Latest / Popular History of France from the Earliest Times / 33 - Popular History of France from the Earliest Times by Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
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- 0:01Speaker 1: Section thirty three of Volume one, A Popular History of
- 0:05Speaker 1: France from the Earliest Times. This is a LibriVox recording.
- 0:10Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
- 0:14Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
- 0:21Speaker 1: by Emily Jomas, Volume one of A Popular History of
- 0:26Speaker 1: France from the Earliest Times by Francois Guisu, translated by
- 0:32Speaker 1: Robert Black, Chapter sixteen, The Crusades, Their Origin and their Success,
- 0:40Speaker 1: Part three. All the army of the Crusaders put themselves
- 0:45Speaker 1: in motion to cross Asia Minor from the northwest to
- 0:48Speaker 1: the southeast, and to reach Syria. At their arrival before Nicea,
- 0:55Speaker 1: they numbered, it is said, five hundred thousand foot and
- 0:58Speaker 1: one hundred thousand horse, figures, evidently too great for everything.
- 1:03Speaker 1: Indicates that at the opening of the Crusade the three
- 1:07Speaker 1: great armies, starting from France and Italy under Godfrey de Bouillon,
- 1:12Speaker 1: Boemonde and Raymond of Toulouse, did not reach this number,
- 1:17Speaker 1: and they had certainly lost many during their long march,
- 1:20Speaker 1: through their sufferings and in their battles. However, that may
- 1:25Speaker 1: be after they had marched all in one mass for
- 1:28Speaker 1: two days, and had then extended themselves over a larger
- 1:32Speaker 1: area for the purpose no doubt of more easily finding provisions.
- 1:37Speaker 1: The Crusaders broke up into two main bodies, led one
- 1:41Speaker 1: by Godfried de Bouillon and Raymond of Tchouleuse, the other
- 1:46Speaker 1: by Boemund and Tancred. On the first of July, at daybreak,
- 1:51Speaker 1: this latter body, encamped at a short distance from Doro
- 1:55Speaker 1: Laum in Phrygia, saw descending from the neighboring heights a
- 2:00Speaker 1: cloud of enemies who burst upon the Christians. First reigned
- 2:04Speaker 1: a perfect hail of missiles upon them, and then penetrated
- 2:09Speaker 1: into their camp, even to the tents assigned to the women,
- 2:13Speaker 1: children and old men. The numerous following of the Crusaders.
- 2:18Speaker 1: It was kilige Arslan who, after the fall of Nicea,
- 2:23Speaker 1: had raised this new army of Saracens, and was pursuing
- 2:28Speaker 1: the conquerors on their march. The battle began in great disorder.
- 2:33Speaker 1: The chiefs in person sustained the first shock, and the
- 2:37Speaker 1: Duke of Normandy, Robert Shorthouse, took in his hand his
- 2:41Speaker 1: white banner embroidered with gold, and waving it over his head,
- 2:46Speaker 1: threw himself upon the Turks shouting God willeth it, god
- 2:50Speaker 1: willeth It. Bohemond obstinately sought out Killage Arslin in the fray,
- 2:56Speaker 1: but at the same time he sent messengers in all
- 2:59Speaker 1: haste to Godfrey de Buillum, as yet but a little
- 3:03Speaker 1: way off, to summon him to their aid. Godfrey galloped up, and,
- 3:08Speaker 1: with some fifty of his knights, preceding the rest of
- 3:11Speaker 1: his army, was the first to throw himself into the
- 3:14Speaker 1: midst of the Turks. Towards midday, the whole of the
- 3:18Speaker 1: first body arrived, with standards flying, with the sound of trumpets,
- 3:23Speaker 1: and with the shouting of warriors. Kilhich Arslan and his
- 3:27Speaker 1: troops fell back upon the heights whence they had descended
- 3:31Speaker 1: the Crusaders without taking breath, ascended in pursuit. The Turks
- 3:36Speaker 1: saw themselves shut in by a forest of lances, and
- 3:39Speaker 1: fled over wood and rock, and two days afterwards they
- 3:44Speaker 1: were still flying, says Albert Avex, though none pursued them,
- 3:48Speaker 1: unless it were God himself. The victory of Dora Laam
- 3:53Speaker 1: opened the whole country to the Crusaders, and they resumed
- 3:57Speaker 1: their march towards Syria, paying their sole attate to not
- 4:01Speaker 1: separating again. It was not long before they had to
- 4:05Speaker 1: grapple with other dangers against which bravery could do nothing.
