LVIII. CHAP. the cuftody of the holy lance, provoked the envy, and awakened the reafon, of his rivals. A Norman clerk prefumed to fift, with a philofophic fpirit, the truth of the legend, the circumftances of the discovery, and the character of the prophet; and the pious Bohemond afcribed their deliverance to the merits and interceffion of Chrift alone. For a while, the Provincials defended their national palladium with clamours and arms; and new vifions condemned to death and hell the profane fceptics, who prefumed to fcrutinife the truth and merit of the difcovery. The prevalence of incredulity compelled the author to fubmit his life and veracity to the judgment of God. A pile of dry faggots, four feet high, and fourteen long, was erected in the midst of the camp; the flames burnt fiercely to the elevation of thirty cubits; and a narrow path of twelve inches was left for the perilous trial. The unfortunate priest of Marseilles traverfed the fire with dexterity and speed; but his thighs and belly were fcorched by the intense heat; he expired the next day; and the logic of believing minds will pay fome regard to his dying proteftations of innocence and truth. Some efforts were made by the Provincials to fubftitute a cross, a ring, or a tabernacle, in the place of the holy lance, which foon vanished in contempt and oblivion 100 Yet the revelation of Antioch is gravely Too The two antagonists who exprefs the most intimate knowledge and the ftrongest conviction of the miracle, and of the fraud, are Raymond des Agiles, and Radulphus Cadomenfis, the one attached to the count of Tholoufe, the other to the Norman LVIII. gravely afferted by fucceeding hiftorians; and CHAP. fuch is the progrefs of credulity, that miracles, most doubtful on the fpot and at the moment, will be received with implicit faith at a convenient distance of time and space. The prudence or fortune of the Franks had The ftate delayed their invafion till the decline of the 101 Turkish empire Under the manly govern ment of the three first fultans, the kingdoms of Afia were united in peace and justice; and the innumerable armies which they led in perfon were equal in courage, and fuperior in difcipline, to the Barbarians of the Weft. But at the time of the crufade, the inheritance of Malek Shaw was difputed by his four fons; their private ambition was infenfible of the publick danger; and, in the viciffitudes of their fortune, the royal vaffals were ignorant, or regardless, of the true object of their allegiance. The twenty-eight emirs, who marched with the ftandard of Kerboga, were his rivals or enemies; their hafty levies were drawn from the towns and tents of Mefopotamia and Syria; and the Turkish veterans were employed or confumed in the civil wars beyond the Tigris. The caliph of Egypt embraced this opportunity of weakness and difcord, to recover his ancient poffeffions; and his fultan Aphdal besieged Jerufalem and Tyre, expelled the children of Ortok, Norman prince. Fulcherius Carnotenfis prefumes to say, audite fraudem et non fraudem! and afterwards, invenit lanceam, fallaciter occultatam forfitan. The reft of the herd are loud and strenuous. 10 See M. de Guignes (tom. ii. p. ii. p. 223, &c.); and the articles of Barkiarek, Mohammed, Sangiır, in d'Herbelot, of the Turks and caliphs of Egypt. and LVIII. CHAP. and restored in Palestine the civil and ecclefiaftical authority of the Fatimites 2. They heard with aftonishment of the vaft armies of Chriftians that had paffed from Europe to Afia, and rejoiced in the fieges and battles which broke the power of the Turks, the adverfaries of their fect and monarchy. But the fame Chriftians were the enemies of the prophet; and from the overthrow of Nice and Antioch, the motive of their enterprise, which was was gradually understood, would urge them forwards to the banks of the Jordan, or perhaps of the Nile. An intercourse of epistles and embaffies, which rofe and fell with the events of war, was maintained between the throne of Cairo and the camp of the Latins; and their adverse pride was the refult of ignorance and enthufiafm. The minifters of Egypt declared in an haughty, or infinuated in a milder, tone, that their fovereign, the true and lawful commander of the faithful, had refcued Jerufalem from the Turkish yoke; and that the pilgrims, if they would divide their numbers, and lay afide their arms, should find a fafe and hofpitable reception at the fepulchre of Jefus. In the belief of their loft condition, the caliph Mostali despised their arms and imprisoned their deputies: the conqueft and victory of Antioch prompted him to folicit those formidable champions with gifts of horses 102 The emir, or fultan Aphdal, recovered Jerufalem and Tyre, A. H. 489 (Renaudot, Hift. Patriarch. Alexandrin. p. 478. de Guignes, tom. i. p. 249. from Abulfeda and Ben Schounah). ́ ́ Jerufalem ante adventum veftrum recuperavimus, Turcos ejecimus, fay the Fatimite ambaffadors. and and filk robes, of vafes, and purfes of gold and CHAP. filver; and in his estimate of their merit or power, the first place was affigned to Bohemond, and the second to Godfrey. In either fortune the answer of the crusaders was firm and uniform: they difdained to enquire into the private claims or poffeffions of the followers of Mahomet: whatfoever was his name or nation, the ufurper of Jerufalem was their enemy; and instead of prefcribing the mode and terms of their pilgrimage, it was only by a timely furrender of the city and province, their facred right, that he could deferve their alliance, or deprecate their impending and irrefiftible attack 103. LVIII. Franks, 1098, 1099, Yet this attack, when they were within the Delay view and reach of their glorious prize, was fuf- of th pended above ten months after the defeat of Ker- A.D. boga. The zeal and courage of the crufaders Julywere chilled in the moment of victory: and, in- A.D. stead of marching to improve the confternation, May. they haftily dispersed to enjoy the luxury, of Syria. The causes of this ftrange delay may be found in the want of ftrength and fubordination. In the painful and various fervice of Antioch, the cavalry was annihilated; many thousands of every rank had been loft by famine, fickness, and desertion: the same abuse of plenty had been productive of a third famine; and the alternative 103 See the tranfactions between the caliph of Egypt and the crusaders, in William of Tyre (1. iv. c. 24. 1. vi. c. 19.) and Albert Aquenfis (1. iii. c. 59.), who are more fenfible of their importance, than the contemporary writers. of LVIII. 1 CHAP of intemperance and diftrefs, had generated a peftilence, which fwept away above fifty thoufand of the pilgrims. Few were able to command, and none were willing to obey: the domestic feuds, which had been ftifled by common fear, were again renewed in acts, or at least in sentiments, of hoftility; the fortune of Baldwin and Bohemond excited the envy of their companions; the braveft knights were enlifted for the defence of their new principalities; and count Raymond exhaufted his troops and treasures in an idle expedition into the heart of Syria. The winter was confumed in difcord and diforder; a fenfe of họnour and religion was rekindled in the fpring; and the private foldiers, lefs fufceptible of ambition and jealoufy, awakened with angry clamours the indolence of their chiefs. In the month of Jerufalem, May, the relics of this mighty hoft proceeded from Antioch to Laodicea; about forty thousand May 13 Latins, of whom no more than fifteen hundred June 6. horfe, and twenty thousand foot, were capable of immediate service. Their eafy march was continued between mount Libanus and the fea-fhore; their wants were liberally fupplied by the coafting traders of Genoa and Fifa; and they drew large contributions from the emirs of Tripoli, Tyre, Sidon, Acre, and Cæfarea, who granted a free paffage, and promised to follow the example of Jerufalem. From Cæfarea they advanced into the midland country; their clerks recognized the facred geography of Lydda, Ramla, Emaus, and Bethlem, and as foon as they defcried the Their march to A. D. 1099, - holy |