On the Track of Peter
The Crusaders' Discipline
At this point, as the army marched through Bulgaria, traces of Peter and his army begin to appear. Refugees who had hidden in the woods came to the camps in rags and emaciation. The castle where Rinaldo sought refuge was pointed out to the new comers as the tomb of all his companions. The mountain at the foot of which Walter's army had died was indicated with tears. The site of the camp where Walter had left the women and the sick, and which was captured by the Turks at the supreme moment of the mass, only that the venerable might be slain and the women and children carried into slavery, roused the indignation of the Crusaders beyond any other spot. It had one good effect. In bringing on a much needed unity, it brought also a discipline enforced by the calamities whose evident cause was the lack of it.
Arrive at Nicea
The spring brought the opportunity of battle to the Crusaders, and a strong foe met them in the person of the Turk David and his army. He had fortified Nicea, a city famous for two Councils and now the capital of David's kingdom. Nature defended it by high mountains and a lake, and art by walls, towers, and flooded ditches. Garrisoned by the best of David's troops, one hundred thousand more waited near by to their help. Five hundred thousand foot-soldiers and one hundred thousand horsemen came at length in sight of the city for the first real battle of their Crusade against the infidel. These, in camping before the city, divided their allotments by walls piled from the bones of the Crusaders who had fallen on that field. Nineteen languages were heard in the camp, and each nation fought as it would. Clash and clang soon came, and the Turks, routed, fled to the hills, only to return the next day and to be beaten a second time. Three thousand Turkish heads were hurled by catapults into the city by way of information.
Awful Scenes
Bodies Hurled into City
The records paint an awful picture of the siege. Whatever of mechanism or method was known to Greeks or Romans was employed by besiegers and besieged. Stones, fireballs, bunches of arrows, heavy beams were fired into the city by ballista and catapult, and were fired back with equal skill and abundance. The battering-rams breached the wall and found new walls rising just within. The besieged fished with iron hooks from the top of the walls, and hauled the captured Crusaders alive totheir death at the summit. Stripped, they were used as stones for catapults, and stark naked were fired back into the Christian camp. A Goliath among the Saracens being killed, the Crusaders were greatly heartened, and, having gained some advantages, redoubled their attack. The enemy's supplies by way of the lake were cut off, and their resistance grew feebler. A tower was undermined, and the thunder of its fall in the night alarmed both Christians and Turks.
The Trick of Alexius
After a siege of seven weeks, and when the city was ready to fall, Alexius succeeded in putting his emissary into the city, who persuaded the Turks to surrender to him, and the besiegers found the standard of Alexius floating from the walls. The indignation of some was stayed by presents, and craft brought Tancred to a slow oath of allegiance. But the mass understood the treachery, and henceforth good feeling between Latin and Greek was impossible.
Resumes March
Resting awhile near Nicea, the Crusaders in two bodies at length resumed their march through Asia Minor. One was led by Godfrey, the other by Bohemond and Tancred. Both were equally ignorant of the perils of the mountains and of the arid plains which were in their way. Bohemond'sarmy was surprised near a river by which they were encamped. Wave after wave of Turks rolled over them and were driven back. Their women were captured by the Turks when they did not first prefer death at their own hands.
Bravery of the Leaders
Rout of the Turks
The different leaders—Bohemond, Robert the Duke of Normandy, Tancred, Richard of Salermo, Stephen, Count of Blois—threw themselves into the fight, drove the Turks back, but yielded ground, through exhaustion, to fresh Turkish re-enforcements. All seemed lost when Raymond and Godfrey appeared with the other division of the Christian army. These chased the Turks into the mountains, flanked them on both sides, got into their rear, and met them as they fled down the mountain. The wearied ranks which had despaired had joined in the charge. The Turks were routed; twenty thousand fell on the field, and the enemy's camp fell into Crusading hands. Returning to bury their four thousand dead, they stripped off the Saracen robes and swords and seem little less than barbarians in their orgies of joy.
