the emperor and kings that they do not cease their discords and their wars! Ah, let them make peace, that they may unite to deliver the holy tomb, the divine lamp, the true cross, the entire kingdom of Christ, which for a long time past are under the dominion of Turks. Under the dominion of Turks! At these words, who does not groan with shame and sorrow! And you Marquis de Montferra, the time was when your ancestors covered themselves with glory in Syria: imitate their noble devotion, raise the holy Cross, pass the seas, you will deserve that men grant you their admiration, and God his eternal benefits. All that mortal man performs in this life is nothing, absolutely nothing, if his devotion does not render it worthy of an eternity of glory." Lastly, hear the concluding words of Folquet de Romans. "What mourning, what despair, what tears, when God shall say, 'Depart ye miserable, depart into hell, where you shall be for ever tormented, that you may be punished for not having believed that I suffered a cruel passion. I died for you, and you forgot it!' But those who shall have fallen in the Crusade will be able then to reply, ' And we, O Lord, we too died for you 66 Let us draw nearer, and view the figure and countenance and admire the virtue of the crusading princes. And, first, of Tancred:-" Neither his paternal riches moved him to luxury," says Radulphus, nor the power of his relations to pride. When young, he excelled youths in agility and the exercise of arms, and old men in gravity of manners, to both affording an example of virtue. A sedulous hearer of the precepts of God, he studied with diligence both to remember what he heard, and, as far as possible, to fulfil what he remembered, to detract from the merit of no one, even when he was himself disparaged: the very herald of an enemy's virtue, he used to say, "hostem feriendum esse, non rodendum." He spoke never about himself, but he thirsted insatiably to be the object of other men's praise. He preferred vigils to sleep, labour to rest, hunger to fulness, study to ease, and all things necessary to superfluities t." * Rainouard choix des Poésies des Troubadours, Tome II. C 66 "When this religious hero first saw Jerusalem from an eminence, he knelt down with bare knees upon the earth, and raised his heart to heaven, the image of which he seemed to behold; then rising up, he left his soldiers, and alone he ascended the Mount of Olives, and looked again upon the holy city. He viewed with astonishment the vast dome of the temple, with its porches like another city; but oftener he turned his eyes towards Calvary and the church of our Lord's sepulchre; a spectacle indeed more distant, but attainable to his eagerness. With sighs and tears he would have exchanged an age for that day; but happier still, had he been able to kiss the vestiges on Calvary *". Happy was the simple old woman who was found by Tancred, exhausted with hunger, or about to wade across a rapid torrent; for immediately there was meat for the hungry, and a horse instead of a ship, a knight, yea, Tancred himself, instead of a rower for her who was about to cross over +." "There was one mind in the whole army. O who amongst the children of men was equal to you, Tancred! Who less inclined to sloth, to ease, to fear, to pride, or to luxury? Who more ready when called; who more willing; who more placable when offended? Blessed be God, who hath reserved you to be the guard of his people; and thou art blessed who canst defend it with thy arm. To be with Tancred was to be in safety; to be without him in the army, was like not be ing with the army." Godefroy de Bouillon is thus described in the same work: "He was rich in virtues-in those that are secular, and in those that are divine; bountiful to the poor, merciful to those who were in fault; distinguished by humility, humanity, soberness, justice, chastity. You would have thought him rather the light of monks, than the general of soldiers; nevertheless, he was equally excellent in secular virtues, in fight, and in the conduct of an army." By the monk Robert, Godefroy is thus described: "Vultu elegans, statura procerus, dulcis eloquio, moribus egregius, et in tantum lenis, ut magis in monachum quam militem figuraret. Hic tamen cum hostem sentiebat adesse et imminere prælium, tunc audaci mente concipiebat animum, et quasi leo frendens Gesta Tancredi, cxi. + Ibid. ad nullius pavebat occursum: et quæ lorica vel clypeus sustinere posset impetum mucronis illius?" All said of him, "Ipse magis regiam dignitatem quam regia dignitas ipsum commendavit." William of Tyre thus describes him: "He had his origine from illustrious and religious ancestors. His father was the Lord Eustachius, the illustrious and magnificent Count of that region, whose deeds were many and memorable, and whose memory to this day, among the old people of the neighbouring countries, is, with a blessing, and devoutly reverenced, as of a religious man, fearing God. His mother was distinguished among the noble matrons of the West, as well for excellence of virtue, as for the brightest title of nobility. Godfrey was a religious man, clement, pious, and fearing God; just, departing from all evil, grave, and firm in word, despising the vanities of the age which, in his time of life, and especially in the military profession, is a rare virtue; assiduous in prayer and in works of