- 4:09Speaker 1: They were crossing under a broiling sun. Deserted traps which
- 4:14Speaker 1: their enemies had taken good care to ravage. Water and
- 4:18Speaker 1: forage were not to be had. The men suffered intolerably
- 4:22Speaker 1: from thirst. Horses died by hundreds. At the head of
- 4:27Speaker 1: their troops marched nights mounted on asses or oxen, their
- 4:31Speaker 1: favorite amusement. The chase became impossible for them. For their
- 4:36Speaker 1: hawking birds too. The falcons and gair falcons they had
- 4:40Speaker 1: brought with them languished and died beneath the excessive heat.
- 4:45Speaker 1: One incident obtained for the crusaders a momentary relief. The dogs,
- 4:50Speaker 1: which followed the army prowling in all directions one day,
- 4:54Speaker 1: returned with their paws and coats wet. They had therefore
- 4:58Speaker 1: found water, and the soldiers set themselves to look for it,
- 5:03Speaker 1: and in fact discovered a small river in a remote valley.
- 5:07Speaker 1: They got water drunk, and more than three hundred men,
- 5:10Speaker 1: it is said, were affected by it and died. On
- 5:14Speaker 1: arriving in Pisidia, a country intersected by water courses, meadows,
- 5:19Speaker 1: and woods. The army rested several days, but at that
- 5:23Speaker 1: very point two of its most competent and most respected
- 5:27Speaker 1: chiefs were very nearly taken from it. Count Raymond of Toulouse,
- 5:32Speaker 1: who was also called Raymond of Saint Jin, fell so
- 5:36Speaker 1: ill that the Bishop of Orange was reading over him
- 5:39Speaker 1: the prayers for the dying, when one of those present
- 5:42Speaker 1: cried out that the Count would assuredly live, for that
- 5:46Speaker 1: the prayers of his patron, Saint Jill had obtained for
- 5:50Speaker 1: him a truce with death, and Raymond recovered. Godfrey de
- 5:55Speaker 1: Bouillon again, whilst riding in a forest, came upon a
- 5:59Speaker 1: pilgrim attacked by a bear, and all but fallen a
- 6:02Speaker 1: victim to the ferocious beast. The Duke drew his sword
- 6:06Speaker 1: and urged his horse against the bear, which, leaving the pilgrim,
- 6:11Speaker 1: rushed upon the assailant. The frightened horse reared, Godfrey was
- 6:15Speaker 1: thrown and, according to one account, immediately remounted, but according
- 6:20Speaker 1: to another, he fell on the contrary together with his horse. However,
- 6:25Speaker 1: he sustained a fearful struggle against the bear, and ultimately
- 6:28Speaker 1: killed it by plunging his sword up to the hilt
- 6:30Speaker 1: into its belly, says William of Tire, but with so
- 6:34Speaker 1: great an effort, and after receiving so serious a wound,
- 6:38Speaker 1: that his soldiers, hurrying up at the pilgrim's report, found
- 6:42Speaker 1: him stretched on the ground, covered with blood and unable
- 6:46Speaker 1: to rise, and carried him back to the camp, where
- 6:50Speaker 1: he was for several weeks obliged to be carried about
- 6:53Speaker 1: in a litter in the rear of the army. Through
- 6:57Speaker 1: all these perils they continued to advance, and they were
- 7:01Speaker 1: approaching the heights of Tarsus, the bulwark and gate of Syria,
- 7:05Speaker 1: when a quarrel which arose between two of the principal
- 7:08Speaker 1: crusader chiefs, was like to seriously endanger the concord and
- 7:12Speaker 1: strength of the army. Tancred with his men had entered Tarsus,
- 7:17Speaker 1: the birthplace of Saint Paul, and had planted his flag there,
- 7:22Speaker 1: although later in his arrival Baldwin, brother of Godfrey de Bouillon,
- 7:27Speaker 1: claimed a right to the possession of the city, and
- 7:30Speaker 1: had his flag set up instead of tankreds, which was
- 7:33Speaker 1: thrown into a ditch. During several days, the strife was
- 7:37Speaker 1: fierce and even bloody. The soldiers of Baldwin were the
- 7:41Speaker 1: more numerous, and those of Tankred considered their chief too gentle,
- 7:45Speaker 1: and his bravery so often proved scarcely sufficed to form
- 7:49Speaker 1: an excuse for his forbearance. Chief and soldiers, however, at