Pestilence and Famine
The Turks now gave up direct battle, and devastated the country through which the Christians must pass. Determined to separate no more, the Crusaders became by their numbers more exposedto the dangers of pestilence and famine. Almost all the horses perished in the desolated country. The knights laden with armor found it impossible to march, and some rode asses and oxen when they could be found. The lowliest animals, even hogs were made burden-bearers until these, too, perished and left their loads to be wasted on the road. After unmentionable horrors of birth and death, the army was rescued by the finding of water by the dogs, who, however, exposed by their finding it many incautious drinkers to death from too quickly filling themselves with water. The fair and fertile Pisidia reached, the Crusaders were in comfort, plenty, and peace.
Victory Opens Road
The news of their victories preceding them opened the timid cities to their entrance, and brought them abundant supplies. Brought into despair by the apparent death of Raymond of Toulouse and the serious wounding of Godfrey by a bear, they rejoiced in the recovery of both as a miracle in the camp.
How childish these and other giants in warfare were, appeared by the breaking out of rivalries and quarrels even in the face of the enemy.
Baldwin Forgets the Cross
These details multiplied as they passed on until Baldwin forgot the cross entirely, and became kingin Edessa, which served as a city of help and refuge to later Crusaders.
Famine and Pestilence Again
Bad News and Desertions
A dreadful mountain passage where men must march in single file, and where pack-horses were crowded off precipices, introduces them at length to Syria, within whose bounds the Palestine of their desire was included. Antioch lay in their way, and was besieged with many difficulties and dangers; some from the presumption of a foolish faith; others from the thoroughness with which supplies had been destroyed by the Turks. Famine came on through the lack of foresight, and pestilence quickly followed. The winter rains inundated the camps, and the dead in the general distress were left unburied. The foraging parties could repulse the Turks and even capture their camps, but could not find within practicable range food enough for the army. Their communications were cut off by sea through the withdrawal of the Italian and Flemish fleets, and the army settled down to abject misery, despair, and death, as they heard that Swerro, King of Denmark, with his promised bride and fifteen hundred warriors, had been slain by the Turks while marching to join the main army. Almost for the first time soldiers began to desert, hopeless of capturing Antioch or of reaching the Holy Land.
Peter Reappears
Peter the Hermit, who appears to have marched silently with the army, now, of all men, shrinking under the criticisms of the army, flees secretly from the camp. They had lost the Duke of Normandy, Tatius, William of Melun, by temporary or permanent desertion, but the flight of Peter made the most noise and caused the greatest scandal. He was punished by Tancred and brought back in disgrace, and was compelled to swear on the Bible that he would never run away again.
A Wicked Camp
Remedy for Wickedness
Perhaps he ran from the awful wickedness of the camp as well as from the famine and pestilence. The soldiers, expecting soon to die, gave themselves up to gambling, every phase of lust, and to drunkenness, when the means thereof could be obtained. A good element of the clergy, notably the Bishop of Puy, by word and example sought to stay the full flood of wickedness. It happened then, as in every age, that a sign, something seen of the eye, had more power than words addressed to the conscience. An Aurora, a rare phenomenon to most, was claimed by the preachers to be a warning from God. Processions of penitents began to march about the camp. Penalties for drunkenness were devised, the hair being cut off in drunken sleep. Blasphemers were branded. Turks andSyrians were spitted and roasted by Bohemond, who thus rid the camp of unfriendly mouths and dangerous spies. The good bishop who preached against sin wrought practical godliness by compelling the soldiers to plant the fields about Antioch. This provided food and persuaded the Turks of the indomitable spirit of the Crusaders. Provisions began to come in greater abundance, and pestilence was stayed by the opening of spring.
Egyptians Seek Reliance with Crusaders
It is a curious fact that at this time an alliance, wisely rejected for the most part, was sought by the Egyptians with the Christians as against the Turks. This condition would have put the Christians wholly in the hands of the Caliph of Egypt the moment the allied armies had possessed Jerusalem. The spirits of the Crusaders were greatly raised by a victory over twenty thousand Turks who came to the relief of Antioch. Two thousand men and one thousand horses were killed. The "gentleness" of the Crusaders' conception of Christianity was shown by loading two hundred Turkish heads on four camels and sending them as a present to the departing Egyptian envoys, and two hundred more Turkish heads were thrown into the city of Antioch, while many more were stuck on pikes around the walls.
