William of Tyre: HISTORIA RERUM IN PARTIBUS TRANSMARINIS GESTARUM

Recedente ab hac luce, sed tamen lucem meliorem consecuto, inclytae et piae in Domino recordationis, domino duce Godefrido, primo ex Latinis regni Hierosolymorum moderatore insigni, vacavit regnum mensibus tribus. Tandem vero, sive de supremo domini ducis judicio, sive de communi principum, qui pauci erant, consilio, citatus est dominus Balduinus Edessanus comes, domini praedicti ducis ex utroque parente frater, ut in regnum accederet, jure sibi debitum haereditario et fratri succederet in eadem cura. Hic in adolescentia sua liberalibus disciplinis convenienter imbutus, clericus, ut dicitur, factus est, et in Remensi, Cameracensi, Leodiensi Ecclesiis beneficia, quae vulgo praebendae dicuntur, gratia generositatis, qua singulariter praeeminebat, obtinuit; tandem ex causis nobis occultis, arma capessens militaria, deposito clerici habitu, miles effectus est.

With him withdrawing from this light, yet having attained a better light, the lord Duke Godfrey—of illustrious and pious-in-the-Lord memory—the first among the Latins, distinguished moderator of the kingdom of Jerusalem, the kingdom stood vacant for three months. At length, whether by the supreme judgment of the lord duke, or by the common counsel of the princes, who were few, Lord Baldwin, Count of Edessa, the aforesaid duke’s brother by both parents, was summoned, that he might accede to the kingdom, owed to him by hereditary right, and might succeed his brother in the same charge. He, suitably imbued in his adolescence with the liberal disciplines, became, as it is said, a cleric, and in the Churches of Reims, Cambrai, and Liège he obtained benefices, which are commonly called prebends, by favor of the nobility in which he singularly preeminent; at length, for causes hidden to us, taking up military arms and laying aside the habit of a cleric, he was made a knight.

Demumque procedente tempore, uxorem ex Anglia duxit illustrem et nobilem, dominam Gutueram nomine, quam secum deducens, dominum ducem Godefridum, dominumque Eustachium fratres suos, viros virtutum et immortalis memoriae, in expeditionem illam primam, faustam et felicem per omnia secutus est. Praedicta vero ejus uxor, antequam Antiochiam fidelis perveniret exercitus, longo fatigata dolore, apud Maresiam optimo fine vita decessit, ibique sepulta est, ut praediximus. Ipse autem postmodum ab Edessano duce vocatus et ab eo adoptatus in filium, et post ejus mortem comitatum cum suis pertinentiis consecutus, sicut diligenter praemissum est, uxorem duxit filiam cujusdam nobilis et egregii Armeniorum principis, Tafroc nomine, qui cum fratre Constantino circa Taurum montem praesidia habebant inexpugnabilia, multasque virorum fortium copias; unde et propter divitiarum et virium immensitatem, gentis illius reges habebantur.

And at length, as time advanced, he took a wife from England, illustrious and noble, a Lady by name Gutuer, whom bringing with him, he followed lord Duke Godfrey and lord Eustace, his brothers—men of virtues and of immortal memory—into that first expedition, auspicious and felicitous in all respects. But his aforesaid wife, before the faithful army might reach Antioch, fatigued by a long pain, departed this life at Maresia with the best end, and there she was buried, as we have said above. He himself, afterwards called by the Edessan duke and by him adopted into sonship, and, after his death, having obtained the county with its appurtenances, as has been carefully set forth above, took to wife the daughter of a certain noble and distinguished prince of the Armenians, named Tafroc, who, with his brother Constantine, held impregnable strongholds around Mount Taurus, and many companies of valiant men; whence also, on account of the immensity of their riches and strengths, they were regarded as kings of that nation.

De sementiva autem ejus secundum carnem origine, et de progenitorum excellentia, vel nativitatis loco non multum est necessarium repetitos edere tractatus; nam, dum superius domini ducis gesta conscriberemus, sufficienter de illa quae communis est ambobus, edisseruimus ingenuitate.

But concerning his seminal origin according to the flesh, and the excellence of his progenitors, or the place of nativity, it is not very necessary to put forth repeated tractates; for, while above we were writing the deeds of the lord duke, we sufficiently expounded the ingenuousness of birth which is common to both.

CAPUT II De corporis habitudine, et qualitate morum ejusdem domini Balduini.

CHAPTER 2 On the bodily habitus, and the quality of the morals of that same lord Baldwin.

Dicitur autem fuisse corpore valde procerus et fratre multo major, ita ut, sicut de Saul dicitur: Altior esset universo populo, ab humeris supra (I Reg. X, 23) ; capillo et barba fuscus, carne tamen mediocriter niveus; naso aquilino et prominente pusillum labro superiore, cum subjecto dentium ordine aliquantulum depresso: non tamen eatenus, quod usque ad vitium ei posset imputari. Gravis in incessu, habitu et verbo serius; chlamidem semper deportans ab humeris, ita ut ignotis gravitate quam verbo praetendebat, et habitu, episcopus magis quam saecularis persona videretur.

Moreover, he is said to have been very tall in body and much greater than his brother, so that, just as it is said of Saul: He was taller than the whole people, from the shoulders and above (1 Kings 10, 23) ; dark in hair and beard, yet moderately snow-white in flesh; with an aquiline nose and the upper lip a little prominent, the row of teeth beneath being somewhat recessed: not, however, to such an extent that it could be imputed to him as a defect. Grave in gait, and in bearing and in word rather serious; always carrying a chlamys from his shoulders, so that to those who did not know him, by the gravity which he put forward rather than by speech, and by his attire, he seemed more a bishop than a secular person.

Verumtamen, ut vitiatae propaginis et primae maledictionis haeredem se non dubitaret, carnis dicitur lubrico impatienter laborasse; ita tamen caute quae ad illum defectum respiciunt, negotia procurare satagebat, ut nemini scandalum, nulli vis major, nulli enormis infligeretur injuria; quodque rarum est in hujusmodi, vix ad paucos ex cubiculariis ejus, hujus rei poterat pervenire notitia; tamen, si more peccatorum ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis, ejus fautor quaerit descendere, videtur aliquam apud homines, et si non apud districtum judicem, excusationem habere de peccato, sicut in sequentibus dicetur. Fuit autem nec multa distentus pinguedine, nec immoderata macie tenuis; sed media quadam corporis habitudine; promptus ad arma, ad equum agilis; impiger et sollicitus, quoties eum regni vocabant negotia. Porro magnificentiam, animositatem et disciplinae militaris experientiam, et caeteras animi bene dispositi dotes egregias, quas velut jure haereditario a progenitoribus in se transfusas, tam ipse quam fratres ejus perpetuo possederunt, superfluum videtur in eo commendare, praesertim cum domini ducis ita exstiterit expressus aemulator, ut crimen sibi reputaret ab ejus vestigiis declinare: eo minus, quo cujusdam Arnulfi, hominis nequam et pessimi, qui Hierosolymis erat archidiaconus, cujus ad malum omne opus et intentio prona dicebatur, de quo superius fecimus mentionem, quod sedem invaserat patriarchalem, nimia utebatur familiaritate, et regebatur consilio, quod ei ad notam imputabatur.

Nevertheless, in that he did not doubt himself to be an heir of vitiated propagation and of the primal malediction, he is said to have suffered impatiently from the slipperiness of the flesh; yet he strove so cautiously to manage the affairs that look to that defect, that to no one was a scandal inflicted, to none violence, to none an enormous injury; and—what is rare in matters of this kind—the knowledge of this thing could scarcely come to a few of his chamberlains. However, if, after the manner of sinners “to excuse excuses in sins,” his partisan seeks to descend, he seems to have some excuse among men, if not before the strict judge, for the sin, as will be said in what follows. He was neither distended with much fat, nor thin with immoderate leanness, but of a certain middle habit of body; prompt to arms, agile on horseback; indefatigable and solicitous whenever the affairs of the kingdom called him. Furthermore, magnificence, spiritedness, and experience of military discipline, and the other choice endowments of a well-disposed mind, which, as it were by hereditary right, translated into themselves from their progenitors, both he and his brothers perpetually possessed—it seems superfluous to commend these in him, especially since he stood forth as an exact emulator of the lord duke, so that he would count it a crime to deviate from his footsteps: all the less, because he used the overmuch familiarity of a certain Arnulf, a wicked and most evil man, who was archdeacon at Jerusalem—whose deed and intention were said to be prone to every evil—of whom we made mention above, that he had invaded the patriarchal see; and he was ruled by his counsel, which was imputed to him to his discredit.

CAPUT III. Comes Garnerus, defuncto duce, turrim occupat; praedictum Balduinum occultis citat internuntiis.

CHAPTER 3. Count Garner, with the duke deceased, seizes the tower; summons the aforesaid Baldwin by secret intermediaries.

Defuncto igitur domino duce et sepulturae tradito, ut praemisimus, hi, quibus de suprema voluntate mandaverat testamenti sui exsecutionem, arbitrium deserentes defuncti, suam illius judicio praetulerunt voluntatem; nam neque arcem David domino patriarchae Daimberto tradiderunt; nec civitatem ejus resignaverunt ditioni, sicut testamenti tabulis continebatur, et sicut in die sancto Paschae, quod proxime praeterierat, praesente clero et populo, in ecclesia Dominicae resurrectionis, dux in Domino piae recordationis, pactis inter eum et dominum patriarcham initis, interseruerat. Hujus autem contumaciae princeps erat quidam comes Garnerus cognomento de Gres, miles acerrimus, dominorum ducis et comitis consanguineus: hic confestim, mortuo duce, praedictam turrim invadens, diligenter communierat, miseratque ad dominum comitem Balduinum occulte nuntios, ignorantibus aliis, ut velocissimus et sine dilatione veniret; dumque super eo facto a domino patriarcha sollicitaretur frequentius, ut supremae ducis voluntati satisfaciens, ecclesiae jus resignaret, innectebat ambages, moras contexens, et tempus quocunque modo quaerens redimere ut comes citatus jure adhuc suo illibato posset accedere: sperans plurimum gratiae apud saepe dictum comitem, pro hujusmodi fidelitate exhibita, se inventurum; a qua spe delusus decidit, praeter omnium opinionem. Accidit enim quod, infra quinque dies, idem comes casu vita decessit, omnibus ducentibus pro miraculo et domini patriarchae meritis ascribentibus, quod hostis et persecutor Ecclesiae ita subita morte defecerat.

Therefore, with the lord duke deceased and given over to burial, as we have premised, those to whom he had entrusted, concerning his last will, the execution of his testament, abandoning the judgment of the deceased, preferred their own will to his judgment; for they neither handed over the Citadel of David to lord Patriarch Daimbert, nor resigned the city to his dominion, as was contained in the tablets of the testament, and as on the holy day of Pasch, which had most recently passed, with the clergy and people present, in the Church of the Lord’s Resurrection, the duke of pious memory in the Lord had inserted, when pacts had been entered between him and the lord patriarch. Now the leader of this contumacy was a certain Count Garner, by surname de Gres, a most valiant miles, a kinsman of the lords the duke and the count: immediately, the duke having died, attacking the aforesaid tower, he had carefully fortified it, and he had sent secretly to lord Count Baldwin messengers, the others being unaware, that he should come most swiftly and without delay; and while he was being more frequently pressed by the lord patriarch about that deed, that, satisfying the duke’s last will, he would resign the Church’s right, he was weaving evasions, stitching together delays, and seeking by whatever means to redeem time, so that the count, having been summoned, might be able to come, his right still inviolate: hoping that he would find very great grace with the oft-mentioned count, for such fidelity exhibited; from which hope he fell, deluded, contrary to everyone’s expectation. For it happened that, within five days, the same count by chance departed from life, all taking it for a miracle and ascribing it to the merits of the lord patriarch, that an enemy and persecutor of the Church had failed by so sudden a death.

