Albert of Aix: HISTORIA HIEROSOLYMITANAE EXPEDITIONIS

Sancta autem civitate sic undique vallata, quinto die obsidionis ex consilio et jussione praedictorum principum, loricis et galeis Christiani induti facta scutorum testudine, muros et moenia sunt aggressi, viros Sarracenos fortiter bello lacessentes in jaculis saxorum, fundis et sagittis trans muros volantibus, ab intus et de foris per longum dici spatium dimicantes. Multi ex fidelibus sauciati, et lapidibus quassati attritique sunt: quidam sagittarum infixione oculos amiserunt. Sed primorum nullus, Deo donante, illa die percussus est.

But the holy city thus walled on every side, on the fifth day of the siege by the counsel and command of the aforesaid princes, the Christians, clad in lorics and helmets, having made a testudo of shields, assaulted the walls and ramparts, fiercely provoking the Saracen men in battle, striking with javelins, stones, slings, and arrows flying over the walls, fighting from within and from without for a long space of time. Many of the faithful were wounded, and beaten and bruised by stones: some by the piercing of arrows lost their eyes. But none of the leaders, God granting, was struck that day.

Christiani moleste ferentes populi contritionem, labori et bello amplius incumbebant; et muros exteriores, quos Barbicanas vocant, valide impugnantes, ferreis malleis et ligonibus [0539B] partim sciderunt. Sed tamen non multum hac die profecerunt.

The Christians, grievously resentful of the people's crushing, applied themselves more earnestly to toil and to war; and assaulting the outer walls, which they call Barbicanas, vigorously, they partly tore them down with iron mallets and crowbars [0539B]. Yet nevertheless they did not advance much on that day.

CAP. II. - Consilium primorum, quomodo civitas capi possit.

CHAPTER 2. - The counsel of the chiefs, how the city may be taken.

Sedato tandem hoc belli turbine, videns dux et primi exercitus quod urbs armis et assultu foret insuperabilis, in castra ab assultu sunt relati, communi consilio usi, quia nisi ingeniis machinae et mangenarum urbs acquiratur, nunquam aliqua vi armorum possit superari. Quod omnibus utile visum est consilium, machinas et mangenas arietesque fabricari. Sed deficiebat materia lignorum, quorum in illis regionibus magna est penuria.

At last, this whirlwind of war having been calmed, the leader and the chiefs of the army, seeing that the city would be unconquerable by arms and assault, withdrew into camp from the assault, using a common counsel, for unless the city is taken by engines and mangenae, it can never be overcome by any force of arms. This plan seemed useful to all: that machines and mangenae and battering-rams be constructed. But there was a shortage of timber, of which in those regions there is a great scarcity.

Ad haec quidam frater conchristianus, natione Syrus, peregrinis locum indicat, ubi ligna ad construendas machinas [0539C] possent reperiri, videlicet in quibusdam montibus versus plagam Arabiae. Revelato autem loco lignorum, Robertus Flandrensis, Robertus Northmannorum dominus, Gerhardus quoque de Keresi, assumpta manu equitum et peditum, trans quatuor milliaria profecti sunt. Ubi ligna inventa tergis camelorum imponentes, ad sedem socierum reversi sunt sine damno.

To these things a certain fellow-Christian brother, a Syrian by nation, pointed out to the foreigners a place where wood for constructing machines [0539C] could be obtained, namely in certain mountains toward the region of Arabia. When the place of the timber had been revealed, Robert of Flanders, Robert, lord of the Northmen, and Gerhard of Keresi, having taken a force of horse and foot, set out across four miles. Where the wood was found they loaded it on the backs of camels and returned to the camp of the allies without loss.

CAP. III. - De instrumentis vincendae urbi appositis.

CHAPTER 3. - On the machines/instruments set against the city for its conquest.

Crastina vero luce primum terris immissa, universi artifices operi machinae mangenarum et arietis instant, alii securibus, alii terebellis, quousque sub spatio quatuor hebdomadarum opus machinae arietis et mangenarum ad unguem perductum est ante turrim David, in aspectu omnium qui in eodem praesidio morabantur. Deinde moniti sunt juvenes, [0539D] senes, pueri, puellae ac mulieres ut convenirent in vallem Bethlehem, omnes virgulta in mulis ac asinis aut humeris suis allaturi, de quibus crates triplices contexerentur, ex quibus machina vestita Sarracenorum parvipenderet jacula. Quod et actum est: vimina et virgulta plurima allata sunt, quibus crates consertae, coriis equinis et taurinis ac camelorum [0540A] opertae sunt, ne facile hostili incendio machina cremaretur.

At the next day's dawn, once first cast to the ground, all the craftsmen set to work upon the machines of mangonels and the battering‑ram; some with axes, others with augers, until, within the space of four weeks, the work of the machines, of the battering‑ram and of the mangonels was brought to a nicety before the Tower of David, in the sight of all who were dwelling in that same garrison. Then the young men, [0539D] the old men, boys, girls and women were ordered to assemble in the valley of Bethlehem, all to bring brushwood on mules and asses or on their shoulders, from which triple hurdles were to be woven, upon which, sheathed, the Saracens would scantily weigh their javelins. This also was done: very many osiers and brushwood were brought, with which the hurdles were fastened together and covered with horse, ox, and camel hides [0540A], so that the machine might not be easily consumed by the enemy’s fire.

CAP. IV. - Quidam e populo dum victum longius quaererent, mortem incurrunt.

CHAPTER 4. - Some of the people, while seeking victuals farther afield, met death.

Interea in hac mora longae obsidionis et prolixa operosaque machinarum structura, compulit quosdam indigentia rerum necessariarum ab exercitu surgere, et victum quaerere. Sed dum casu in finitimas oras Rames, praenominatae urbis, inciderent, praedas comportarent, greges cogerent, ab insidiis Sarracenorum, qui ab Ascalone, civitate regis Babyloniae, descenderant, attriti sunt, et praeda retenta est. Giselbertus de Treva et Achar de Motinerla, fortes Christianorum duces et viri nobiles, illic post plurimum certaminis detruncati corruerunt; reliqui vero ex sociis eorum in fugam conversi, [0540B] per montana viam accelerant in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, in this pause of the long siege and the prolonged, laborious building of siege engines, need for necessary things compelled some from the army to rise and seek sustenance. But while by chance they fell upon the neighboring shores of Rames, a city so named, and gathered spoils and drove off flocks, they were set upon from ambush by Saracens who had descended from Ascalon, the city of the king of Babylonia, and were cut down, and the booty was seized. Giselbert of Treva and Achar of Motinerla, brave leaders of the Christians and noble men, there after very great fighting were hewn down and fell; the rest of their comrades, turned to flight, [0540B] hastened their way through the mountains to Jerusalem.

Ad haec Baldewinus de Burg, ad idem negotium contrahendi escas cum Thoma de Feria castro, assumpta manu equitum, progressus, obviam fugitivis et disturbatis fratribus factus est. Qui rem et casum illorum intelligens, consolatus est universos ut redirent secum in ultionem suarum calumniarum. Continuo peregrini, consolatione virorum fortium respirantes, reversi sunt unanimiter et recenter in persecutionem inimicorum, et cum eis diu praelia conserentes, hinc et hinc plures occisi ac vulnerati sunt.

To these things Baldwin de Burg, for the same business of contracting victuals at the castle of Thomas de Feria, having taken a band of knights, advanced and went out to meet the fugitives and the disturbed brothers. He, understanding their situation and mischance, comforted them all to return with him in vengeance for their calumnies. Immediately the pilgrims, revived by the consolation of the brave men, returned unanimously and afresh to the pursuit of the enemies, and engaging in battles with them for a long time, on all sides many were slain and wounded.

Baldewinus de Burg adverso telo in pectore vulneratus est.

Baldewinus de Burg was wounded in the chest by an enemy weapon.

CAP. V. - Ubi unus gentilium illustris, et duo nobiles Christianorum trucidantur.

CHAPTER 5. - Where one illustrious of the Gentiles, and two noble of the Christians, are slaughtered.

Tandem Christiani invalescentes et Sarracenos in fugam [0540C] cogentes, quemdam eorum militem nobilissimum, virum calva fronte, statura procerum, grandaevum ac corpulentum captum tenuerunt. Quem Jerusalem abducentes, in praedicti Baldewini tentorio compedibus religaverunt: sed is nobiliter in throno Baldewini resedit, quod ostro pretiosissimo opertum erat. Videntes autem Christiani principes, quia vir prudens et nobilis et strenuus, idem foret Sarracenus, de vita et moribus ejus saepius inquirentes ac disputantes, ad Christianitatis fidem eum vocare conabantur.

At length the Christians growing strong and driving the Saracens to flight captured and held one of their soldiers most noble, a man with a bald brow, of tall stature, aged and corpulent. Leading him off to Jerusalem, they bound him in the chains in the tent of the aforesaid Baldwin: but he nobly sat upon Baldwin’s throne, which was covered with the most precious purple. The Christian princes, seeing that although he was a prudent, noble, and valiant man he was nevertheless a Saracen, and oftentimes inquiring and disputing about his life and manners, strove to call him to the faith of Christianity. [0540C]

Sed modis omnibus huic professioni abrenuntians, ante turrim David productus, ad terrendos arcis custodes in conspectu omnium ab armigero Baldewini decollatus est. Praefati vero principes, Giselbertus et Achar, insidiis gentilium trucidati, ad locum obsidionis [0540D] in magna lamentatione referuntur: quibus Christiani sacerdotes catholicas exsequias exhibentes, in sepulcro Christianorum confratrum, quod erat extra civitatem, ossa eorum posuerunt.

But, renouncing this profession in every way, after being brought out before the Tower of David, he was beheaded by Baldwin’s armiger to terrify the fortress’s guards in the sight of all. The aforesaid princes, Giselbertus and Achar, slain by the treachery of the gentiles, were borne to the place of siege [0540D] in great lamentation: to whom Christian priests, offering Catholic obsequies, placed their bones in the tomb of Christian brethren, which was outside the city.

CAP. VI. - Quando obsessa sit urbs, et de raritate potus.

CHAPTER 6. - When a city is besieged, and concerning the scarcity of drink.

Obsessa est autem civitas sancta, et mater nostra [0541A] Jerusalem, quam adulterini filii invaserunt, et legitimis filiis negaverunt, tertia feria in secunda hebdomada mensis Julii, qui calore et solis ardore intolerabilis habetur, et praecipue in his orientalibus plagis, ubi etiam non solum rivi deficiunt aquarum, sed et fontes vivi et modici solum trans tria milliaria reperiuntur. Hoc solis ortu flagrantissimi, hoc defectu aquarum intolerabili et ariditate inaestimabili, Christianorum populus in obsidione hac graviter vexatus est. Quorum socii ad hauriendos et investigandos fontes cum sparsim mitterentur, interdum incolumes hausto fonte redibant; interdum amputatis capitibus, insidiis gentilium periclitabantur.

The holy city was besieged, and our mother [0541A] Jerusalem, which the adulterine sons invaded and denied to the legitimate sons, on Tuesday in the second week of the month of July, which is held intolerable for its heat and the burning of the sun, and especially in these eastern regions, where not only streams fail of water, but even living springs and small wells are found only across three miles. By this blazing of the rising sun, by this lack of waters intolerable and by a dryness beyond estimate, the Christian people were grievously distressed in this siege. Their companions, when sent out here and there to draw and to search for springs, sometimes returned safe having drawn from a spring; sometimes, their heads having been cut off, they perished by the ambushes of the gentiles.

Aquam vero turbidam et lutulentam factam in contentione multitudinis haurientium, cum lubricis [0541B] vermibus hirudinum in follibus caprinis afferebant. De qua, quantum os cujusque a foramine angusto pellis capere poterat, licet vetus et putrida fuit, aut de foedis sumpta paludibus vel antiquis cisternis, duobus nummis vendebatur. Plurimi autem inertis vulgi, qui sitis intolerantia arctabantur, dum sic licentiam bibendi acciperent, lubricos vermes et aquatiles deglutiebant, et sic tumefacto gutture aut ventre exstinguebantur.

But the water, made turbid and muddy by the pressing of the multitude drawing it up, was carried in goat-skins with slippery [0541B] worms of leeches. Of this, as much as the skin could hold at its narrow mouth for each person, though old and putrid, or taken from foul marshes or ancient cisterns, was sold for two nummi. Very many of the idle populace, who were pressed by intolerable thirst, while thus availing themselves of the license to drink, swallowed slimy and aquatic worms, and so were extinguished by a swollen throat or belly.

Tantum de monte Sion rivulus perexiguus manat, cujus subterraneus ductus a palatio Salomonis est jactu sagittae, usque ad eum locum quo aedificium in modum claustri muratum et quadratum habetur: cujus in medium per noctem rivulus congregatus adunatur, de quo in die cives utuntur et animalia adaquantur.

Only a very small rivulet flows from Mount Sion, whose subterranean conduit from Solomon’s palace is the length of an arrow’s cast, as far as that place where a building is held in the fashion of a cloister, walled and square: into the middle of which the rivulet, gathered by night, is collected, of which by day the citizens make use and animals are watered.

CAP. VII. - Consilium inclusi cujusdam super negotio incepto. [0541C]

CHAPTER 7. - The counsel of a certain prisoner concerning an undertaking already begun. [0541C]

Ex hoc creberrimo haustu exercitus refocillabatur, licet hac parte in obsessa saepius cives haurientibus jacula intorquerent, et a stillicidio hoc prorsus Christianos absterrere laborarent. Uvarum copia vinique affluentia primoribus semper abundabat, et pretium habentibus; egenis vero, rebus exhaustis, etiam aquae, ut audistis, nimia erat defectio. Unde hac sitis pestilentia ingravescente, populoque catholico diu in obsidione laborante, visum est primatibus populi ex consilio episcoporum et cleri qui aderant, ut consulerent quemdam virum Dei, qui [0541D] erat in antiqua turri procerae altitudinis in monte Olivarum solitarius, quid agerent, quid primum insisterent, revelantes ei quanto desiderio ad ingrediendam urbem et sepulcrum Domini videndum aestuarent, et quanta in via pro hac fide et voto pericula sustinuissent.

From this very frequent draught the army was refreshed, although on that side, in the besieged place, the citizens more often hurled javelins at those drawing, and by this dripping they strove altogether to deter Christians. A plenty of grapes and an abundance of wine ever overflowed for the chief men, and for those having the price; for the poor, however, their goods exhausted, even of water, as you have heard, the deficiency was excessive. Wherefore, this pestilence of thirst growing worse, and the catholic people long laboring under siege, it seemed to the chiefs of the people, by the counsel of the bishops and clergy who were present, that they should consult a certain man of God, who [0541D] was solitary in an ancient tower of lofty height on the Mount of Olives, what they should do, what they should first attempt, revealing to him with how great a desire they burned to enter the city and to behold the Lord’s sepulchre, and how great dangers they had sustained on the way for this faith and vow.

Vir autem Dei, audita eorum intentione et desiderio, consilium protulit, quatenus primum in afflictione jejuniorum et continuatione orationum devote insisterent; et post haec muris et Sarracenis Deo auxiliante tutius inferrent assultus.

The man of God, however, having heard their intention and desire, put forward counsel, that first in the affliction of fasts and in the continuation of prayers they should insist devoutly; and after these things, with God assisting, they should more safely bring assaults upon the walls and the Saracens.

CAP. VIII. - De indicta processione, et quae tunc gesta sint.

CHAPTER 8. - On the proclaimed procession, and what then was done.

Jam ex viri Dei consilio ab episcopis et clero triduanum indicitur jejunium, et sexta feria processionem [0542A] universi Christiani circa urbem facientes, deinde ad montem Oliveti, venientes in loco, ubi Dominus Jesus coelos ascendit, ac deinde procedentes alio in loco, ubi discipulos suos orare docuit, in omni devotione et humilitate constiterunt. Illic in eodem loco montis Petrus Eremita et Arnulfus de Rohes castello Flandriae, clericus magnae scientiae et facundiae, ad populum sermonem facientes, plurimam discordiam, quae inter peregrinos de diversis causis excreverat, exstinxerunt. Dissensionem vero, quae inter comitem Reymundum et Tankradum diu invaluit propter conventionem solidorum, quos ei injuste comes negaverat, ex admonitione spirituali ambobus principibus compunctis, concordi amore placaverunt.

Now by the counsel of the man of God a three-day fast was proclaimed by the bishops and clergy, and on Friday a procession [0542A] of the whole Christian people, making a circuit about the city and then coming to the Mount of Olives, arriving at the place where the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, and thereafter proceeding to another place where he taught his disciples to pray, they stood in all devotion and humility. There in that same place of the mountain Peter the Hermit and Arnulf of Rohes of the castle of Flanders, a cleric of great learning and eloquence, making an address to the people, put out the great discord which among the pilgrims had grown from diverse causes. And the dissension which long prevailed between Count Reymund and Tancred concerning the agreement of solidi, which the count had unjustly denied him, they appeased, both princes being pricked by spiritual admonition, in concordant love.

Placatis autem his, et in corcordiam cum aliis multis [0542B] Christianis confratribus reductis, tota illa Christianorum processio a loco praedicti montis Oliveti descendens, ad proximum montem Sion in ecclesiam sanctae Dei Genitricis collata est. Ubi clerici albis induti, et reliquias sanctorum cum reverentia sumentes, complures idonei laici a sagittis Sarracenorum, qui in moenibus urbis observabant transeuntes, percussi sunt. Est autem civitas proxima huic ecclesiae Sion, quantum jactus habet sagittae.

With these placated, and brought into concord with many other Christian confratres [0542B], the whole Christian procession, descending from the place of the aforesaid Mount of Olivet, was conveyed to the nearest Mount Sion into the church of the Holy Mother of God. There clerics clad in white, and taking up with reverence the relics of the saints, several suitable laymen were struck by the arrows of the Saracens, who on the city walls were watching the passers-by. The city, moreover, is as near to that church as an arrow’s cast.

Hoc autem loco ad suscitandam iram Christianorum, in derisum etiam et opprobrium, cruces fixerunt, super quas aut spuebant, aut in oculis omnium mingere non abhorrebant.

But in this place, to provoke the anger of the Christians, and even as derision and reproach, they fixed up crosses, upon which they either spat or did not shrink from urinating in the sight of all.

CAP. IX. - Machinis muro applicitis, ingenia partium inter se confligunt. [0542C]

CHAPTER 9. - With machines pressed against the wall, the engines of the parties clash with one another. [0542C]

De hinc jejunio cum processione sancta, litania orationeque finita, coelum jam tenebris operientibus, noctis in silentio deportata est machina per partes, et universa strues mangenarum, ad ipsum locum civitatis, ubi situm est oratorium S. Stephani protomartyris versus vallem Josaphat, in die Sabbati, collocatis tabernaculis in circuitu machinae ab hac statione sublatis. Ubi machina et omnia instrumenta mangenarum et arietis ad unguem fabricata sunt. Verum ex consilio majorum instrumenta trium mangenarum ordinata eriguntur, quarum priori assultu et impetu Christiani Sarracenos cives a muris et moenibus arcentes absterrerent et muralia repentino jactu, silicis quoque tactu, perstringere [0542D] valerent.

From then, after a fast with a sacred procession, the litany and prayer being ended, the sky already drawing over with darkness, the machine was carried in parts in the silence of the night, and the whole pile of mangonels to the very place of the city where the oratory of S. Stephen the protomartyr is situated toward the valley of Josaphat, on the Sabbath day, the tabernacles having been set up around the circuit of the machine and removed from this station. Where the machine and all the instruments of the mangonels and the battering‑ram were made to a nicety. But by the counsel of the elders the instruments of three mangonels were ordered to be raised, by whose first assault and impetus the Christians would repel the Saracen citizens from the walls and ramparts, and would be able to scorch the mural works by a sudden casting, and also by the striking of stones [0542D].

Tandem Sarraceni hoc impetu et jactu perspicientes muros graviter concuti et minui, saccos stipala paleaque refertos, ac navium funes magnae grossitudinis, strictim densatos, maris et moenibus affigentes, opposuerunt, quatenus impetum et jactum mangenarum molliter exciperent, et nequaquam muris moenibusque nocerent. Dux vero videns hoc impedimentum suis ingeniis oppositum, funibus et saccis sagittas ardentes illico ab igne eductas, baleari arcu intorsit; et sic igne infixos et aridae materiei inhaerentes, a levi aura tenuis flamma suscitabatur, quousque vires acquirens, saccos funesque consumpsit, et rursus impetus muros et moenia minuebat.

At last the Saracens, seeing by this attack and pelt the walls grievously shaken and diminished, set up sacks stuffed with staves and mats, and the ships’ ropes of great thickness, closely packed, fixing them to the sea and to the walls, so that they might softly receive the shock and casting of the mangenae (siege-engines), and in no wise harm the walls and ramparts. But the leader, perceiving this impediment opposed to his artifices, at once bent his bow and directed flaming arrows, drawn from the fire, against the ropes and sacks; and thus, the fire lodging in and clinging to the dry material, a thin flame was raised by a slight breeze, until, gaining force, it consumed the sacks and ropes, and again the assault lessened the walls and ramparts.