Carlessness Brings Attack
But they met disaster as well, because nothing seemed to make them see the importance of discipline and of precaution against surprise. Going unarmed in great numbers to St. Simeon to bring provisions from the Italian fleets, they were dispersed by the Turks. Godfrey, whose great figure is always seen when disaster is to be retrieved, follows the Turks, heavy with their plunder, routs them, and, having made wise disposition of troops, prevents the retreating army from re-enforcing Antioch.
Slaughter of the Turks
Details of Valor
The besieged in Antioch witnessed the awful battle from their walls, and the river Orontes drowned two thousand who escaped from the Crusaders' swords. A great picture of personal valor is seen when, in hand-to-hand battle with a Saracen leader, Robert of Normandy salutes him with the words, "I devote thy impure soul to the powers of hell," and splits his skull to the shoulders with a single blow. Even a greater tale of ferocious strength is told of Godfrey, who, when his shield had been broken by a great Saracen, raised himself on his stirrups and cut with such appalling strength that one part of the Saracen remained on the horse and the other fell to the ground. The Mohammedans having buried most of their number who died near their walls in their arms and robes, camp followers of Christian name dug them up, stripped off all valuables, and paraded through the Christian camps two thousand Turkish heads, which were thrown, when the procession was over, into the Orontes.
An Armenian Scoundrel
Antioch Taken by Treachery
These details are surely enough to show the diabolical cruelty with which the siege of Antioch was carried on by both sides. The wily governor of Antioch decrees a truce, and breaks it as soon as he has provisioned the city. What would possibly have been refused to arms was given, after seven months' siege to policy and stratagem. Bohemond found an Armenian, a renegade Christian, among the commanders of the army of Antioch, managed to meet him, and baited him with great promises. The project to buy the way into the city was rejected by the noble minds, but Bohemond took advantage of the approach of a great Turkish army, then only seven days distant, to fill the camp with dread of surrender and of safety only in talk. Phirous, the Armenian, had been well trained by Bohemond, and offered to surrender his corner of the city only to Bohemond. Fear of destruction brought all the leaders to Bohemond's idea except Raymond. The defenders of Antioch suspected treason throughPhirous, and almost defeated the plans of that scoundrel. But the renegade, keeping an inscrutable face under question, and being dismissed with praises, stabbed his own brother to the heart when he refused to aid the traitorous plan, and in the blackness of a night storm admitted one and another by means of a leather ladder until there were enough to take the city and put the surprised and awakened Mussulmans to the sword. The morning light showed the flag of Bohemond waving over Antioch, but at the expense of six thousand defenders dead.
Phirous received great wealth for his treachery; followed the Crusaders to Jerusalem; remained Christian for two years; then turned Mohammedan again, and died detested and abhorred by Mohammedan and Christian alike.
Attacked by Egyptian Army
Famine Once More
The fall of Antioch was quickly followed by new dangers for the Christians. The army whose approach brought them to acquiesce in the treachery of Phirous was soon at hand, and the Christians were soon besieged in front of and within the city they had just won. Famine once more was on them. Horses were eaten first, and then hogs and dogs; finally the leather of their boots and the corpses of Saracens. The usual desertions followed, and starvation brought all the horrors of frenzy and blasphemy from those who believed God ought to correct human follies by miraculous power. Alexius, who had begun a march to the relief of Antioch, stopped when deserters told him the situation of the Latins. Perhaps he was not ill-pleased over the news.
Encouraged by Prodigies
The historians of the time say that the courage of the Crusaders was revived through their superstitions. At the moment of the greatest despair and when the infidel general had refused their terms of surrender, prodigies and visions came for their encouragement. St. Ambrose, the Virgin, Jesus Himself, were seen by some in the churches. The leaders bound themselves anew by oath not to desert the cause, and the army finally followed the example of their captains. New wonders were reported to confirm their resolve. A priest in his sleep saw St. Andrew three times, who told him to dig near the principal altar of St. Peter's church, and he would find the head of the spear which pierced the Redeemer's side. This should lead them to victory. After three days of prayer twelve of the clergy and knights dug in silence, and had gone down twelve feet without avail. At night, when the twelve witnesses were at prayers, Barthelmijumped into the hole and climbed out with the iron in his hands!