Sed neque in ejus defectu Ecclesiae melior facta est conditio. Nam qui in praesidio erant, quod acciderat non magnifacientes, in eodem usque ad adventum comitis Edessani perstiterunt. Porro dominus patriarcha sciens comitem vocatum esse et ejus formidans adventum, volens ejus promotionem quocunque modo impedire, domino Boamundo Antiochenorum principi, epistolam rei seriem plenius continentem dirigit.

But neither at his defect did the Church’s condition become better. For those who were in the garrison, not making much of what had happened, persisted in the same until the arrival of the Count of Edessa. Moreover, the lord patriarch, knowing that the count had been called and fearing his advent, wishing to impede his promotion by whatever means, sent to lord Bohemond, prince of the Antiochenes, a letter more fully containing the sequence of the affair.

Cujus rescriptum ad majorem rei evidentiam, praesenti inserere curavimus lectioni.

Whose rescript, for the greater evidence of the matter, we have taken care to insert into the present lection.

CAPUT IV. Epistola domini Daimberti ad principem Antiochenum.

CHAPTER 4. Letter of lord Daimbert to the Antiochene prince.

Scis, fili charissime, quoniam me ignorantem et invitum, bonae tamen ac sanctae intentionis affectu, in eam quae omnium Ecclesiarum singularis est mater et gentium domina, rectorem et patriarcham elegeris, electumque communi tam cleri ac plebis quam principum assensu, in hujus summae dignitatis sedem, licet indignum, Dei praeeunte gratia, locaveris. In quo ego culmine constitutus, quanta pericula, quot labores, quot persecutiones sustineam, injuriis offensus mille, meus cognoscit animus; et ipse omnium inspector Christus. Vix enim dux Godefridus, dum adhuc viveret, non tam propriae voluntatis arbitrio quam malorum persuasione seductus, ea reliquit ecclesiae tenenda, quae Turcorum temporibus, qui tunc fuerat patriarcha, tenuerat; et sancta Ecclesia, cum amplius honorari et exaltari debuit, tunc majora desolationis atque confusionis suae opprobria sustinuit.

You know, dearest son, that me, unknowing and unwilling, yet by the affection of a good and holy intention, you chose as rector and patriarch of that which is the singular mother of all Churches and the mistress of the nations; and, chosen by the common assent as much of the clergy and the people as of the princes, you have placed me, though unworthy, in the seat of this supreme dignity, with the grace of God going before. Being set upon this summit, how great dangers, how many labors, how many persecutions I endure, assailed by a thousand injuries, my spirit knows; and Christ himself, the inspector of all. For scarcely did Duke Godfrey, while he was still living, seduced not so much by the judgment of his own will as by the persuasion of the wicked, leave to the Church to hold those things which, in the times of the Turks, he who then had been patriarch had held; and the holy Church, when it ought to have been more honored and exalted, then endured greater disgraces of its desolation and confusion.

Resipuit tamen ille, per misericordiam Dei; et ab impietatis desistens proposito, in die Purificationis beatae Mariae Virginis, de Joppe quartam partem ecclesiae Sancti Sepulcri dedit; et post in die paschalis solemnitatis, jam ultra superbe sapere, aut in saeculari pompa confidere respuens, divino nutu compunctus, cuncta quae juris erant Ecclesiae libere reddidit; et homo sancti sepulcri ac noster effectus, fideliter se Deo et nobis amodo militaturum spopondit. Reddidit itaque nostrae potestati turrim David cum tota Hierosolymitana urbe, ejusque pertinentiis, et quod in Joppe ipse tenebat; sic tamen, ut ob rerum temporalium insufficientiam, nostra concessione, ipse haec tam diu teneret, donec illum Deus in captione Babylonis, aut aliarum urbium amplificasset. Si autem absque haerede masculo moreretur, haec omnia absque ulla contradictione ecclesiae redderentur.

Yet he came to his senses, by the mercy of God; and desisting from his purpose of impiety, on the day of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from Joppe he gave a fourth part to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher; and afterwards, on the day of the Paschal solemnity, now spurning to think proudly or to put confidence in secular pomp, pricked by a divine prompting, he freely restored all the things which were of right to the Church; and, having become a man of the Holy Sepulcher and ours, he pledged that henceforth he would serve as a soldier to God and to us faithfully. He therefore restored to our power the Tower of David with the whole city of Jerusalem and its appurtenances, and what he himself held in Joppe; with this proviso, however, that, on account of the insufficiency of temporal goods, by our concession he should hold these for so long until God should have enlarged him by the capture of Babylon or of other cities. If, however, he were to die without a male heir, all these things would be returned to the Church without any contradiction.

Haec omnia cum in praesentia totius cleri ac populi, in die solemni Paschae, ante sacrosanctum sepulcrum confirmasset, etiam in lecto aegritudinis de qua mortuus est, coram multis et probatis testibus ipse constituit: quo defuncto, comes Garnerius, ut hostis contra Ecclesiam Dei insurgens, fidem pactumque justitiae nihili pendens, turrim David contra nos munivit; et legatis suis ad Balduinum directis, mandat uti, Ecclesiam Dei direpturus, resque ejus violenter occupaturus, quantocius veniat: unde judicio Dei percussus, quarto post obitum ducis die obiit. Hoc ipso autem mortuo, viri ignobiles, ac de plebe, adhuc eamdem turrim cum tota urbe occupantes tenent, adventum Balduini, ad ruinam Ecclesiae et totius Christianitatis interitum praestolantes. At ego, qui solius Dei clementiae, tuae que dilectioni, fili charissime, sum relictus, miseriis omnibus calumniisque insidiantium mihi malignorum circumventus, tibi soli (qui in te solo post Deum confido, et spei meae anchoram in tuae dilectionis soliditate figo); tibi, inquam, soli, quas patior aerumnas, imo quas Ecclesia patitur, voce flebili et anxia cogitatione refero.

When he had confirmed all these things in the presence of the whole clergy and people, on the solemn day of Easter, before the most holy sepulchre, he himself also constituted them on the bed of the sickness from which he died, before many and approved witnesses: upon his death, Count Garnerius, rising up as an enemy against the Church of God, valuing faith and the pact of justice at nothing, fortified the Tower of David against us; and, with his envoys sent to Baldwin, he commands that, about to despoil the Church of God and to seize its goods by violence, he come as speedily as possible: whence, smitten by the judgment of God, on the fourth day after the duke’s death he died. But with this very man dead, ignoble men, and of the plebs, still, occupying it, hold that same tower with the whole city, awaiting the arrival of Baldwin, for the ruin of the Church and the extinction of all Christendom. But I, who have been left to the clemency of God alone and to your love, most dear son, encompassed by all the miseries and by the calumnies of evil men lying in wait for me, to you alone (in whom alone after God I trust, and I fix the anchor of my hope in the solidity of your love); to you, I say, to you alone, the hardships which I suffer—nay rather, which the Church suffers—I recount with a weeping voice and anxious thought.

Tu autem, si quid pietatis habes, et nisi paternae gloriae vis esse degener filius; qui tyrannica crudelitate, clausum ab impia manu domnum apostolicum Gregorium de urbe Roma eripuit, unde memorabile saeculis omnibus nomen emeruit: omni occasione remota, festina venire; et terrae regnique tui cura in militibus tuis prudentioribus sapienter disposita, sanctae Ecclesiae miserabiliter laboranti, misericorditer succurre. Et certe scis ipse quoniam auxilium tuum consiliumque promiseris, et debitorem te sanctae Ecclesiae ac mihi sponte tua feceris. Scribe igitur ad Balduinum litteras, interdicens ei ne sine licentia nostra et legatione (cum ille tecum in patriarcham et rectorem Ecclesiae Hierosolymitanae me elegerit) sanctam Ecclesiam devastaturus, et res ejus occupaturus, ullo modo veniat: monstrans ei quoniam irrationabile est tot pro eadem Ecclesia labores sustinuisse, totque pericula, ut illa libera fieret, si nunc vilis et abjecta servire cogatur illis quibus dominari et praeesse materno jure debet.

But you, if you have any piety, and unless you wish to be a degenerate son of your father’s glory—he who from tyrannical cruelty rescued the apostolic lord Gregory, shut in by an impious hand, from the city of Rome, whence he earned a name memorable to all ages—removing every pretext, hasten to come; and, the care of your land and kingdom having been wisely arranged among your more prudent soldiers, mercifully succor the holy Church miserably laboring. And surely you know yourself that you have promised your help and counsel, and that by your own will you have made yourself a debtor to the holy Church and to me. Write therefore letters to Baldwin, interdicting him that he by no means come without our license and legation (since he, together with you, has chosen me as patriarch and rector of the Church of Jerusalem) to devastate the holy Church and to occupy its goods: showing him that it is irrational to have sustained so many labors and so many perils for that same Church, that it might be made free, if now, vile and abject, it is compelled to serve those whom by a maternal right it ought to dominate and preside over.

Quod si ille justitiae resistens, rationabilibus acquiescere noluerit, per eam quam beato Petro obedientiam debes, te contestor, ut quibuscunque modis vales, aut etiam si necesse sit, vi adventum ejus impedias. Quidquid autem super iis quae mando, tu facturus sis, galea tua ad me sub festinatione missa, per hunc eumdem, quem ad te mitto nuntium, mihi, charissime, manifesta.

But if he, resisting justice, will not be willing to acquiesce in reasonable things, by that obedience which you owe to blessed Peter, I adjure you to hinder his coming by whatever means you are able, or even, if it is necessary, by force. Whatever moreover you are going to do concerning those things which I command, make known to me, dearest one, by your helmet sent to me with haste, through this same messenger whom I send to you.

CAPUT V. Accedit Balduinus Hierosolymam, et circa fluvium Canis hostium reperit insidias.

CHAPTER 5. Baldwin approaches Jerusalem, and around the River of the Dog he finds the enemies’ ambushes.

Hanc tamen epistolam ad dominum Boamundum minime credimus pervenisse. Nam eodem mense quo dominus bonae memoriae dux carne dissolutus migraverat ad Dominum, modico ante vel postea captus erat ab hostibus, sicut diligenter praemissum est. Dominus vero Balduinus, Edessanorum comes, reddita sibi egregia Medorum metropoli, Meletenia, fausta felicitate fruebatur; et perdomitis hostibus in circuitu admodum, aliquam sibi pacem et populo suo per Dei gratiam obtinebat: cum ecce nuntius ab Hierosolymis properans, dominum ducem vita decessisse nuntiat; cognitoque quod amici et fideles fratris defuncti eum instanter vocabant, ut ad regni maturaret successionem, congregato sibi ducentorum equitum et octingentorum peditum comitatu, resignata terra in manus cujusdam consanguinei sui, viri prudentis et egregii, domini videlicet Balduini de Burgo qui, sicuti in illo comitatu, ita postmodum et in regno successit, VI Nonas Octobris versus Hierosolymam iter arripuit, mirantibus nonnullis quod, cum tam exiguo apparatu, tantum iter per medios hostium fines aggredi proposuisset.