CAP. X. - Arietem muros perforantem obsessi dissipare moliuntur. [0543A]

CHAPTER 10. - The besieged endeavor to disperse the battering‑ram perforating the walls. [0543A]

Inter haec, ad augendam ruinam et stragem murorum allatus est praefatus aries horrendi ponderis et operis, vestitus vimineis cratibus. Qui virtute et inaestimabili virorum inundatione impulsus, Barbicanas, exteriores scilicet muros, oppositos aequato vallo urbis, a viris arietem impellentibus gravi impetu in momento comminuit atque dejecit et viam machinae ad interiores muros et antiquos aptavit, foramenque pergrande et horrendum jam ad urbem pertransiens, infregit. Hoc itaque foramen trans muros urbis defensores intuentes, nec ultra id periculum sufferre valentes, igne sulphureo pice caereoque suscitato, arietem, niomium muris vicimum, succenderunt, [0543B] ne deinceps muros ferrata fronte impelleret, aut foramen ampliaret.

Meanwhile, to increase the ruin and slaughter of the walls there was brought the aforesaid ram of dreadful weight and workmanship, clad in wicker baskets. Which, urged by force and by an inestimable surge of men, in a moment by a heavy onslaught from the men propelling the ram broke and threw down the Barbicans, that is the outer walls opposite the city’s levelled rampart, and made the machine’s approach to the inner and older walls, and, passing through a very large and horrible breach already reaching the city, burst it open. Therefore the defenders, seeing this breach through the city walls, and no longer able to endure that danger, having kindled it with sulfurous fire, pitch, and wax, set the ram, namely adjacent to the walls, on fire, [0543B] lest thereafter it should batter the walls with an iron front or widen the breach.

Tunc subito clamore Dei populus commotus, undique tentoriis et tuguriis aquam convehunt qua tandem aries ab igne restinctus est.

CAP. XI. - Qui undique machinae praesint, disponuntur.

CHAPTER 11. - Those who everywhere preside over the machines are appointed.

Interea, dum aries exstinguitur, mangenarum jactus et impetus assidue muros minuebat, et custodes ac defensores a moenibus arcebat. Nec mora, inter haec, machina cum omni structura sua erecta est, parietes, coenicula, cratesque illius opertae coriis taurinis, equinis et camelinis, in quibus constituti sunt milites, qui urbem impugnarent, et resistentes facilius certamine fatigarent. A Die autem Sabbati [0543C] hujus machinae operi et compagi insudantes, usque ad quintam feriam protractum opus in vespere consummaverunt et ducem Godefridum, ejusque fratrem Eustachium, similiter fratres duos, Ludolfum et Engelbertum, ortos civitate Tornaco, ad tuendam machinam, et urbem bello concitandam ordinaverunt.

Meanwhile, while the battering ram was being extinguished, the mangonels' shot and assaults were continually battering the walls and driving the guards and defenders from the ramparts. No delay: meanwhile the machine with all its structure was erected, the walls, little chambers, and the crates of that engine covered with bull, horse, and camel hides, in which were stationed soldiers to assault the city and more easily fatigue the resisting defenders by combat. But on the Sabbath day [0543C] those sweating at the work and joints of this machine completed the prolonged labor on the eve up to the fifth weekday (Thursday), and they appointed Duke Godfrey and his brother Eustace, likewise two brothers, Ludolf and Engelbert, sprung from the town of Tournai, to guard the machine and to incite the city to war.

Ducem ergo suosque in superiore coenaculo Ludolfum cum fratre suo, et coeteris eorum sequacibus, medio coenaculo immorari decreverunt; in inferiore vero, qui machinam trahentes urbi applicarent. In arce vero machinae ejusque coenaculis his constitutis, arietem, post deletas Barbicanas et aequatum vallum, quia tam difficile onus taedium erat amovere, ultro Christiani suo igne combusserunt, [0543D] ne tanti roboris magnitudo conductili machinae esset impedimento.

They therefore decreed that their leader Ludolf, with his brother and their other followers, should lodge in the upper coenaculum, and in the middle coenaculum to remain; in the lower, however, those who, drawing the machine, would apply it to the city. In the citadel, with the machine and its coenacula thus set up, the battering‑ram, after the barbicans had been destroyed and the rampart levelled, because the lifting away of so arduous a burden was wearisome, the Christians of their own accord burned with their fire, [0543D] lest the great bulk of the transportable machine’s strength be an impediment.

CAP. XII. - Quanta instantia cives a machinis forinsecus fatigentur.

CHAPTER 12. - With what great insistence the citizens are wearied from without by the machines.

Dehinc autem in sexta feria mane facto, Sarraceni milites, et qui urbis erant cives, machinam erectam intuentes, et in ea habitantes loricatos, stupefacti et tremefacti, mirantur tam matutinos et bello paratos milites in machina apparere; omnesque per urbem gradientes sagittis et arcu infigere, ac pugna incessabili quosque per urbem visos a machina desuper muros prominente, jaculis et saxis urgere. Unde unanimiter intra civitatem gentiles conglobati, volatili telo sagittarum nocere duci et resistere non abstinent et per moenia dispersi peregrinos laedebant. [0544A] Perigrini vero fortiter ex adverso resistebant.

Thereafter, on Friday morning, the Saracen soldiers and the citizens of the city, gazing at the erected siege-engine and the armored men dwelling in it, astonished and trembling, marvel that so early and so war-ready soldiers should appear in the machine; and all moving about the city to shoot arrows from bows and, with unceasing fighting, to assail whoever was seen through the city from the machine projecting above the walls with javelins and stones. Wherefore, the gentiles, united together within the city, did not refrain from harming the leader with the flying missiles of arrows and from resisting, and, scattered along the walls, they wounded the foreigners. [0544A] The foreigners, however, stoutly resisted from the opposite side.

Ad hanc denique nimiam contritionem ab intus et extra, a machina, quae altitudine hastae fraxineae urbem et moenia superabat, viri et milites silices immanissimos contorquebant ad laedendos muros, et absterrendos cives defensione moenium, universos per urbem circumvagos in sagittis et lapide percutientes. Alii vero in latere urbis supra montem Sion, una machina comitis Reymundi milites contorquebant lapides et jacula, laedentes muros et per moenia assistentes, huicque machinae comitis frustra nocere quaerentes: quae eadem nocte et hora, qua et ducis, erecta et muris applicata est

To this extreme battering from within and without, from the engine which by the height of its ash-spear towered above the city and the walls, men and soldiers were hurling very massive stones to injure the walls and to terrify the citizens by the defense of the fortifications, striking all those wandering through the city with arrows and stones. Others, however, on the side of the city above Mount Sion, with one machine of Count Reymund, the soldiers were casting stones and javelins, injuring the walls and those standing along the walls, and in vain seeking to harm this machine of the count: which was erected and set against the walls that same night and hour as the duke’s.

CAP. XIII. - Ubi portae, quae Babylonicis nuntiis perviae erant, custodiae deputantur.

CHAPTER 13. - Where the gates, which were passable to Babylonian messengers, are assigned guards.

[0544B] Cum haec obsidio sanctae civitatis jam taedio fieret, studioseque in ejus captione modis omnibus et operibus ferverent, atque plurima de minis et virtute regis Babyloniae innotescerent, pervenit ad aures principum exercitus per delatores eosdem qui fratri Tankrado pecuniam et ornatum templi Domini ante captionem urbis propalaverunt, quod ad urbem Jerusalem per eam portam montis Oliveti et vallis Josaphat, quae inobsessa erat, assidua legatio regi Babylonico mitteretur de omnibus quae fiebant; rursusque regis nuntia et consilia per eamdem portam saepe et occulte reportarentur urbis defensoribus et Christianis leviter posse fieri magnum impedimentum. Quare habito caute super hoc consilio, principes Christianorum collocaverunt latenter insidias in [0544C] valle et exitu ejusdem montis, in silentio noctis, ante et retro munitis viarum semitis vigili custodia, ne forte aliquis ab Ascalone vel Babylonia aut ab aliqua parte regni hujus descenderet, vel a porta inobsessa solito more in legationem procederet, sed in insidias incidens, subito caperetur, nulloque diffugio ante latera occultatus, a manibus vigilantium elaberetur.

[0544B] As this siege of the holy city was already growing wearisome, and they were eagerly zealous in every mode and work for its capture, and very many things concerning the threats and valour of the king of Babylon became known, it reached the ears of the princes of the army by the same informers who had divulged to Brother Tankred the money and the ornament of the Lord’s temple before the city’s capture, that a constant embassy was being sent to the Babylonian king about all that was happening to the city of Jerusalem through that gate of the Mount of Olives and the valley of Josaphat, which was unguarded; and again the king’s messengers and counsels were often and secretly reported back through the same gate to the city’s defenders, and could easily become a great impediment to the Christians. Wherefore, having taken counsel cautiously about this, the Christian princes secretly set ambushes in [0544C] the valley and at the exit of that same mount, in the silence of night, with vigilant guard posted before and behind along the road-paths, lest perhaps anyone should descend from Ascalon or Babylon or any part of this kingdom, or proceed from the unguarded gate in the customary way on an embassy, but instead, falling into the ambush, be suddenly seized, and with no chance of flight, hidden beside the flanks, not slip from the hands of the sentinels.

CAP. XIV. - De duobus regis Babyloniae nuntiis diverso mortis genere pereuntibus.

CHAPTER 14. - Concerning two envoys of the king of Babylonia perishing by different kinds of death.

Sic tandem ordinatis viarum custodibus, et in loco praedicti montis Oliveti constitutis, duo Sarraceni ab Ascalone properantes, et regis Babyloniae nuntia defensoribus urbis deferentes, jam noctis [0544D] silentio incumbente, medio custodum venientes astiterunt, urbem sine aliquo obstaculo sperantes ingredi. Sed subito a militibus et custodibus portae inobsessae capti sunt et retenti: quorum alter a juvene immoderato hasta confixus, mox spiritum exhalavit; alter vero vivus et sanus in praesentiam Christianorum principum adductus est, ut ab eo minis extorquerent, aut promissione vitae, cujus rei nuntii advenissent: quatenus sic jacula praevisa minus nocere possent. Is denique multum vitae suae sollicitus et anxius, plurimum de regis Babyloniae consilio et legatione aperuit, et quomodo nunc per eos admonuisset fideles sibi milites una cum civibus, ne aliquo terrore et oppressione fatigati, deficerent, sed se invicem consolando, stabiles in defensione persisterent, [0545A] scientes quia post quindecim dies ad auxilium in virtute magna Jerusalem venire decrevisset ad exterminandos Gallos, et suos liberandos.

Thus at last, the guards of the roads having been arranged, and set in place on the aforesaid Mount of Olives, two Saracens hurrying from Ascalon, bearing messages from the king of Babylonia to the defenders of the city, came and stood in the midst of the guards as the silence of night now pressed on [0544D], hoping to enter the city without any obstacle. But suddenly they were seized and held by the soldiers and the guards of the unguarded gate: one of whom, transfixed by a spear from an immoderate youth, soon breathed his last; the other, however, alive and whole, was brought into the presence of the Christian princes, that they might extort from him by threats, or by promise of life — for whose sake the messengers had come — how the foreseen javelins might do less harm. He, finally much anxious and solicitous for his life, opened up very fully the counsel and embassy of the king of Babylonia, and how he had now by them warned the faithful, his soldiers together with the citizens, that they should not fail, being worn down by any terror and oppression, but consoling one another remain steadfast in defence, [0545A] knowing that after fifteen days he had decreed to come to Jerusalem with great force to exterminate the Franks and to free his own.

Post hanc caeterasque relationes militibus restitutus, tormento cujusdam mangenae, ligatis manibus et pedibus est immissus, ut sic post primam et secundam inundationem trans muros jactaretur. Sed nimio ejus pondere pelis mangenae gravata, non longe miserum projecit: qui mox juxta muros corruens super asperos silices, fractis cervicibus, nervis et ossibus, in momento exstinctus fuisse refertur.

After this and the other reports were restored to the soldiers, he was thrust, with hands and feet bound, into the engine of a certain mangena, so that after the first and second discharge he might be cast over the walls. But, weighed down by the excessive weight of the mangena’s hide, it did not throw the wretched man far; who, soon falling beside the walls upon harsh flints, with necks, sinews, and bones broken, is reported to have been extinguished in an instant.

CAP. XV. - De instrumentis profanorum contra machinas fidelium.

CHAPTER 15. - On the instruments of the profane against the machines of the faithful.

Cives autem et milites regis Babyloniae videntes [0545B] sic legationem regis dissipatam, et audacius Christianos urbem expugnare, et quia hinc et hinc machinae nimium urbi infestae adversarentur, apposuerunt et ipsi instrumenta quatuordecim mangenarum erigere, quarum virtute et impetu assidue in machinas lapides jactarentur, quorum crebris ictibus attonitae quassarentur ac perirent, et in eis positi una earum ruina periclitarentur. Ex his vero quatuordecim mangenis novem comitis Reymundi machinae opponuntur, cum innumerabili manu et virtute civium: quarum intolerabili et crebro impetu graviter machina concussa et attrita est, ejusque compagines dissolutae. Quare universi in ea viri belligeri nimium attriti, et obstupefacti inopinato [0545C] excidio, vix a mortis elapsi sunt periculo.

But when the citizens and soldiers of the king of Babylon saw [0545B] the king’s embassy thus scattered, and more boldly assaulting the Christians to take the city, and because from here and there the machines were too fiercely opposing the city, they themselves likewise set up the implements of fourteen mangonels, by whose force and impetus stones were continuously hurled against the machines, which by frequent blows were stunned, shattered and ruined, and with one of them placed on them they were imperiled by its collapse. Of these fourteen mangonels, truly nine machines of Count Reymund are opposed, with an innumerable host and the vigor of the citizens: by whose intolerable and frequent assault the machine was grievously shaken and worn, and its fastenings dissolved. Wherefore all the warlike men in it, excessively worn and astonished at the unexpected [0545C] destruction, with difficulty escaped the danger of death.

Unde quia tot creberrimos lapidum ictus sustinere non poterant, et machinae protectio defecerat, procul a moenibus machina reducta est, nec ultra inventus, qui hanc iterato ascenderet, ac cives impugnando lacesseret. Quinque vero residuae contra machinam ducis eriguntur, ut eam pari impetu et jactu percuterent et attererent; sed, Deo protegente, licet crebro ictu tacta et quassata ruinam minaretur, integra permansit et intacta, vimineisque cratibus protecta, miros impetus lapidum molliter exceptos fortiter tolerabat.

Wherefore, because they could not endure so many very frequent blows of stones, and the protection of the machine had failed, the machine was drawn back far from the walls, nor was anyone found to mount it again and to provoke the citizens by assault. Five of the remaining engines, however, were set up opposite the duke’s machine, that they might strike and wear it down with equal force and cast; but, God protecting, although touched and shaken by frequent blows and threatening ruin, it remained whole and intact, protected by wicker hurdles and wattlework, and wondrously endured the onsets of stones, which, being softly received, it stoutly sustained.

CAP. XVI. - De crucifixo, cui perfidorum insania nocere non potuit.

CHAPTER 16. - On the crucifix, to which the madness of the perfidious could not do harm.

Erat crux in summitate ejusdem machinae, figuram [0545D] continens Domini Jesu auro fulgidissimam, quam iidem Sarraceni jactu mangenarum assidue moliebantur percutere; sed nulla eis feriendi facultas aut amovendi concessa est. Illis vero saepius jacturam lapidum adversus crucem hanc molientibus, lapis fortuito advolans militem quemdam, assistentem lateri duci, in caput fortiter percussit, qui, fracto cerebro et effusis cervicibus, momentaneo fine exstinctus est. Dux vero vix ab ictu tam repentino observatus, multum baleari arcu civibus mangenasque intorquentibus, insistebat; et crates a machina impetu avulsas interdum reparabat et funibus religabat.

There was a cross on the summit of the same machine, containing a figure [0545D] of the Lord Jesus most bright in gold, which the same Saracens were continually striving to strike by the hurling of mangonels; but no power to strike it or to remove it was granted them. Indeed, as they more often laboured in casting stones against this cross, a stone, flying by chance, struck a certain soldier who was standing at the duke’s side, heavily upon the head, who, his skull broken and his brains poured out, was slain with an instant end. The duke, scarcely discomposed by so sudden a blow, pressed on; much being shot at by citizens with the bow and by those who hurled mangonels, he would sometimes repair crates torn away by the machine’s force and bind them with ropes.

CAP. XVII. - Item de diversis perfidorum machinis.

CHAPTER 17. - Likewise concerning the various devices of the perfidious.

Sarraceni milites videntes quia impetus mangenarum [0546A] crates vimineas penetrare non poterat, interdum ollas flammivomas jactabant in crates machinam protegentes, ut prunae aut scintillae aridae materiei adhaerentes, levi aura suscitatae ampliarentur, et machina consumeretur: sed industria Gallorum artem arte praevenit. Nam coriis lubricis machinae et crates opertae flammas aut prunas injectas minime retinebant; sed subito a coriis ignis labens humique cadens deficiebat. Tandem harum quinque mangenarum assiduis ictibus dux suique gravati, applicuerunt machinam in virtute Christianorum cominus moenia et muros, ut sic tutior adversus machinas obsisteret; et mangenae, propter aedificia domorum turrium abduci in loco spatioso non valentes, minus jacerent et machinam ferire [0546B] non possent.

The Saracen soldiers, seeing that the force of the mangonels [0546A] could not penetrate the wicker crates, at times hurled flaming pots onto the crates, protecting the engine, so that embers or sparks clinging to the dry material, stirred by a light breeze, might grow and the machine be consumed; but the craft of the Gauls anticipated art with art. For the oiled skins covering the machine and the crates did not at all hold in the thrown flames or embers; but suddenly the fire, sliding off the skins and falling to the ground, failed. At length, weary from the continuous blows of these five mangonels, the duke and his men brought the engine up to the Christian walls and ramparts at close quarters, so that thus it might more safely stand against the machines; and the mangonels, unable to be drawn away into an open space because of the buildings of houses and towers, lay less and could not strike the machine [0546B].

Jam vero juxta muros abducta machina, et quinque mangenis ab illa spatiosum recessum non invenientibus, lapis intortus et in impetu emissus, nimium vicinam transvolat machinam aut interdum volatu suo deficiens, juxta muros cadens, Sarracenos opprimebat. Sarraceni tandem intelligentes quia viri imperterriti in machina starent, qui mangenarum arte non possent laedi, turrim quamdam, quae in vicino erat machinae, saccis stipula et feno vel palea impletis, item vimineis cratibus et densitate navalium funium adversus Christianorum mangenas undique tectam, munierunt, viros pugnatores in ea constituentes, qui assidue moles lapidum fundibulis aut parvis mangenellis in machinam jacerent, et ejus habitatores diversis armorum terroribus [0546C] arctarent. Sed nec sic machina ducis Godefridi cedente, nec ejus custodibus ab assultu repressis, sed amplius et saevius invalescentibus, Sarracenorum artifices aliud aptant ingenium, quo machina ejusque possessores sine recuperatione consumerentur.

Now when the machine had been drawn up near the walls, and the five mangonels, not finding a roomy retreat from it, a stone, hurled with a twist and sent with force, would fly too far over the neighboring machine or, sometimes failing in its flight, fall near the walls, crushing Saracens. The Saracens, at last understanding that men stood unmoved in the machine, men who by the art of mangonels could not be harmed, fortified a certain tower that was adjacent to the machine with sacks filled with straw and hay or chaff, likewise with wicker crates and the density of ship‑ropes, covering it against the Christians’ mangonels, and placed fighting men in it, who continuously cast masses of stones with slings or with small mangonels at the machine, and beset its inhabitants with diverse terrors of arms [0546C]. But neither thus, with Duke Godfrey’s machine yielding nor its guards checked from assault — rather, the attacks increasing and growing fiercer — did the Saracen craftsmen cease, but they devised another engine whereby the machine and its occupants would be consumed without recovery.

CAP. XVIII- Ubi ignis aceto sopitur, et catena gentilium vi extorquetur.

CHAPTER 18- Where the fire is quenched with vinegar, and the chain of the gentiles is wrested away by force.

Contulerunt enim immanissimum magnique ponderis robur arborum, quod totum clavis ferreis et uncis confixerunt, clavosque stuppis, pice, cera oleoque infusis et impinguatis impleverunt, et omni fomentorum ignis genere. Catenam quoque ferream et onerosam in medio robore affixerunt, ne curvis [0546D] et ferreis hamis peregrinorum leviter posset auferri et amoveri, dum ad comburendam machinam trans muros et moenia praefatum lignum jactaretur. Aptato perfectoque hujus roboris aedificio, quadam die universi cives ac milites regis Babyloniae intra urbem adunati, circa id opus conferuntur.