Peter Delivers Challenge
Peter's Boldness
Whether the Christian leaders felt that they could better spare Peter than a general we do not know, but we do know that, with the great revival of courage, challenge was sent to the Saracens for general engagement or single combat, and Peter the Hermit was the messenger. He was in his element when he could talk. Though treated contemptuously by his audience, he spoke as if he was the greatest ruler of the earth. It is a wonder that they did not promptly kill him for his insolence. He told them that Asia Minor properly belonged to Christians, that God had permitted it to fall into Turkish hands on account of Christian sins, but God was now arisen to fight on the Christian side. "Now," he says, "leave and go to your own country. We will not humble you. We will pray for your conversion to the true faith. If you will not go, and will not become Christians, let us decide all matters by battle by a few knights, or by one, or by a general fight."
Embassy Driven Away
The perilous situation of the Christians was known to Kerbogha, the Mohammedan general, and he was enraged at the impudence of Peter. "You are as good as conquered and come to me to dictate terms. Go back and tell them they must receive conditions, and not make them. If you will acknowledge Mohammed, I will feed and clothe you, and may leave Antioch in your hands. If not, we shall see what the sword will do!" Peter and his escort were driven off, and were several times in danger of death on the way back. Battle was ordered for the next day by the Christian captains.
During the night a hidden supply of provisions was found. The Crusaders strengthened themselves by a meal and the offices of religion, and day coming, the Christian army, representing the twelve apostles, marched out in twelve divisions.
Carrying the Lance-Head
Disposition for Battle
Raymond D'Agiles carried the lance-head and fixed their attention on it. Some of the priests chanted a warlike psalm in the front rank, while others blessed the outgoing army from the walls. The walls and the hills echoed the cry, "God wills it! God wills it!" The appearance of the army was such as to fill the Mussulmans with contempt. Ragged, thin, and weak, mounted on asses and camels, on anything which could carry them, they deployed to meet the fifteen masses of Saracens. The Crusaders soon cut to pieces the two thousand who guarded the bridge of Antioch, and ranged themselves where the mountain protected them fromsurprise. The great names commanded the wings and the center, with Bohemond in reserve. The early hours were friendly to the Christians. Later they were sorely hurt by a surprise from a body of Saracens who had passed around the mountain and had attacked their rear. The grass was fired in front of the Christians by the sultan of Nicea, a fact which was near ruining the prospects of the Christians.
Prodigy of Horsemen
Hundred Thousand Turks Killed
Once again a prodigy is reported. A squadron descends from the mountains, led by three white horsemen. A bishop, perhaps himself the inventor of this pious fraud, cries out to the wavering Crusaders: "Behold, heavenly succor has come!" Instantly the Christians revive and renew the attack, and the Saracens were put to rout. Failing even to rally on the other side of the river, they left behind them their arms and their baggage. Their general had only a small body-guard as he fled toward the Euphrates. With horses captured on the field, the Christians kept up the pursuit. A hundred thousand of the infidels died, and four thousand Christians won the martyr's crown. The battle enriched the Crusaders beyond any hope or experience, and Antioch was filled with the captured booty. The historian declares, "Horrors had made the Christians invincible. This was the only miracle."
Disputes Follow Victory
With this astounding victory the march of the Crusaders almost ceased to meet armed resistance. The mass of the army clamored to march on to Jerusalem. The leaders were divided. Some said, "Let us march before the enemy recovers from the terror of our arms." The majority of the leaders forgot the Holy City in the pleasures, securities, and conquests of Syria. This gave strength to their arguments to wait for the re-enforcements of men and horses for which they asked the home authorities.