We by no means believe, however, that this letter reached Lord Bohemond. For in the same month in which the lord duke of good memory, dissolved from the flesh, had migrated to the Lord, he had been taken prisoner by the enemies, a little before or afterwards, as has been carefully set forth above. But Lord Baldwin, count of the Edessenes, the distinguished metropolis of the Medes, Melitene, having been restored to him, was enjoying auspicious felicity; and with the enemies round about very thoroughly subdued, he was obtaining for himself and for his people some peace by the grace of God: when behold, a messenger hastening from Jerusalem announces that the lord duke has departed this life; and, learning that the friends and faithful of his deceased brother were urgently calling him to hasten to the succession of the kingdom, having gathered to himself an escort of 200 horse and 800 foot, and having resigned the land into the hands of a certain kinsman of his, a prudent and distinguished man, namely Lord Baldwin of Bourcq—who, just as in that county, so afterwards also in the kingdom, succeeded—on 2 October he took up the journey toward Jerusalem, with some marveling that, with so scant an apparatus, he had proposed to undertake so great a journey through the midst of the enemies’ borders.

Cum autem pervenisset Antiochiam, uxorem cum ancillis quae ei famulabantur, cum onerosa supellectile et plurima parte sarcinarum, praecepit ad mare descendere, ubi et navigium jusserat praeparari, quo illa honeste usque Joppen devehi posset; nam haec sola ex maritimis urbibus in nostram venerat ditionem, reliquis omnibus adhuc infidelibus detentis. Hoc autem eo videtur fecisse intuitu, ut hostium regiones transiturus, expeditior esset ad ea quae occurrerent negotio atque ad casus repentinos omnino paratior. Inde Laodiciam Syriae perveniens, oram maritimam secutus, per Gabulum, Valeniam, Maracleam, Antaradon, Archis, usque Tripolim pervenit: ubi ab ejusdem civitatis rege, in castris extra urbem, muneribus et honore praeventus, didicit eodem insinuante rege, quod Ducah, Damascenorum rex, proficiscenti ei in via praestruxerat insidias.

But when he had reached Antioch, he ordered his wife, with the maidservants who waited upon her, together with heavy furnishings and a very great part of the baggage, to go down to the sea, where he had also ordered a vessel to be prepared, by which she could be conveyed honorably as far as Joppa; for this alone of the maritime cities had come into our dominion, all the rest being still held by the unbelievers. He seems to have done this with this view: that, being about to pass through the regions of the enemy, he might be more unencumbered for whatever business should arise, and altogether more prepared for sudden contingencies. Thence, arriving at Laodicea of Syria, following the seacoast, through Gabulum, Valenia, Maraclea, Antaradus, Archis, he came as far as Tripoli; where, anticipated with gifts and honor by the king of that same city, in a camp outside the city, he learned, the same king intimating it, that Ducah, king of the Damascenes, had laid ambushes on the road for him as he set out.

Et procedens inde et Biblum pertransiens, ad fluvium pervenerat, qui cognominatur Canis. Est autem in eodem loco transitus periculosissimus, inter montes excelsos, rupium asperitate et ascensu arduo nimis impervios et fretosum mare; vix habens latitudinis cubitos duos, longitudinis autem stadia quatuor. Has locorum angustias et callem periculosum obsederant, ut transitum impedirent, regionis incolae et de Turcis nonnulli, qui ut iter domini comitis praepedirent, ad hoc de remotis convenerant partibus.

And proceeding from there and passing through Byblus, he had come to the river which is surnamed the Dog. Now in that same place there is a most perilous passage, between lofty mountains—altogether impassable because of the roughness of the cliffs and the very steep ascent—and the surging sea; scarcely having a width of two cubits, but a length of four stadia. These straits of the place and the dangerous track had been beset, in order to hinder the crossing, by the inhabitants of the region and by some of the Turks, who, so as to obstruct the lord count’s journey, had convened for this from remote parts.

Ad quem locum cum pervenisset dominus comes, praemissis aliquot de suis qui rem praetentarent, cognoverunt quosdam de iis qui locum munierant, transito flumine, descendisse in planum: quod videntes nostri, timentes ne post se majores reliquissent insidias, rei statum domino comiti per unum ex ipsis indicaverunt. Qui sine mora aciebus instructis eis occurrens, ad congrediendum paratos reperit; in quos animoso irruens impetu, primo conflictu eorum solvit manipulum, pluribus ex eis interemptis, reliquis autem in fugam conversis; sarcinisque depositis, ibi castra metari praecipit: ubi cum locus esset arctus aliquantulum inter montes et mare, noctem duxerunt in multo discrimine pervigilem; molestias eis irrogantibus, tam iis qui in montibus aditus praeoccupaverant quam qui in navibus ab urbe Beritensi et Biblio descenderant, sagittarum tota nocte multitudinem immittentes, et circa extrema castrorum multa nostris inferentes pericula; et tantis exacerbantes angustiis, ut equos fessos ex itinere, et prae caloris immensitate sitibundos, ea nocte quamvis prope esset fluvius, non possent adaquare.

When the lord count had come to that place, having sent ahead some of his men to feel out the matter, they learned that certain of those who had fortified the spot, after crossing the river, had descended into the plain; which our men, seeing, and fearing that they had left greater ambushes behind them, made known the state of the affair to the lord count through one of themselves. He, without delay, with the battle lines drawn up, going to meet them, found them ready to engage; and, rushing upon them with spirited onset, at the first clash he broke their maniple, many of them being slain, and the rest turned to flight; and, the packs laid down, he ordered the camp to be marked out there: where, since the place was somewhat narrow between the mountains and the sea, they passed the night wakeful and in much peril; with harassments being inflicted on them both by those who had preoccupied the approaches in the mountains and by those who had come down in ships from the city of Berytus and Byblus, sending in a multitude of arrows all night long, and bringing many dangers upon our men around the extremities of the camp; and aggravating them with such straits that the horses, weary from the journey and, from the immensity of the heat, parched with thirst, that night, although a river was near, could not be watered.

CAPUT VI. Vincuntur hostes, et expedito itinere Balduinus pervenit Hierosolymam.

CHAPTER 6. The enemies are vanquished, and by an expedited journey Baldwin arrives at Jerusalem.

Postea autem, illucescente die, communicato cum suis consilio, praecipit comes ut, compositis ad iter sarcinis, redire incipiant; et, praemissis debilioribus et qui ad arma non multum poterant, ipse cum robustis sequebatur, non solum a tergo, verum ex utroque latere irruentium sustinens impetus; id autem prudenter nimis et callide, more suo, ut hostes deciperet, adinvenerat, non de suo diffidens comitatu, sed ut eum fugientem insequentes, in locis patentibus hostes reperiret, cum eisque liberius congredi posset; plurimum enim angustias metuebat. Dumque sic in redeundo ejus laboraret exercitus, hostes arbitrati causa formidinis eos reditum maturare, tanto instant protervius, quanto eos amplius timore dejectos arbitrantur. Descendentes igitur de locorum angustiis certatim, per loca liberiora nostros urgentissime coeperunt insectari; ita ut qui in navibus erant, praedam affectantes, in terram desilirent, sperantes sine difficultate, tanquam devictis hostibus, tropaeum reportare.

Afterwards, however, with day dawning, counsel having been taken with his men, the count orders that, the baggage arranged for the march, they begin to return; and, the weaker and those who were not much able for arms having been sent ahead, he himself was following with the sturdy, sustaining the attacks of those rushing in not only from the rear but from either flank; and this he had devised most prudently and cunningly, in his accustomed manner, to deceive the enemy, not distrusting his own comitatus, but so that, as they pursued him as if fleeing, he might find the enemy in open places, and be able to engage more freely with them; for he greatly feared the straits. And while his army was laboring thus in the return, the enemy, having supposed that they were hastening their return by reason of fear, press on so much the more insolently, the more they suppose them cast down by fear. Descending therefore in rivalry from the narrow places, through freer places they began to harry our men most urgently; to such an extent that those who were in the ships, aiming at booty, leapt down onto the land, hoping without difficulty, as though the enemy had been conquered, to carry off a trophy.

Videns autem comes quod montes deseruerant et jam plana tenentes, nostris instabant urgentibus, indicto suis reditu, erectis vexillis, in hostes acrius instantes regreditur; eumque insecutae acies, domini praeeuntis exemplo irruunt animosius; et antequam in montes, more solito, se possent recipere, gladiis in eos vibratis desaeviunt, usque ad supremam interniciem non parcentes. Illi vero, nostrorum non ferentes impetum et caedentium robur admirantes et stupentes instantiam, nullam defensioni dant operam; sed in sola fuga spem habentes, ea via saluti consulunt; ita ut nec qui de navibus exierant, ad mare redire praesumerent, et qui ad montes se contulerant, dum incaute fugiunt, periculosa incurrentes praecipitia, improvisae mortis mille vias invenirent. Hostibus igitur ita prostratis, nostri victores ad locum ubi sarcinas et impedimenta dimiserant cum exsultatione redeunt: ubi nocte quiescentes, benedixerunt Dominum, qui potentes deponit et exaltat humiles.

But seeing that they had abandoned the mountains and, now holding the level ground, were pressing hard upon our men, the count, a return having been proclaimed to his own, with standards raised, turns back, bearing down more sharply upon the enemies; and the battle-lines that followed him, by the example of their lord going before, rush in the more high-spiritedly; and before they could, in their wonted manner, withdraw into the mountains, with swords brandished against them they rage, sparing not unto the utmost internecine destruction. But they, unable to endure our men’s onslaught—admiring the strength of those cutting them down and stupefied at their persistence—give no effort to defense; but, placing hope in flight alone, they look to safety by that course; so that not even those who had come out from the ships dared to return to the sea, and those who had betaken themselves to the mountains, while fleeing incautiously and rushing upon dangerous precipices, found a thousand ways of unlooked-for death. With the enemies thus laid low, our men, victors, return with exultation to the place where they had left the packs and impedimenta; where, resting for the night, they blessed the Lord, who casts down the mighty and exalts the humble.

At vero die sequenti retrocedentes usque ad locum qui dicitur Junia, curam sibi et equis debitam impendentes sollicitudinem, praedam inter se more militari diviserunt et capta mancipia. Mane vero sequente, volens dominus comes comitatui suo prudenter fideliterque providere, assumptis sibi de expeditioribus equitibus nonnullis, ad locum, ubi pridie conflictus fuerat, accessit intrepidus, perscrutari volens utrum adhuc angustias detinerent adversarii, an locus transire volentibus libere pateret. Vidensque transitum hostibus vacuum et sine difficultate permeabilem, suos facit evocari; qui, audita optabili legatione, ad locum pervenientes, sine molestia dominum comitem consecuti, locum transeunt, quem diu habuerant suspectum et merito formidabilem: et accedentes ad pagum Beritensium, ante urbem castrametati sunt, inde oram sectantes maritimam, transeuntes Sidonem, Tyrum et Ptolomaidam usque ad locum cui nomen Cayphas pervenerunt.

But indeed on the following day, withdrawing as far as the place that is called Junia, bestowing the due care and solicitude upon themselves and their horses, they divided the booty among themselves in military fashion, and the captured slaves. On the next morning, however, the lord Count, wishing prudently and faithfully to provide for his retinue, having taken to himself some of the more expeditious horsemen, approached without fear the place where the conflict had been the day before, wishing to investigate whether the adversaries still held the defiles, or whether the place lay open freely to those willing to pass. And seeing the passage void of enemies and passable without difficulty, he has his men summoned; who, on hearing the welcome message, arriving at the place, without trouble overtook the lord Count, pass the place which they had long held in suspicion and rightly fearsome: and coming to the district of the Berytians, they encamped before the city, and thence, following the maritime shore, passing Sidon, Tyre, and Ptolemais, they came as far as the place whose name is Cayphas.