For they collected a most enormous and great-weight trunk of trees, which they fastened all over with iron nails and hooks, and filled the nail-holes with tow, pitch, wax, and oil poured in and made greasy, and with every sort of fire-kindling. They also fixed an iron and heavy chain in the middle of the trunk, so that it could not be lightly lifted off and removed by the curved and iron hooks of strangers [0546D], while the aforesaid timber was cast over the walls and ramparts toward the machine for burning. This beam being fitted and the structure completed, on a certain day all the citizens and soldiers of the king of Babylon, having been gathered within the city, assemble about that work.

Qui scalis, hastis et apparatibus suis grave lignum, incensum igne omni aqua inexstinguibili, trans muros in virtute magna et in momento deposuerunt, inter muros et machinam hoc jacientes, ut ab illius validissimo ardore postes, quibus tota innitebatur machina, correpti, cremarentur ruinamque in ea habitantes paterentur; nec ulla aqua tam vehemens ignis restingueretur, quousque tota machina cum praefato robore in cineres redacta corruisset. Verum [0547A] Christianis ab indigenis conchristianis res innotuit, et qualiter hic ignis, aqua inexstinguibilis, solo aceti liquore restingui valeat. Unde in utribus intra machinam acetum, ex providentia impositum super injectum et effusum est: sic grande incendium restinctum, ultra machinae nocere non potuit.

With ladders, poles, and their engines they set a heavy beam, kindled with a fire unquenchable by any water, across the walls with great force and in an instant; this lying between the walls and the machine, so that by that most violent blaze the posts on which the whole engine leaned might be seized and burned, and those dwelling in it suffer the ruin; nor would any water so vehement extinguish the fire until the whole engine together with the aforesaid timber had fallen down reduced to ashes. But [0547A] the matter became known to the Christians by native co‑Christians, and how this fire, water unquenchable, is able to be quenched by the mere liquor of vinegar. Wherefore in skins inside the machine vinegar, by providence, was placed, poured upon and spread: thus the great conflagration being extinguished could no longer do harm to the engine.

Ad hujus denique roboris exstinctionem concursus peregrinorum factus est: qui catenam arripientes, totis viribus luctamen inierunt, hi exterius trahendo, hi interius retinendo. Sed Christianorum virtus, Deo favente, praevaluit; et sic Sarracenis catena erepta, a fidelibus retenta est.

At the extinguishing of this timber there arose a rush of foreigners: who, seizing the chain, entered into a struggle with all their strength, some pulling from the outside, others holding back from the inside. But the virtue of the Christians, God favoring, prevailed; and so the chain, torn from the Saracens, was retained by the faithful.

CAP. XIX. - Qui sanctam civitatem obtinuerint primi.

CHAPTER 19. - Those who first obtained the holy city.

In ejusdem vero catenae contentione ab intus et [0547B] deforis, ac quinque mangenarum defectione frustra jam deintus jactantium, dux, qui in eminentiore coenaculo arcis obtinuerat mansionem, omne genus jaculorum saxorumque in medium vulgus conglobatorum cum suis intorquebat, et stantes in muro sine intermissione a moenibus arcebat. Tres siquidem Christianorum mangenae sine requie, incessabili jactu moenia transvolabant, et custodes hinc et hinc a moenibus longo recessu absterrebant. Adhaec fratres praenominati, Ludolfus et Engelbertus, videntes Sarracenos otio torpere et manus a defensione continere, atque ex utroque latere moenium procul absistere propter mangenarum caeterorumque impetum, sine mora, sicuti muro erant [0547C] propiores, a secundo coenaculo, in quo manebant, porrectis arboribus et in moenia missis, primum in urbem cum virtute armorum descenderunt, universis murorum custodibus in fugam versis.

In the very struggle of that same chain from within and [0547B] from without, and with the failure of five mangenae (mangonels) vainly already hurling from inside, the leader, who had obtained lodging in the higher chamber of the citadel, hurled every kind of javelins and stones into the midst of the crowd gathered together with his men, and continually kept those standing on the wall constrained from the battlements. For three of the Christians’ mangenae, without rest and with incessant casting, were flinging things over the walls, and were driving the guards on both sides far away from the ramparts. Moreover the aforesaid brothers, Ludolf and Engelbert, seeing the Saracens benumbed by idleness and holding back their hands from defence, and on each side of the walls standing off at a distance because of the attack of the mangenae and the rest, without delay, as they were nearer the wall [0547C], from the second chamber in which they remained, with poles extended and cast onto the walls, first descended into the city with the force of arms, all the keepers of the walls being put to flight.

Dux vero fraterque ejus Eustachius, hos urbem jam ingressos intelligentes, extemplo a superiore arce descendentes, mox et ipsi in moenibus consistentes ad opem illorum descenderunt. Omnis populus haec intuens, et principes jam obtinere civitatem inaestimabili clamore intonantes, scalis undique muro applicitis, ascendere et intrare festinant.

The commander and his brother Eustachius, understanding that these men had already entered the city, immediately descending from the upper citadel, and soon themselves standing on the walls, came down to their aid. All the people, seeing these things, and the chiefs already shouting that they had taken the city with an inestimable cry, with ladders applied to the wall on every side, hastened to climb up and enter.

CAP. XX. - De diffugio et interitu perditorum.

CHAPTER 20. - On the flight and destruction of the lost.

Cives autem ac defensores urbis contemplantes capta moenia et muros, ac media urbe viros Christianos [0547D] sistere, totamque civitatem armis Gallorum inundare, correpti sunt formidine et mentis hebetudine; ac repente diffugium facientes, plurima multitudo spe protectionis ad palatium regis Salomonis, quod erat spatiosum atque firmissimum, fugam arripiunt. Quos Galli fortiter insecuti lanceis et gladiis, cum ipsis fugitivis pariter portas palatii ingrediuntur, et in nimia gentilium occisione perseverant. Equites vero circiter quadringenti, qui a rege Babyloniae missi, urbem assidue perlustrabant in admonitione defensionis et consolatione civium, visa angustia et fuga suorum, ad praesidium turris David veloci cursu equorum diverterunt.

The citizens and defenders of the city, however, beholding the captured ramparts and walls, and seeing Christian men standing in the middle of the city [0547D], and the whole city inundated with the arms of the Gauls, were seized with fear and dulness of mind; and suddenly, making to flee, a very great multitude, in hope of protection, seized upon flight to the palace of King Solomon, which was spacious and very strong. The Gauls, having bravely pursued them with lances and swords, entered the palace gates together with the fugitives, and persisted in the excessive slaughter of the gentiles. About four hundred horsemen, who had been sent by the king of Babylonia and were constantly ranging the city to warn for defense and to console the citizens, seeing the distress and the flight of their own, diverted at a swift gallop to the defense of the tower of David.

Sed Gallis eos gravi insecutione prementibus, vix portae immissi, equos, ante januam unanimiter descendentes, reliquerunt; [0548A] quos Christiani arripientes, cum frenis et sellis abduxerunt, habentes ea.

But with the Gauls pressing upon them in a heavy pursuit, scarcely having been admitted through the gates, they unanimously dismounted before the threshold and abandoned their horses; [0548A] which the Christians, seizing them, led away with bridles and saddles, keeping them.

CAP. XXI. - Quid factum sit, per portas toto irrumpente populo.

CHAPTER 21. - What happened, with the whole populace bursting in through the gates.

Interea quidam peregrinorum ad portas urbis contendentes, seras et vectes ferreos avellunt, totumque vulgus ad auxilium intromittunt. Sed tanta pressura et anxietas ingredientium in porta hac fuisse perhibetur, ut etiam ipsi equi, nimia oppressione gravati, plurimos dentibus, aperto ore ad mordendum, nolente sessore, invaderent, sudore inaudito diffluentes. Quare viri circiter sedecim pedibus equorum, mulorum, hominumque conculcati et discerpti et suffocati, spiritum vitae exhalaverunt.

Meanwhile certain strangers hurrying to the city gates tore away the bolts and iron bars, and admitted the whole populace to the aid. But it is reported that so great a press and anxiety of those entering prevailed at this gate that even the horses themselves, burdened by excessive oppression, attacked many with their teeth, with mouths open to bite the unwilling rider, streaming with unheard-of sweat. Wherefore about sixteen men, trampled, torn, and suffocated by the feet of horses, mules, and men, breathed forth the spirit of life.

Per foramen etiam murorum, quod aries ferra a [0548B] fronte infregerat, plurima millia virorum ac mulierum intromissa sunt. Hi omnes conglobati, in vociferatione et strepitu magno ad palatium praedictum concursum facientes, fratribus praemissis auxilium contulerunt, Sarracenos per domum, quae spatiosa erat, crudeli funere sternentes: quorum adeo sanguinis facta est effusio, ut etiam rivi per ipsa pavimenta regiae aulae defluerent, et usque ad talos fusus cruor accresceret. Sarraceni, interdum recuperato spiritu et viribus, in defensionem frustra eriguntur; sed tamen plures fidelium incautos mutua caede perfoderunt.

Through the breach of the walls, which the iron ram had broken at the [0548B] front, very many thousands of men and women were let in. All these, massed together, making a rush toward the aforesaid palace with loud shouting and great din, with brothers sent ahead, brought aid, laying the Saracens low through the house, which was spacious, with cruel slaughter: such an outpouring of their blood occurred that even rivulets ran over the very pavements of the royal hall, and the blood, poured out, increased up to the ankles. The Saracens, after regaining breath and strength at times, rose in vain to defend themselves; yet nevertheless they pierced many unsuspecting of the faithful in mutual slaughter.

CAP. XXII. - De cisterna regii palatii.

CHAPTER 22. - On the cistern of the royal palace.

In cisternam autem regiam, quae ante fores ejusdem [0548C] palatii in modum lacus amplitudinem et magnitudinem cavatione continet, testudinem fornicei operis desuper habens, marmoreis undique subnixa columnis, plures Sarracenorum per gradus, qui ad hauriendam aquam introeuntes perducunt, confugerunt: quorum alii aquis suffocati sunt, alii ab insequentibus Christianis in ipsis gradibus defensionis perempti sunt. Per ea vero foramina, quae trans testudinem ora in modum putei habebant, tam Christiani quam Sarraceni praecipiti fuga, caecoque cursu cadentes, non solum submersione perclitabantur, sed et fractis collis et cervicibus, aut ruptis visceribus exstinguebantur. Hujus quippe cisternae regiae aqua in omni obsidione urbis ad mensuram civibus indigentibus et militibus dari solebat ad [0548D] aquandos equos, greges et universa jumenta, et ad omnes usus necessarios.

Into the royal cistern, moreover, which before the gates of the same [0548C] palace contains, by excavation, the breadth and magnitude in the manner of a lake, having a testudo — the vault of a fornicial work — above, supported on all sides by marble columns, many of the Saracens fled by the steps which lead in to draw water: of whom some were suffocated by the waters, others were slain by the pursuing Christians on the very steps of its defense. Through those apertures moreover, which across the testudo had mouths in the manner of a well, both Christians and Saracens, in headlong flight and falling in a blind course, not only were imperiled by immersion, but were extinguished by broken necks and throats, or by burst entrails. For the water of this royal cistern, in every siege of the city, was wont to be given to a measure to needy citizens and to soldiers for watering horses, flocks and all beasts of burden, and for all necessary uses. [0548D]

Ex omni stillicidio pluviarum, ab ipsius tecti palatii canalibus, templique Domini testudine, et a tectis multorum aedificiorum, confluente, haec cisterna adimpletur, per circulum anni frigidam ac salubrem aquam abunde omnibus illic urbem inhabitantibus administrans.

From every drip of the rains, flowing from the channels of the very roof of the palace, and from the vault (testudine) of the Lord’s temple, and converging from the roofs of many buildings, this cistern is filled, and throughout the circuit of the year supplies cold and healthful water abundantly to all who dwell in the city there.

CAP. XXIII. - Item de generali coede civium et direptione templi Domini.

CHAPTER 23. - Also concerning the general slaughter of the citizens and the plundering of the Lord's temple.

Egressi autem Christiani victores a palatio post nimiam et cruentam caedem Sarracenorum, quorum decem millia in ipso loco occiderunt, plures copias gentilium, per vicos civitatis errantes diffugio prae timore mortis, in ore gladii percusserunt. Mulieres, quae in turritis palatiis et soliis confugerant, mucrone [0549A] confoderunt; infantes, adhuc sugentes, per plantam pedis e sinu matris aut cunabulis arreptos muris vel ostiorum liminibus allidentes, fractis cervicibus, alios armis trucidabant, alios lapidibus obruebant; nulli prorsus aetati aut generi gentilium parcentes. Quicunque ergo domum aut palatium prior invadebat, cum omni suppellectile, frumento, oleo, hordeo et vino, pecunia aut veste, vel qualibet re pacifice obtinebat.

The Christians, however, going forth victorious from the palace after the excessive and bloody slaughter of the Saracens, of whom ten thousand fell on that very spot, struck down many bands of the gentiles, wandering the city streets in flight for fear of death, by the edge of the sword. Women, who had fled to the palace towers and galleries, they pierced with the mucron [0549A]; infants, still suckling, snatched from their mothers’ bosoms or cradles and dashed with the sole of the foot against the walls or door-sills, with necks broken, some they slaughtered with weapons, others they buried under stones; absolutely sparing no age or sex of the gentiles. Therefore whoever first entered a house or palace peacefully took possession of it with all its furnishings, grain, oil, barley and wine, money or clothing, or any other thing.

Et sic possessores totius civitatis facti sunt. Intromissis vero Christianis in civitatem et longa strage in palatio et urbe saevientibus spoliis atque divitiis Sarracenorum inhiantibus, Tankradus, qui festinus in primo urbis ingressu templum praecurrit, et avulsis seris intravit, pecuniam auri et argenti incomparabilem cum robore et ope [0549B] sui satellitii a muris deauratis in circuitu, columnis et pilariis avulsit, biduo in raptione hujus thesauri a Turcis oratorio decorando collati desudans. Quem thesaurum duo Sarraceni, ab urbe in obsidione egressi, eidem Tankrado, ut gratiam et salutem vitae suae in oculis ipsius invenirent, propalasse feruntur.

And thus they became the possessors of the whole city. And when Christians were let into the city and a long slaughter raged in the palace and town, the spoils and riches of the Saracens lying in wait, Tankradus, who hastily ran ahead to the temple at the first entrance of the city, and after tearing away the bars entered, tore off an incomparable store of gold and silver together with the beams and gear [0549B] of his satellites from the gilded surrounding walls, the columns and pillars, laboring and sweating for two days in the seizure of this treasury taken from the Turks who had been adorning the oratory. This treasure, it is said, was disclosed to the same Tankradus by two Saracens who had sallied forth from the city under siege, so that they might find favor and the safety of their lives in his sight.

Post praedictum vero tempus dierum templi portas aperiens, et secum pecuniam asportans, duci Godefrido, cujus erat miles, fideliter divisit, quam vix, ut aiunt, quibus tota massa innotuit, sex cameli aut muli portare poterant.

After the aforesaid time of days, opening the temple gates and carrying the money away with him, he faithfully divided it to Duke Godefrid, whose soldier he was; which, they say to whom the whole sum became known, six camels or mules could scarcely carry.

CAP. XXIV. - Relatio de templo Domini.

CHAPTER 24. - Account of the Lord's Temple.

Hoc Templum, quod dicitur Domini, non illud antiquum ac mirabile opus regis Salomonis intelligendum est, cum tota urbs Jerusalem a rege Nabochodonosor, [0549C] deinde a rege Antiocho ante multos annos Dominicae Incarnationis destructa fuerit, templumque Salomonis a fundamento dirutum, ornamentis et vasis sacris spoliatum sit. Rursus post incarnationem, ex praenuntiatione Domini Jesu, a principibus Romanorum, Vespasiano et Tito, funditus cum suis habitatoribus sic Jerusalem deleta est, ut secundum vocem Domini lapis super lapidem non relinqueretur. Verum templum hoc postea a modernis et Christianis cultoribus reaedificatum, plures attestantur; nempe eo loco, quo Salomon pacificus de lignis cedrinis et Pario lapide pristinum Dei tabernaculum collocavit, et in ea Sancta sanctorum.

This Temple, which is called the Lord’s, is not to be understood as that ancient and wondrous work of King Solomon, since the whole city of Jerusalem was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar, and afterwards by King Antiochus many years before the Lord’s Incarnation, and Solomon’s temple was razed to its foundations and stripped of its ornaments and sacred vessels. Again after the Incarnation, by the forewarning of the Lord Jesus, at the hands of the princes of the Romans, Vespasian and Titus, Jerusalem was so utterly destroyed with its inhabitants that, according to the Lord’s word, not a stone was left upon a stone. But this temple was later rebuilt by modern and Christian worshippers, many attest; namely on that spot where Solomon the Peaceful placed the former tabernacle of God of cedar woods and Parian stone, and in it the Holy of Holies.

In medio autem hoc moderno tabernaculo mons lapideus, [0549D] natura fundatus, proeminet, fere in latitudine continens tertiam partem jugeri, in altitudine habens duos cubitos. Cujus in uno latere gradus collocati, ad cava loca descendentes perducunt; alio vero in latere, ut in veritate referunt, qui tunc consideraverunt, ostiolum habet lapideum, sed semper signatam. Illic ex quorumdam opinione quaedam Sancta sanctorum adhuc servari perhibentur.

In the middle, however, of this modern tabernacle a stony mount, [0549D] founded by nature, projects forth, containing in breadth almost a third part of a jugerum, and in height having two cubits. On one side of which steps set lead down to hollow places; on the other side, as those who then considered it truly report, it has a little stone door, but always sealed. There, according to some opinion, certain Holy of Holies are still reported to be kept.

In media si quidem testudine ejusdem templi moderni, quod nunc mirifico opere signorum desuper murorum parietes in circuitu continet, rotundam catenam infixam esse asseverant, in qua vas aurei fulgoris et operis, ponderis vero circiter ducentarum marcarum, pendere semper solet. Quod urnam auream alii affirmant, alii sanguinem Domini, alii manna in eo abscondi [0550A] tum; et sic in varias sententias diversa opinione eriguntur.

They assert that in the middle indeed of the testudine of the same modern temple, which now by a marvelous work of signs contains above the walls the surrounding parietes, a round chain is fixed, in which a vessel of golden brightness and workmanship, of a weight indeed of about two hundred marks, is always wont to hang. Some affirm that it is a golden urn, others that the blood of the Lord, others that manna is hidden in it [0550A]; and thus by diverse opinion they are raised into various judgments.

CAP. XXV. - De oratoriis sanctae civitatis, et quam devote dux sepulcrum Domini visitaverit.

CHAPTER 25. - On the oratories of the holy city, and how devoutly the duke visited the sepulcher of the Lord.

Hoc itaque vas et promunctorium, quod in medio templi proeminere praediximus, intactum a Tankrado permansit, quin Turci omni devotione utrumque venerantes, inviolatum reservabant. Unde et tabernaculum omni honore et decore thesaurizabant, soli, omnibus gentibus caeteris exclusis, in illo suarum caeremoniarum observationi vacantes. Sic vero ipsum praefatum templum ad exsequendos ritus sui erroris summa reverentia et custodia venerantes, soli etiam Dominici sepulcri templo, ejusque cultoribus Christianis parcebant, propter tributa, quae ex [0550B] oblatione fidelium as idue eis solvebantur, una cum ecclesia S. Mariae ad Latinos, quae etiam tributaria erat.

This vessel and projecting bulwark, which we said jutted out in the middle of the temple, remained intact under Tancred, indeed the Turks, venerating both with every devotion, kept them preserved inviolate. Wherefore they treasured the tabernacle with all honor and dignity, alone, excluding all other peoples, devoting that place to the observance of their own ceremonies. Thus, venerating the aforesaid temple itself with the utmost reverence and custodial care in order to perform the rites of their error, they even spared the temple of the Lord’s Sepulchre and its Christian worshippers, on account of the tributes which from the [0550B] offering of the faithful were paid to them as due, together with the church of S. Mary of the Latins, which was likewise tributary.

In reliqua vero oratoria urbis sanctae tam Turci quam Sarraceni suam tyrannidem nimia strage exercuerunt, prorsus ab eis catholicos cultores exterminantes. Ad hoc denique templum Domini, ut praedictum est, iter suum Tankrado convertente prae avaritia sibi propalatae pecuniae; aliis vero ad praesidium turris David fugitivos velociter insequentibus, cunctisque principibus rebus et aedificiis Turcicis inhiantibus, universoque vulgo ad palatium Salomonis tendente, et caedem nimiam crudeliter in Sarracenos operante, dux Godefridus ab omni strage se abstinens, mox tribus tantum suorum secum retentis, Baldrico, Adelboldo et Stabulone, exutus [0550C] lorica, et lanea veste indutus, nudatis pedibus muros egressus, in circuitu urbis cum humilitate processit, et per eam portam quae respicit ad montem Olivarum introiens, Sepulcro Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Filii Dei vivi, praesentatus est, in lacrymis, orationibus et divinis persistens laudibus, et Deo gratias agens quia videre meruit quod illi semper fuit summo desiderio.

