History of the Crusades

Illus -46 Tissue

RICHARD COEUR DE LION DELIVERING JAFFA

Richard, who had conquered the Saracens, was not wise enough to profit by their defeat ; instead of pursuing the enemy, or marching straight to Jerusalem, he led his army to Jaffa, the ramparts of which Saladin had demolished, and which the Mussulmans had abandoned. He occupied himself with repairing the fortifications, and sent for Queen Berengaria, Jane, the widow of the king of Sicily, and the daughter of Issac. Surrounded by a brilliant court, he forgot, in the intoxication of pleasure and festivities, the conquest of Jerusalem for which he had come to Asia. At the head of a weak detachment, he took a convoy of seven thousand camels on the way to Jerusalem ; on another occasion, going on board a vessel with a few knights, he landed at Jaffa, where the banner of Saladin floated over the towers and ramparts ; he pursued the conquerors sword in hand, and forced them to abandon their temporary conquest. A few days after, the king, with a troop of chosen knights, attacked a body of seven thousand Mussulman horse ; he rushed in amongst them, and with a stroke of his sabre struck dead at his feet the leader of the Saracens, who all appeared stupefied and motionless with surprise and fear. - Book VIII

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Notes; page 262 to 264 the Treaty of Peace between Saladin and Richard . . . pages 264 to 265 Europe had the greater reason to deplore the losses of this war, from the fact of her armies having been so much better composed than in preceding expeditions ; criminals, adventurers, and vagabonds, had been strictly excluded from the ranks. The Crusaders that contended with Saladin were better armed and better disciplined than any that preceded them in Plaestine ; the foot-soldiers emplyed the cross-bow, which had been neglected or prohibited in the second crusade. Their cuirasses, and their bucklers covered with thick leather, defied the arrows of the Saracens ; and on the field of battle, soldiers were often seen bristling with arrows and darts, whom the Arabs compared to porcupines, still keeping their ranks and fighting bravely. . . .

The Saracens had likewise made some progress in the art of of war, and began to resume the use of the lance, which they did not employ when the first Crusaders arrived in Syria. The Mussulman armies were not confused multitudes ; they remained longer under their banners, and fought with less disordr. The Curds and Turks surpassed the Franks in the art of attacking and defending cities and castles. The Mussulmans had, besides, more than one advantage over the Crusaders ; they made war upon their own territories and in their own climate ; they were under the command of one single leader, who communicated the same spirit to all, and only presented to them one cause to defend.

The Christians, rather more enlightened than during the first crusades, stood in less need of excitement from the visions of fanaticism. The passion for glory was for them almost as powerful a principle as religious enthusiasm. Chivalry also made great progress in this crusade ; it was held in such honour, and the title of KNIGHT was so glorious, even in the eyes of the infidels, that Saladin did not disdain to be decorated with it.

The sentiment of honour, and the humanity which is inseparable from it, often dried tears that the disasters of war had caused to flow ; tender and viruous passions associated themselves in the minds of Heros with the austere maxims of religion and the sanquinary images of battle. Amidst the corruption of camps, love, by inspiring the knights and troubadours who had taken the cross with noble and delicate sentiments, preserved them from the seductions of gross debauchery. More than one warrior, animated by the rememberance of beauty, caused his bravery to be greatly admired, whilst fighting against the Saracens. It was in this crusade that the Chatelain de Coucy fell, mortally wounded, by the side of Richard. In a song, which is still extant, he had bid adieu to France, saying that he went to the Holy Land to obtain three things of inestimable value to a knight, . . . Paradise, glory, and the love of his mistress.

Notes: pages 265 to 267 more about Richard in closing. The remainder of Saladin's days and the remainder of Richard's including the trials he was subject to. .page . . . Richard a captive of the Duke of Austria, later the Emperor of Germany. . . . The hero of the crusade, who had filled the world with his renown, was cast into a dark dungeon, and remained a long time a victim to the vengeance of his enemies ---and they were Christian princes. ...