piety; remarkable for liberality, gracious with affability, kind and merciful in all his ways commendable and pleasing to God. He was of lofty stature, yet so as to be less than the very tallest, although higher than the generality; robust beyond all example; firmly built, with a manly chest, and a most dignified and beautiful countenance, with his hair and beard inclining to auburn. According to the judgment of all men, he was unrivalled in the use of arms and in military exercise +." His refusing to wear a crown is finely illustrative of his humble piety. "Being moved," says William of Tyre, "by humility, he was unwilling to be distinguished by a golden crown, after the manner of kings, in the holy city, exhibiting great reverence because that the Restorer of the human race, in that very spot, and even on the wood of the cross, chose for our salvation to wear a crown of thorns; whence some, incapable of distinguishing merit, are unwilling to reckon him in the catalogue of kings, looking more to what is borne outwardly on the body, than to what is pleasing to God in the soul; but in our judgment, he seems not only a king, but the best of kings-the light and the model of all others." The successors of Godfrey did not depart from † Ibid. p. 7.65. Gesta Dei, p. 33. the spirit which gave rise to this affecting trait of religious magnanimity, for Baldwin I. who was next elected, only suffered himself to be crowned after the patriarch had shewn the consi stency of such a ceremony with a humble mind; and even then the coronation took place at Bethlehem, instead of Jerusalem. Baldwin died from a disorder brought on by swimming in the Nile, when he was wounded *. The Moslems called the spot where his bowels were buried by a ridiculous name, and used to throw a stone on it as they passed, so as to raise a monument to him against their will. His bones were buried on Palm Sunday, 1118, in Golgotha, near those of his brother Godfrey. The Christians, and even the Sarrassins, who knew him, were loud in lamenting his death. The inscription on his tomb was, Rex Balduinus, Judas alter Machabæus, Godfrey appeared on the frontiers of Palestine in the year 1099. He was accompanied by Baldwin, Eustache, Tancred, Raimond of Toulouse, the Counts of Flanders and Normandy. L'Etolde was the first to leap upon the walls of Jerusalem, followed by Guichen, already celebrated for having cut a lion in two; then followed Godefroy, Gaston de Foix, Gerard de Roussillon, Raimbaud d'Orange, Saint Paul, and Lambert. Previously Godefrey is described as raging round the walls, and looking more terrible than when he fought with the giant on the bridge of Antioch, that huge Sarrassin, whom he cut in two with one blow of his sword. Others say that two brothers out of Flanders, Ludolf and Engelbert, were the first to mount the walls of Jerusalem, followed by Godefrey and his brother Eustache †. Again, the House of Croton or D'Estourmel, in Picardy, claims its descent from Reimbold Croton; "qui primus in expugnatione Jerusalem ingressus est," as Orderic Vitalis says. Their motto is, "Vaillant sur la Crete." The standard of the * Abulfar. I. 48, quoted by Raumer, I. 456. Cross floated upon the walls of Jerusalem on Friday, the 15th, or, according to others, the 12th of July, 1099, at three o'clock in the afternoon. To proceed with the portraits. Baldwin II. is described by William of Tyre: "He was remarkable for beauty of person, being of a lively and sanguine complexion, expert in arms and in the management of horses, having great experience in war, prudent in all his actions, happy in his expeditions, pious in all his works, clement and pitiful, religious, and fearing God *." His successor, Fulcus, was "faithful and humane, affable, kind-hearted, and full of mercy, liberal in works of piety and in the distribution of alms, experienced in war, and patient of fatigue +." When Baldwin II. had been elected King of Jerusalem on the suggestion of Joscelin, Count of Edessa, who had been before his personal enemy, Eustathius, was at the same time authorized by the other powers to accept the crown. After repeatedly refusing the offer, he at length consented; and when he had proceeded as far as Apulia, he received intelligence of the election of Baldwin. Notwithstanding all attempts to convince him that this election was illegal and void, he refused to proceed with his claim. "Far be it from me," said he, "to kindle a war in that kingdom, which my brother and my brethren in the faith acquired by the offering up of their lives, and where Christ shed his blood for the peace of the world ." When Baldwin III. died, Nureddin refused to avail himself of the grief of the Christians and the favourable opportunity for falling on them, and nobly answered, “We must pity and honour their grief, for they have lost a king who had not his fellow on the earth." The Saracens do more justice to the Crusaders than many of their ungrateful and degenerate descendants. In the reign of our Henry IV. Lord Beauchamp, travelling into the East, was received at Jerusalem by the Sultan's lieutenant, who, hearing that he was descended from Guy, Earl of Warwick, invited him to his palace, and royally feasted him, presenting him with precious stones, and giving to his servants divers clothes of silk and gold. The valour of *Gesta Dei, p. 818. † Ibid. p. 855. Raumer I. 457. |