In the remaining oratories of the holy city both Turks and Saracens exercised their tyranny with excessive slaughter, utterly exterminating the Catholic worshippers. Moreover that temple of the Lord, as has been said, Tankrado diverted his course to, through greed for the money made known to him; while others, rapidly pursuing fugitives to the garrison of the Tower of David, and all the princes clinging to Turkish matters and buildings, and the whole common people tending to Solomon’s palace, and a too-cruel massacre being wrought upon the Saracens, Duke Godefridus abstaining from all slaughter, soon, having retained only three of his men with him, Baldrico, Adelboldo and Stabulone, stripped of his lorica, and clad in a woolen garment [0550C], with feet bare went forth from the walls, proceeded round the city with humility, and entering by that gate which looks toward the Mount of Olives, presented himself to the Sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, remaining in tears, prayers, and divine praises, and giving thanks to God because he was deemed worthy to see that which had always been his greatest desire.

CAP. XXVI. - Visio cujusdam de duce.

CHAPTER 26. - A certain vision concerning the duke.

Nam pio ducis proposito impleto, somnii hujus visio completa veraciter comprobatur. Ante viae hujus initium cum saepe idem dux suspiria traheret, suique animi optio ante omnia esset visitare sanctam civitatem Jerusalem, et videre sepulcrum Domini Jesu, ac saepe privatis famulis cordis sui aperiret intentionem, [0550D] cuidam de familiaribus suis, Stabuloni videlicet, in hunc modum ostensa est visio. Videbat idem scalam auream a coelesti axe procerae longitudinis usque ad terram porrectam, quam ipse dux, nimio desiderio fervens, cum quodam poculi sui provisore, Rothardo nomine, lucernam in manu ferente, conscendere conatus est.

For the pious purpose of the duke having been fulfilled, the vision of this dream is truly confirmed as completed. Before the beginning of this journey, when often the same duke drew sighs, and his heart’s choice above all was to visit the holy city Jerusalem and to see the tomb of the Lord Jesus, and he often opened the intention of his heart to a certain one of his household servants, namely Stabulon, the vision was shown in this manner: he saw a golden ladder from the celestial axle of towering length extended down to the earth, which the duke himself, burning with excessive desire, attempted to climb with a certain keeper of his cup, named Rothard, bearing a lamp in his hand.

Sed provisore jam media scala consistente, lucerna, quam gestabat in manu illius, exstinguitur, et medius gradus scalae, per quam ad supernum coeli solium scandebat, graviter laesus et attritus est. Sic provisor poculi ad inferiora reversus, prae formidine ultra ad coelestem portam cum duce pervenire non potuit ac pulsare. At Stabulo, cujus est ista visio, lucernam exstinctam reaccendens, scalam, [0551A] qua pincerna indignus attolli non meruit, fiducialiter conscendit, et lucernam ultra indeficientem ferens, cum ipso duce coeli penetravit ad aulam, ubi mensa illis parata, et omni deliciarum dulcedine cumulata reperta est.

But when the cup-bearer was now standing in the middle of the ladder, the lamp which he bore in his hand was extinguished, and the middle step of the ladder by which he climbed to the heavenly throne of heaven was grievously injured and worn away. Thus the cup-bearer, returning to the lower parts, through fear could no longer reach or knock at the celestial gate together with the duke. But Stabulus, whose is this vision, rekindling the extinguished lamp, climbed the ladder, [0551A] which the unworthy pincerna had not deserved to be raised upon, with confidence, and bearing the lamp ever-unfailing, entered with that same leader into the hall of heaven, where a table prepared for them, and piled up with every sweetness of delights, was found.

Ad hanc denique dux cum electis et ea dignis recumbens, de omni quae aderat dulcedinis suavitate partitus est.

Finally the leader, reclining with the elect and those worthy of it, shared of all that was present with the sweetness of delight.

CAP. XXVII. - Interpretatio somnii.

CHAPTER 27. - Interpretation of the dream.

Quid per hanc scalam ad coeli palatium ducentem, nisi via quam dux tota mentis intentione apprehendit ad urbem Jerusalem, quae porta est coelestis patriae, significatur? Ex auro enim purissimo erat scala; quia ad hanc viam et coeli portam puro corde et perfecta humilitate veniendum. Media autem scala provisoris poculi lucerna exstinguitur, gradus laesus [0551B] deficit, ascensus negatur, quia opus et onus viae sanctae, quod bona et pura voluntate una cum duce devovit, medio labore deseruit cum plurimis, sicut audivistis.

What is signified by this ladder leading to the palace of heaven, if not the way which the leader, with the whole intent of his mind, apprehended to the city Jerusalem, which is the gate of the heavenly homeland? For the ladder was of the purest gold; because to this way and to the gate of heaven one must come with a pure heart and perfect humility. But in the middle of the ladder the lamp of the steward’s cup is extinguished, a damaged step [0551B] gives way, ascent is denied, because the work and burden of the holy way, which he vowed with good and pure will together with the leader, he abandons in the midst of the toil with very many, as you have heard.

Propter diffidentiam enim et imminentes angustias a duce subtractus est Antiochiae, et sic apostata factus, ad aratrum reversus est miseriarum, nec ultra per scalam cum duce coeli introiens januam, sanctorum mensa dignus fuit participari. Stabulo vero ducis camerarius, lucernam ab ipsius manu suscipiens, reaccendit, quia voluntatem bonam viae hujus quam primum assumpsit fortiter retinuit, et inter diversas mentis vacillationes lampade benevolentiae reaccensa, reflagranti voto firmiter haesit; sicque insolubili gradu scalam cum duce superavit. Insuper illius in omni tribulatione socius [0551C] stabilis, et famulus existens fidelis Dei, eo usque in Jerusalem pervenit, et ad sepulcrum Domini, quod mensa est et desiderium totius dulcedinis sanctorum, intrare meruit et orare.

Because of distrust and impending distresses he was withdrawn from the leader at Antioch, and thus having been made an apostate he returned to the plough of miseries, nor thereafter, entering the gate by the ladder with the leader of heaven, was he deemed worthy to partake of the table of the saints. But the steward of the leader, in the stable, taking the lamp from his very hand, rekindled it, because he firmly retained as soon as possible the good will of this way which he had undertaken, and, the lamp of benevolence rekindled amid the diverse vacillations of the mind, he clung firmly to the rekindled vow; and thus with an indissoluble step he surmounted the ladder with the leader. Moreover, being a steadfast companion of that man in every tribulation, and being a servant faithful to God, he reached even to Jerusalem, and merited to enter and to pray at the Lord’s sepulchre, which is the table and the desire of the whole sweetness of the saints. [0551C]

CAP. XXVIII. - De avaritia Reymundi et Tankradi, et de nece quorumdam gentilium.

CHAPTER 28. - On the avarice of Reymundus and Tancred, and on the slaughter of certain gentiles.

Post haec duce a sanctuario Dominici sepulcri regresso in laetitia cordis et exsultatione post peractam ibi victoriam, et hospitio quiescendi causa declinato, jam toto exercitu sedato a gentilium occisione, et nocte ea oculos universorum prae labore aggravante, quia Jerusalem, civitas Dei viventis, et mater nostra, filiis restituta est in victoria magna sexta feria, in die solemni divisionis apostolorum, quae est Idus Julii, comes Reymundus avaritia corruptus, [0551D] Sarracenos milites, quos in turrim David fuga elapsos obsederat, accepta ingenti pecunia, illaesos abire permisit; omnia autem arma, escas et exuvias eorum cum eodem praesidio retinuit. Proxima ab hinc die Sabbati clarescente, quidam Sarracenorum spe vitae in summitatem tecti domus praecelsae Salomonis ab armis elapsi, circiter trecenti confugerant. Qui multa prece pro vita flagitantes, in mortis articulo positi, nullius fiducia aut promissione audebant descendere, quousque vexillum Tankradi, in signum protectionis vivendi susceperunt.

After this, the leader having returned from the sanctuary of the Lord’s Sepulchre, in joy of heart and exultation after the victory there accomplished, and having declined hospitality for the sake of resting, now with the whole army calmed from the slaughter of the gentiles, and that night the eyes of all weighed down by toil, because Jerusalem, the city of the living God, and our mother, was restored to the sons in great victory on Friday, on the solemn day of the division of the apostles, which is the Ides of July, Count Reymund corrupted by avarice, [0551D] allowed the Saracen soldiers, whom he had besieged after they had slipped away in flight into the Tower of David, to go away unharmed on receipt of a great sum of money; but he retained all their arms, food, and spoils together with the same garrison. On the next day from here, the Sabbath dawning, some of the Saracens, hoping for life, having slipped to the summit of the roof of Solomon’s lofty house apart from their arms, about three hundred had taken refuge. These, beseeching with many prayers for life, placed at the threshold of death, did not dare to descend in reliance on any trust or promise, until they took up Tancred’s banner as a sign of protection for living.

Sed minime misellis profuit. Nam plurimis super hoc indignantibus, et Christianis furore commotis, ne unus quidem illorum evasit.

But it availed the wretches not at all. For with very many indignant at this, and the Christians stirred by fury, not one of them escaped.

CAP. XXIX. - Ubi consilio majorum ira Tankradi sedatur. [0552A]

CHAPTER 29. - Where by the counsel of the elders the anger of Tancred is calmed. [0552A]

Tankradus, miles gloriosus, super hac sibi illata injuria vehementi ira succensus est, nec sine discordia et gravi ultione furor illius quievisset, nisi consilium et sententia majorum ac prudentium illius animum his mitigasset verbis: «Jerusalem civitas Dei excelsi, ut universi nostis, magna difficultate et non sine damno nostrorum recuperata, propriis filiis hodie restituta est, et liberata de manu regis Babyloniae, jugoque Turcorum. Sed modo cavendum est ne avaritia aut pigritia vel misericordia erga inimicos habita, hanc amittamus, captivis, et adhuc residuis in urbe gentilibus, parcentes. Nam si forte a rege Babyloniae in multitudine gravi occupati fuerimus, [0552B] subito ab intus et extra impugnabimur; sicque in perpetuum exsilium transportabimur.

Tankradus, a vainglorious soldier, enraged with violent anger at the injury thus done to him, would not have quelled his fury without discord and severe revenge, if the counsel and opinion of the elders and the prudent had not softened his mind with these words: “Jerusalem, the city of the Most High God, as you all know, has with great difficulty and not without loss of our men been recovered, today restored to her own sons, and delivered from the hand of the king of Babylon, and from the yoke of the Turks. But now we must beware lest avarice or sloth or mercy shown toward enemies make us lose her, sparing the captives and still the remaining gentiles in the city. For if by chance we are heavily occupied by the king of Babylon in a great multitude, [0552B] we will suddenly be attacked from within and without; and thus we shall be carried off into exile forever.

Unde primum et fidele nobis videtur consilium, quatenus universi Sarraceni et gentiles, qui captivi tenentur, pecunia redimendi aut redempti, sine dilatione in gladio corruant, ne fraude aut ingenio illorum nobis aliqua occurrant adversa.»

Wherefore first it seems to us a faithful counsel, that insofar as all the Saracens and gentiles who are held captive, to be ransomed or redeemed with money, are without delay struck down by the sword, lest by their fraud or craft any adverse thing befall us.»

CAP. XXX. - Internecio superstitum gentilium.

CHAPTER 30. - The destruction of the pagan superstitions.

Consilio hoc accepto, tertio die post victoriam egressa est sententia a majoribus: et ecce universi arma rapiunt, et miserabili caede in omne vulgus gentilium, quod adhuc erat residuum, exsurgunt, alios producentes e vinculis et decollantes, alios per vicos et plateas civitatis inventos trucidantes, quibus antea causa pecuniae aut humana pietate pepercerunt. [0552C] But with this counsel taken, on the third day after the victory a decree went forth from the elders: and behold all seized arms, and with miserable slaughter rose up against every throng of gentiles that yet remained, bringing some forth from bonds and beheading them, slaughtering others found in the streets and lanes of the city, whom before they had spared for the sake of money or human pity. Yet they were cutting off the heads of girls, women, noble matrons and pregnant women together with tender maidens, or burying them with stones, considering no age at all. On the other hand the girls, women, matrons, stricken by fear of sudden death and shaken with the horror of most grievous killing, clinging to the throats of Christians of both sexes, raving and raging, embraced those in the midst to free/save their lives; some were thrown at their feet, entreating them concerning their life and safety with excessive pitying tears and cries.

Pueri vero quinquennes aut triennes matrum patrumque crudelem casum intuentes, una miserum clamorem et fletum multiplicabant. Sed frustra haec pietatis et misericordiae signa fiebant. Nam Christiani sic neci totum laxaverant animum, ut non sugens masculus aut [0552D] femina, nedum infans unius anni vivens manum percussoris evaderet.

Boys of five years or three, beholding the cruel fate of their mothers and fathers, together multiplied one miserable cry and weeping. But in vain were these signs of piety and mercy. For the Christians had so surrendered their whole mind to slaughter, that not a suckling male or [0552D] female, much less a living infant of one year, escaped the hand of the striker.

Unde plateae totius civitatis Jerusalem corporibus exstinctis virorum et mulierum lacerisque membris infantium adeo stratae et opertae fuisse referuntur, ut non solum in vicis, soliis et palatiis, sed etiam in locis desertae solitudinis copia occisorum reperiretur innumerabilis.

Whence the streets of the whole city of Jerusalem are reported to have been so strewn and covered with the bodies of slain men and women and with the torn limbs of infants, that not only in the neighborhoods, seats, and palaces, but even in places of deserted solitude, an innumerable number of the dead was found.

CAP. XXXI. - De anteriore Turcorum dominio in urbe Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 31. - On the former dominion of the Turks in the city of Jerusalem.

A die autem, qua urbs sancta a Sarracenis obsessa, munita ac defensa fuit, usque ad hanc diem qua capta et victa suisque restituta est, nullus Turcorum in ea repertus est, qui paulo ante hanc vi invadentes, multo tempore obtinuerant, et gravia tributa [0553A] tam a Sarracenis quam peregrinis Christi et indigenis fidelibus exigebant. Trecenti Turci erant, qui civitatem sanctam captivaverant, longo tempore in ea dominati, plurimis in circuitu urbibus Syriae et Palaestinae regionis illis tributariis factis, quas rex Babyloniae cum Jerusalem quondam subditas et regno suo appendentes potenter obtinere solebat. Nunc, ut audistis, Christianorum exercitu in obsidione Antiochiae post captam Nicaeam ordinato, idem rex Babyloniae, audita gloria, virtute ac victoria Christianorum principum, et Turcorum humiliatione, in urbe Jerusalem, quam amiserat, trecentos Turcos in apparatu et exercitu copioso obsedit.

From the day, however, on which the holy city was besieged, fortified, and defended by the Saracens, until this day on which it was taken and conquered and restored to its own, no Turk was found in it who, a little before, invading with that force, had long held it, and exacted heavy tributes [0553A] both from Saracens and from pilgrims of Christ and native faithful. There were three hundred Turks who had captured the holy city, ruled in it for a long time, and made many of the surrounding cities of the region of Syria and Palestine tributary to them, which the king of Babylon was wont once to hold subject and to annex powerfully to his kingdom along with Jerusalem. Now, as you have heard, after the Christian army had been arranged at the siege of Antioch following the capture of Nicaea, the same king of Babylon, having heard of the glory, valour, and victory of the Christian princes and of the humiliation of the Turks, invested the three hundred Turks in the city of Jerusalem, which he had lost, with splendid array and a copious army.

Quos plurimo assultu et mangenarum impetu expugnatos fatigavit, multum obsistentes ac repugnantes, sed [0553B] non sine magno suorum detrimento.

Whom, stormed and taken by a very great assault and by the force of mangonels, he wearied, they resisting much and fighting back, but [0553B] not without great loss to his own men.

CAP. XXXII. - Quomodo Turci eliminati sint, et de mendosa Babylonici regis promissione.

CHAPTER 32. - How the Turks were expelled, and concerning the mendacious promise of the king of Babylon.

Erat autem Solymanus, princeps et caput horum Turcorum, miles ferocissimus, semper regi Babyloniae et ejus regno adversarius. Tandem Turci cum principe suo, videntes manum suorum exiguam pondus belli et tot millium assultus tolerare non posse, data mutuo fide et dextris de vita et salute sua, impetraverunt quatenus urbem reddentes, pacifice exirent, et conductum ipsius regis usque in Damascum haberent, in qua princeps magnificus Donimani frater dominari perhibetur, qui nunc cum praefatis Turcis ab urbe Jerusalem ejectus est. His ejectis et conductum regis usque in Damascum habentibus, [0553C] rex Jerusalem ingressus, templum Domini juxta ritum gentilium summa reverentia et humilitate subiit.

Now Solymanus, the prince and head of those Turks, was a most fierce soldier, always hostile to the king of Babylon and his realm. At last the Turks, with their prince, seeing their men’s scant hand, the burden of war, and that they could not endure the assault of so many thousands, having given mutual faith and sworn by their right hands for their life and safety, obtained that, on surrendering the city, they might depart peaceably, and have an escort of that king as far as Damascus, in which place the magnificent prince Donimani is said to rule as brother, who is now, with the aforesaid Turks, driven out from the city of Jerusalem. These having been expelled and the king’s escort held as far as Damascus, [0553C] the king having entered Jerusalem, approached the Temple of the Lord according to the rite of the Gentiles with the utmost reverence and humility.

Deinde templum Dominici sepulcri cum omni habitu religionis gentilis introivit, omnia pacifice perlustrans, et nullum Christianorum a fide et ordine sui ritus avertens. Dehinc reversus, civitatem fideli custodia dsposuit; turrim vero David suo satellitio munivit, palatium Salomonis et caetera regalia aedificia et defensoria suo juri mancipavit. Hac itaque civitate ejus subditione relocata post Turcorum ejectionem, nimium gavisus, sed adhuc Turcos sibi a Damasco metuens adversari, direxit legatos ad Christianorum principes, circa urbem Antiochiam residentes, referens quomodo ab urbe Jerusalem et regno suo Turcos ejecerit, et quia in omnibus eorum [0553D] voluntati de urbe sancta satisfacere voluerit, et de fide Christi Christianitatisque professione consiliis eorum acquiescere.

Then he entered the Temple of the Lord's Sepulchre with all the accoutrements of the gentile religion, inspecting everything peacefully, and turning no Christians away from the faith and order of their rite. Thereupon, having returned, he set the city under faithful custody; he fortified the Tower of David with his retinue, and reduced the palace of Solomon and the other royal buildings and defenses to his jurisdiction. Thus, this city being relocated into his subjection after the expulsion of the Turks, he rejoiced exceedingly, yet still fearing the Turks as adversaries from Damascus, he sent envoys to the Christian princes dwelling around the city of Antioch, relating how he had driven the Turks out of the city of Jerusalem and his kingdom, and that he wished to satisfy in all things their [0553D] will concerning the holy city, and to acquiesce in their counsels about the faith of Christ and the profession of Christianity.

Sed omnia mentitus et in dolo locutus est. Nam urbis introitum peregrinis negavit omni armorum defensione et militum virtute, qua poterat, donec coelestis Regis auxilio, Sarracenis, ut audistis, crudeli nece peremptis, nunc intromissi sunt.

But he lied in all things and spoke in guile. For he denied to the foreigners the entrance of the city by any defense of arms and by the virtue of the soldiers, as far as he could, until, by the aid of the heavenly King, the Saracens, as you have heard, having been cut down by a cruel slaughter, were now admitted.

CAP. XXXIII. - Promotio gloriosi ducis in Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 33. - Promotion of the glorious duke in Jerusalem.

Hac vero miseranda strage Sarracenorum completa, in proximo die Dominico fideles et primores Christianorum, inito consilio, dominium urbis et custodiam Dominici sepulcri comiti Reymundo dare [0554A] decreverunt. Quo renuente, et caeteris universis capitaneis ad id officium electis, Godefridus dux tandem, licet invitus, ad tuendum urbis principatum promovetur. Promotus ergo consilio et benevolentia omnium Christianorum, turrim David regis quam ipse Reymundus, laxatis fugae Sarracenis, invaserat, requisivit.

With that pitiable slaughter of the Saracens completed, on the next Lord’s Day the faithful and chief men of the Christians, having taken counsel, decreed to give the lordship of the city and the custody of the Lord’s Sepulchre to Count Reymund [0554A]. He refusing this, and all the other captains being chosen for that office, Godfrey the duke at last, though unwilling, was promoted to the principality of the city to defend it. Thus promoted by the counsel and goodwill of all the Christians, he demanded the Tower of King David, which Reymund himself had seized when the Saracens, in their flight, had abandoned it.

