GLORIOUS DEATH OF DE MAILLE MARSHALL OF THE TEMPLE
Book VII.. Joseph-Francois Michaud .. Illustrated by Gustave Dore

History of the Crusades

Illus -39 Tissue

GLORIOUS DEATH OF DE MAILLÉ MARSHALL OF THE TEMPLE

Above all rest, nothing could equal the heroic valour of Jacques de Maille, a knight of the Temple. Mounted on a white horse, he remained alone in the field of battle, and fought on, surrounded by heaps of slain. Although hemmed in on all sides, he refused to surrender. The horse which he rode, worn out with fatique and exhusted by wounds, sank under him, and dragged him with him ; but the intrepid knight arose, lance in hand, covered with blood and dust, and bristling with arrows, and rushed upon the ranks of the Mussulmans, astonished at his audacity ; at length he fell, covered with wounds, but fighting to the last. The Saracens took him for St. George, whom the Christians believed they saw descend from heaven to join their battalions. After his death the Turkish soldiers, whom and old historian calls THE CHILDREN OF BABYLON AND SODOM, drew near with signs of respect to his body, slain by a thosand wounds ; they wiped off the blood, they shared the rags of his clothes and the fragments of his arms, and, in their brutal excitement, evinced their admiration by actions which make modesty blush when speaking of them. - Book VII

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In Michuad's History in the passages of the Glorious death of de Maillé, he states he blushes to detail what the Saracens did with the remains of Jakeline de Maillé the German born knight of the Temple. Not so for, H. G. B, Chronicles of the Crusades. Geoffrey de Vinsauf (Richard de Tamplo is penciled in my copy) relates about de Maillé . . .by his extraordinary valour provoked the enemy to turn all their attacks to him. His fellow soldiers, who were estimated about 500 in number, were all either taken or slain, and he alone sustained the weight of the whole battle, —a glorious champion for God's law! At length, hemmed in by the enemy's troops, and destitute of all human aid, seeing so many thousands rushing upon him on every side, he gathered up his whole courage for an effort, and bravely faced the foe alone. His valour attracted the admiration of his enemies ; they were filled with compassion for him, and called earnestly to him to surrender. He, however turning a dear ear to their exhortations, was not afraid to die for Christ, but overwhelmed with a load of Javelins, stones, and lances, rather than vanquished, he at length was with difficulty slain, and his soul fled triumphant, bearing the palm of martyrdom, to the heavenly kingdom. His death indeed was rendered glorious, since by his single sword so large a circle of dead bodies had been heaped around him. It was sweet for a man to die thus, himself in the centre, surrounded by the unbelievers whom his brave arm had slaughtered. . . . One man as is said, more ardent then the rest, cut off certain members of the man, and kept them for his own use, that even though dead they might perchance produce a successor to such distinguished valour.

Notes: pages 219 to 220 this battle was fought on the first of May, 1187. Templars siding with Guy and the Templar Grand Master's strong convictions against Raymond causing a further deep divide pages 218 -230 ultimately Saladin's capture of Jerusalem