- 7:54Speaker 1: last saw the necessity for reconciliation and made mutual pnasses
- 7:58Speaker 1: to sink all animosity. On returning to the general camp,
- 8:02Speaker 1: Tankard was received with marked favor, for the majority of
- 8:06Speaker 1: the Crusaders, being unconcerned in the quarrel at Tarsus, liked
- 8:09Speaker 1: him for his bravery and for his gentleness equally. Baldwin,
- 8:13Speaker 1: on the contrary, was much blamed, even by his brother Godfrey,
- 8:18Speaker 1: but he was far more ambitious on his own account
- 8:20Speaker 1: than devoted to the common cause. He had often heard
- 8:24Speaker 1: tell of Armenia and Mesopotamia, their riches, and the large
- 8:28Speaker 1: number of Christians living there, almost equally independent of Greeks
- 8:31Speaker 1: and Turks, and in hope of finding there a chance
- 8:35Speaker 1: of greatly in putting his personal fortunes, he left the
- 8:38Speaker 1: army of the Crusaders at Marissa on the very eve
- 8:42Speaker 1: of the day on which the chiefs came to the
- 8:44Speaker 1: decision that no one should for the future move away
- 8:48Speaker 1: from the flag, and taking with him. A weak detachment
- 8:51Speaker 1: of two hundred horse and one thousand or twelve hundred
- 8:55Speaker 1: foot marched toward Armenia. His name and his presence soon
- 9:00Speaker 1: made a stir there, and he got hold of two
- 9:03Speaker 1: little towns which received him eagerly. Edessa, the capital of
- 9:07Speaker 1: Armenia and metropolis of Mesopotamia, was peopled by Christians, and
- 9:12Speaker 1: a Greek governor sent from Constantinople by the Emperor, lived
- 9:16Speaker 1: there on payment of a tribute to the Turks. Internal
- 9:21Speaker 1: dissensions and the fear, ever, inspired by the vicinity of
- 9:24Speaker 1: the Turks, kept the city in a state of lively agitation,
- 9:29Speaker 1: and bishop, people and Greek governor all appealed to Baldwin.
- 9:34Speaker 1: He presented himself before Odessa with merely a hundred horsemen,
- 9:39Speaker 1: having left the remainder of his forces in garrison. At
- 9:42Speaker 1: the town he had already occupied. All the population came
- 9:46Speaker 1: to meet him, bearing branches of olive and singing chance
- 9:50Speaker 1: in honor of their deliverer. But it was not long
- 9:53Speaker 1: before outbreaks and alarms began again, and Baldwin looked on
- 9:57Speaker 1: at them, waiting for power to be offered him. Still
- 10:01Speaker 1: there was no advance. The Greek governor continued where he was,
- 10:05Speaker 1: and Baldwin muttered threats of his departure. The popular disquietude
- 10:10Speaker 1: was extreme, and the Greek governor old and detested, as
- 10:13Speaker 1: he was thought to smooth all by adopting the Latin
- 10:16Speaker 1: chief and making him his heir. This, however, caused but
- 10:20Speaker 1: a short respite. Baldwin left the governor to be massacred.
- 10:24Speaker 1: In a fresh outbreak. The people came and offered him
- 10:27Speaker 1: the government, and he became Prince of Odessa and ere
- 10:31Speaker 1: long of all the neighboring country, without thinking any more
- 10:34Speaker 1: of Jerusalem, of which nevertheless he was destined at no
- 10:38Speaker 1: distant day to be king. Whilst Baldwin was thus acquiring
- 10:43Speaker 1: for himself and himself alone the first Latin principality belonging
- 10:48Speaker 1: to the Crusaders in the East, his brother Godfrey and
- 10:52Speaker 1: the main Christian army were crossing the chain of Tarsus
- 10:56Speaker 1: and arriving before Antioch, the capital of Syria. Great was
- 11:01Speaker 1: the fame with Pagans and Christians of this city, its sight,
- 11:06Speaker 1: the beauty of its climate, the fertility of its land,
- 11:10Speaker 1: its fish abounding lake, its River of Orantes, its fountain
- 11:15Speaker 1: of Daphni, its festivals and its morals had made it
- 11:19Speaker 1: under the Roman Empire a brilliant and favorite abode. At
- 11:24Speaker 1: the same time, it was there that the disciples of
- 11:26Speaker 1: Jesus had assumed the name of Christians, and that Saint
- 11:30Speaker 1: Paul had begun his heroic life as preacher and as missionary.