Sed Reymundus prorsus reddere negavit, donec minis ipsius ducis et Christianorum restituere coactus est. Hujus vero ducis electio et promotio nequaquam humana voluntate facta fuisse credatur; sed totum Dei ordinatione et gratia factum, cum procul dubio ex visione cujusdam boni et veridici militis didicerimus, ante decem annos hujus viae hunc a Deo electum et constitutum ductorem, principem atque praeceptorem Christiani exercitus, [0554B] ut prae omnibus primatibus actu, victoria et consiliis beatiorem, et fide ac veritate integriorem.

But Reymundus utterly refused to give it up, until by the threats of that duke and of the Christians he was forced to restore it. Nor let the election and promotion of this duke be believed to have been made by any human will; but that the whole was done by God's ordination and grace, since without doubt from the vision of a certain good and truthful soldier we learned that ten years before this journey he had been chosen and constituted by God as leader, prince and commander of the Christian host, [0554B] that above all the chiefs in deed, by victory and counsels he might be more blessed, and more sound in faith and truth.

CAP. XXXIV. - Somnium cujusdam militis de duce.

CHAPTER 34. - The dream of a certain soldier concerning the duke.

Quadam ergo nocte praefatus miles, Hezelo nomine, de Kinwilre villa, quae est in rubuario, cum eodem duce in silva quadam quae vocatur Kettena, venatoria arte fatigatus, facili sopore occupatus est, statimque in spiritu ad montem Sina translatus est, ubi Moyses, famulus Domini, jejunio quadraginta dierum expleto, claritatem gloriae Dei meruit videre et legem de manu Dei accipere. Super hujus denique montis cacumen videbat praedictum cum timore et mansuetudine facili ascensu attolli, et duos ei in vestibus albis et pontificali ornatu obviam festinare, dicentes: «Qui servo suo et fideli Moysi contulit [0554C] benedictionem et gratiam, ejusdem benedictionibus Dei viventis replearis, et gratiam in oculis ejus invenias; dux ac praeceptor populi sui Christiani in omni fide et veritate constitueris.» Hoc dicto, miles expergefactus a sommo, surrexit, et visio subtracta est.

One night therefore the aforesaid soldier, named Hezelo, of the villa Kinwilre, which is in the rubuario, with the same duke in a certain wood called Kettena, wearied by the art of hunting, was seized by easy sleep, and straightway in spirit was transported to Mount Sinai, where Moses, the Lord’s servant, after completing a forty-day fast, merited to see the brightness of God’s glory and to receive the law from the hand of God. Upon the very summit of that mountain he saw the aforesaid one, with fear and meekness, lifted up with an easy ascent, and two men in white garments and pontifical ornament hasting to meet him, saying: «He who bestowed blessing and grace upon his servant and faithful Moses, may you be filled with the same blessings of the living God, and may you find grace in his eyes; may you be appointed leader and preceptor of his Christian people in all faith and truth.» At these words the soldier, awakened from the vision, rose, and the vision was withdrawn. [0554C]

CAP. XXXV. - Solutio somnii.

CHAPTER 35. - Interpretation of the dream.

Quid in hac visione considerandum, nisi quod in spiritu et lenitate Moysi surgeret dux spiritualis Israel, a Deo praeordinatus et princeps populi constitutus? Unde hanc visionem et benedictionem vere et manifeste in eo adimpletam cognoscimus; quia revera, cum plurimi principes ac potentes, episcopi et comites, filiique regum, viam hanc ante illum et post eum institerint, Christianorumque exercitus [0554D] ductores fuerint, nequaquam prosperum iter fecit illis Deus, aut sui desiderii compotes facti sunt; verum a regibus et barbaris nationibus multa illis adversa, et universo illorum exercitui, illata sunt; quia non erant illi per quos salus veniret in Israel. At, duce Godefrido post universos praemissos viam insistente, desperatique exercitus duce ac principe existente, omnia adversa in prospera sunt mutata; nec fuit quod impediret viam, aut quae noceret adversitas, nec nisi in sceleratis et transgressoribus inventa fuit iniquitas; inventa vero iniquitate, ex justitia vera Dei subsecuta est ultio, qua et sanctificata est legio.

What is there to consider in this vision, except that in the spirit and meekness of Moses a spiritual leader of Israel should arise, preordained by God and constituted prince of the people? Whence we know this vision and blessing to be truly and manifestly fulfilled in him; for indeed, although many princes and potentates, bishops and counts, and sons of kings, trod this path before and after him and became leaders of Christian hosts, God by no means made their way prosperous, nor did they become partakers of his desire; but many adversities were brought upon them by kings and barbarian nations, and upon their whole host; because they were not those through whom salvation came into Israel. But, with Godfrey as leader, after all the foregoing placed in front, the way was trod, and with the host being led and constituted a prince, all adversities were turned into prosperity; there was nothing to impede the way, nor any adversity to harm, and iniquity was found only in the wicked and transgressors; and when iniquity was found, true justice of God followed with vengeance, by which the legion was sanctified.

Et sic filii castigati nunc fame, nunc gladio, tandem felices et mundi ab inquinamentis [0555A] cum duce et principe suo beatum desiderium explentes, urbem sanctam Jerusalem intrare meruerunt, ac Domini sepulcrum adoraverunt; moenia etiam possidentes ex Dei providentia et voluntate, hunc urbis rectorem ac populi praeceptorem gloriosissime praefecerunt.

And thus the sons, chastened now by famine, now by the sword, at last happy and cleansed from pollutions [0555A], with their leader and prince fulfilling the blessed desire, merited to enter the holy city Jerusalem, and adored the Lord’s tomb; and, possessing also the walls by God’s providence and will, they most gloriously set him over the city as its governor and preceptor of the people.

CAP. XXXVI. - Item visio cujusdam Aquensis clerici de duce.

CHAPTER 36. - Item the vision of a certain Aquensian cleric concerning the duke.

Praeterea revelatum est cuidam fratri catholico et canonico S. Mariae Aquisgrani, Giselberto nomine, in septimo mense discessionis ac peregrinationis ejusdem ducis, quod caput omnium et princeps futurus esset in Jerusalem a Deo praescitus et constitutus. Videbatur enim fratri adhuc somno dedito quod praefatus dux in sole potenter sedere accepisset, [0555B] et ex omni genere avium quae sub coelo sunt, in circuitu illius infinitae copiae confluxissent, quarum pars paulatim avolando minui coepit; amplior vero pars fixa et immobilis a dextris et sinistris remanebat: post haec sol a radiis suae claritatis maxima ex parte obscuratus est, sedesque ducis brevi intervallo prorsus deleta, et tota fere avium multitudo quae remanserat avolavit.

Moreover it was revealed to a certain Catholic brother and canon of St. Mary of Aachen, named Giselbert, in the seventh month of the departure and pilgrimage of that same leader, that he would be the head of all and the future prince in Jerusalem, foreknown and appointed by God. For it seemed to the brother, still given to sleep, that the aforesaid leader had powerfully taken his seat in the sun, [0555B] and from every kind of birds that are under heaven infinite hosts had flocked around him, of which some began gradually to lessen by flying away; a larger part, however, remained fixed and immobile on his right and left: after this the sun was for the most part darkened of the rays of its brightness, and the seat of the leader was utterly destroyed in a short interval, and almost the whole multitude of birds that had remained flew away.

CAP. XXXVII. - Explanatio visionis.

CHAPTER 37. - Explanation of the vision.

In sole sedem dux accepit, cum in solio regni Jerusalem promoveretur, quae omnes mundi superat civitates nomine et sanctitate, sicut sol sua claritate universas coeli stellas: quam Jesus Christus, Dei vivi Filius, qui verus est sol justitiae, sua illustravit et exaltavit Deitate, quando in ea crucifixus, passus, [0555C] mortuus et sepultus, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, suisque dilectoribus apparuit vivus. Congregatae sunt aves coeli circa sedentem, cum de universis regnis Christianorum parvi et magni, nobiles et ignobiles, illi associati et subditi facti sunt. Avolaverunt aves, cum plurima peregrinorum multitudo ad terram cognationis suae ex illius consensu et licentia reversa est.

The duke took his seat in the sun, when he was promoted to the throne of the kingdom of Jerusalem, which surpasses all the cities of the world in name and sanctity, just as the sun with its brightness surpasses all the stars of heaven: which Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who is the true sun of righteousness, illumined and exalted by his Divinity, when in it he was crucified, suffered, [0555C] died and was buried, on the third day rose again from the dead, and appeared alive to his beloved. The birds of the sky were gathered about the one seated, when from all the kingdoms of the Christians the small and great, the noble and ignoble, were joined to him and made his subjects. The birds flew away when a very great multitude of pilgrims, by his assent and permission, returned to the land of their kindred.

Sed plurimae aves fixae et immobiles permanserunt, cum multi pio amore illius innodati et familiari ejus allocutione delectati, cum eo ultra remanere decreverunt. Post haec brevi intervallo sol obscuratur, sedes ducis aufertur, cum Jerusalem post paululum temporis viduata, tam magnifico principe mortuo, multum obscurata est a [0555D] fama et gloria sua, multisque militibus et belligeris viris in illius casu attenuata.

But very many birds remained fixed and motionless, for many, knit to him by pious love and delighted by his familiar address, resolved to remain with him beyond life. After this, after a short interval the sun is obscured, the leader’s seat is taken away, and Jerusalem, bereft after a little while of so magnificent a prince by his death, was much darkened in her renown and glory [0555D], and diminished in the number of many soldiers and warlike men by his fall.

CAP. XXXVIII. - Qualiter inventa sit portio ligni salutaris.

CHAPTER 38. - How the portion of the saving wood was found.

Horum somniorum praesignatione ex Dei ordinatione populique Christiani benevolentia, Godefrido ad principem et rectorem suorum confratrum in solio regni Jerusalem exaltato, quidam fidelissimus Christianus, urbis indigena, lege Christi pleniter instructus, crucem quamdam semiulnae auro vestitam, cui Dominici ligni particula in medio erat inserta, sed fabrilis operis expers et nuda, indicavit se abscondisse in loco humili et pulverulento desertae domus, propter metum Sarracenorum, ne in hoc turbine obsidionis inventa eadem crux auro spoliaretur, [0556A] et lignum Dominicum ab his indigne tractaretur. Hac sancta revelatione ligni Dominici universi laetati fideles qui aderant, in omni abstinentia pura et disciplina, sexta feria, quae est dies Dominicae Passionis, processione honorifica clerus et populus convenerunt ad locum, ubi absconditum fuit lignum venerabile. Quod cum timore et reverentia susceperunt, ad templum Dominici sepulcri cum omni devotione hymnorumque modulatione ferre, et ibidem collocare decreverunt.

By the foretokening of these dreams through God's ordination and by the goodwill of the Christian people, when Godfrey had been exalted to the throne of the kingdom of Jerusalem as prince and ruler of his confreres, a certain most faithful Christian, a native of the city, fully instructed in the law of Christ, revealed that he had hidden a certain cross, gilt with a semiulna of gold, in which a particle of the Lord's wood was inserted in the middle, but lacking artisan work and bare, in a low and dusty place of a deserted house, for fear of the Saracens, lest in this turmoil of siege the same cross, if found, be stripped of its gold, [0556A] and the Lord's wood be handled by them unworthily. At this holy revelation of the Lord's wood all the faithful who were present rejoiced; in all pure abstinence and discipline, on the sixth day, which is the day of the Lord's Passion, clergy and people met in an honorable procession at the place where the venerable wood had been hidden. Which, when they received it with fear and reverence, they resolved to carry to the church of the Lord's Sepulchre with all devotion and with the modulation of hymns, and to place it there.

CAP. XXXIX. - De obitu patriarchae Hierosolymitani.

CHAPTER 39. - On the death of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Post haec placuit universo coetui fidelium, et visum est utile acceptumque coram Deo, quoniam universitas gentilium ab urbe sancta exterminata [0556B] est et sacrilegi ritus; Godefridus quoque princeps Christianorum in throno Jerusalem exaltatus ad protegendam urbem ejusque habitatores, ut pastor etiam et patriarcha restitueretur, qui gregi fidelium sanctaeque praeesset Ecclesiae. Nam viduata erat pastore suo, patriarcha, viro sanctissimo, in insula Cypro tempore obsidionis Jerusalem, ex hac luce subtracto. Migravit idem patriarcha ab Jerusalem et sepulcro Domini, audito adventu et sede Christianorum circa moenia Anthiochiae, profectus ad insulam Cyprum propter minas Turcorum et importunitatem Sarracenorum.

After these things it pleased the whole assembly of the faithful, and it seemed useful and acceptable before God, since the entire body of the gentiles had been expelled from the holy city [0556B] and the sacrilegious rites removed; and Godefrid, moreover prince of the Christians, exalted on the throne of Jerusalem to protect the city and its inhabitants, was to be restored also as pastor and patriarch, that he might preside over the flock of the faithful and the holy Church. For the patriarch had been left bereft of his pastor, a most holy man, on the island of Cyprus at the time of the siege of Jerusalem, that man having been taken from this life. The same patriarch withdrew from Jerusalem and from the Lord’s sepulchre, and, having heard of the coming and seat of the Christians about the walls of Antioch, departed for the island of Cyprus because of the threats of the Turks and the insolence of the Saracens.

Fuit quippe vir grandaevus et fidelis Christi servus, qui a praedicta insula plurima charitatis dona duci Godefrido caeterisque principibus misit in initio obsidionis Jerusalem, interdum fructum [0556C] arboris, qui dicitur malum granatum, interdum pretiosa poma cedrorum Libani, interdum pavones saginatos aut laudabile vinum, et quaecunque juxta possibilitatem suam consequi poterat, sperans, sub iisdem principibus adhuc sancta ecclesia restaurata, pacifice et secure ad sepulcrum Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Flii Dei vivi servire atque praeesse. Sed recuperata a fidelibus urbe Jerusalem et sacra illius ecclesia renovata, Christianissimus patriarcha e vita discessit, sicque ecclesia suo pastore viduata remansit. Quapropter consilio inter Christianorum principes habito et saepius discusso, ut praedictum est, quis tanto viro succederet non aliquis repertus est tanto honore et divino regimine dignus.

For he was an aged man and a faithful servant of Christ, who from the said island sent many gifts of charity to Duke Godefridus and the other princes at the outset of the siege of Jerusalem: sometimes fruit of the tree called the pomegranate, sometimes the precious fruits of the cedars of Lebanon, sometimes fattened peacocks or laudable wine, and whatever else according to his ability he could procure, hoping that, under those same princes, the holy church might be restored and peacefully and securely serve and preside over the tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. But when the city of Jerusalem was recovered by the faithful and its sacred church renewed, the most Christian patriarch departed this life, and thus the church remained widowed of its pastor. Therefore, by counsel held among the Christian princes and oftentimes debated, as has been said, as to who should succeed so great a man, no one was found worthy of so great an honor and of divine rule.

Ideoque dilatio facta est donec inveniretur [0556D] aliquis qui ad hoc pontificale officium foret idoneus: et tantum Arnolfum de Rohes, clericum mirae prudentiae et facundiae, cancellarium sanctae Ecclesiae Hierosolymitanae, procuratorem sanctarum reliquiarum et custodem eleemosynarum fidelium constituerunt.

And therefore delay was made until someone could be found [0556D] who would be suitable for this pontifical office: and they appointed Arnolfum of Rohes alone, a cleric of wondrous prudence and eloquence, chancellor of the Holy Church of Jerusalem, procurator of the holy relics and keeper of the alms of the faithful.

CAP. XL. - De clericis et campanarum signis apud Dominicum sepulcrum institutis.

CHAPTER 40. - Concerning the clerics and the bell-signs established at the Lord's tomb.

Promoto nunc Arnolfo ad hanc dignitatem sanctae et novae ecclesiae, donec eligeretur patriarcha Deo et populo acceptabilis, placuit summo principi Jerusalem, duci Godefrido, necnon et caeteris omnibus, ut templo Dominici sepulcri viginti fratres in Christo divini cultores officii constituerentur, qui [0557A] assiduis Domino Deo viventi in laudibus et hymnis psallerent, hostiam corporis et sanguinis Jesu Christi devote immolarent, deinde quotidianam sustentationem de oblatione fidelium constitutam susciperent. Sic divino decenter obsequio restaurato a duce catholico Christianisque principibus, campanas ex aere caeterisque metallis fieri jusserunt, quarum signum fratres dum caperent, mox ad ecclesiam laudes psalmorum missarumque vota celebraturi festinarent, et populus haec auditurus una properaret. Non enim hujuscemodi soni aut signa visa vel audita sunt ante hos dies in Jerusalem.

With Arnolfus now promoted to this dignity of the holy and new church, until a patriarch acceptable to God and to the people should be chosen, it pleased the supreme prince of Jerusalem, Duke Godfrey, and likewise all the others, that twenty brothers in Christ, divine ministers of the office, should be established for the church of the Lord’s Sepulchre, who [0557A] would continually chant praises and hymns to the living Lord God, devoutly offer the host of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and then receive their daily sustenance appointed from the offerings of the faithful. Thus, with divine service decently restored by the catholic duke and the Christian princes, they ordered bells to be made of bronze and other metals, at the signal of which, when the brothers took them up, they would soon hasten to the church to celebrate the praises of psalms and the vows of masses, and the people, hearing these, would hurry together. For such kinds of sounds or signals had not been seen or heard in Jerusalem before these days.

CAP. XLI. - Quomodo dux copiis hostium occurrerit.

CHAPTER 41. - How the duke met the enemy forces.

Dehinc curriculo quinque hebdomadarum transacto, dux Godefridus, audita fama gentilium, munitatu [0557B] be et turri David fideli custodia, assumptis secum sociis, Roberto Flandrensi et Tankrado, profectus est in campestria Ascalonis, audire et intelligere de rebus et consiliis gentilium. Ubi fortuito sibi nuntius occurrii, referens quod Meravis, secundus a rege Babyloniae, et universa multitudo gentilium, ut arena maris innumerabilis, ex mandato regis jam ad Ascalonem navigio descenderunt, arma, escas et armenta infinita adduxerunt, omnemque belli apparatum copiosum, et quod urbem Jerusalem et exsules Christianos obsidere decreverunt. Gens enim publicanorum, et gens nigerrimae cutis de terra Aethiopiae, dicta vulgariter Azepart, et omnes barbarae nationes que erant de regno Babyloniae illic ad urbem Ascalonem conventum habere [0557C] statuerunt.

Thereafter, after the course of five weeks had passed, Duke Godefridus, the rumor of the gentiles having been heard, the fortification [0557B] and the tower of David with faithful custody being garrisoned, having taken with him companions Robert of Flanders and Tankred, set out into the plains of Ascalon to hear and to learn concerning the affairs and counsels of the gentiles. Where, by chance, a messenger met him, reporting that Meravis, the second to the king of Babylonia, and the whole multitude of gentiles, as innumerable as the sand of the sea, by command of the king had now descended by ship to Ascalon, had brought infinite arms, victuals, and herds, and all abundant apparatus of war, and that they had decreed to besiege the city of Jerusalem and the Christian exiles. For the people of publicans, and a people of very black skin from the land of Ethiopia, commonly called Azepart, and all the barbarous nations that were of the kingdom of Babylonia there resolved to hold an assembly at the city of Ascalon [0557C].

Dux vero Godefridus et qui cum eo erant, Robertus Flandrensis, Tankradus et Eustachius, frater ducis, comperta fama adventantium copiarum armorumque gentilium, juxta montana quae procedunt ab Jerusalem hospitati sunt. Deinde, missa legatione comiti Reymundo Jerusalem et Roberto Northmannorum principi, omnia aperiri jubent: Quanta scilicet collectio gentilium Ascalonem occupaverit, et viam usque Jerusalem habere constituerit. Unde eosdem principes cum omni manu equitum et peditum ad resistendum infidelibus accersunt.

Duke Godfrey, and those who were with him — Robert of Flanders, Tancred, and Eustace, the duke’s brother — having learned the fame of the arriving hosts and arms of the gentiles, were entertained near the mountains that run from Jerusalem. Then, a legation being sent to Count Raymond of Jerusalem and to Robert, prince of the Normans, they order all to be disclosed: namely, how great a multitude of gentiles has seized Ascalon, and has resolved to hold the road even as far as Jerusalem. Whence they summon those same princes with the whole force of horse and foot to come and resist the infidels.

Petrum vero Eremitam et Arnolfum, quem cancellarium ac custodem sepulcri Domini constituerant, cum ligno Domini adesse monuerunt ad Ascalonem in occursum turmis infidelium sine aliqua dilatione; [0557D] sed paucos tamen fideles in tuitione ac defensione urbis remanere decreverunt.