Comes vero suspectum habens dominum Tancredum, propter illam enormem nimis et indebitam, quam in eum apud Tharsum Ciliciae commiserat, injuriam, neminem suorum in urbem praedictam permisit introire, timens ne vir magnificus, offensae memor, vellet ei vicem rependere. Porro dominus Tancredus aberat, cives tamen ejus, domino comiti exeuntes obviam, benigne multum et fraterno charitatis affectu, rerum venalium, et maxime eorum quae ad victum erant necessaria, bonis conditionibus obtulerunt commercium. Inde per Caesaream, deinde Arsur viam legentes maritimam, usque Joppen pervenerunt; ubi ab universo clero ac populo solemniter exceptus, faventibus universis, pro domino se gessit.

The count, however, holding Lord Tancred in suspicion, on account of that most enormous and undue injury which he had committed against him at Tarsus of Cilicia, permitted none of his own men to enter the aforesaid city, fearing lest the magnificent man, mindful of the offense, might wish to repay him in turn. Moreover, Lord Tancred was absent; yet his citizens, going out to meet the lord count, with much kindness and with a brotherly affection of charity, offered commerce in things for sale, and especially in those which were necessary for sustenance, on good terms. Thence by Caesarea, then Arsur, choosing the maritime road, they came as far as Joppa; where, being solemnly received by the whole clergy and people, with all favoring, he conducted himself as lord.

Inde profectus Hierosolymam, occurrente sibi universo clero et populo, tam Latinorum quam aliarum nationum, cum hymnis et canticis spiritualibus, tanquam regem et dominum suum introduxerunt gaudentes.

Thence, having set out to Jerusalem, with the entire clergy and people, both of the Latins and of other nations, meeting him, with hymns and spiritual canticles, they, rejoicing, introduced him as their king and lord.

CAPUT VII. Patriarcha Daimbertus, Balduini timens adventum, in ecclesiam montis Sion, relicta domo patriarchali, se confert.

CHAPTER 7. Patriarch Daimbert, fearing Baldwin’s arrival, betakes himself to the church of Mount Sion, the patriarchal house being left behind.

Per idem tempus, Arnulfus, de quo superius fecimus mentionem, primogenitus Satanae, filius perditionis, videns quod a cathedra Jacobi, quam ausu temerario invaserat, meritis exigentibus decidisset, molestare coepit et turbare quietem domini Daimberti, quem eadem ecclesia de communi omnium conniventia sibi praefecerat. Statim enim post ducis obitum, apud dominum Balduinum comitem, eum super multis accusaverat; cleri quoque partem concitaverat adversus eum, sicuti malitiosissimus erat et scandalorum sator. Erat etiam potens et in divitiis superabundans, archidiaconatum habens ejusdem civitatis et pro stipendiis templum Domini et Calvariae locum.

At the same time, Arnulf, of whom we made mention above, the firstborn of Satan, the son of perdition, seeing that from the chair of James, which he had invaded with rash daring, he had fallen, his deserts requiring it, began to molest and to disturb the quiet of lord Daimbert, whom the same church, by the common connivance of all, had set over itself. For immediately after the duke’s death, before lord Baldwin the count, he had accused him on many counts; he had also stirred up a part of the clergy against him, inasmuch as he was most malicious and a sower of scandals. He was also powerful and superabundant in riches, holding the archidiaconate of the same city, and as stipends the Temple of the Lord and the place of Calvary.

Sic ergo quoniam et dives erat et prudens ut faceret malum, plurimum in clero, magis autem apud saeculares poterat personas. Videns itaque dominus patriarcha et praedicti Arnulphi malitiam, qui ei datus erat pro stimulo, et comitis credulitatem, suspectum habens ejus adventum, descendens de domo patriarchali, in ecclesiam montis Sion se contulerat; ibique scandala fugiens, privatus lectioni et orationi vacabat: unde praedictae domini comitis receptioni et honori eidem a civibus impenso, suam non exhibuerat praesentiam.

Thus then, since he was both rich and prudent to do evil, he had very great power among the clergy, but more indeed among secular persons. Therefore the lord patriarch, seeing the malice of the aforesaid Arnulf—who had been given to him for a goad—and the credulity of the count, holding his arrival in suspicion, descended from the patriarchal house and betook himself into the church of Mount Sion; and there, fleeing scandals, withdrawn, he devoted himself to reading and prayer: whence, at the aforesaid reception of the lord count and at the honor bestowed upon the same by the citizens, he did not exhibit his own presence.

CAPUT VIII. Comes versus Ascalonam expeditiones dirigit; Jordanem transit; terras hostium ingreditur; tandem Hierosolymam redit.

CHAPTER 8. The Count directs expeditions toward Ascalon; crosses the Jordan; enters the territories of the enemy; at length returns to Jerusalem.

Cum autem per dies aliquot, comes moram fecisset in urbe, ut sibi et equis aliquam indulgeret requiem, ordinatis regni negotiis, quantum ad illud praesens videbatur sufficere, sicuti homo laboriosus erat et otia fugiens, congregata expeditione, tam ex iis quos secum deduxerat quam quos in regno repererat subitus et ex improviso ante urbem astitit Ascalonam. Ubi cum egredi cives contra eum formidarent, videns quod non multum proficeret, campestria secutus, quae inter montes et mare media interjacent, suburbana invenit: quorum habitatores relictis domibus, in specus subterraneas cum uxoribus et liberis, cum gregibus et armentis se contulerant. Erant autem latrunculi et praedones, viarum effractores publicarum, qui crebris irruptionihus inter Ramulam et Jerusalem iter reddiderant valde periculosum, in viatores incautos ferro saepius hostiliter saevientes: quo cognito, comes instari praecipit vehementius et igni ad ostia speluncarum adhibito, fumidam docet adhibere materiam, ut fumo inclusos molestante, ad deditionem cogeret, vel aere suffocatorio, spiritus compelleret exhalare.

However, when for several days the Count had made a stay in the city, that he might indulge some rest for himself and the horses, the affairs of the kingdom having been ordered so far as for the present seemed sufficient—since he was a laborious man and a shunner of leisure—an expedition having been gathered, as well from those whom he had led with him as from those whom he had found in the kingdom, sudden and unlooked-for he stood before the city Ascalon. Where, as the citizens feared to go out against him, seeing that he was not making much progress, following the level plains which lie in the midst between the mountains and the sea, he found the suburbs: whose inhabitants, leaving their homes, had betaken themselves into subterranean caves with their wives and children, with flocks and herds. Now these were bandits and predators, breakers of the public highways, who by frequent irruptions between Ramla and Jerusalem had rendered the journey very dangerous, often raging with the sword in hostile fashion against unwary travelers: which being known, the Count bids that they be pressed more vehemently, and, fire being applied at the mouths of the caverns, he instructs them to apply smoky material, that, as the smoke molested those shut in, he might force them to surrender, or by suffocatory air compel their breaths to exhale.

Factum itaque est quod qui intus erant, incendiorum cauma, favillam fumique importunitatem non ferentes, sine conditione in manus se dederunt comitis. Quibus non parcens, juxta id quod eorum videbantur exigere merita, centum ex eis decollari praecepit: sumptisque victualibus, quae tam ad usus hominum quam jumentorum apud eos reperta sunt necessaria, tribu Simeon decursa, ad montana inde conscendit, ubi locum sepultura patriarcharum Abrahae, Isaac et Jacob celebrem, Hebron videlicet, qui alio nomine dicitur Cariathiarbe, praetereuntes, per vineas Engaddi ad vallem descendit illustrem, ubi est mare salsissimum. Deinde Segor, parvulam quidem, sed tamen quae Lot de Sodomis fugientem novit salvare, transeuntes, fines Moabitarum ingressi, Syriam Sobal perlustraverunt universam, tentantes si quid eis occurreret, in quo gentem perfidam damnificare possent, suas vero conditiones reddere meliores; nihil tamen toto illo itinere profecerunt, nisi quod de bonis hostium se, equos et jumenta exhibebant.

Thus it came to pass that those who were inside, unable to endure the burning heat of the fires, the cinders and the importunity of the smoke, surrendered themselves without condition into the hands of the count. On whom he did not spare, but, according to what their deserts seemed to require, he ordered a hundred of them to be beheaded; and, the victuals taken which were found among them necessary as much for the uses of men as of beasts of burden, the tribe of Simeon having been traversed, from there he ascended to the highlands, where, passing by the sepulture-place of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—Hebron, namely, which by another name is called Cariathiarbe—through the vineyards of Engaddi he descended to the renowned valley, where the most salty sea is. Then, passing Segor, small indeed, but yet the place which knew how to save Lot as he fled from the Sodomites, having entered the borders of the Moabites, they reconnoitered all Syria Sobal, trying whether anything would occur to them by which they might damage the perfidious nation and render their own conditions better; nevertheless they accomplished nothing on that whole journey, except that out of the goods of the enemy they furnished themselves, the horses, and the beasts of burden.

Praecognito enim eorum adventu, regionis incolae ad montes impervios et assueta confugerant praesidia, ita ut universam nostri deambulantes regionem, vacuam et sine cultore reperirent. Tandem videns dominus comes quod non proficeret et quod Nativitatis Dominicae immineret solemnitas, eamdem viam qua venerat remensus, XII Kal. Jan.

For their advent having been foreknown, the inhabitants of the region had fled to the impassable mountains and to their accustomed presidia, so that our men, strolling through the whole region, found it vacant and without a cultivator. At length the lord count, seeing that he was not making progress and that the solemnity of the Lord’s Nativity was impending, retraced the same road by which he had come, on the 12th day before the Kalends of January.

die festo sancti Thomae apostoli, Jerosolymam ingressus est.

on the feast day of Saint Thomas the Apostle, he entered Jerusalem.

CAPUT IX. Reconcilitatis adinvicem patriarcha et comite, comes in regem inungitur.

CHAPTER 9. The patriarch and the count, having been reconciled to one another, the count is anointed as king.

Anno igitur ab Incarnatione Domini 1101, reconciliatis ad invicem domino Daimberto patriarcha et domino comite Balduino, per quorumdam prudentum commendabilem interventum, in die sancto Nativitatis Dominicae, in ecclesia Bethlehemitica, astantibus clero et populo, Ecclesiarum quoque praelatis et regni principibus, consecratus est, et in regem inunctus, per manum domini Daimberti memorati patriarchae, dominus Balduinus et regio diademate solemniter laureatus

In the year therefore of the Lord’s Incarnation 1101, Lord Daimbert the patriarch and Lord Count Baldwin, having been reconciled to one another through the commendable intervention of certain prudent men, on the holy day of the Lord’s Nativity, in the Bethlehem church, with the clergy and people standing by, and also the prelates of the Churches and the princes of the kingdom, Lord Baldwin was consecrated and anointed as king by the hand of the aforesaid Lord Daimbert, the patriarch, and was solemnly crowned with the royal diadem.

CAPUT X. Tancredus veteris memor injuriae, ab eo discedit, ab Antiochenis vocatus.

CHAPTER 10. Tancred, mindful of an old injury, withdraws from him, summoned by the Antiochenes.

Domino itaque Balduino, ut praedictum est, regni solium obtinente et in regno confirmato, dominus Tancredus, inclytae recordationis et piae in Christo memoriae, injuriae memor quam ab eodem domino Balduino apud Tarsum Ciliciae praeter merita passus fuerat, sicut vir religiosus erat et propriae amator conscientiae, timens ei aliquo fidelitatis obligari vinculo, quem non poterat pura charitate diligere, urbem Tiberiadensem simul et Caypham, quae illustris memoriae dominus Godefridus ob insignia ejus merita ei liberaliter concesserat, in manus domini regis resignavit: sumptaque licentia, discessum ejus moleste ferentibus universis, ad partes secessit Antiochenas. Saepe enim et saepius ab ejusdem regionis principibus evocatus fuerat, ut usque ad reditum domini Boamundi, si quando eum Dominus de carcere educere dignaretur, principatus curam gereret et sollicitudinem, tanquam is ad quem de jure haereditario, si domino Boamundo redire non daretur, universa devolveretur haereditas. Perveniente igitur Antiochiam, populus et majores generalem et liberam statim ei contulerunt administrationem.