Fifty Thousand Christians die of Pestilence
Pestilence was the penalty of delay, and fifty thousand old and new warriors died in and near Antioch. Yet in such times Christians could quarrel, and Bohemond was denied by the Count of Toulouse the full possession of Antioch. They were ready to fight. Others followed their example, and all important time was wasted by quarrels and recriminations. At the very foot of the altar some of the leaders lied and quarreled to gain power. Bands roamed over Syria wherever there was a chance to loot; fighting over it when taken, and dying of starvation and thirst whenever they met unexpected resistance.
Piety and Villainy
The world has never seen a greater mixture of piety and villainy than among these Crusaders.They could rape, rob, and murder with a good conscience, yet must be numbered among the most heroic of men. They endured uncomplainingly long marches in heat and cold, in hunger, thirst, and pestilence. They fought superior numbers with amazing courage. The one supreme virtue was valor against man and beast.
Excursions While Waiting
Careless Again
The long wait for orders to march to Jerusalem sent some leaders out to take cities over which they might rule, and others to visit the Christian leaders who had already won thrones. But most remained in a demoralizing inactivity until a prodigy of electrical balls of light, or possibly a meteoric shower, started, by various interpretations, the mass into securing their rear by the capture and subjugation of several Syrian cities. In one of these sieges the Saracens threw something like Greek fire down on the besiegers, and followed this with hives of bees. Always the Crusaders seemed to be without a proper preparation for food, and before more than one city the Christian soldiers cooked and ate the bodies of their enemies; and it is even reported that human flesh was sold in the shambles of their camp, as the flesh of dogs certainly was.
Saracens Defile the Cross
In all this horror the spirits of the Crusaders were fortified by the outrages of the Saracens onthe symbol of Christianity. They erected crosses on their walls, covered them with filth, and reviled the worshipers. It was poor policy for the besieged. It infuriated the natural passions and inflamed the religious zeal of the besiegers. Constructing engines which shattered the walls, the Crusaders made themselves masters of the fortifications. In the dusk they did not dare to enter the city. In the morning it appeared to be deserted, but the inhabitants were discovered in subterranean refuges. They were soon smoked out, and were slaughtered without regard to age or sex. Thus fell the city of Maarah, of which no stone was left. Awful as this was for men wearing the cross of Christ, it spread such terror that life may have been saved thereby, since other cities willingly opened their gates.
Soldiers Desire Attack
The common soldiers refused longer to interest themselves in the quarrels of their leaders, and, hearing that the Egyptians had taken Jerusalem, demanded to be led on, and threatened to choose new leaders unless their old ones showed the way to Jerusalem. Raymond finding that he must lead or be left behind, forsook his ambition, led in a procession of penitence, and gave the signal for departure.
During the six months after the capture of Antioch most of the leaders seemed to have contemplated no forward step.
Raymond Orders March
Re-enforcements from England
Quarrels and Miracles
Alexius and His Craft
Egyptian Bribes
But the orders of Raymond to march filled many with enthusiasm, and, under the lead of Raymond, Tancred, and the Duke of Normandy, the army traversed the territories of Syrian Cæsarea, Hamath, and Edessa. They were welcomed by Moslem and Christian alike. Fear pleaded for this with the first, and sympathy with the last. Protection was sought at the hands of the invaders, and presents and food were abundantly provided. They were surprised and delighted by the return of Christian prisoners believed to have perished on the battle-field. A portion of the army reached Laodicea, and welcomed there re-enforcements from England. But the main object was still postponed, and the army under separate leaders attacked neighboring cities. Raymond sat down before Archas, and was firmly resisted. Godfrey went to lay siege to Gibel,and Raymond of Turenne to Tortosa. This period of delay and of excursions for the sake of loot, was chiefly occupied by those who remained in camp, with disgraceful quarrels when not engaged in inventing miracles, and noising them abroad. The first seem to have been largely checked by the appearance of an ambassador from the Emperor Alexius of Constantinople, who proved himself, while professing friendship, about the worst enemy the Crusaders had. Just now he reproached them with gentleness, being afraid of them, for not putting the cities they had captured under his dominion. He promised to follow them with an army into Jerusalem if the Crusaders would give him time to prepare. Sick of his treacheries, and feeling only contempt for him personally, his new complaints and promises served only to cement and unify them and make them the more ready to march on. As to the miracles, they ceased when, in the ordeal by fire, Barthelemi, the author of the Holy Lance, came through the flames mortally injured. The Caliph of Cairo, with whom it was believed Alexius was in league, had already possessed himself of Jerusalem, and, fearing for his authority there, sent ambassadors to treat with the Christian army. Rich presents were brought to the leaderssufficient to tempt the avarice which had grown by conquest. The announcement by the ambassadors that the gates of Jerusalem would be opened only to unarmed Christians—a proposition which the leaders had rejected when in the miseries of the siege of Antioch—enraged those in authority.