- 11:34Speaker 1: It was absolutely necessary that the Crusaders should take Antioch,
- 11:38Speaker 1: but the difficulty of the conquest was equal to the importance.
- 11:43Speaker 1: The city was well fortified and provided with a strong citadel.
- 11:48Speaker 1: The Turks had been in possession of it for fourteen years,
- 11:52Speaker 1: and its governor Ascion or Baghisian Yaghisian or brother of Black,
- 11:59Speaker 1: according to Oriatal historians appointed by the Sultan of Persia Malikshah,
- 12:06Speaker 1: was shut up in it with seven thousand horse and
- 12:08Speaker 1: twenty thousand foot. The first attacks of the Christians failed,
- 12:13Speaker 1: and they had the prospect of a long siege. At
- 12:17Speaker 1: the outset, their situation had been easy and pleasant. They
- 12:21Speaker 1: encountered no hostility from the country people, who were intimidated
- 12:25Speaker 1: or indifferent. They came and paid visits to the camp
- 12:29Speaker 1: and admitted the Crusaders to their markets. The harvests, which
- 12:34Speaker 1: were hardly finished, had been abundant the grapes, says Yibert
- 12:38Speaker 1: of Noujean, were still hanging on the branches of the vines.
- 12:42Speaker 1: On all sides. Discoveries were made of grain shut up
- 12:46Speaker 1: not in barns, but in subterranean vaults, and the trees
- 12:50Speaker 1: were laden with fruit. These facilities of existence, the softness
- 12:55Speaker 1: of the climate, the pleasantness of the places, the frequency
- 12:59Speaker 1: of leisure, partly pleasure and partly care for nothingness, caused
- 13:05Speaker 1: amongst the crusaders irregularity, license, indiscipline, carelessness, and often perils
- 13:12Speaker 1: and reverses. The Turks profited thereby to make sallies, which
- 13:17Speaker 1: threw the camp into confusion and cost the lives of crusaders.
- 13:21Speaker 1: Surprised or scattered about, winter came, provisions grew scarce and
- 13:26Speaker 1: had to be sought at a greater distance and at
- 13:28Speaker 1: greater peril, and living ceased to be agreeable or easy. Disquietude,
- 13:35Speaker 1: doubts concerning the success of the enterprise, fatigue and discouragement
- 13:40Speaker 1: made way amongst the army and men who were believed
- 13:44Speaker 1: to be proved. Robert Shorthouse, Duke of Normandy, William Viscount
- 13:49Speaker 1: of Melun, called the Carpenter on account of his mighty
- 13:53Speaker 1: battle axe, and Peter the hermit himself, who had never learned,
- 13:57Speaker 1: says Robert, the Monk, to endure or such plaguey hunger
- 14:02Speaker 1: left the camp and deserted the banner of the cross,
- 14:05Speaker 1: that there might be seen in the words of the apocalypse,
- 14:09Speaker 1: even the stars falling from heaven, says Guibert of Noujean.
- 14:14Speaker 1: Great were the scandal and the indignation. Tankred hurried after
- 14:19Speaker 1: the fugitives and brought them back. And they swore on
- 14:22Speaker 1: the gospel, never again to abandon the cause which they
- 14:25Speaker 1: had preached and served so well. It was clearly indispensable
- 14:30Speaker 1: to take measures for restoring amongst the army discipline, confidence,
- 14:34Speaker 1: and the morals and hopes of Christians. The different chiefs
- 14:38Speaker 1: applied themselves there too, by very different processes, according to
- 14:43Speaker 1: their vocation, character, or habits. Ademar Bishop of Puix, the
- 14:49Speaker 1: renowned spiritual chief of the Crusade, Godrey de Bouillon, Raymond
- 14:53Speaker 1: of Toulouse, and the military chieftains renowned for piety and virtue,
- 14:59Speaker 1: made head against all kinds of disorder, either by fervent
- 15:03Speaker 1: addresses or severe prohibitions. Men caught drunk had their hair
- 15:08Speaker 1: cut off blasphemous and reckless gamesters were branded with a
- 15:12Speaker 1: red hot iron, and the women were shut up in
- 15:16Speaker 1: separate tents. To the irregularities within were added the perils
- 15:21Speaker 1: of incessant espionage on the part of the Turks in
- 15:24Speaker 1: the very camp of the crusaders, and no one knew
- 15:28Speaker 1: how to repress this evil. Brethren and lords, said Beauammond
- 15:33Speaker 1: to the assembled princes, let me undertake this business by myself.