They warned Peter the Hermit and Arnolf, whom they had appointed chancellor and guardian of the Lord’s tomb, that the Lord’s wood was at Ascalon to meet the bands of unbelievers without any delay; [0557D] yet they nevertheless decreed that a few faithful remain for the keeping and defense of the city.

CAP. XLII. - Populus a praeda gentilium praemunitus abstinet.

CHAPTER 42. - The people, fortified by the spoils of the pagans, keep themselves aloof.

His ita dispositis et exercitu per urbem diffuso, admoniti ex legatione ducis et comprimorum, equos et arma brevi intervallo deposita reparant et resumunt, et iter in cornibus, et tubis, et musicis, et citharis omnique voce exsultationis et laetitia per montana insistentes, duci Godefrido in terminis Ascalonis residenti conjuncti sunt, per prata et loca campestria hospitati. Solus comes Reymundus, adhuc stimulo invidiae saeviens adversus ducem Godefridum, eo quod turrim David amiserat, invitatus venire [0558A] noluit cum omni manu suorum sequacium, donec denuo a duce cunctisque principibus minis pulsatus et admonitus, tandem et consilio suorum et blanditiis fidelium virorum, exsurgens atque per montana regia via incedens, cum ingenti manu suorum duci et praedictis principibus in campestrihus associatus est. Armenta, cameli, asini, boves, bufli et omne genus domestici pecoris a Sarracenis in iisdem campestribus in multitudine gravi dolose praemissa erant et dispersa, ut populus Christianus ex concupiscentia raperet et cogeret, praedaeque animum adverteret, ut, sic rapinis impeditus, facilius ab hoste superaretur.

With these things thus arranged and the army dispersed through the city, having been admonished by the legation of the duke and his companions, they for a short interval laid aside and then recovered their horses and arms, and with a march by horns, and trumpets, and flutes, and lyres, and every voice of exultation and joy pressing through the mountains, they joined to Duke Godfrey, residing on the borders of Ascalon, and were quartered through meadows and open fields. Alone Count Raymond, still raging with the sting of envy against Duke Godfrey because he had lost the Tower of David, when invited to come [0558A] would not do so with the whole hand of his followers, until again by the duke and all the princes he was driven and admonished with threats; finally, by the counsel of his own men and the blandishments of faithful men, rising up and marching along the royal mountain road, with a mighty host of his men he associated with the duke and the aforesaid princes in the plains. Herds, camels, asses, oxen, buffalo, and every kind of domestic cattle had been treacherously sent ahead in great multitude by the Saracens into those same plains and scattered, so that the Christian people, out of greed, might seize and compel them, and turn their minds to plunder, whereby, thus hindered by pillage, they would more easily be overcome by the enemy.

Sed quidam nobilissimus ex Sarracenis, quondam urbis Rametis praefectus, qui pacem et foedus, superata Jerusalem, cum duce iniit, nunc [0558B] in auxilium ipsius ducis Godefridi, licet gentilis, fideli intentione adveniens, dolositatem Babyloniorum enucleat, dicens: Armenta non aliam ob causam Sarracenos, Arabes cunctosque gentiles praemisisse nisi ut peregrinos impedirent, quo magis praedae quam defensioni studerent. Hac praemonitione gentilis principis dux et universi rectores Christiani exercitus rem praecaventes, edictum in omni catholica legione statuunt, ut, quicunque de peregrinis praedam ante praelium contigerit, auribus et naribus truncatus puniatur. Juxta verbum et edictum istud omnes a vetito manus continuerunt, solum quod victui hac nocte sufficeret contraxerunt.

But a certain very noble man of the Saracens, once prefect of the city of Ramet, who had made peace and treaty with the duke after Jerusalem was overcome, now [0558B] coming to the aid of that duke Godfrey, though a gentile, with loyal intent, lays bare the treachery of the Babylonians, saying: The herds were driven ahead by the Saracens, Arabs and all the gentiles for no other reason than to hinder the pilgrims, so that they might attend more to plunder than to defence. With this warning from the gentile prince the duke and all the leaders of the Christian host, taking precautions, enact an edict in every catholic legion that whoever among the pilgrims should chance upon plunder before the battle be punished by having ears and nostrils cut off. According to that word and edict all refrained from the forbidden act, only gathering so much as would suffice for food that night.

CAP. XLIII. - Praefecto gentili dux exponit cur populus pergat ad praelium.

CHAPTER 43. - To the gentile prefect the duke explains why the people proceed to battle.

[0558C] Altera autem die, prima aurora radiante, universus populus Dei vivi bello armatur, in voce exsultationis et omni dulci modulatione jucunditatis, citharis et musicis, tanquam ad convivium pergentes, laetati sanctae crucis signaculo ab Arnolfo, Petro caeterisque sacerdotibus muniti et signati, confessionis puritate confortati sunt, sub quorum anathemate rursus praeda et aliqua rapina ante agonem interdicta est. Praefectus autem civitatis Rametis videns populum in tibiis, citharis, musicarumque sonis, ac voce exsultationis jucundari et psallere, tanquam ad epulas omnium deliciarum invitati essent, admiratus est vehementer, et ducem super his sciscitatur, dicens: «Miror, et sufficienter mirari nequeo, unde populus hic in tanta laetitia in voce [0558D] exsultationis glorietur, quasi ad convivium iturus, cum hodie mors illi praesens sit, et praesens martyrium universos praestoletur, et varius sit eventus belli; atque multa nunc et intolerabilis virtus ad versariorum congregata, non procul hinc castra sua locaverit.» Ad haec dux, fide Christi plenus et spirituali responsione instructus, sciscitanti viro super his sapienter exposuit, cur in spe hodiernae mortis praesentisque praelii, ingenti gaudio dulcique melodia Christianus populus delectaretur. Dicebat enim: «Populus hic, quem vides et audis in voce exsultationis adversus inimicos properare, et praelium in nomine Domini Jesu Christi, Filii Dei vivi, committere, scito quod certus est hodie de corona regni [0559A] coelorum: et quia ad meliorem transibit vitam, in qua primum felicius incipiet vivere, si pro ejus nomine et gratia in hoc praelio mori meruerit.

[0558C] On the next day, at the first dawn shining, the whole people of the living God equipped themselves for war, in a voice of exultation and in every sweet modulation of joy, with citharas and music, as if going to a banquet, rejoicing, having been fortified and signed by the seal of the holy cross by Arnulf, Peter and the other priests, and strengthened by the purity of confession, under whose anathema again plunder and any pillage were forbidden before the contest. The prefect of the city of Ramet, seeing the people rejoicing and singing on the tibiae, citharas and the sounds of music, and with a voice of exultation making merry, as if all were invited to a feast of delights, was greatly astonished, and questioned the duke about these things, saying: "I marvel, and cannot cease to marvel sufficiently, whence this people boast in such great joy in a voice of exultation, as if they were going to a banquet, when today death is present to them, and present martyrdom awaits all, and the outcome of the battle is uncertain; and moreover many and intolerable dangers having gathered around, their camp is pitched not far from here." To these things the duke, full of the faith of Christ and instructed in a spiritual answer, wisely explained to the questioning man why, in the hope of today’s death and of the present battle, the Christian people delighted themselves with great joy and sweet melody. For he said: "Know that this people whom you see and hear striving against the enemies with a voice of exultation and engaging in battle in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, is certain today of the crown of the kingdom of heaven [0559A]: and because he will pass to a better life, in which he will begin to live more happily, if he shall have deserved to die in this battle for his name and for his grace."

Ideo in gaudium et jubilationem cor nostrum erigitur; quia si forte corruerimus in manu inimicorum, potestatem habet Dominus Jesus, Deus noster, animas nostras in paradiso gloriae suae collocare. Idcirco non timemus mortem ante inimicorum impetum; quia certi sumus post temporalem mortem, de certa illius retributione. Hoc vero signum sanctae crucis quo munimur et sanctificamur, procul dubio spirituale nobis scutum est contra jacula inimicorum, et in eodem sperantes, tutius adversus pericula cuncta stare audemus.

Therefore our heart is raised into joy and jubilation; for if perchance we should fall into the hand of our enemies, the Lord Jesus, our God, has the power to place our souls in the paradise of his glory. Wherefore we do not fear death before the onset of enemies; because we are certain, after temporal death, of the sure recompense of it. Moreover this sign of the holy cross, by which we are armed and sanctified, is without doubt a spiritual shield for us against the darts of enemies, and, hoping in the same, more safely against all dangers we dare to stand.

In hoc utique ligno sanctae crucis redempti sumus de manu mortis et inferni ac potestate angeli [0559B] nequam. Et in sanguine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Filii Dei vivi, ab omni inquinamento veteris erroris emundati, fiduciam habemus vitae aeternae.

In this, namely, the wood of the holy cross, we have been redeemed from the hand of death and of hell and from the power of the wicked angel [0559B]. And in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, cleansed from all defilement of the old error, we have confidence of eternal life.

CAP. XLIV. - Plebs Christianorum cruce signata in occursum pergit armatis.

CHAPTER 44. - The Christian plebs, marked with the cross, goes forth to meet the armed.

Ducis responsione audita, rogatur per perennis vitae instructionem supra dictus gentilis, ut cum et ipse causa Christianissimi ducis et catholici populi contra gentem et confratres suos pugnaturus esset, eodem sanctae crucis signaculo muniatur et sanctificetur, quatenus fide et spe ejusdem sanctae crucis et crucifixi incolumis ab armis et inimicorum insidiis conservaretur. Utrum autem statim aut post bellum baptismum susceperit incertum habemus, praeter quod quidam profitentur [0559C] quod, visa virtute et victoria Christianorum, baptismi gratiam perceperit. Hujus vero sanctae crucis signaculo de manu Arnolfi universo coetu Christianorum una cum gentili principe sanctificato, ad arma sumenda, loricas induendas, acies ordinandas et vexilla in hastis extollenda omnium fit labor et intentio.

Having heard the duke’s answer, the above-named gentile is asked, for the everlasting instruction of life, that since he himself was about to fight for the cause of the most Christian duke and the Catholic people against his nation and his brethren, he be furnished and sanctified with the same sign of the holy cross, so that by the faith and hope of that same holy cross and of the Crucified he might be kept unharmed from arms and from the ambushes of enemies. Whether, however, he received baptism immediately or after the war we hold uncertain, except that some profess [0559C] that, having seen the valour and victory of the Christians, he received the grace of baptism. As for this sign of the holy cross from the hand of Arnolf, before the whole assembly of Christians together with the gentile prince sanctified, all the labour and intent of everyone is to take up arms, to don cuirasses, to arrange the battle-lines and to lift banners on lances.

Nulla armentorum et vetiti gregis fit concupiscentia, sed praemissi greges et armenta ad decipiendos fideles Christi, splendore armorum, galearum clypeorumque stupescunt, et vehementi strepitu ac clamore exercitus attoniti, admirantur. Unde erectis auribus stupefacti, et immobiles diu persistentes, tandem sociantur equitibus et peditibus, et sic armatis permisti cuneis, cum euntibus ibant, et cum stantibus stabant, atque nubem pulveris [0559D] multiplicantes, Sarracenis rem ignorantibus et cum sua multitudine copiosa a longe stantibus, timorem asperserunt.

No longing arises for cattle or the forbidden flock, but the flocks and herds sent ahead to deceive the faithful of Christ are struck dumb by the splendor of arms, helms, and shields, and, amazed and astounded by the violent din and shouting of the army, they admire. Whereupon, with ears raised in wonder and remaining motionless for a long while, at last they join with horsemen and footsoldiers, and thus, mingled in armed wedges, go with those who go and stand with those who stand, and, multiplying a cloud of dust [0559D], they cast fear upon the Saracens—ignorant of the thing and standing far off with their great multitude.

CAP. XLV. - Qualiter fuerit eorum acies ordinata.

CHAPTER 45. - How their battle-line was arranged.

Christianis deinde a montanis egressis et in valle ac loco campestri consistentibus, ubi Sarracenorum, Arabum, Maurorum, publicanorum tentoria fixa erant et acies ordinatae, greges et universa armenta, quae nemo dinumerare poterat, sponte segregata et directa sunt sine rectoribus et sine magistris ad locum satis vicini pascui, ac si divino nutu praemonita et jussa ultro cuneis catholicis cederent, ne forte eis impedimentum fierent, sed ut ibidem in loco pascui persistentes a Christianis post victoriam reperiri [0560A] possent. Nec mora, segregatis pecudibus et visis infidelium turmis, acies Gallorum, sicut constitutae erant, hae in fronte, hae a dextris et sinistris, aliae ad extremum pugnaturae, bello aptantur. Universi vero equites et pedites circa sua signa et vexilla catervatim conferuntur.

Then the Christians, having come down from the mountains and standing in the valley and in a field-place, where the tents of the Saracens, Arabs, Moors, and publicans were fixed and the battle-lines arranged, the flocks and all the herds, which no one could number, of their own accord were separated and driven without herdsmen and without masters to a place fairly near for pasture, as if forewarned and commanded by a divine nod, and voluntarily to give way to the Catholic wedges, lest perchance they should become an impediment to them, but so that, remaining there in the pasture, they might be found by the Christians after the victory [0560A]. Nor was there delay: the flocks being set apart and the hosts of the infidels having been seen, the battle-lines of the Gauls, as they had been formed—these in front, these on the right and left, others for the final fight—were fitted for war. And indeed all the horsemen and footmen gathered together by companies about their signs and banners.

Godefridus dux, et summus post Dominum dominatorum Jerusalem, cum duobus millibus equitum et tribus peditum in omni armatura loricarum, galearum, clypeorum, lancearum et sagittarum, portas Ascalonis obsedit, ne ulla vis inhabitantium ab urbe hac parte erumperet, Gallosque retro post terga improvisos impugnaret. Comes vero Reymundus a dextris versus poenaria spatiosa ac densissima quae extra muros erant cum ingenti manu suorum aciem suam dirigebat ut, bello ingruente, [0560B] sociis vires et opes augeret, cordaque metu fluxa ab instanti sublevaret angustia. Robertus Northmannorum princeps et Robertus Flandrensis, Oliverius de Jussi, Gerhardus de Keresi, Reynardus de Tul, densata fronte acies a sinistris contra Mauros et omne genus gentilium in campestribus moderabantur ad committendum praelium.

Godefridus duke, and the highest after the Lord of lords, ruler of Jerusalem, with 2,000 horse and 3,000 foot, in every sort of armor — loricas, galeas, clypeos, lances and arrows — beset the gates of Ascalon, lest any force of the inhabitants should burst forth from that side of the city, and so fall suddenly upon the Gauls in the rear. Count Reymundus, on the right toward the spacious and very dense encampments that lay outside the walls, was directing his battle-line with a mighty band of his men so that, the war pressing in, [0560B] he might augment strength and means for his allies, and lift the hearts, drained by fear, from present distress. Robert, prince of the Northmen, and Robert of Flanders, Oliver of Jussi, Gerhard of Keresi, Reynard of Tul, with a front compacted, were holding the line on the left against the Moors and every sort of gentile in the fields, ready to engage in battle.

Universi autem equites et pedites Christianorum conglobati in signis et vexillis ad resistendum illic pari animo constiterunt.

All the horsemen and footsoldiers of the Christians, massed at the standards and banners to resist, there stood with equal spirit.

CAP. XLVI. - Post altera discrimina pars inimica diffugit.

CHAPTER 46. - After the second crisis, part of the enemy force fled.

Sic utrinque facie ad faciem obsistentibus, crudele bellum inhorruit. Nam Azopart, qui flexis genibus suo more bellum solent committere, praemissi, in fronte belli graviter sagittarum grandine Gallos impugnaverunt, [0560C] tubis et tympanistris intonantes, ut tam horribili sonitu equos et viros perterritos a bello et locis campestribus absterrerent. Habebant etiam iidem Azopart, viri horridi et teterrimi, flagella ferrea et saevissima, quibus loricas et clypeos gravi ictu penetrabant, equos in frontibus percutiebant, et sonitum terribilem per universa agmina fidelium faciebant.

Thus, with both faces standing face to face, a cruel war bristled forth. For Azopart, who, with bent knees in their custom are wont to begin war, having been sent forward, at the front of battle grievously assailed the Gauls with a hail of arrows, [0560C] sounding trumpets and kettledrums, so that by so horrid a sound they might frighten horses and men, terrified, away from the fight and from the camp-places. The same Azopart also had, men rough and most dread, iron and very savage whips, with which they penetrated cuirasses and shields with heavy blows, struck horses on the foreparts, and made a terrible sound through all the ranks of the faithful.

Gens vero Arabum, et Sarracenorum ac publicanorum nunc lanceis, nunc sagittis, nunc fundibulis et omni genere armorum in millibus suis accedentes, adversus Christianorum acies dimicabant, praelia multiplicantes et plurimum diei consummantes. Econtra Christianorum manus exigua adversus tot millia innumerabilia medio involvitur certamine, incessanter praelia conserens et hostiles [0560D] acies atterens et attenuans. Tandem bello ingravato, et gentilium cuneis Deo opitulante, contritis, totus exercitus regis Babyloniae fugam iniit; et per agrorum planitiem versus maritima dispersus, tendebat a facie caedentis et persequentis.

The people of the Arabs, and of the Saracens and publicans, advancing in their thousands now with lances, now with arrows, now with slings and every kind of arms, fought against the ranks of the Christians, multiplying engagements and consuming the greater part of the day. Conversely the small band of Christian hands was involved in the midst of the contest against so many innumerable thousands, continually joining battles and wearing down and attenuating the hostile [0560D] ranks. At length, the war grown severe, and the gentile wedges, God aiding, being crushed, the whole army of the king of Babylon took to flight; and dispersed across the plain of the fields toward the seashore, they retreated from the face of the slaying and the pursuit.

CAP. XLVII. - De nece et spoliis occisorum.

CHAPTER 47. - On the slaughter and the spoils of the slain.

Godefridus dux, Reymundus comes, Eustachius, Tankradus, Cuno de Monte acuto et filius ejus Lambertus, videntes quod gentilium exercitus et eorum virtus deficiens cedebat, in impetu equorum et vehementi concursu ac clamore pedestris vulgi mediis advolant hostibus; et nimia caede inter eos saevientes, plurimum auxilii fratribus contulerunt. Arabes vero caeteraeque gentes, ut perspexerunt quod deinceps berlum sufferre non possent, dispersi [0561A] et contriti, per campos et angustas semitas fugam arripiunt. Sed undique ab insequentibus victoriosisque militibus ut miserae pecudes passim perimuntur.

Godefridus the duke, Reymundus the count, Eustachius, Tankradus, Cuno of Monte Acuto and his son Lambertus, seeing that the gentile armies and their virtue, failing, were yielding, in the onrush of horses and the violent collision and shout of the foot‑crowd flew into the midst of the enemies; and, raging with excessive slaughter among them, they brought the greatest aid to the brethren. The Arabs and the other peoples, when they perceived that thereafter they could not bear the battle, scattered and crushed, seized flight across the fields and narrow paths [0561A]. But on every side they perish like wretched sheep at the hands of the pursuing and victorious soldiers.

Horum infinita pars cum victa cederet, insecutione Christianorum oppressa, spe salutis et causa effugendi, ad naves et maritima contendit. Ubi comes Reymundus casu illis occurrit, quos crudeliter caedens et insequens, in profundum maris fugientes submergi ad tria millia crebra armorum percussione arctavit. Sarracenorum autem cohortibus sic atroci caede perterritis, et aliis ad mare fugam meditantibus, aliis ad pomaria, plurimis vero portam Ascalonis intrare quaerentibus, universi victores Christianorum diffusi sunt per tentoria gentilium, alii rapientes pretiosam purpuram, alii vestes et vasa [0561B] argentea plurimamque massam utriusque metalli pretiosioris, alii camelos, mulos, equos, dromedarios cum asinis fortissimis; et cuique praedae, sicut jejuni et longa abstinentia macerati, nunc totius beili immemores.

A vast part of these, when beaten and giving way, pressed by the pursuit of the Christians, in hope of safety and for the sake of escaping, made for the ships and the seashore. There Count Reymundus by chance encountered those whom, cruelly slaying and pursuing, he hemmed in as they fled into the deep of the sea, and by repeated strokes of arms caused about three thousand to be submerged. The Saracen cohorts, thus terrified by so atrocious a slaughter, and others meditating flight to the sea, others to the orchards, and very many seeking to enter the gate of Ascalon, all the Christian victors were dispersed through the tents of the gentiles; some seizing precious purple, others garments and silver vessels [0561B] and a very great mass of both the more precious metals, others camels, mules, horses, dromedaries with very strong asses; and to each his spoil, since, worn down by hunger and long abstinence, they were now forgetful of the whole war.

manus suas inferebant.

they laid their hands upon them.

CAP. XLVIII. - Populus rapinis inhians sternitur, manus continens superior efficitur.