The Crusaders' Answer
The answer of the Christian leaders was an order to prepare to march and a threat to carry the war into Egypt itself. The Emir of Tripoli attacked them with fearful loss, and was mulcted heavily in tribute and provisions. All headed toward Jerusalem with the way cleared by fear of Christian arms, except Raymond, who was finally compelled to march also by the threatened rebellion of his soldiers. Late May found the Crusading army in the field. They passed through a rich country, whose harvests were finished and whose orchards bore abundantly oranges, pomegranates, and olives.
A Rich Country
Yet as they marched they were mindful that battle and pestilence had reduced their numbers by two hundred thousand. Some had returned home, unable to endure the hardships, and many had remained in the conquered cities through which they had passed. The army numbered scarcely fifty thousand real soldiers. Yet much that was gonewas a relief to their camp-chests and their commissary. One historian thinks this fifty thousand to have been really stronger than the horde which besieged Nicea.
Along the Sea Coasts
The line of march was along the seacoasts that the sea might furnish them provisions through the Flemish and Italian fleets. They reach Accon, the modern Acre, to find the Emir promising everything but immediate surrender, and that also when Jerusalem was occupied. A wounded pigeon, picked up by the Bishop of Apt, had under its wing a letter from the Emir of Accon to the Emir of Cæsarea which said, "The accursed Christians have just passed through my territories, and will soon be in yours. Let the Mussulman rulers be warned, and let our enemies be crushed!" The Crusaders naturally believed this a providence of great assurance and value, and presently moved inland and took possession of Lydda and Ramla.
Near Jerusalem
They were now but sixteen miles from Jerusalem. A stronger desire to march on Egypt led some to counsel delay. But agreement to march to Jerusalem was had, and, with temporary desertions and cautious advances and the marking houses and towns as private possessions, they came at last near Emmaus. Terrified by a lunar eclipse, some arepanic-stricken, but the phenomenon is well explained and held to be a sign of victory.
Jerusalem from the Hill
Now, those who slept that night could hope, could know that, with the climbing of a hill, daylight would reveal Jerusalem. On the 10th of June, 1099, the first who reached the summit at break of day, cried out, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem," and the crowd rushing after cried, "God wills it!" as they looked upon the Mount of Olives and the Holy City. Riders climbed down from their horses and marched on foot; many knelt, and multitudes kissed the ground. The sense of the sin for whose forgiveness Christ had died, brought many to tears of honest penitence and some to conscious pardon. As they looked on the height where His profaned tomb must be, they wept bitter tears and vowed again to deliver the city.
Country Laid Waste
Before the Christians could invest the city its ruler took care to ravage the adjacent territory, poison the wells, and thus belted the walls with a desert. He provisioned the city against a siege, and fashioned all known engines of war. The garrison of forty thousand was increased by twenty thousand arm-bearing citizens.
Plan for Attack
On the day after arrival, the various leaders distributed the territory and laid siege to the city.Egress from the city was possible only through the valley of Gihon and the valley of Jehoshaphat. Christians from the city, driven out for fear of treason and to burden the resources of the besiegers, quickened the ardor of the Christian army by an account of the wrongs they had suffered at Mussulman hands. Churches had been robbed for the benefit of infidel soldiers, and the most sacred buildings were threatened with destruction by the unbelievers. All these conditions led to a determination of an early assault. They had made no adequate provision for scaling walls or battering gates, but expected Divine intervention in their favor. The assault was repulsed, and their losses brought the victory of reason.