- 15:38Speaker 1: I hope, with God's help to find a remedy for
- 15:40Speaker 1: this complaint. Caring but little for moral reform, he strove
- 15:45Speaker 1: to strike terror into the Turks, and by counteraction, restore
- 15:50Speaker 1: confidence to the Crusaders. One evening, says William of Tire,
- 15:55Speaker 1: whilst everybody was as usual occupied in getting supper ready,
- 16:00Speaker 1: Ouemond ordered some Turks who had been caught in the
- 16:02Speaker 1: camp to be brought out of prison and put to
- 16:05Speaker 1: death forthwith, And then, having had a huge fire lighted,
- 16:10Speaker 1: he gave instructions that they should be roasted and carefully
- 16:14Speaker 1: prepared as if for being eaten. If it should be
- 16:18Speaker 1: asked what operation was going on, he commanded his people
- 16:21Speaker 1: to answer. The princes and governors of the camp. This
- 16:26Speaker 1: day decreeded their council that all Turks or their spies,
- 16:30Speaker 1: who should henceforth be found in the camp, should be
- 16:34Speaker 1: forced after this fashion to furnish meat of their own
- 16:37Speaker 1: carcasses to the princes, as well as to the whole army,
- 16:42Speaker 1: the whole city of Antioch, adds the historian was stricken
- 16:46Speaker 1: with terror at hearing the report of words so strange
- 16:49Speaker 1: and a deed so cruel. And thus by the act
- 16:52Speaker 1: and pains of Bohemond, the camp was purged of this
- 16:55Speaker 1: pest of spies, and the results of the Prince's meetings
- 16:59Speaker 1: were much less known amongst the foe. Boemond did not
- 17:05Speaker 1: confine himself to terrifying the Turks by the display of
- 17:08Speaker 1: his barbarities. He sought and found traitors amongst them. During
- 17:14Speaker 1: the incidents of the siege. He had concocted certain relations
- 17:18Speaker 1: with an inhabitant of Antioch named Perouse or a mere Fair,
- 17:24Speaker 1: probably a renegade Christian and seeming Mussulmam, in favor with
- 17:28Speaker 1: the governor Asien or Baghisian, who had entrusted to him
- 17:34Speaker 1: him and his family the ward of three of the
- 17:37Speaker 1: towers and gates of the city. Amr Fair whether from
- 17:41Speaker 1: religious remorse or on promise of a rich recompense, had
- 17:46Speaker 1: after the ambiguous and tortuous conversations which usually precede treason,
- 17:52Speaker 1: made an offer to Boemond to open to him, and
- 17:55Speaker 1: through him, to the crusaders the entrance into Antioch. Bauemond,
- 18:00Speaker 1: in covert terms, informed the chiefs his comrades of this proposal,
- 18:06Speaker 1: leaving it to be understood that if the capture of
- 18:09Speaker 1: Antioch were the result of his efforts, it would be
- 18:12Speaker 1: for him to become its lord. The Count of Toulouse
- 18:16Speaker 1: bluntly rejected this idea. We be all brethren, said he,
- 18:21Speaker 1: and we have all run the same risk. I did
- 18:24Speaker 1: not leave my own country and face I and mine
- 18:28Speaker 1: so many dangers to conquer new lordships for any particular
- 18:32Speaker 1: one of us. The opinion of Raymond prevailed, and Baamond
- 18:38Speaker 1: pressed the matter no more that day. But the situation
- 18:43Speaker 1: became more and more urgent, and armies of Mussulman were
- 18:47Speaker 1: preparing to come to the aid of Antioch. When these
- 18:51Speaker 1: fresh alarms spread through the camp, Bauemond returned to the charge, saying,
- 18:56Speaker 1: time presses, and if he accept the overtures made to us,
- 19:00Speaker 1: tomorrow Antioch will be ours, and we shall march in
- 19:03Speaker 1: triumph on Jerusalem. If any find a better way of
- 19:07Speaker 1: assuring our success, I am ready to accept it and
- 19:09Speaker 1: renounce on my own account all conquest. Raymond still persisted
- 19:15Speaker 1: in his opposition, but all the other chiefs submitted to
- 19:18Speaker 1: the overtures and conditions of Beauemond. All proper measures were taken,
- 19:23Speaker 1: and a mere fair being apprized thereof, had Beauamond informed
- 19:28Speaker 1: that on the following night everything would be ready at
- 19:32Speaker 1: the appointed hour, three score warriors, with Beauamond at their head,
- 19:37Speaker 1: repaired noiselessly to the foot of the tower. Indicated a
- 19:42Speaker 1: ladder was hoisted and a mere fair fastened it firmly
- 19:46Speaker 1: to the top of the wall. Beaumond looked round and round,
- 19:50Speaker 1: but no one was in a hurry to mount. Beauemond
- 19:53Speaker 1: therefore himself mounted, and having received recognition from a mere fair,
- 19:59Speaker 1: he leaned upon on the ramparts, calling in a low
- 20:02Speaker 1: voice to his comrades, and rapidly redescended to reassure them
- 20:07Speaker 1: and get them to mount with him. Up they mount that,
- 20:11Speaker 1: and two other neighboring towers are given up to them.
