England were the reftitution of Jerufalem, Palestine, and the true cross; and he firmly declared, that himfelf and his brother pilgrims would end their lives in the pious labour, rather than return to Eu 79 See the progress of negociation and hoftility in Bohadin (p. 207-260.), who was himself an actor in the treaty. Richard declared his intention of returning with new armies to the conquest of the Holy Land; and Saladin anfwered the menace with a civil compliment (Vinifauf, 1. vi. c. 28. p. 423.). 80 The moft copious and original account of this holy war, is Galfridi à Vinifauf Itinerarium Regis Anglorum Richardi et aliorum in Terram Hierofolymorum, in fix books, published in the ijd volume of Gale's Scriptores Hift. Anglicana (p. 247-429,). Roger Hoveden and Matthew Paris afford likewife many valuable materials; and the former describes, with accuracy, the difcipline` and navigation of the English fleet. CHAP. rope with ignominy and remorfe. But the conLIX. fcience of Saladin refufed, without fome weighty compenfation, to restore the idols, or promote the idolatry, of the Christians: he afferted, with equal firmness, his religious and civil claim to the fovereignty of Palestine; defcanted on the importance and fanctity of Jerusalem; and rejected all terms of the establishment, or partition, of the Latins. The marriage which Richard propofed, of his fifter with the sultan's brother, was defeated by the difference of faith: the princess abhorred the embraces of a Turk; and Adel, or Saphadin, would not eafily renounce a plurality of wives. A personal interview was declined by Saladin, who alleged their mutual ignorance of each other's language; and the negociation was managed with much art and delay by their interpreters and envoys. The final agreement was equally disapproved by the zealots of both parties, by the Roman pontiff and the caliph of Bagdad. It was ftipulated that Jerufalem and the holy fepulchre should be open, without tribute or vexation, to the pilgrimage of the Latin Christians; that, after the demolition of Afcalon, they should inclufively poffefs the fea-coaft from Jaffa to Tyre; that the count of. Tripoli and the prince of Antioch fhould be comprised in the truce; and that, during three years and three months, all hoftilities fhould cease. The principal chiefs of the two armies fwore to the obfervance of the treaty; but the monarchs were fatiffied with giving their word and their right-hand; and the royal majefty was excufed from an oath, which always implies fome fufpicion of falsehood 1 |