Constructing Engines of War
Finding some large beams, they demolished churches and houses to obtain other material. The drought of summer came on; the cisterns had been filled up or poisoned; Kedron ran dry, and thirst added its horrors. The intermitting fountain of Siloam was insufficient. The soldiers were reduced to licking the dew from the stones. Animals died in great numbers. The loot of great cities was exchanged for a few draughts of foul water. Fear alone prevented the sortie from the city which would have nearly extinguished the Christian army.Some fled. The wonder is that so many remained and saw that the only remedy for their evils lay in the capture of the city.
Aided by German Fleet
Scarcity of Water
As if a sudden gift from God, a German fleet reached Jaffa. It was well unloaded before capture by a Saracen fleet, and the detachment sent from the besiegers to open communication, searched Jaffa, and the provisions and instruments and material for war were carried to the Crusaders' camp. Desiring yet more, a native led the Duke of Normandy to a forest thirty miles from the city, and this timber was dragged to the city. Regular expeditions to find water were successfully organized, and lines of women and children quickly passed it to the camp. Bunches of faggots were rapidly accumulated and machines of war grew each day, and were planted for the next attack. They made three towers higher than the walls of the city, with a draw-bridge, over which the besiegers might reach the top of the walls.
Religious Processions
Peter's Address
All being ready, they fortified their courage by religious exercises, and with the clergy leading, marched around the city. From the valley which faces Calvary, the Crusaders set out, passing by the reputed tomb of Mary, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Mount of Olives. They halted on theMount of the Ascension to reconcile all differences and seal pardon with mutual prayer. The Saracens raised crosses on the walls, and denied them in every way which could be devised by a foul imagination. After a long silence, Peter the Hermit once more finds voice: "You hear them! You hear their threats and blasphemies! Christ dies again on Calvary for your sins. Swear, swear to defend them. The army of infidels will soon disappear. The mosques shall be temples of the true God." And much more did Peter say after his old eloquent fashion, and with results which were wholly like those which followed his early preaching. The soldiers fell on each other's necks, praised God, and pledged themselves to finish the holy work they had begun. They passed the night after their return to camp in prayer and in the reception of the holy sacrament.
The Mohammedans spent their time also in exercises of their religion, and thus both sides were animated by the extreme of devout zeal.
Saracen Machines
The Christian leaders resolved to make the attack before the courage of their army could diminish by longer contemplation of the difficulties and dangers of the assault. The Saracens had built up their machines opposite those of the Christians, andto the last determined, as their mechanism seemed more movable, to change their locality and attack at a less prepared spot. During the night Godfrey moved his quarters to the gate of Kedar. With the greatest difficulty the tower on wheels and other machines were moved. Tancred got his machines ready between the gate of Damascus and the angular tower known later as the Tower of Tancred.
Filling a Ravine
A ravine which needed to be filled delayed Raymond, who succeeded, by paying a small sum to every one who would throw three stones, in building, in three days, a good path across the ravine. This done, the signal was given for a general attack.
The Fight Begins
The camp of the Christians was summoned to arms by the trumpets on the 14th of July, 1099. Men and machines began their awful task. The air was full of flints hurled to the walls by ballistas and mangonels. Under large shields and covered galleries, the battering-rams approached the walls. A cloud of arrows swept the ramparts, and the ladders were erected at the most promising points. Northeast and south the rolling towers were pushed to the walls, and Godfrey set the example of being first to open the battle from their tops. The resistance was as vigorous as the attack. Arrows, spears,boiling oil, Greek fire, and the missiles from the besieged machines repulsed the attack. Through a hole made by the besiegers the besieged attacked the machines of the Christians, hoping to burn them. Night came on after a twelve hours' fight without victory to either side.