- 20:15Speaker 1: The three gates are opened and the Crusaders rush in.
- 20:19Speaker 1: When day appeared on the third of June one thousand
- 20:23Speaker 1: ninety eight, the streets of Antioch were full of corpses,
- 20:27Speaker 1: for the Turks, surprised, had been slaughtered without resistance or
- 20:31Speaker 1: had fled into the country. The citadel filled with those
- 20:35Speaker 1: who had been able to take refuge. There still held out,
- 20:39Speaker 1: but the entire city was in the power of the Crusaders,
- 20:42Speaker 1: and the banner of Baamon floated on an elevated spot
- 20:45Speaker 1: over against the citadel. In spite of their triumph, the
- 20:50Speaker 1: Crusaders were not so near marching on Jerusalem as Baamont
- 20:54Speaker 1: had promised. Everywhere throughout Syria and Mesopotamia, the Mussama two
- 21:00Speaker 1: men were rising to go and deliver Antioch. An immense
- 21:04Speaker 1: army was already in motion. There were eleven hundred thousand
- 21:07Speaker 1: men according to Matthew of Edessa, six hundred and sixty
- 21:11Speaker 1: thousand according to Fouchet of Shatre, three hundred thousand according
- 21:16Speaker 1: to Raoul of kan and only two hundred thousand according
- 21:20Speaker 1: to William of Tire and Albert Aveck's. The discrepancy in
- 21:25Speaker 1: the figures is a sufficient proof of their untruthfulness. The
- 21:29Speaker 1: last number was enough to disquiet the Crusaders, already much
- 21:33Speaker 1: reduced by so many marches, battles, sufferings and desertions. An
- 21:38Speaker 1: old Mussulman warrior celebrated at that time throughout Western Asia. Corboga,
- 21:44Speaker 1: Sultan of mousoul Hard by what was ancient to Nineveh,
- 21:49Speaker 1: commanded all the hostile forces, and four days after the
- 21:53Speaker 1: capture of Antioch, he was already completely round the place,
- 21:57Speaker 1: enclosing the Crusaders within the walls of which they had
- 22:00Speaker 1: just become the masters. They were thus and all on
- 22:04Speaker 1: a sudden besieged in their turn, having even in the
- 22:07Speaker 1: very midst of them in the citadel, which still held
- 22:10Speaker 1: out a hostile force. Whilst they had been besieging Antioch,
- 22:15Speaker 1: the Emperor Alexis Comnenus had begun to march with an
- 22:18Speaker 1: army to get his share in their successes, and was
- 22:21Speaker 1: advancing into Asia Minor when he heard that the Mussulman
- 22:25Speaker 1: in immense numbers, were investing the Christian army in Antioch,
- 22:29Speaker 1: and not in a condition it was said to hold
- 22:32Speaker 1: out long. The emperor immediately retraced his steps towards Constantinople,
- 22:38Speaker 1: and the Crusaders found that they had no Greek aid
- 22:41Speaker 1: to hope for. The blockade, becoming stricter day by day,
- 22:46Speaker 1: soon brought about a horrible famine in Antioch. Instead of
- 22:50Speaker 1: repeating here in general terms the ordinary descriptions of this
- 22:55Speaker 1: cruel scourge, we will reproduce its particular and striking features
- 23:00Speaker 1: as they have been traced out by contemporary chroniclers. The
- 23:04Speaker 1: Christian people, says William of Tire, had recourse before long
- 23:08Speaker 1: to procure themselves any food whatever, to all sorts of
- 23:12Speaker 1: shameful means. Nobles freemen did not blush to hungrily stretch
- 23:18Speaker 1: out the hand to nobodies, asking with troublesome pertinacity for
- 23:23Speaker 1: what was too often refused. There were seen the very strongest,
- 23:29Speaker 1: those whom their signal valor had rendered illustrious in the
- 23:32Speaker 1: midst of the army, now supported on crutches, dragging themselves
- 23:37Speaker 1: half dead along the streets and in the public places.