Therefore, with lord Baldwin, as has been said, obtaining the throne of the kingdom and confirmed in the realm, lord Tancred—of illustrious remembrance and pious memory in Christ—mindful of the injury which he had suffered without deserving it from that same lord Baldwin at Tarsus of Cilicia, and, as he was a religious man and a lover of his own conscience, fearing to be bound to him by any bond of fealty, whom he could not love with pure charity, resigned into the hands of the lord king the city of Tiberias and likewise Caypha, which lord Godfrey of illustrious memory had liberally granted to him on account of his distinguished merits: and, leave having been taken, while all bore his departure with displeasure, he withdrew to the Antiochene parts. For often and again he had been summoned by the princes of that same region, that, until the return of lord Bohemond—if ever the Lord should deign to lead him forth from prison—he should bear the care and solicitude of the principality, as to him to whom by hereditary right, if it were not granted to lord Bohemond to return, the whole inheritance would devolve. Therefore, upon his arriving at Antioch, the people and the magnates at once conferred upon him the general and free administration.

Rex vero resignatam sibi Tiberiadem cuidam Hugoni de Sancto Aldemaro, viro nobili et in armis strenuo, jure concessit haereditario possidendam. Ouievitque regnum mensibus quatuor.

The king indeed conceded Tiberias, which had been resigned to him, to a certain Hugh of Saint Aldemar, a noble man and strenuous in arms, to be possessed by hereditary right. And the kingdom was at rest for four months.

CAPUT XI. Rex, Jordane transito, de hostium finibus praedam trahit innumeram; et factum ejus commendabile describitur.

CHAPTER 11. The king, the Jordan crossed, draws innumerable booty from the enemies’ borders; and his commendable deed is described.

Contigit autem per eosdem dies, suggerentibus viris quibusdam, quibus idipsum officii erat, regionum finitimarum statum, et hostium explorare infirma, quod rex, convocata secretius ingenti militia, Jordanem transiens, fines Arabum ingressus est; et pertransiens usque ad interiora solitudinis, quam praedictus populus solet inhabitare, ad locum pervenit destinatum; ubi noctu et subito super incautos irruens, in ipsis eorum tabernaculis de viris nonnullos, uxores vero cum parvulis universis, et omnem eorum substantiam sibi fecerunt in praedam, trahentes secum spolia infinita, camelorum quoque et asinorum multitudinem inauditam. Viri autem ex plurima parte, de remoto sentientes nostrorum adventum, equorum velocitate rapti, ad ulteriora deserti fuga salutem quaerentes se contulerunt: tentoria, uxores et liberos, simul et omnem substantiam suam hostibus exponentes. Accidit autem quod dum in redeundo armenta et mancipia ante se trahentes proficiscerentur, quaedam illustris femina, cujusdam magni et potentis principis uxor, in eadem transmigratione, casibus involuta communibus, inciderat.

It happened, moreover, in those same days, certain men suggesting it, to whom that very thing was of their office, to survey the condition of the neighboring regions and to explore the weaknesses of the enemies, that the king, an immense militia having been secretly convoked, crossing the Jordan, entered the borders of the Arabs; and passing on as far as the inner parts of the solitude which the aforesaid people are accustomed to inhabit, he arrived at the appointed place; where by night and suddenly rushing upon the unwary, in their very tabernacles they made some of the men, but the wives with all the little ones, and all their property, into booty for themselves, dragging with them infinite spoils, and an unheard-of multitude of camels and donkeys. The men, however, for the most part, perceiving from afar the arrival of our men, snatched away by the swiftness of their horses, betook themselves to the further parts of the desert, seeking safety in flight: exposing their tents, wives and children, together with all their substance, to the enemies. It befell, moreover, that while on the return they were setting out, driving before them the herds and the mancipia, a certain illustrious woman, the wife of a certain great and powerful prince, in that same transmigration, entangled in the common chances, was taken.

Huic praegnanti partus imminebat dies, ita ut in ipso itinere, prae doloris deficiens angustia, qualis solet esse parturientis, partum ediderit. Quod audiens rex, praecepit eam de camelo cui insidebat deponi et de spoliis in terra lectum parari commodum pro tempore, datoque cibo et utribus aquae duobus; data etiam ei, secundum quod optavit, ancilla, et duabus camelis, de quarum lacte nutriretur, designatis, mantello suo, quo erat indutus, eam involvens, dimisit; et cum exercitu suo profectus est. Eadem vero die vel sequenti, magnus ille Arabum satrapa, cum multo suorum comitatu, exercitus nostri de more gentis suae sequens vestigia, dolens et tristis admodum, quod uxorem, nobilem matronam et in proximo parituram amiserat, reliqua omnia quasi pro nihilo ducens, casu in uxorem sic jacentem incidit: vidensque et stupens humanitatem qua erga eam dominus rex abundaverat, coepit usque ad sidera Latinorum nomen et maxime domini regis clementiam extollere; et eidem de caetero, quantum poterat, esse fidelis, sicut postmodum in multo necessitatis articulo evidenti significavit argumento.

To this pregnant woman the day of delivery was imminent, so that on the very journey, fainting with the straitness of pain, such as is wont to be a woman in labor, she brought forth her child. Hearing this, the king ordered that she be taken down from the camel on which she was sitting, and that from the spoils a bed be prepared on the ground, suitable for the time; and food was given, and two skins of water; a handmaid also was given to her, according to what she desired, and two camels designated, from whose milk she might be nourished; and wrapping her in his own mantle, with which he was clothed, he sent her away, and set out with his army. On that same day or the next, that great satrap of the Arabs, with a large retinue of his men, following the footsteps of our army after the custom of his nation, very sorrowful and sad because he had lost his wife, a noble matron and about to give birth shortly, counting all the rest almost as nothing, by chance came upon his wife lying thus; and seeing and amazed at the humanity with which the lord king had abounded toward her, he began to extol to the stars the name of the Latins, and especially the clemency of the lord king; and thereafter to be faithful to him as far as he could, as he showed afterwards by clear proof in a crisis of great necessity.

CAPUT XII. Principes occidentales iterum ad iter se accingunt, et cum ingentibus copiis perveniunt Constantinopolim.

CHAPTER 12. The Western princes again gird themselves for the journey, and with enormous forces arrive at Constantinople.

Dum haec in Oriente geruntur, audientes occidentales principes mirabilia magna quae per servos suos, qui peregrinationem ingressi fuerant, operatus est Dominus: quomodo per tot terrarum spatia, per tot varios multiplicesque casus exercitum suum in terram traduxerat promissionis, et quomodo ante faciem eorum subjecerat gentes, regna humiliaverat: laeti de fratrum successu; sed hoc aegre ferentes, quod eorum felicibus actibus digni non fuerunt interesse: apponunt qui relicti fuerant, et ex compromisso apud se firmiter concipiunt expeditionem innovare. Horum maximus erat vir illustris et magnificus Pictaviensium comes Willelmus, idemque Aquitaniae dux: dominus quoque Hugo Magnus Philippi regis Francorum frater, comes Viromadensium, qui primam expeditionem secutus, capta Antiochia, inopia rei familiaris tractus, in patriam redierat: dominus quoque Stephanus Carnotensium et Blesensium comes, vir prudens et magni consilii, qui, capta Antiochia, futurum praelium reformidans, cum probro et ignominia consortes deseruit, et turpi fuga perpetuam infamiam emit: hic priorem quaerens defectum redimere et abolere meritam prius infamiam, ad iter se praeparat, honestum sibi asciscens comitatum. Dominus quoque Stephanus Burgundiae comes, vir inclytus et multa nobilitate insignis, ad idem iter accingitur; et multi alii nobiles, qui suis regionibus, vita, genere et armis praeclari, eodem accensi desiderio, ad proficiscendum se praeparant, exspectantes ut, die constituta, majores principes iter arripiant seque eorum associent legionibus.

While these things are being transacted in the Orient, the occidental princes, hearing the great marvels which the Lord wrought through His servants who had entered upon the peregrination: how through so many spaces of lands, through so many various and manifold chances He had led across His army into the land of promise, and how before their face He had subjected nations, had humbled kingdoms: glad of the brothers’ success; but taking it ill that they had not been worthy to take part in their felicitous acts: those who had been left behind set themselves to it, and, from a compact among themselves, firmly conceive to innovate the expedition. The greatest of these was the illustrious and magnificent man William, Count of Poitiers, and likewise Duke of Aquitaine; also lord Hugh the Great, brother of Philip, king of the Franks, Count of Vermandois, who, having followed the first expedition, Antioch having been taken, drawn by want of household resources, had returned to his fatherland; also lord Stephen, Count of Chartres and of Blois, a prudent man and of great counsel, who, Antioch having been taken, dreading the battle to come, with reproach and ignominy deserted his companions, and by shameful flight purchased perpetual infamy: he, seeking to redeem the prior defect and to abolish the infamy previously deserved, prepares himself for the journey, enrolling to himself an honorable company. Also lord Stephen, Count of Burgundy, a renowned man and marked by much nobility, girds himself for the same journey; and many other nobles, who in their own regions, by life, by lineage, and by arms are illustrious, kindled by the same desire, prepare themselves to set out, expecting that, on the constituted day, the greater princes will seize the road and that they may associate themselves with their legions.

Factum est autem ut die praefixa, tempore opportuno, ordinatis ad iter necessariis, consortibus accitis, iter arripuerint, primaeque expeditionis vestigia, etsi non devotionem secuti, Constantinopolim pervenerunt, ubi a domino imperatore Alexio satis honorifice suscepti, dominum comitem Tolosanum, qui in prima expeditione tantus princeps, tamque commendabilis exstiterat, repererunt. Hic, ut praediximus, uxore et familia ex plura parte apud Laodiciam relicta, ad dominum imperatorem redierat, opem imploraturus, quatenus in Syriam redire, et unam vel plures ex urbibus ejus sibi vindicare posset. Proposuerat enim incoepta semel peregrinatione perseverare perpetuo, et nunquam ad propria redire.

Now it came to pass that, on the preappointed day, at an opportune time, the necessaries for the journey having been set in order and companions summoned, they took up the march, and, following the footsteps—if not the devotion—of the first expedition, they arrived at Constantinople, where, having been received quite honorably by the lord Emperor Alexius, they found the lord Count of Toulouse, who in the first expedition had shown himself so great a prince and so commendable. He, as we have said above, having left his wife and the greater part of his household at Laodicea, had returned to the lord emperor to implore aid, to the end that he might be able to go back into Syria and claim for himself one or more of its cities. For he had purposed to persevere perpetually in the pilgrimage once begun, and never to return to his own.

Hunc ergo tanquam virum industrium et prudentem gaudentes se reperisse, sumpta a domino imperatore licentia, donis ab eo cumulati uberioribus, dominum comitem quasi pro duce habentes, transito Hellesponto, cum suis legionibus apud Nicaeam Bithiniae, prioris exercitus vestigia legentes, pervenerunt.

Therefore, rejoicing that they had found him as an industrious and prudent man, having taken leave from the lord emperor, and heaped by him with more abundant gifts, holding the lord count, as it were, for their leader, with the Hellespont crossed, they, with their legions, arrived at Nicaea of Bithynia, tracing the footsteps of the former army.

CAPUT XIII. Imperator Alexius nomine, more solito, eis per Turcos molitur insidias; prosternuntur ex parte plurima peregrini; et qui residui sunt, Hierosolymam pervenerunt, comitem Tolosanum secuti.