Battle of Second Day
Saracens Attempt to Burn Towers
The next day, after a night spent in repairing the attacking machines on the one hand and the guardian walls on the other, the order to attack was early given after heartening speeches by the Christian leaders and tent-to-tent visitations by the clergy. An Egyptian army was reported as approaching and the report greatly encouraged the besieged. The besiegers were infuriated by a damaging resistance, whose strength and energy they had underrated. The battle opened with a fierceness unparalleled. Javelins, stones, and beams were hurled in such numbers that some met in the air and both fell on the besiegers. Flaming torches and firepots were hurled from the walls. The Christian towers did their work in the midst of flames, particularly the Tower of Godfrey, on whose roof a golden cross shone. The leaders fought amidst piles of their dead and seemed to be invulnerable themselves. Breaches were made in the walls behind which stood a living barricade of Saracens.An Egyptian emissary was caught, his message to the besieged squeezed from him, and his body was then hurled from a catapult into the city. The wooden machines of the Christians began to burn, as well as the battering-rams and their roofs, while their guards and operators were crushed and buried under their ruins. The attacking force was fought to a standstill, and was reviled for their worship of a helpless God.
Body Hurled From Catapult
Inspiring Vision
Crusaders Enter City
A vision of a knight waving his buckler above the Mount of Olives, and signaling that the Christians should advance, renewed the attack. It is said women and children defied all dangers, brought food and helped push the towers against the walls. Godfrey's Tower got near enough to lower its gangway on the walls. Fire now came to the aid of the Crusaders, being carried by a favoring wind to the bags of hay, straw, and wool which made the last inner defense. Godfrey, preceded by two and followed by many, pursued the smoke-driven enemy and entered the city. They killed as they went. Tancred, encouraged by another apparition, entered the city from another point; some through a breach; others by ladders; others from the top of the towers. The enemy at length fled, and the cry heard first under Peter's preaching, "God willsit!" was echoed in the streets of the Holy City. While these were in the city, Raymond still met with resistance which led them to abandon their tower and machines, and to attack with the sword. They scaled the walls by ladders, and were soon the victors.
The Saracens made a brave rally and charged the Christians, who had already begun to pillage. These were, however, soon led to victory by Everard de Puysaie, and the infidels were finally routed.
Christians Possess the City on Friday
Where prodigies are so constantly related and truth sacrificed to marvels, we can not be certain that the statement is true that the Christians entered Jerusalem on a Friday at three, at the same hour at which Christ died for all men. The Crusaders forgot the teaching of the hour; remembered only their wounds, losses, and sufferings, and put to death without mercy all who came in their way and all they could ferret out.
Christians Murder Saracens
Death by jumping from the walls seemed more desirable to many than appeal to Christian mercy. Their last resort was to the mosques, and particularly the Mosque of Omar. Into this the Christians rode on horseback and trampled the heaps of dead and dying laid low by "Christian" swords. An eyewitness, Raymond d'Agiles, says that in theporch of this mosque blood rose to the knees and bridles of the horses! Ten thousand were slain there. The authority cited above declares that bodies floated in the blood, and arms and hands were tossed by sanguine waves. An Arabian author says, "Seventy thousand were killed in the Mosque of Omar." God alone knows the truth. Only once before in human history can be found a record of such slaughter, and that was when Titus conquered the city centuries before.
Peter Object of Great Interest
The fame of Peter the Hermit was such that the Christians of the city coming from their hiding-places to greet their deliverers had no eyes for anybody but the eloquent monk, nor praises for any other. He was the sole cause of their deliverance as he was the prophet of their cause.
Godfrey Goes to Holy Sepulcher
The nobility of Godfrey appears in this, that, refraining from revenge, as soon as the battle was over he laid aside his weapons, bared his feet, and went to pray at the Holy Sepulcher. This was the signal for the cessation of bloodshed as soon as known. The bloody garments were thrown aside, and, barefooted and bareheaded, the Crusaders marched to the Church of the Resurrection.
In this sudden change from fiends to the penitence and devoutness of Christians, we note a constantly recurring fact. These changes of mood are characteristic of fanaticism, which is always possessed by its ideas, and never rules over them. Elijah stepped down from the exaltation of the God-accepted prophet on Carmel to be the murderer of the prophets of Baal, and was left to cowardice, to melancholy, and to wandering in the desert until taught by the fire, the wind, and the earthquake that he was not to bring human passion into God's work.