- 23:41Speaker 1: And if they did not speak at any rate, they
- 23:44Speaker 1: showed themselves with countenances irrecognizable, silently begging alms of every
- 23:49Speaker 1: passer by no self respect. Restrained matrons or young women
- 23:55Speaker 1: heretofore accustomed to severe restraints, they walked hither and thither
- 24:00Speaker 1: with pallid faces, groaning and searching everywhere for somewhat to eat.
- 24:06Speaker 1: And they in whom the pangs of hunger had not
- 24:08Speaker 1: extinguished every spark of modesty, went and hid themselves in
- 24:12Speaker 1: the most secret places, and gnawed their hearts in silence,
- 24:17Speaker 1: preferring to die of want rather than beg in public.
- 24:21Speaker 1: Children still in the cradle, unable to get milk, were
- 24:24Speaker 1: exposed at the cross roads, crying in vain for their
- 24:27Speaker 1: usual nourishment. And men, women and children all threw themselves
- 24:32Speaker 1: greedily upon any kind of food, wholesome and unwholesome, clean
- 24:36Speaker 1: and unclean, that they could scrape together here and there,
- 24:40Speaker 1: and none shared with another that which they picked up.
- 24:45Speaker 1: So many and such sufferings produced incredible dastardliness, and deserters
- 24:50Speaker 1: escaped by night, in some cases throwing themselves down at
- 24:54Speaker 1: the risk of being killed, into the city moat, in
- 24:57Speaker 1: others getting down by help of a rope from the
- 24:59Speaker 1: rain parts. Indignation blazed forth against the fugitives. They were
- 25:04Speaker 1: called rope dancers, and God was prayed to treat them
- 25:08Speaker 1: as the traitor Judas William of Tire and Gibert of
- 25:12Speaker 1: Nujon after naming some and those the very highest, and
- 25:17Speaker 1: with these words of many more. I know not the names,
- 25:21Speaker 1: and I am unwilling to expose all that are well
- 25:24Speaker 1: known to me. We are assured, says William of Tire,
- 25:29Speaker 1: that in view of such woes and such weaknesses, the princes,
- 25:33Speaker 1: despairing of any means of safety, held amongst themselves a
- 25:36Speaker 1: secret council, at which they decided to abandon the army
- 25:40Speaker 1: and all the people, fly in the middle of the
- 25:43Speaker 1: night and retreat to the sea. According to the Armenian
- 25:47Speaker 1: historian Matthew of Edessa, the princes would seem to have
- 25:50Speaker 1: resolved in this hour of dejection, not to fly and
- 25:54Speaker 1: leave the army to its fate, but to demand of
- 25:57Speaker 1: Corbogsi an assurance for all under the bond of an
- 26:00Speaker 1: oath of personal safety, on the promise of surrendering Antioch
- 26:05Speaker 1: to him, after which they would return home. Several Arab historians,
- 26:11Speaker 1: and amongst them Ibn e Latyr, Abul Faraj and Abulfeda,
- 26:17Speaker 1: confirmed the statement of conditions. Whatever may have been the
- 26:21Speaker 1: real turn taken by the promptings of weakness. Amongst the Christians,
- 26:26Speaker 1: Godfrey de Bouillon and Ademar, Bishop of prit energetically rejected
- 26:31Speaker 1: them all, and an unexpected incident considered as miraculous, reassured
- 26:37Speaker 1: the wavering spirits, both of soldiers and of chiefs. A
- 26:41Speaker 1: priest of Marseilles, Peter Bartholomew, came and announced to the
- 26:45Speaker 1: chiefs that Saint Andrew had thrice appeared to him in
- 26:49Speaker 1: a dream, saying, go into the church of my brother
- 26:53Speaker 1: Peter at Antioch, and hard by the high altar, thou
- 26:57Speaker 1: wilt find, on digging up the ground, the head of
- 27:00Speaker 1: the spear which pierced our Deemer's side, that carried in
- 27:04Speaker 1: front of the army, will bring about the deliverance of
- 27:07Speaker 1: the Christians. The appointed search was solemnly conducted under the
- 27:12Speaker 1: eye of twelve reputable witnesses, priests and knights. The whole
- 27:17Speaker 1: army was in attendance at the closed gates of the church.