CHAPTER 13. The Emperor Alexius by name, in the usual manner, contrives ambushes for them through the Turks; the pilgrims are prostrated for the most part; and those who are left reached Jerusalem, having followed the Count of Toulouse.

At vero idem imperator, vetusto Graecorum more, nostrorum successibus invidens, quamvis eos, ut praediximus, apud se satis benigne habuisset; occulte tamen per internuntios frequentes, in eorum perniciem hostes sollicitabat; et de eorum adventu crebris epistolis et nuntiorum discursibus reddebat instructiores, eos praemonens ne tantum populum suo periculo libere transire patiantur. Vicem scorpionis agens, cui cum non sit in facie quod formides, prudenter feceris, si caudae posterioris declinare poteris maleficium. Per eum igitur et suos nostrorum adventu praecognito, ex universo orientali tractu vires convocant et tam precibus quam pretio militaria colligunt auxilia, eorum iter praepedire volentes, quos transeundi propositum habere cognoverant. Nostri autem sive ex industria, sive casu, divisi sunt ab invicem; et variis coeperunt partibus incedere, facti quasi ex industria arena sine calce; nullum inter se habentes vinculum charitatis; et illam quam prior exercitus observaverat disciplinam, omnino contemnentes.

But in truth the same emperor, after the old Greek manner, envying the successes of our men, although, as we have said above, he had held them with him quite benignly; yet secretly, through frequent go-betweens, was soliciting the enemies to their perdition; and about their coming, by repeated epistles and the runnings of messengers, he rendered them better instructed, forewarning them not to allow so great a people to pass freely at their own peril. Playing the part of the scorpion, who, since there is nothing in his face that you should fear, you will have acted prudently if you can decline the malefice of the posterior tail. Through him therefore and his own, our arrival being foreknown, they summon forces from the whole oriental tract, and gather military auxiliaries as much by prayers as by price, wishing to hinder their march, whom they had learned to have the purpose of crossing. Our men, however, whether by design or by chance, were divided from one another; and began to advance in various parts, made, as if by design, sand without lime; having no bond of charity among themselves; and utterly contemning that discipline which the earlier army had observed.

Suscitatus est eis ergo, exigentibus meritis, potens adversarius, et dati sunt in manus hostium, ita quod ex eis una die in ore gladii promiscui sexus ceciderunt plus quam quinquaginta millia. Quibus autem concessum est divinitus hostium manus effugere, hi nudi vacuique, amissis sarcinis, et omnimoda supellectile perdita, salutem quocunque modo invenerunt; tandemque casu magis quam industria, in Ciliciam pervenientes, apud Tarsum ejusdem provinciae metropolim, dominum Hugonem Magnum, fatali sublatum necesitate amiserunt: quo in ecclesia doctoris gentium, qui ex eadem fuit oriundus civitate, magnifice sepulto, refocillati per dies aliquot, resumpto itinere, Antiochiam pervenerunt. Quibus dominus Tancredus, praedictae civitatis principatum administrans, omnem more suo humanitatis gratiam exhibuit; maxime autem domino Pictaviensium comiti; quia et caeteris nobilior, et longe potentior, et amplius caeteris in praedicta infausta expeditione damnificatus fuerat, amissis penitus universis.

Accordingly, a powerful adversary was raised up against them, their merits demanding it, and they were given into the hands of the enemies, such that of them, in one day, by the edge of the sword, of mixed sex, more than fifty thousand fell. But to those to whom it was granted by divinity to escape the hands of the enemies, these, naked and empty, their packs lost, and with every kind of equipment gone, found safety in whatever way they could; and at length, by chance rather than by industry, coming into Cilicia, at Tarsus, the metropolis of the same province, they lost Lord Hugh the Great, taken away by fatal necessity: he having been magnificently buried in the church of the Doctor of the Nations, who was from that same city, and, refreshed for some days, with the journey resumed, they came to Antioch. To them Lord Tancred, administering the principate of the aforesaid city, showed every grace of humanity after his manner; especially, however, to the Lord Count of the Poitevins; because he was both more noble than the rest, and far more powerful, and had been more than the others damaged in the aforesaid ill-fated expedition, having utterly lost everything.

Tandem videndi loca sacra tracti desiderio, quibus equi defecerant, navigio, quibus autem adhuc supererant, terrestri itinere Hierosolymam festinantes, apud Antaradon urbem maritimam, quae vulgari appellatione Tortosa dicitur, convenerunt. Ubi de consilio domini Raymundi comitis Tolosani, civitatem impugnantes, quoniam eis expugnabilis videbatur, auctore Domino, infra paucos dies violenter occupaverunt, civibus ejus aut peremptis gladio, aut perpetuae mancipatis servituti. Urbem igitur domino comiti resignantes spoliisque jure belli invicem divisis, coepto insistunt operi: praedicto comite ad tuendam praedictam urbem, invitis caeteris, et eum secum trahere nitentibus, remanente.

At length, drawn by the desire of seeing the holy places, those whose horses had failed made haste by ship, but those to whom they still remained, by a land journey, to Jerusalem; and they came together at Antaradus, a maritime city which in vulgar appellation is called Tortosa. There, by the counsel of lord Raymond, count of Toulouse, assailing the city, since it seemed to them expugnable, with the Lord as author, within a few days they seized it by force, its citizens either slain by the sword or consigned to perpetual servitude. Therefore, resigning the city to the lord count, and the spoils by the right of war mutually divided, they persist in the work begun: the aforesaid count remaining to guard the aforesaid city, the others being unwilling and striving to draw him along with them.

CAPUT XIV Rex Antiopatridam obsidet, et obsessam occupat violenter.

CHAPTER 14 The King besieges Antipatris, and, once besieged, violently occupies it.

Interea dum praedictus exercitus, ut praediximus, circa partes Romaniae infeliciter laboraret, dominus rex Hierosolymorum, nolens otio torpescere, sed regni fines ampliare sollicitus, omnem dabat operam quomodo regni augustias posset dilatare. Applicuerat porro circa veris initium, in portu Joppensi, classis Januensium, qui a domino rege et ejusdem urbis civibus cum multa suscepti sunt honorificentia. Et quoniam in proximo erat paschalis solemnitas, subductis ad terram navibus, Hierosolymam ad diem festum ascenderunt.

Meanwhile, while the aforesaid army, as we have said, was laboring unhappily about the regions of Romania, the lord king of Jerusalem, not willing to grow torpid in leisure, but anxious to enlarge the borders of the kingdom, was giving every effort how he might be able to dilate the straits of the kingdom. Moreover, around the beginning of spring, in the port of Joppa, a fleet of the Genoese had put in, who were received with much honor by the lord king and by the citizens of that same city. And since the Paschal solemnity was at hand, the ships having been hauled up onto land, they went up to Jerusalem for the feast day.

Completa igitur, de more, celebritate paschali, rex per viros prudentes et exhortationis habentes gratiam, classis praedictae consules, simul et majores natu, et turmarum capita, convenire facit, interrogans: Utrum redeundi haberent propositum; aut servitio divino ad incrementum regni per tempus aliquod, honesto deputato salario, se velint mancipare. Qui communicato cum suis consilio, responderunt: Quod si honestis conditionibus in regno possent moram facere, propositum eis erat, et fuerat ab initio, in Dei servitio ad incrementum regni fideliter per tempus aliquod desudare. Pactis ergo hinc inde ad congruam consonantiam redactis, statutum inter eos, et juramentis interpositis confirmatum, quod quandiu cum praedicta classe in regno vellent moram facere, si quampiam de urbibus hostium, vel oppidis per eorum auxilium violenter capi contingeret, tertiam partem manubiarum et pecuniae ab hostibus ablatae, sine omni molestia haberent suorum consortibus dividendam, reliquis duabus domino regi conservatis. Insuper et in qualibet civitatum, quae eodem tenore vindicarentur ab hostibus, vicum unum, qui proprius esset civium Januensium, ex compacto reciperent. Hac igitur spe erectus dominus rex, et de coelesti praesumens auxilio, congregatis de civitatibus, quas habebat, tam equitum quam peditum militaribus copiis, Arsur oppidum maritimum mari et terra obsidione vallat. Est autem hic locus, qui alio nomine Antipatrida appellatur, ab Herodis genitore Antipatro sic appellatus, locus uber, silvarum et pascuorum multas habens commoditates.

The paschal solemnity therefore completed, according to custom, the king, through prudent men and those having the grace of exhortation, causes the consuls of the aforesaid fleet, together with the elders, and the captains of the troops, to convene, asking: Whether they had a plan of returning; or whether they would wish to devote themselves to the divine service for the increase of the kingdom for some time, with an honorable salary assigned. They, having taken counsel with their own, responded: That if under honorable conditions they could make a stay in the kingdom, it was their plan, and had been from the beginning, to toil faithfully for some time in the service of God for the increase of the kingdom. The terms on either side having therefore been reduced to fitting consonance, it was established among them, and confirmed with oaths interposed, that as long as they should wish to make a stay in the kingdom with the aforesaid fleet, if it should befall that any of the enemies’ cities or towns were taken by force through their aid, they should have a third part of the spoils (manubiae) and of the money taken from the enemies, without any molestation, to be divided among their comrades, the remaining two parts being reserved to the lord king. Moreover, in each of the cities which should be reclaimed from the enemies on the same tenor, they should receive, by compact, one quarter (vicus) which should be proper to the citizens of Genoa. Thus uplifted by this hope, and presuming upon heavenly aid, the lord king, having gathered from the cities which he held military forces of both horse and foot, girds the maritime town Arsur with a siege by sea and by land. Now this place, which by another name is called Antipatrida, so named from Antipater, the father of Herod, is a fertile place, having many conveniences of woods and pastures.

Hunc locum anno praeterito dux Godefridus bonae memoriae, obsidione clauserat; sed videns quod non proficeret, non enim navigiis abundabat, ut marinum obsessis posset accessum impedire, infecto reversus est nogotio. Cum igitur praesidium, locatis in gyrum agminibus, circumdedissent, castellum praecipit ex magnis trabibus fabricari: quo composito et artificum sollicitudine moenibus applicato, prae ascendentium multitudine, cum minus quam expediret in se haberet soliditatis, ad terram confractum decidit. Quo casu de nostris quasi centum graviter laesi sunt; quidam etiam capti ab hostibus, quos in nostrorum praesentia affixerunt patibulis: qua indignatione noster vehementer est motus exercitus; et instantes animosius, hostes infra urbem cohibent, tanta captos formidine, ut jam de sui defensione nec etiam cogitare viderentur.

This place, in the previous year, Duke Godfrey of good memory had enclosed with a siege; but seeing that he was not making progress—for he did not abound in vessels so as to be able to impede the maritime access for the besieged—he returned with the business unfinished. When therefore they had surrounded the garrison, with the battle-lines placed round about, he orders a tower to be fabricated out of great beams; which, once assembled and, by the diligence of the artificers, applied to the ramparts, because of the multitude of those ascending—since it had in itself less solidity than was expedient—fell to the ground, shattered. By this mishap nearly a hundred of our men were grievously injured; some also were taken by the enemies, whom they fastened to gibbets in the presence of our people: at which indignation our army was vehemently moved; and, pressing more boldly, they confine the foes within the city, seized by such fear that they now seemed not even to think about their own defense.

Nostri vero applicatis ad murum scalis, jam turres et moenia videbantur occupasse, cum ecce oppidani de vita desperantes, per intercessores apud dominum regem obtinent ut, resignato municipio, ipsi cum liberis et uxoribus, mobilia sua deserentes, liberum et tranquillum habeant exitum et usque Ascalonam securum ducatum. Captum ergo praesidium relictis ibi custodibus, qui locum provide tuerentur, Caesaream confestim adiit, eam sine dilatione obsessurus.