CHAPTER 48. - The people, gaping for plunder, are laid low, the restraining hand becomes the superior power.

At gentiles, quorum innumerabilis multitudo adhuc in littore maris et campestribus locis abundabat, videntes quomodo populus Galliae rapinis et praedis totus inhiabat et ab insecutione cessaverat, usquequaque relictis sociis, et signo tubarum et cornicinum readunatis viribus suorum, viros praedae intentos et belli oblitos, viriliter incurrunt, gravi strage perimentes incautos, totamque victoriam [0561C] Christianorum cruentam reddidissent, nisi dux Godefridus, princeps summus Jerusalem, qui versus montana extremas acies dirigebat, periculum illorum considerans, et quia avaritia essent caecati, sine mora in faciem inimicorum advolans, praedam prohibuisset universosque cum jurgio ad defensionem sic hortatus fuisset, dicens: «O viri rebelles et incorrigibiles, quis vos fascinavit, ut ad praedam vetitam et illicitam manus vestrae converterentur, donec inimici vestri, Deo auxiliante, in gladio corruissent! Eia, relinquite praedam, et hostibus insistite, et nolite cedere nunc insurgentibus, et amaram de vobis vindictam quaerentibus.» Dixit, et medias perrumpens acies strictis mucronibus, in manu suorum [0561D] sequentium grave hostium reddidit exterminium; et tunc universos a praeda revocatos secum accivit in opus belli repetiti. Rursus superati gentiles terga vertunt, ab armorum creberrimis ictibus ad Ascalonis urbem fugam maturantes.

But the pagans, whose countless multitude still abounded on the seashore and in the plains, seeing how the people of Gaul were wholly intent upon plunder and booty and had ceased from pursuit, having their companions left everywhere and, at the signal of trumpets and horns, with the gathered strength of their own men, fell upon those intent on spoil and forgetful of war with manly assault, putting the unwary to a heavy slaughter, and would have rendered the whole victory of the Christians bloody [0561C], had not Duke Godfrey, the chief prince of Jerusalem, who was directing the extreme battle-lines toward the mountains, considering their danger, and because they were blinded by avarice, without delay flying upon the face of the enemies, forbidden the plunder and, having exhorted all with rebuke to return to the defense, said: “O rebellious and incorrigible men, who has bewitched you, that your hands are turned to forbidden and illicit plunder, until your enemies, God assisting, have fallen by the sword? Come now, leave the plunder, and press upon the enemies, and do not yield now to those rising up and seeking a bitter vengeance upon you.” He spoke, and bursting through the midst of the battle-lines with drawn points, he rendered grievous extermination of the enemy in the hand of those following him [0561D]; and then having called back all those recalled from the plunder, he led them with him to the work of war renewed. Again routed, the pagans turned their backs, hastening flight from the most frequent strokes of arms to the city of Ascalon.

CAP. XLIX. - Item de nece perditorum.

CHAPTER 49. - Also concerning the slaughter of the lost.

Dux vero et qui cum eo erant, fugientes persequebantur tam equites quam pedites, et nullo intervallo a tergo adversariorum abfuerunt; sed in caede gravissima persequentes, usque ad portam Ascalonis eos persecuti sunt. Fortunati qui in portam recepti sunt, aut intromitti potuerunt. Nam tanta pressura fugiendi et intrandi Sarracenis in ipsis foribus urbis fuisse refertur, ut duo millia et amplius occisorum et suffocatorum sub pedibus intrantium [0562A] hominum, equorum et mulorum in foribus et ante fores exstincta perierint.

The duke indeed and those who were with him pursued the fleeing, both horsemen and foot-soldiers, and were not at any interval distant from the enemies’ rear; but, pursuing amid very grievous slaughter, they chased them as far as the gate of Ascalon. Fortunate were those who were received into the gate or could be admitted. For it is reported that so great a pressure of fleeing and of entering by the Saracens was in the very portals of the city, that two thousand and more of the slain and suffocated under the feet of those entering [0562A] — men, horses, and mules — perished, extinguished in the gates and before the doors.

Postremi vero et in fuga tardiores, videntes hinc et hinc angustias animae suae et difficilem portarum introitum, et in hoc horrore armorum januis clausis se ab urbe exclusos, arbores palmarum, alii ramos olivarum aut ficorum conscendere properabant, ut saltem ramorum foliorumque densitate latere vel liberari possent. Sed pedites Christiani nimium propinqui, miseros in arboribus visos et patefactos subito sagitta transfigebant, et quasi aves volatili telo percussas, ab ipsis arborum ramis moribundos humi procumbere, plurimumque terrae cogebant operire.

The last ones and those slower in flight, seeing on this side and that the narrownesses of their life and the difficult entrance of the gates, and in this horror, the gates shut by arms, themselves shut out from the city, hastened to climb the trees of the palms, others the branches of olive-trees or fig-trees, so that at least by the density of branches and leaves they might hide or be delivered. But the Christian footsoldiers, being too near, suddenly transfixed the wretched ones seen and exposed in the trees with the arrow, and like birds struck by a flying weapon, the dying fell from the very branches of the trees to the ground, and for the most part they caused them to be covered with earth.

CAP. L. - Quando praelium hoc commissum sit, et de ibidem gestis.

CHAPTER 50. - When this battle was joined, and concerning the deeds done there.

[0562B] Sexta feria, pridie Idus Augusti mensis, commissum est hoc praelium a viginti millibus Christianorum adversus trecenta millia gentilium, Sarracenorum, Arabum, publicanorum, Maurorum de terra Aethiopiae. Quorum triginta millia in aperta camporum planitie cecidisse nobis retulerunt, qui in eodem certamine praesentes adfuerunt, praeter duo millia suffocatorum et occisorum in porta urbis, et absque his qui, armorum pericula vitare existimantes, undis abyssi maris submersi sine numero perierunt. Nulli vero Christianorum viri nominati illic ceciderunt, praeter paucos pedestris vulgi, ut procul dubio a veridicis fratribus compertum est.

[0562B] On Friday, the day before the Ides of August, this battle was fought by 20,000 Christians against 300,000 gentiles, Saracens, Arabs, publicans, Moors from the land of Ethiopia. Thirty thousand of whom, on the open plain of the fields, were reported to have fallen to us who were present in the same engagement, besides 2,000 suffocated and slain at the city gate, and apart from those who, thinking to avoid the dangers of arms, were drowned in the waves of the abyss of the sea and perished without number. No named Christian men, however, fell there, except a few of the pedestrian common folk, as was, beyond doubt, ascertained by the truthful brothers.

Hac fuga et contritione gentilium ac Christianorum victoria, longissima hasta argento operta per totum, [0562C] quod vocant Standart, et quae regis Babyloniae exercitui signum praeferebatur, et circa quam praecipua virtus densabatur, ad quam victi et dissipati revertebantur, capta est a Roberto Northmannorum principe, et in templum Dominici sepulcri transmissa, et usque in hodiernum diem ob memoriam victoriae Christianorum attitulata est. Nunc ergo hac bellorum tempestate sedata, atque Meravi, qui secundus a rege in omni decreto et consilio habetur, cum tota gente sua triumphato, Christianis laetitia praedarum tam in tentoriis quam armentis, camelis, buflis, asinis, ovibus, hircis, bobus, cunctisque rebus tribuitur. Quibus plurimi onusti et refocillati, tota nocte gradientes, in gaudio cordis et voce exsultationis Jerusalem reversi sunt, ante sepulcrum sanctissimum [0562D] Deo laudes et gratias super omnibus referentes quae eis prospere et gloriose acciderunt.

By this flight and rout of the gentiles and the victory of the Christians, a very long spear plated all over with silver, [0562C] which they call the Standart, and which was borne before the army of the king of Babylon, and about which the chief force was concentrated, to which the vanquished and dispersed returned, was seized by Robert, prince of the Northmen, and conveyed into the church of the Lord’s Sepulchre, and even to this day is preserved for the memory of the Christians’ victory. Now therefore with this tempest of wars pacified, and Merav, who is second to the king in every decree and counsel, having triumphed with his whole people, the Christians are allotted the joy of spoils both in tents and in herds—camels, buffaloes, asses, sheep, goats, oxen, and all things. Many laden and refreshed with these, marching all night, returned to Jerusalem in the joy of heart and with voices of exultation before the most holy sepulchre [0562D], rendering praises and thanksgivings to God above all for those things which had come to them prosperously and gloriously.

CAP. LI. - Comes Reymundus Ascalonem et Asur contra Christianos consilio suo obfirmat.

CHAPTER 51. - Count Reymundus secures Ascalon and Asur against the Christians by his counsel.

Dux Godefridus, readunatis sociis equitum et peditum circiter duo millia, urbis Ascalonis portas in omni latere obsedit, ut cives et milites ex nova caede et recenti victoria stupefacti ac trementes civitatem redderent, ultra desperantes regis Babyloniae auxilium, cum totius regni sui virtus congregata vehementer nunc attrita fuerit et dissipata. Verum ubi aliquid noctis processit, plurimumque consilii Ascalonitae de urbis redditione et vitae intercessione iniissent, comes Reymundus, invidus omnis gloriae ducis Godefridi propter turrim David, quam amiserat, [0563A] Sarracenorum civibus occultam in hunc modum misit legationem: «Estote viri fortissimi, et minis ducis Godefridi ne terreamini, urbem in manus ejus reddentes; quia universi principes nostri reditum in terram cognationis suae post peractum bellum habere decreverunt; et exiguam manum pugnatorum hac nocte circa urbem cum illo remanere sciatis.» Hac comitis legatione et solamine cives ac milites animati, et a redditione urbis et dandis dextris aversi, orto sole, in moenibus ad defensionem constiterunt, sagittis, fundibulis, omnique armorum genere ducem cum suis ab obsidione urbis arcentes. Dux autem visa illorum audacia et repugnatione, et quia de omnibus suis non amplius quam septingenti equites secum remanserant, et quia instinctu et [0563B] suasu ejusdem comitis universi principes abierant, in littore maris viam continuantes, movit et ipse castra ab obsidione, via regia secus maritima usque ad civitatem Assur praecedentes comprimores consecutus.

Duke Godfrey, with his comrades regrouped — about two thousand horsemen and footmen — beset the gates of the city of Ascalon on every side, so that the citizens and soldiers, stunned and trembling from the recent slaughter and fresh victory, might surrender the city, despairing of aid from the king of Babylon, since the strength of his whole kingdom, having been gathered, was now sorely worn and scattered. But when some part of the night had passed, and most of the counsel of the Ascalonites had come to the decision to deliver the city and spare lives, Count Reymund, envious of all the glory of Duke Godfrey because of the Tower of David which he had lost, [0563A] secretly sent this embassy to the Saracen citizens in these terms: “Be men most brave, and do not be terrified by the threats of Duke Godfrey, surrendering the city into his hands; for all our princes have resolved to have a return to the land of their kin after the war is finished; and know that a small band of fighters will remain about the city with him this night.” By this count’s message and consolation the citizens and soldiers were heartened, and, turning from surrendering the city and from giving their hands, at sunrise they stood upon the walls to defend, and with arrows, slings, and every sort of weapon kept the duke and his men from taking the city by siege. The duke, however, seeing their boldness and resistance, and because of all his men not more than seven hundred horsemen remained with him, and because by the instigation and persuasion of that same count all the princes had departed, continued his route along the seashore, and he likewise broke up camp from the siege, preceding his companions by the royal road along the coast until he overtook the city of Asur.

Illic comes Reymundus per diei unius et noctis spatium obsidionem circa civitatem Assur egerat, arbitrans ex nova caede et recenti victoria cives concussos urbem in manu ejus reddituros. Plurimas etiam minas et terrores civibus inferens, interdum vitam et salutem et omnem gratiam ab eo consequi, si redderent urbem, promittebat. Sed ducis Godefridi adventu comperto, conscius doli adversus eum quem per invidiam fecerat, cum omni comitatu suo ab obsidione Assur recessit, hortatus cives ne Godefridum expavescerent, et ne aliqua [0563C] minarum illatione aut bellico impetu urbem illi aperirent, plurimum contestans quia nullus principum qui praecesserant, illi ad auxilium rediret.

There Count Reymund had maintained a siege around the city Assur for the space of one day and one night, supposing that from the new slaughter and recent victory the citizens, shaken, would yield the city into his hand. He also hurled very many threats and terrors upon the citizens, sometimes promising that life and safety and every favor would be obtained from him if they surrendered the city. But when the coming of Duke Godefridus was discovered, conscious of the deceit against him which he had wrought out of envy, he withdrew with his whole retinue from the siege of Assur, exhorting the citizens not to fear Godefridus, and not by any [0563C] infliction of threats or by a military assault to open the city to him, earnestly asserting that none of the princes who had gone before would return to his aid.

CAP. LII. - Dux et comes Reymundus pacificantur.

CHAPTER 52. - Duke and Count Reymundus are pacified.

Taliter cives adhortatus ad impedimentum ducis, iter maturavit, et in regione, quae est inter Caesaream et urbem Caiphas, juxta fluvium quemdam dulcis aquae, Roberto Flandrensi, et aequivoco suo, Roberto Northmannorum principi, caeterisque primoribus associatus est. Godefridus dux ad Assur veniens, civitatem per diem obsedit, si forte aliquo eventu aut timore Assyriis incusso, in manu ejus traderetur. Sed Reymundi suasione et attestatione hos sicut Ascalonitas rebelles ac resistentes inveniens, tristi animo divertit ab urbe, et admonivit socios ut Reymundum [0563D] in castris impeterent, et omne nefas, quod adversus se egerat, in caput illius redderent.

Thus having exhorted the citizens, he hastened the march to the duke’s impediment, and in the region which lies between Caesarea and the city Caiphas, beside a certain river of sweet water, he joined with Robert of Flanders, and his namesake Robert, prince of the Northmen, and other chief men. Duke Godfrey, coming to Ascalon, besieged the city by day, hoping that by some chance event or by fear struck into the Assyrians it might be delivered into his hand. But finding these men, by Reymund’s persuasion and testimony, like Ascalonites rebellious and resisting, he turned away from the city in a sad mind, and admonished his companions that they press Reymund into the camp [0563D], and return upon his head all the wickedness that he had wrought against them.

Qui statim loricis induti, dum vexillis erectis in castra veniunt, et in comitem animo irato tendere disposuissent, Reymundus vero pariter ex providentia armatus ad resistendum illi occurrere decrevisset, Robertus Flandrensis et caeteri viri magnifici intervenerunt, viros graviter arguerunt, quos tandem utrinque multo conatu placatos in concordia reduxerunt.

Who, having immediately put on cuirasses, while with standards raised they entered the camp, and, in a mind enraged, had resolved to press toward the count, Reymundus, however, likewise armed by providence and determined to resist him, Robertus of Flanders and the other noble men intervened; they severely reproved the men, whom at length, on both sides, by much effort appeased, they restored to concord.

CAP. LIII. - Principibus repatriare cupientibus dux valedicit, et cives Asur duci confaederantur.

CHAPTER 53. - To the princes wishing to return to their native land the duke bids farewell, and the citizens of Assur are confederate with the duke.

Jam Deo et Domino nostro Jesu Christo favente, his in concordiam reductis, Robertus Flandrensis, [0564A] Robertus princeps Northmannorum, Reymundus pariter de Provincia et universi principes reditus sui intentionem duci aperiunt, ac benevolum in omnibus quae habebant in animo humili et mansueto habito colloquio invenerunt. Dux vero in cunctis voluntati fratrum satisfaciens, Jerusalem remeare decrevit, eo quod potestas urbis in tuitione et defensione ipsius collata sit; et diu colla sociorum amplexans, et omnes benigne deosculans, obnixe cum lacrymis precatur eos in bono commendans ut sui memores existant, et confratres Christianos admoneant, quatenus ad Domini sepulcrum venire non dubitent, ac sibi caeterisque consociis in exsilio remanentibus, auxilio de die in diem adversus tot barbaras nationes concurrant. Viri vero et cives [0564B] Assur, audito quod dux remeabat, et cum Reymundo caeterisque in concordiam redierat, de salute urbis et pace foedus cum duce pepigerunt, obsides tributorum et civitatis constituentes illi.

Now, God and our Lord Jesus Christ favoring, these things having been reduced into concord, Robert the Fleming, [0564A] Robert, prince of the Northmen, Reymundus likewise of the Province and all the princes lay open to the duke the intention of their return, and found him benevolent in all things which they had in mind, met by a humble and meek conference. The duke, moreover, satisfying in all things the will of his brothers, decreed to return to Jerusalem, because the power of the city had been entrusted in its protection and defense; and long embracing the necks of his companions, and kindly kissing them all, he earnestly with tears prayed, commending them to God in good so that they might be mindful of him, and admonish their Christian brethren that they doubt not to come to the Lord’s sepulchre, and that they, and the other associates remaining in exile, may from day to day meet with aid against so many barbarous nations. The men and citizens of [0564B] Assur, when they heard that the duke was returning and had been reconciled with Reymundus and the others, pledged a treaty with the duke for the safety of the city and for peace, appointing hostages of the tributaries and of the city to him.

Ipsi pariter ab eodem duce pro stabilitate fidei et pacis Gerhardum sibi devotum militem, ortum de castello Avennis, obsidem susceperunt.

They likewise received from the same duke Gerhard, a soldier devoted to them, sprung from the castle Avennis, as a hostage for the stability of the faith and of peace.

CAP. LIV. - De caeteris fidelibus repatriantibus.

CHAPTER 54. - Concerning the other faithful returning home.

Et ecce tot praeliis, tot laboribus omnibus saeculis inauditis in victoria et bono fine completis, duce quoque et universis sociis mutuo commendatis, magni et pusilli, primores et subditi, in terram nativitatis suae reditum parant a diutino exsilio, et palmas victoriae in manu sua referunt, prae nimia pietate lacrymis affluentes super fratribus in exsilio relictis. [0564C] Quibus, osculo dilectionis dato, valedicentes, viam remensi sunt per easdem civitates et montium difficultates juxta mare Palaestinum, qua et venerant in Jerusalem: ubi illis ab omnibus praedictis civilatibus, Ptolemaide, Tyro, Sidone, Triple, Baurim et reliquis civitatibus, licentia concessa est vendendi et emendi vitae necessaria. Ab omni denique impetu et insidiis a facie eorum omnes gentes urbesque earum quieverunt, pavidae et tremefactae super contritione regis Babyloniae et victoria quae ipsis fidelibus a Deo vivente collata est.

And behold, after so many battles, so many labors, all unheard-of in the ages, having been completed in victory and a good end, their leader also and all companions mutually commended, great and small, chiefs and subjects, prepare a return to the land of their nativity from long exile, and they bring back the palms of victory in their hand, overflowing with tears from excessive piety over the brothers left in exile. [0564C] To whom, a kiss of affection given, they, taking leave, retraced the road through the same cities and the difficulties of the mountains beside the Palestinian sea, by which they came to Jerusalem: where to them by all the aforesaid cities, Ptolemais, Tyre, Sidon, Tripoli, Baurim and the remaining cities, license was granted to sell and to buy the necessities of life. Finally, from every assault and ambush before their faces all peoples and their cities were subdued, fearful and trembling at the overthrow of the king of Babylon and at the victory which was granted to those faithful by the living God.

Sic igitur secure et pacifice loca haec transeuntes, pauca quidem arma habentes, sed palmas in signum victoriae manibus portantes, in regionem civitatis Gybel frugibus et vineis opulentissimam declinaverunt: ubi procul a [0564D] moenibus urbis propter loca rivis et pascuis commoda, aperta camporum planitie, tabernacula extendentes, duobus diebus bonis uberrimis terrae illius delectati sunt.

Thus therefore, passing through these places safely and peacefully, having indeed few arms but carrying palms in their hands as a sign of victory, they turned aside into the region of the city Gybel, very rich in crops and vineyards: where, far from the [0564D] walls of the city because of places convenient for streams and pastures, on an open plain of fields, pitching tents, they delighted for two very good and most fertile days of that land.

CAP. LV. - Boemundus Laodiceam, Christianorum urbem, obsedit.

CHAPTER 55. - Boemundus besieged Laodicea, a city of the Christians.

His itaque in locis dum moram facerent, nuntiatum est illis quomodo Boemundus, avaritia aggregandi et acquirendi insaturatus, Laodiceam, urbem et habitationem catholicorum Graecorum, longa obsidione occupasset; turresque duas civitatis, in littore maris sitas, magistras urbis a nautis tributa exigentis, jam captas invasisset auxilio et navali assultu Pisanorum et Genuensium; custodesque catholicos [0565A] alios trucidasset, alios visu excaecatos ab ipsarum arce ejecisset. Sed Pisani et Genuenses non nimium super his injuriis criminandi sunt: nam ex ore Boemundi longe aliter quam res esset intellexerunt. Unde falsa illius adhortatione ducentis navibus praedictas turres vallaverunt, et malis navium procera longitudine nubes tangentibus et sportas vimineas in summitate affixas continentibus, custodes praesidiorum graviter oppresserunt, creberrimis lapidum et sagittarum ictibus a superveniente arbore turres et viros impugnantes.