- 27:21Speaker 1: The spear head was found and carried off in triumph.
- 27:24Speaker 1: A pious enthusiasm restored to all present entire confidence, and
- 27:29Speaker 1: with loud shouts they demanded battle. The chiefs judged it
- 27:33Speaker 1: proper to announce their determination to the chief of the Mussulman,
- 27:37Speaker 1: and for this mission they chose Peter the Hermit who
- 27:40Speaker 1: was known to them as a bold and able speaker.
- 27:45Speaker 1: Peter On, arriving at the enemy's camp, presented himself without
- 27:49Speaker 1: any mark of respect before the Sultan Corboga, surrounded by
- 27:53Speaker 1: his say traps, and said, the Sacred Assembly of Princes,
- 27:58Speaker 1: pleasing to God, who are at Anti Tioch, doth send
- 28:01Speaker 1: me unto Thy Highness to advise THEE that thou art
- 28:04Speaker 1: to cease from thy importunities, and that thou abandon the
- 28:08Speaker 1: siege of a city which the Lord, in his divine
- 28:11Speaker 1: mercy hath given up to them. The Prince of the
- 28:14Speaker 1: Apostles did rest that city from idolatry and convert it
- 28:18Speaker 1: to the faith of Christ. He had forcibly but unjustly
- 28:22Speaker 1: taken possession of it. They, who be moved by a
- 28:25Speaker 1: right lawful anxiety for this heritage of their ancestors, make
- 28:29Speaker 1: their demand of THEE that thou choose between diverse offers,
- 28:34Speaker 1: either give up the siege of the city and cease
- 28:37Speaker 1: troubling the Christians, or within three days from hence try
- 28:41Speaker 1: the power of our arms, and that thou seek not
- 28:44Speaker 1: after any even a lawful subterfuge. They offer THEE further
- 28:49Speaker 1: choice between diverse determinations. Either appear alone in person to
- 28:54Speaker 1: fight with one of our princes, in order that if
- 28:57Speaker 1: victorious thou mayest obtain all thou canst demand, or if
- 29:02Speaker 1: vanquished thou mayst remain quiet, Or again pick out diverse
- 29:07Speaker 1: of thine who shall fight on the same terms with
- 29:09Speaker 1: the same number of ours. Or lastly, agree that the
- 29:14Speaker 1: two armies shall prove one against the other the fortune
- 29:17Speaker 1: of battle. Peter answered Corboga ironically, it is not likely
- 29:23Speaker 1: that the affairs of the princes who have sent thee
- 29:26Speaker 1: be in such state that they can thus offer me
- 29:28Speaker 1: choice betwixt diversed proposals, and that I should be bound
- 29:32Speaker 1: to accept that which may suit me best. My sword
- 29:36Speaker 1: hath brought them to such a condition that they have
- 29:39Speaker 1: not themselves any longer the power of choosing freely, and
- 29:43Speaker 1: that they be constrained to shape and unshape their wishes
- 29:46Speaker 1: according to my good pleasure. Go then, and tell these
- 29:50Speaker 1: fools that all whom I shall find in full possession
- 29:53Speaker 1: of all the powers of the manly age, shall have
- 29:56Speaker 1: their lives and shall be reserved for me for my
- 30:00Speaker 1: master's service, and that all others shall fall beneath my
- 30:04Speaker 1: sword as useless trees, so that there shall remain of them,
- 30:08Speaker 1: not even a faint remembrance. Had I not deemed it
- 30:12Speaker 1: more convenient to destroy them by famine than to smite
- 30:15Speaker 1: them with the sword, I should already have gotten forcible
- 30:18Speaker 1: mastery of the city, and they would have reaped the
- 30:21Speaker 1: fruits of their voyage, hither by undergoing the law of vengeance.
- 30:26Speaker 1: End of Chapter sixteen, Part three,