Our men, indeed, with ladders applied to the wall, already seemed to have occupied the towers and the ramparts, when behold, the townsmen, despairing of life, through intercessors obtain from the lord king that, the municipality having been resigned, they themselves, with children and wives, abandoning their movables, might have a free and tranquil exit and a safe conduct as far as Ascalon. Therefore, the stronghold having been taken, with guards left there who might providently defend the place, he made straightway for Caesarea, about to besiege it without delay.

CAPUT XV. Idem rex Caesaream obsidet, urbem maritimam, et obsessam impugnat.

CHAPTER 15. The same king besieges Caesarea, a maritime city, and assaults the city under siege.

Est autem Caesarea urbs in maritimis constituta, cujus priscum nomen est Turris Stratonis. Hanc, ut veteres habent historiae, Herodes senior ampliavit, et nobilibus aedificiis insignitam, in honorem Caesaris Augusti, Caesaream appellavit, secundae Palaestinae, Romani principis auctoritate, metropolim constituens. Est autem locus, aquarum fluentium et hortorum irriguorum habens plurimam commoditatem; portu carens, quamvis de eodem Herode legatur quod, multis sumptibus et cura diligentiore, inutiliter tamen elaboraverit, ut tutam ibi aliquam navibus praeberet stationem.

Now Caesarea is a city situated on the sea-coasts, whose ancient name is the Tower of Strato. This, as the old histories have it, Herod the elder enlarged, and, marked with noble edifices, in honor of Caesar Augustus he called Caesarea, establishing it, by the authority of the Roman princeps, as the metropolis of Second Palestine. Moreover, it is a place having very abundant convenience of flowing waters and irrigated gardens; lacking a harbor, although it is read of that same Herod that, with many expenditures and more diligent care, he nevertheless labored to no purpose to provide there some safe station for ships.

Ad quam eum pervenisset rex cum suo exercitu, classe cum per mare aequis passibus prosequente, obsidionem locant in circuitu et machinis jaculatoriis congruis stationibus dispositis, urbem impugnant animosius, et crebris congressionibus circa portas civitatis civibus irrogant formidinem; magnorumque molarium immissionibus turres et moenia debilitant, et domicilia interius confringentes, obsessis requiem negant. Paratur interea mirae altitudinis machina, turribus multo sublimior, unde nostris esset facultas amplior urbem impugnandi liberius. Cum ergo quasi diebus quindecim tam cives quam noster exercitus in eo perseverassent negotio, ut hi totis viribus inferre, illi non dissimili studio propulsare conarentur molestias et in conflictibus assiduis animosius decertarent, intelligentes nostri, cives molles otio et longa quiete delicatos, armorum usum non habentes, tantis impares laboribus, singulis diebus agere remissius et bellorum ponderibus fatigari; moram invicem arguunt, et se mutuo cohortantes, non exspectant ut erigatur quae fiebat machina, sed facto unanimiter impetu, solito acerbius instant; et civibus infra moenia violenter illatis, tantum ingerunt terrorem, ut de vita diffidentes, nec muros ad tuitionem communirent, nec defensioni ullam darent operam.

To which, when the king had come with his army, the fleet accompanying over the sea with equal steps, they place a siege around, and, ballistic engines set at suitable stations, they assail the city more spiritedly, and by frequent engagements around the city gates they inflict fear upon the citizens; and by discharges of great millstones they weaken the towers and walls, and, breaking the dwellings within, they deny the besieged any respite. Meanwhile a machine of wondrous height is prepared, much loftier than the towers, whence our men would have a fuller faculty of impugning the city more freely. When therefore for about fifteen days both the citizens and our army had persisted in that business—these trying with all their strength to bring on attacks, those with no dissimilar zeal to repel the molestations, and in assiduous conflicts contending more boldly—our men, perceiving that the citizens, soft with leisure and pampered by long quiet, having no practice of arms, unequal to such labors, were each day acting more remissly and were wearied by the weights of wars, accuse delay among themselves; and, encouraging one another, they do not wait for the machine in making to be raised, but, a charge made unanimously, press on more sharply than usual; and the citizens, violently driven within the walls, they so pour in terror that, despairing of life, they neither fortified the walls for protection nor gave any effort to defense.

Quod intelligentes nostri, scalas ad muros applicant, et subito certatim ascendentes, turres occupant et moenia; quorumdam quoque studio reseratis aditibus, rex cum suis ingreditur, civitate violenter effracta. Hi jam passim discurrentes armati, et quae sibi cives tuta putabant praesidia, domos effringentes, patribus familias occisis, vasa, domus et quaelibet ejus desiderabilia rapientes, caesa familia, atria possidebant. Nam de his qui per vicos et plateas civitatis casu nostris obviam se dabant, superfluum est disserere: cum hi etiam, qui diverticula studiose quaerebant et latebras, stragem declinare non poterant.

Understanding this, our men apply ladders to the walls, and suddenly, vying with one another as they ascend, they occupy the towers and the ramparts; and with the entrances also unbarred by the zeal of certain men, the king with his own enters, the city having been violently broken open. These now, armed, running everywhere, and breaking open the houses which the citizens supposed to be safe refuges for themselves, the fathers of families slain, seizing vessels, houses, and whatever desirable things of it, with the household cut down, were possessing the atria. For as to those who, through the alleys and the plazas of the city, by chance presented themselves to meet our men, it is superfluous to discourse; since even those who were diligently seeking byways and hiding-places could not avoid the slaughter.

Multi autem ipsi sibi, quibus fortasse alias indultum esset, mortis causas asciverunt, qui aureos et lapides pretiosos deglutientes, in suum exitium talium cupidos provocabant eatenus, ut, sectis eis per medium, intus in visceribus deposita rimarentur.

Many, however, summoned to themselves the causes of death—they to whom perhaps otherwise indulgence would have been granted—who, swallowing gold coins and precious stones, were provoking, to their own ruin, those greedy for such things, to such an extent that, with them cut through the middle, they might search within the entrails for the things deposited inside.

CAPUT XVI. In oratorio civitatis, civium multitudo perimitur infinita, et urbi captae assignatur archiepiscopus.

CHAPTER 16. In the oratory of the city, a countless multitude of citizens is slain, and an archbishop is assigned to the captured city.

Erat autem in parte civitatis, in loco edito, ubi olim ab Herode ad honorem Augusti Caesaris, miro opere dicitur fabricatum templum, publicum civitatis oratorium: illuc universus pene civitatis populus, quoniam orationis locus erat, spe consequendae salutis confugerat: quo effracto, tanta eorum qui intro se contulerant, facta est strages, ut occidentium de cruore occisorum bases tingerentur, et horror esset, funerum multitudinem intueri. In hoc eodem oratorio, repertum est vas coloris viridissimi, in modum parapsidis formatum, quod praedicti Januenses smaragdinum reputantes, pro multa summa pecuniae in sortem recipientes, ecclesiae suae pro excellenti obtulerunt ornatu. Unde et usque hodie transeuntibus per eos magnatibus, vas idem quasi pro miraculo solent ostendere, persuadentes quod vere sit, id quod color esse indicat, smaragdus.

There was moreover in a part of the city, in an elevated place—where once by Herod, in honor of Augustus Caesar, a temple is said to have been constructed with wondrous workmanship—the city’s public oratory: thither nearly the whole people of the city, because it was a place of prayer, had fled in the hope of obtaining safety: which, when it was broken open, so great a slaughter was made of those who had betaken themselves inside, that the bases were dyed with the gore of the slain by the killers, and it was a horror to behold the multitude of corpses. In this same oratory there was found a vessel of a very green color, shaped in the manner of a parapsis, a serving-dish, which the aforesaid Genoese, reckoning smaragdine, receiving it into their possession for a great sum of money, offered to their church as an excellent ornament. Whence even to this day, to magnates passing through their territory, they are accustomed to display the same vessel as if as a miracle, persuading that it truly is—what the color indicates it to be—an emerald.

Occisis autem per loca varia omnibus pene civibus adultis, virgunculis vix parcitur et pueris impuberibus. Hic dabatur vere ad litteram intueri quod scriptum est in Propheta: Tradidit Dominus in captivitatem virtutem eorum, et fortitudinem eorum in manus inimici (Psal. LXXVII, 67). Igitur, cessante gladio et strage populi consummata, comportatis in unum spoliis et supellectile universa juxta tenorem pactorum tertia pars designatur Januensibus, reliquis duabus domino regi et suis in sortem cedentibus.

But with almost all the adult citizens slain in various places, little maidens are scarcely spared, and beardless boys. Here it was granted, truly to the letter, to behold what is written in the Prophet: The Lord delivered their valor into captivity, and their fortitude into the hands of the enemy (Psal. 77, 67). Therefore, the sword ceasing and the slaughter of the people completed, the spoils and all the furnishings having been brought together into one, a third part is designated to the Genoese according to the tenor of the pacts, the remaining two falling by lot to the lord king and his own.

Hic primum noster populus, qui attritis in expeditione reculis, pauper et inops ingressus fuerat, et eadem tenuitate usque ad illum laboraverat diem, onerati spoliis et ditati pecunia coeperunt fieri locupletiores, pinguiore sibi supellectile constituta. Adducti sunt autem coram domino rege, sedente pro tribunali, procurator civitatis, qui lingua eorum dicitur emir; et juridicus, qui juridicendo praeerat, qui etiam lingua eorum cadius appellatur. His duobus, spe futurae redemptionis, studiose indulta est vita; compedibus tamen mancipati, traditi sunt custodibus deputatis.

Here first our people, who, their supplies worn down in the expedition, had entered poor and needy, and with the same meagerness had labored up to that day, laden with spoils and enriched with money began to become more well-to-do, a fatter household-furnishing being established for themselves. Moreover, were led before the lord king, sitting at the tribunal, the procurator of the city, who in their tongue is called an emir; and the juridical officer, who presided in judging, who also in their tongue is called a cadius. To these two, in the hope of future redemption, life was diligently granted; yet, consigned to fetters, they were handed over to deputed guards.

Porro non habens rex moram ibi faciendi diuturniorem ferias liberas, revocantibus eum negotiis, electo ibi archiepiscopo quodam Balduino, qui cum domino duce Godefrido in expeditione venerat, relictis ad custodiam civitatis de exercitu nonnullis, ipse cum caeteris Ramulam festinat.

Moreover, the king, not having leisure to make a more prolonged free respite there, with affairs recalling him, after a certain Baldwin was chosen there as archbishop (who had come on the expedition with lord Duke Godfrey), leaving some from the army for the guard of the city, he himself with the others hastens to Ramla.

CAPUT XVII. Rex, Ramulam veniens, hostium qui advenire dicebatur exspectat exercitum; et cum eis pugnans, obtinet victoriam.

CHAPTER 17. The king, coming to Ramla, awaits the army of the enemy that was said to be arriving; and fighting with them, obtains victory.

Est autem Ramula civitas in campestribus sita, juxta Liddam, quae est Diospolis, hujus antiquum nomen non reperi; sed neque ipsam priscis fuisse temporibus, frequens habet opinio; quam post tempora seductoris Mahumeth, ejus successores Arabum principes, veteres tradunt historiae, fundasse. Erat autem quando Christianorum exercitus in partes Syriae primitus appulit, civitas celebris, quae multo populorum frequentabatur accessu, turribus et muro circumdata valido. Verum, postquam nostrorum partibus illis se infuderunt legiones, quia nec antemurali cingebatur, aut vallo, urbe relicta, Ascalonam fugerunt omnes, propter ampliorem illius urbis munitionem, ejus habitatores.