While they were therefore staying in those places, it was reported to them how Boemund, insatiate in the avarice of aggregating and acquiring, had occupied Laodicea, the city and habitation of the Greek Catholics, by a long siege; and had with naval aid and assault of the Pisans and Genoese attacked and already taken two towers of the city, situated on the seashore, which commanded the city and exacted dues from sailors; and had slaughtered some Catholic guards [0565A], and had driven others, blinded in sight, from their own citadel. But the Pisans and Genoese are not to be overly charged for these injuries: for from Boemund’s mouth they understood matters far otherwise than they were. Wherefore, by his false exhortation, with two hundred ships they invested the aforesaid towers, and with the tall masts of the ships touching the clouds and bearing wicker baskets fixed at their summits, they grievously oppressed the garrison’s defenders, assaulting towers and men from the overhanging timber with very frequent blows of stones and arrows.

Audito enim Pisanorum et Genuensium adventu, Boemundus, princeps subdolus et frater avarus, ab Antiochia sex milliaribus Laodiceae vicina illis occurrens, omne malum et grande nefas de civibus Laodiceae referebat: hos [0565B] enim noxios esse Christianorum calumniatores, ut sic omnium animos in odium civium et urbis obsidionem facilius hoc concitaret instinctu. Quare factum est ut creduli verbi illius primum turres obsidentes, custodes earum in deditionem cogerent; dehinc turribus sua arte vel vi superatis, urbem cingerent. Qui gravi et longo assultu cives vexantes, jam trans vallum murorum pontes duos potenter locaverunt, per quos usque ad moenia facilius ipsis pateret accessus, et sic urbs angustiata in brevi Boemundo redderetur.

When the arrival of the Pisans and Genoese was heard, Boemundus, a crafty prince and avaricious brother, coming from Antioch, six miles away and near Laodicea, met them and reported every evil and great crime against the citizens of Laodicea: for by his slander he declared these men [0565B] to be enemies and calumniators of Christians, so that by this instigation he might more easily stir all minds to hatred of the citizens and to the siege of the city. Wherefore it happened that, the credulous believing his word, those besieging the towers first compelled their guardians to surrender; thereafter, the towers being overcome by his craft or by force, they encompassed the city. These, harassing the citizens with a heavy and protracted assault, then strongly placed two bridges across the rampart of the walls, by which access would lie more readily open to them up to the battlements, and thus the city, straitened, would soon be yielded to Boemundus.

In proximo enim fuit ut civitas applicitis hujusmodi ingeniis caperetur, cives punirentur, et Boemundo omnia injuste traderentur. Injuste quidem, nam in obsidione Antiochiae eadem Laodicea navali obsidione et assultu [0565C] Winemari de Bulonia, piratarum magistri, et quorumdam Christianorum, cum praefatis turribus superata et capta est. Hi, collectione navium e diversis terris et regnis contracta, scilicet ab Antwerpia, Tyla, Frisia, Flandria, per mare Provincialibus in terra S. Aegidii, de potestate comitis Reymundi, associati, navigio in circuitu orbis terrae usque ad ipsam urbem Laodiceae appulsi sunt.

For it was nearly the case that the city would be taken by the application of such devices, the citizens punished, and all things unjustly handed over to Boemund. Unjustly indeed; for in the siege of Antioch that same Laodicea was overcome and captured by a naval siege and assault [0565C] of Winemar of Boulogne, master of the pirates, and of certain Christians, the aforesaid towers having been overcome and taken. These men, a collection of ships contracted from diverse lands and kingdoms, namely from Antwerp, Tyle, Frisia, Flanders, allied with the Provincials by sea in the land of St. Aegidius, under the authority of Count Raymond, were by navigation driven round the circuit of the world and landed at the very city of Laodicea.

Quam occupantes et expugnantes, Turcos et Sarracenos, injustos dominatores, in ea repertos gladio percusserunt, urbem vero et ejus moenia apprehendentes, comiti Reymundo cum ipsis turribus post obsidionem Antiochiae contulerunt. Winemarus, magister et ductor piratarum, post haec a Turcopolis et militibus regis Graecorum [0565D] captus et carceri deputatus est; sed ducis Godefridi interventione post plurimum temporis a carcere et vinculis eductus est. Comes vero Reymundus post captionem Antiochiae, decreto itinere suo in Jerusalem cum caeteris, imperatori Constantinopolis Laodiceam civitatem Turcis et gentibus ereptam restituit et sic fidem inviolatam illi reservavit, Juraverat enim sibi, foedusque percusserat cum eo una cum Godefrido et principibus caeteris, de cunctis urbibus, castellis et terris ad regnum ipsius pertinentibus, nihil quidquam de omnibus retinere aut mentiri.

Having seized and stormed them, they smote the Turks and Saracens, unjust dominators, found there with the sword; and seizing the city and its walls, they conferred them, with those towers, upon Count Reymund after the siege of Antioch. Winemarus, master and leader of the pirates, was afterwards taken by Turcopolis and the soldiers of the Greek king [0565D] and committed to prison; but by the intervention of Duke Godefrid, after a long time, he was led forth from prison and his bonds. Count Reymund, moreover, after the capture of Antioch, by decree of his journey to Jerusalem with the others, restored the city of Laodicea, wrested from the Turks and peoples, to the emperor of Constantinople, and thus kept inviolate for him the faith; for he had sworn to him, and had struck a pact with him together with Godefrid and the other princes, concerning all the cities, castles, and lands pertaining to his kingdom, that he would retain nothing of all and would not lie.

Hac de causa Boemundum principes, ab Jerusalem regressi et in terminis civitatis Gybel hospitati, comperientes Laodiceam injuste obsedisse, ac imperatori comitique Reymundo injuriam [0566A] fecisse, nuntios constituunt, qui eum amicabiliter et pacifice ex legatione et rogatu Christianorum confratrum, ab Jerusalem in victoria Dei redeuntium, compellarent, quatenus ab urbis obsidione recederet, nullamque ultra Christianis calumniam inferret.

For this reason the princes, having returned from Jerusalem and lodged on the borders of the city Gybel, and discovering that Laodicea had been unjustly besieged and that an injury [0566A] had been done to the emperor and to Count Reymund, appointed messengers who should, amicably and peaceably, by the legation and at the request of their Christian confratres returning from the victory of God at Jerusalem, press him to withdraw from the siege of the city and to cast no further slander upon Christians.

CAP. LVI. - Episcopus Pisanus redeuntes peregrinos humiliter salutat.

CHAPTER 56. - The Pisan bishop humbly greets the returning pilgrims.

Interea dum ad hoc nuntii eligerentur, episcopus Pisanorum, Dagobertus nomine, cognito adventu et reditu Christianorum peregrinorum ab Jerusalem, quorum per plurinum tempus fama nota fuit aut memoria usque ad diem hanc, assumptis aliquibus viris de comitatu suo egregiis, fratres adire et visitare contendit. Quibus inventis in regione praedicta, [0566B] nullo modo a fletu prae gaudio se continere potuit; sed in omnium majorum atque minorum colla ruens, coepit cum lacrymis universos deosculari, dicens: «Vere et absque ulla ambiguitate fateor vos filios et amicos Dei viventis, qui non solum rebus vestris, urbibus, castellis, praediis, uxoribus, filiis ac filiabus abrenuntiavistis, sed etiam animabus vestris non pepercistis, cum hanc Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi expeditionem, in tam longinquas et barbaras nationes facere non dubitastis; totque adversa, ut compertum habemus, pro Redemptoris nostri gratia sustinuistis. Non est auditum a Christi nativitate, ut aliquis Christianorum exercitus, per tot regna et pericula transiens, Jerusalem, in potentia et virtute, expugnatis et ejectis adulterinis filiis et [0566C] incolis, obtineret, ac loca sancta mundaret, atque in ea post victoriam ad tuendam magnificum Christianorum principem Godefridum exaltaret, sicut de gloria et virtute ejus et vestra nunc accepimus.

Meanwhile, while messengers were being chosen for this purpose, the bishop of the Pisans, named Dagobert, having learned of the arrival and return of the Christian pilgrims from Jerusalem, whose fame had been known or whose memory endured for many years up to this day, after taking up some excellent men from his own retinue, strove to go to visit the brothers. When he found them in the aforesaid region, [0566B] he could in no way restrain himself from tears of joy; but rushing upon the necks of all, great and small, he began with tears to kiss them all, saying: “Truly and without any ambiguity I confess you to be sons and friends of the living God, who not only have renounced your possessions, cities, castles, estates, wives, sons and daughters, but also have not spared your own souls, since you did not hesitate to undertake this expedition of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ into such distant and barbarous nations; and you have endured so many adversities, as we have learned, for the sake of our Redeemer. It has not been heard since the birth of Christ that any Christian host, passing through so many kingdoms and dangers, with the adulterine sons and inhabitants having been conquered and expelled, Jerusalem, in power and might, should have been taken and its holy places cleansed, and that there, after victory, he should raise up Godefrid, a magnificent prince of the Christians, to rule, as we have now learned concerning his and your glory and virtue.” [0566C]

Propter quod gavisi desiderio videndi vos, et salutandi ac colloquendi huc venire decrevimus.

On which account, rejoicing in the desire of seeing you, and of greeting and conversing, we have resolved to come here.

CAP. LVII. - Mutua collocutio episcopi et peregrinorum.

CHAPTER 57. - Mutual colloquy of the bishop and the pilgrims.

Ad haec a fidelibus peregrinis venerabili episcopo sic responsum est: «Si Christianorum prosperitati congaudetis, et saluti arridetis, cur Christianis civibus, videlicet urbis Laodiceae injuste vim intulistis, turres eorum cepistis, custodes trucidastis, et adhuc urbem obsidione vastastis?» His auditis, episcopus [0566D] benigne et patienti animo excusavit se, ac se suosque in omnibus ignoranter deliquisse profitetur, dicens: «Mundi a sanguine hoc sumus. Nam cum rudes ac totius guerrae ignari navigio ad has partes venissemus, Boemundus ab Antiochia nobis obviam factus est, qui cives Laodiceae falsos Christianos esse asseruit; eosdem etiam semper Christianis confratibus adversari, et traditores peregrinorum apud Turcos et Sarracenos fuisse illos summopere referebat. Ad hoc ulciscendum, opem et virtutem nostram precatus est.

To these things the venerable bishop thus answered from the faithful pilgrims: «If you rejoice in the prosperity of Christians, and smile upon their safety, why did you unjustly use force against Christian citizens, namely those of the city of Laodicea, why did you seize their towers, slaughter their guards, and even lay waste the city by siege?» Having heard these things, the bishop [0566D] excused himself with a kindly and patient spirit, and professed that he and his had erred in all things through ignorance, saying: «We are guilty of this blood before the world. For when, ignorant and raw in all warfare, we had come by ship to these parts, Boemund from Antioch met us, who asserted that the citizens of Laodicea were false Christians; he further greatly reported that those same men were always hostile to Christian brethren, and had been traitors of pilgrims to the Turks and Saracens. To avenge this, he begged our aid and our strength.

Nos vero verbis et assertionibus illius credentes, hosque cives sceleratissimos aestimantes, vires et opem sibi ad obsidendam urbem et ejus habitatores contulimus, et obsequium nos praestare Deo in occisione illorum arbitrati sumus. Sed nunc [0567A] veritatem ex ore vestro novimus, quomodo invidia et avaritia, non Dei gratia, hos Boemundus persequitur; et nos misere decepit ad obsidendos et puniendos Christianos. Et ideo sine mora ad nostros redituri, rem aperiemus, et sic ab urbe eos et ab omni impugnatione cohibebimus.»

We, however, believing his words and assertions, and deeming these citizens most wicked, supplied him with forces and aid to besiege the city and its inhabitants, and supposed that we were rendering obedience to God in the slaughter of those men. But now [0567A] we learn the truth from your mouth, namely how Boemund pursues them from envy and avarice, not by the grace of God; and he miserably deceived us into besieging and punishing Christians. And therefore, about to return to our men without delay, we will lay the matter open, and so restrain them from the city and from all attack.

CAP. LVIII. - Boemundus, nolens obsidionem solvere, deseritur ab omnibus.

CHAPTER 58. - Boemundus, unwilling to raise the siege, is deserted by all.

Hoc dicto, nuntii ab exercitu Hierosolymitarum cum Pisanorum episcopo profecti sunt. Sed Boemundum in nimia avaritiae suae pertinacia reperientes, legationem confratrum et comprimorum benigne sibi aperuerunt quatenus ab urbe Laodicea arma et vires suas amoveret, ne erga imperatorem Graecorum fidem promissam mentirentur, et reditus sui [0567B] impedimentum gravissimum in regno illius paterentur. Boemundus vero, auditis nuntiorum verbis, petitionem et admonitionem fidelium prorsus sprevit, et nunquam se recessurum a muris et moenibus Laodiceae asseruit, donec urbs et cives suae manciparentur ditioni.

With this said, messengers from the army of the Jerusalemites set out with the bishop of the Pisans. But finding Boemund in the obstinacy of his excessive avarice, they kindly opened to him the legation of the brethren and companions so that he would remove his arms and forces from the city of Laodicea, lest they be guilty of lying concerning the promise of fidelity to the emperor of the Greeks, and that the hindrance to their return [0567B] might prove a very grave impediment in his realm. Boemund, however, having heard the words of the messengers, utterly scorned the petition and admonition of the faithful, and declared that he would never withdraw from the walls and ramparts of Laodicea until the city and its citizens were made subject to his dominion.

Nuntii autem omnia responsa et aspera verba Boemundi ejusque impatientiam ad exercitum referentes, primoribus indicant, ac iras omnium vehementer acuentes, eo animos illorum commovent, ut arma acquiri et bello aptari universi, parvi et magni, monerentur. Ad haec episcopus, Boemundi intentione et responsione cognita, in castra et classes suorum descendens, universos qui in suo erant comitatu causam edocuit et commonitionem Christiani exercitus. Sic cunctos Pisanos [0567C] et Genuenses, in Domino Deo compunctos, ab obsidione urbis et auxilio Boemundi revocavit, ne ultra ad subveniendum manum in cives mittere praesumpsissent.

The messengers, however, reporting to the army all Boemund’s responses and harsh words and his impatience, made this known to the leaders, and, sharply rousing the anger of all, so moved their spirits that everyone, small and great, was urged to acquire arms and to be fitted for war. To these matters the bishop, Boemund’s intent and reply having been ascertained, descending into the camp and fleets of his men, explained the cause and the admonition of the Christian army to all who were in his retinue. Thus he recalled all the Pisans [0567C] and Genoese, penitent in the Lord God, from the siege of the city and from Boemund’s aid, lest they further presume to send a hand to assist against the citizens.

Boemundus ergo videns se auxilio destitutum, viresque suas nimium attenuatas, et quod fideles Christi ac principes bello et vi armorum eum amovere conspirassent, vespere coelos terrasque obumbrante, ab obsidione murorum procul cum omni manu sua secessit, et confratrum voluntati, nescio amore an timore, nolens volensque, obtemperavit.

Boemund, therefore, seeing himself deprived of aid, his forces too greatly attenuated, and that the faithful of Christ and the princes had conspired to remove him by war and by force of arms, at evening, the heavens and lands overshadowing, withdrew far from the siege of the walls with his whole host, and to the will of his confreres, whether from love or from fear, unwillingly yet willingly, he complied.

CAP. LIX. - Armati fideles Laodiceam pervenientes, Boemundum fugisse reperiunt.

CHAPTER 59. - Armed faithful, arriving at Laodicea, found that Boemund had fled.

Crastina vero die per universum mundum relata, omnis multitudo peregrinorum armis et loricis induuntur; [0567D] et iter insistentes, plurimumque diei peracto, Laodiceam pervenerunt in vexillis ostreis tubarumque multitudine. Sed nullam contradictionem sibi resistentium invenientes, pacifice portas [0568A] civitatis ultro sibi a civibus patefactas introierunt in omni susceptione benigna. Boemundum enim procul abstitisse, et abhinc usque ad dimidium milliare consedisse, eis nuntiatum est.

On the morrow, however, reported throughout the whole world, the entire multitude of pilgrims put on arms and loricas; [0567D] and pressing on their journey, and with most of the day spent, they reached Laodicea in oyster-coloured banners and a multitude of trumpets. But finding no opposition resisting them, they peacefully entered the gates [0568A] of the city, opened to them of their own accord by the citizens, amidst every kindly reception. For it was announced to them that Boemund had stood off at a distance, and had encamped thence as far as half a mile.

Comes ergo Reymundus cum quingentis fratribus suae societatis munitionem urbis ingressus, suum vexillum, quod erat notissimum, in eminentioris turris erexit cacumine, custodia suorum per universas Laodiceae turres locata. Caeteri vero fratres et comprimores per omnia aedificia domorum extra et infra hospitandi gratia divisi sunt. Circiter viginti millia Hierosolymitanorum erat numerus, quando ab Jerusalem reversi, Laodicea confinia intraverunt, quibus omnium rerum vitae necessariarum copia a vendentibus concessa est.

Count Reymund therefore, with five hundred brothers of his society, having entered the fortification of the city, raised his standard, which was very well known, on the summit of the most eminent tower, the guard of his men being placed through all the towers of Laodicea. The other brothers and fellow-companions were distributed, for the sake of hospitality, through all the buildings of the houses outside and within. The number of Jerusalemites was about twenty thousand, who, having returned from Jerusalem, entered the confines of Laodicea, to whom a supply of all things necessary for life was granted by the vendors.

Mensis enim September et Autumni [0568B] tempus erat, quando Laodiceam pervenerunt. Ubi praecipua ubertate frumenti, uvarum, musti, olei et hordei fruentes, quindecim dierum spatium laetanter peregerunt, civibus urbis et peregrinis Pisanis ac Genuensibus omnem familiaritatis et affabilitatis mutuam gratiam exhibentibus.

For it was the month of September and the time of Autumn [0568B], when they reached Laodicea. There, enjoying especially the abundance of grain, grapes, must, oil, and barley, they happily spent a space of fifteen days, exhibiting to the citizens of the city and to the pilgrims, Pisans and Genoese, every mutual grace of familiarity and affability.

CAP. LX. - Boemundus Laodicensibus reconciliatur, et quibusdam aliis.

CHAPTER 60. - Boemundus is reconciled to the Laodiceans, and to some others.

Inter haec mutuae charitatis gaudia utrinque sui recordati Christiani nominis et communiter habitae tribulationis, passionis et pristinae dilectionis, internuntios constituerunt, qui Boemundum de injustitia sua arguerent et de concordia interpellarent, quatenus compunctus fratribus reconciliari non abnueret, fratres quoque eum satisfacientem benigne in [0568C] concordiam et charitatem reciperent. Boemundus, his auditis nuntiis, compunctus super omnibus, in unitatem et dilectionem festinanter redit. Etenim statuto die in campestribus Laodiceae colloquio habito, praecipue inter duos comites Reymundum et Boemundum, dehinc inter alios pax et amicitia firmata est, et omne vetus odium penitus exclusum.

Among these mutual joys of charity, the Christians on either side, mindful of their name and of the tribulation, passion, and former affection commonly undergone, appointed envoys to accuse Boemund of his injustice and to intercede for concord, so that, being moved, he would not refuse reconciliation with the brothers, and that the brothers, him also making satisfaction, would kindly receive him into [0568C] concord and charity. Boemund, having heard these messages, pierced in heart over everything, hastened back into unity and affection. For on the appointed day, on the plains of Laodicea, a conference was held — especially between the two counts Reymundus and Boemundus — and thereafter peace and amity were confirmed among others, and all old hatred was utterly driven out.

Sicque triduo cum illis Boemundus moram faciens, in obsequio charitatis victoriam Jerusalem sciscitatus est: post haec Antiochiam cum suis reversus est. Robertus vero Flandrensis, Robertus pariter Northmannorum princeps, Gastus de Burdeiz, Cuno de Monte-Acuto et caeteri compares, post aliquot dies reditum navigio constituerunt ad terram nativitatis [0568D] suae. At comes Reymundus, metuens Laodiceam et Tortosam urbes, quas difficili labore subjugaverat, ex Boemundi avaritia et instabilitate amittere, cum plurima manu suorum sequacium remansit.

And so, after three days’ delay with them, Boemund, making a stay, in the service of charity sought the victory of Jerusalem: after this he returned to Antioch with his men. Robert the Fleming, Robert likewise prince of the Normans, Gastus of Burdeiz, Cuno of Monte-Acuño and the other companions, after a few days resolved to return by ship to the land of their nativity [0568D]. But Count Reymund, fearing to lose Laodicea and Tortosa, cities which he had subdued with difficult labour, because of Boemund’s avarice and instability, remained behind with a very great band of his followers.