Now Ramla is a city situated in the plains, near Lydda, which is Diospolis; I have not found its ancient name; but there is also a prevalent opinion that it itself did not exist in former times; which, after the times of the deceiver Mahomet, his successors, princes of the Arabs, the old histories relate, founded. Now when the army of the Christians first made landfall into the parts of Syria, it was a renowned city, which was much frequented by the access of peoples, surrounded with towers and a strong wall. But after our legions poured themselves into those parts, because it was girded neither with an antemural nor with a rampart, its inhabitants, leaving the city, all fled to Ascalon, on account of the greater fortification of that city.

Nostri vero, urbe, ut praediximus, reperta vacua, in quadam parte ejus castrum muris et vallo communierunt, difficile arbitrantes tantum murorum ambitum cum paucis habitatoribus occupare. Rumor itaque insonuerat, non multum a vero discrepans, quod Aegyptius calypha, quemdam militiae suae principem, cum ingenti multitudine, ad partes direxerat Ascalonitanas: more suo praecipiens ut, absque dilatione proficiscens, populum illum inopem et mendicum, qui fines ejus ingredi praesumpserat et quietem ejus turbare non verebatur, aut gladiis deleret funditus, aut vinctum ad se perduceret in Aegyptum. Dicebantur autem esse qui advenerant, praedictum principem secuti, undecim equitum millia; peditum vero in viginti millibus dicebatur summa consistere.

But our men, the city, as we have said, found empty, in a certain part of it fortified a camp with walls and rampart, thinking it difficult to occupy so great a circuit of walls with few inhabitants. A rumor therefore had resounded, not differing much from the truth, that the Egyptian caliph had directed a certain prince of his militia, with an immense multitude, to the Ascalonian parts: in his manner instructing that, setting out without delay, he should either utterly blot out by swords that needy and beggarly people who had presumed to enter his borders and did not fear to disturb his quiet, or should lead them bound to him into Egypt. Now those who had arrived, following the aforesaid prince, were said to be 11 thousand horsemen; but the total of the foot-soldiers was said to consist of 20 thousand.

Haec dominum regem fama a Caesarea maturare compulerat, timentem ne de multitudine sua praesumentes, periculosas in regnum irruptiones molirentur: quo perveniens, quasi per mensem exspectans, videns quod non procederent, Joppen reversus est. Tandem mense tertio Aegyptiorum legiones, de quibus praemisimus, timentes domini sui praeterire mandatum, et super eo quod distulerant, indignationem metuentes et offensam, de necessitate facientes virtutem, animos erigunt, reparant vires; et, ordinatis agminibus, fines nostros ingredi et nobiscum pugnare contendunt. Quod ubi domino regi nuntiatum est, collectis regni modicis copiis, quia majores possessionum angustiae ministrare non poterant, exercitum circa Liddam et Ramulam colligit quantum potest.

This report had compelled the lord king to hasten from Caesarea, fearing lest, presuming on their multitude, they might contrive dangerous irruptions into the kingdom; arriving there, waiting for about a month, seeing that they did not advance, he returned to Joppa. At length, in the third month, the legions of the Egyptians, of which we have spoken above, fearing to overstep their lord’s mandate, and dreading indignation and offense on account of their delay, making a virtue out of necessity, lift their spirits, repair their strengths; and, their battle-lines ordered, they strive to enter our borders and to fight with us. When this was reported to the lord king, the modest forces of the kingdom having been gathered—since the narrowness of our possessions could not minister larger ones—he musters the army around Lydda and Ramla as much as he can.

Erat autem ei equitum numerus ducenti sexaginta, pedites vero nongenti. Ubi autem constitit quod hostes accederent, rex illis procedens obviam, acies sex numero praecepit ordinari: quibus ordine dispositis, praevio ligno crucis Dominicae, quod quidam abbas religiosus cum multo Dei timore gestabat in manibus, hostium acies contuentur: quibus intuitis, invocato de supernis auxilio, erectis in coelum luminibus, eorum multitudinem non verentes, hostibus animose se ingerunt, gladiis instantes viriliter, scientes quia res pro capite ageretur. Hostes nihilominus e diverso, uxoribus et liberis, possessionibus et praediis, quas in Aegypto dimiserant, nisi victores redeant metuentes, resistunt totis viribus, et pro modo suo laborant injurias propulsare.

He had a number of horsemen two hundred and sixty, but foot-soldiers nine hundred. But when it was established that the enemies were approaching, the king, going forward to meet them, ordered the battle-lines to be arrayed, six in number: and with these set in order, the wood of the Lord’s Cross going before, which a certain religious abbot, with much fear of God, was bearing in his hands, they behold the battle-lines of the foe; and when these were gazed upon, with aid from on high invoked, their eyes raised to heaven, not fearing their multitude, they courageously throw themselves upon the enemy, pressing with swords manfully, knowing that the issue was for the head. The enemies nonetheless, on the other side, fearing for their wives and children, possessions and estates which they had left in Egypt unless they return as victors, resist with all their strength, and labor, according to their ability, to repulse the injuries.

Factum est autem, ut primae hostium acies in unam ex nostris irruentes et ingenti multitudine illam dissolventes, adegerunt in fugam; quam insectantes et perurgentes atrocius, pene usque ad supremum interitum deleverunt. At vero reliquae nostrae acies hostibus resistentes et instantes atrocius stragem mirabilem et inauditam exercebant, domino rege, prout decebat tantum principem, nunc hos, nunc illos verbo et exemplo animante; et cum acie, cui praeerat, oppressis et deficientibus ministrante vires et animositatem suggerente. Accidit autem ut, post diu ancipitem belli eventum, nostris divinitus concessa victoria, hostes in fugam versi sunt, eorum principe destituti, qui in agone decertans viriliter, gladiis confossus interierat.

Now it came to pass that the foremost battle-lines of the enemy, rushing upon one of ours and dissolving it by their vast multitude, drove it into flight; and chasing it and pressing it more savagely, they nearly annihilated it unto final extinction. But the rest of our battle-lines, resisting the enemy and assailing them more fiercely, were working a wondrous and unheard-of carnage, while the lord king, as befitted so great a prince, now these, now those, was animating by word and by example; and, with the battle-line which he commanded, to those being crushed and failing he was supplying strength and suggesting spirited courage. And it happened that, after a long doubtful issue of the war, with victory divinely granted to our side, the enemies were turned to flight, bereft of their prince, who, contending manfully in the contest, had perished, run through with swords.

Videns ergo dominus rex hostium agmina dissoluta, cohortes partim gladio cecidisse, partim irrevocabiliter inisse fugam, praecipit sub mortis periculo, ut occupandis spoliis nemo prorsus audeat inhiare; sed hostes insectando non parcant gladiis, sed omnes interimant, quousque vel unus possit inveniri. Ipse quoque primus hostes insecutus, tam equitum quam agilium peditum turmas trahens secum, usque Ascalonam, quasi per milliaria octo, hostes caedere, et stragem operari multam, non destitit, quousque nocte irruente, consortibus cornu admonitis, in campum rediit certaminis: ubi tanquam victor, nocte illa quievit, spoliis juxta militarem disciplinam inter suos divisis. Dicuntur de hostibus caesa ibi quasi quinque millia; de nostris vero recensito numero, inventi sunt abesse equites septuaginta; de peditibus vero multo plures, quorum tamen certus non habetur numerus.

Therefore, seeing the enemy’s battle-lines dissolved, the cohorts partly fallen by the sword, partly having entered upon flight irrevocably, the lord king orders, on pain of death, that no one at all dare to hanker after seizing the spoils; but, by chasing the enemies, let them not spare their swords, but slay them all, so long as even a single one can be found. He himself too, first in pursuit of the enemies, drawing along with him troops both of horsemen and of agile, light-armed foot-soldiers, did not cease to cut down the foes and to work much slaughter, as far as Ascalon, for something like 8 miles, until, with night rushing on, his comrades having been admonished by the horn, he returned to the field of the combat: where, as a victor, he rested that night, the spoils divided among his own according to military discipline. It is said that of the enemies about five thousand were cut down there; but of our men, the number having been reviewed, 70 horsemen were found to be absent; of the foot-soldiers indeed many more, of whom, however, no definite number is known.

CAPUT XVIII. Inde Joppem transit, et consternatos ejusdem cives confortat.

CHAPTER 18. Thence he passes over to Joppa, and comforts the citizens of that same city, thrown into consternation.

At vero qui nostram hesterno conflictu fugaverant aciem, usque Joppen fugientes insectati, deficientium arma, loricas, scuta simul et galeas sibi aptantes, ante urbem intrepidi astiterunt, civibus intonantes dominum regem simul et universum Christianum exercitum in praelio corruisse: et hoc eis pro evidenti esse argumento significabant, quod familiarium et domesticorum arma notissima intueri poterant et agnoscere. Quo audito, cives et regina quae in urbe erat, verum esse quod dicebatur arbitrantes, in lamenta se tradiderunt, initoque consilio cum senioribus natu, et qui sensus habebant magis exercitatos, unicum credunt esse remedium, ut missa legatione ad dominum Tancredum Antiochenorum principem, ut regno periclitanti et rectore destituto subvenire festinet, quia universa fidelis populi, post Deum, spes in eo sit constituta. Rex autem nocte illa in campestribus transacta, luce terris restituta, victrices revocans acies, versus Joppen iter dirigit.

But indeed those who in yesterday’s conflict had put our battle-line to flight, pursuing the fugitives as far as Joppa, fitting to themselves the arms of those giving out, cuirasses, shields and helmets together, stood intrepid before the city, thundered to the citizens that their lord the king and likewise the whole Christian army had fallen in the battle; and they signified that this was for them an evident argument, because they could look upon and recognize the most well-known arms of familiars and domestics. On hearing this, the citizens and the queen who was in the city, judging that what was said was true, gave themselves over to lamentations, and, counsel having been taken with the elders by age and with those who had judgments more exercised, they believe there is a single remedy: that, an embassy being sent to lord Tancred, Prince of Antioch, he should hasten to bring succor to a kingdom in peril and deprived of a ruler, because the whole hope of the faithful people, after God, is set in him. The king, however, with that night spent in the plains, with light restored to the lands, recalling the victorious battle-lines, directs his march toward Joppa.

Accidit autem quod dum essent in proficiscendo hi, nostros habuerunt obviam, qui nocte proxime praeterita relatione infausta urbem deterruerant; hi nostros contuentes, arbitrati sunt suorum esse agmina, nam nostrum exercitum hesterna die cecidisse penitus, quasi certum habebant: quo fiducialius accedentes, nostris pene se infuderant agminibus, cum dominus rex suos exhortans, et primus in eos irruens, secum praecipitem equitum traxit numerum. Qui omnes unanimiter pro animabus decertantes, hostibus instant viriliter, et arctius deprehensos, gladiis quominus rem agentes, nusquam permittunt evadere. Interfectis igitur ex eis quampluribus, reliquis etiam prae timore mortis conversis in fugam, laeti et gratias Domino persolventes, onerati spoliis et de rebus hostium facti locupletiores, iter coeptum conficiunt, Joppen versus contendentes.

It befell, moreover, that while these were in the act of setting out, they encountered our men, who on the night just past had by an ill-omened relation terrified the city; these, looking upon our men, supposed the battle-lines to be their own, for they held as though certain that our army had utterly fallen on the previous day: wherefore, approaching the more confidently, they had almost poured themselves into our ranks, when the lord king, exhorting his men, and being first to rush upon them, drew along with himself a headlong number of horsemen. All of these, with one mind contending for their lives, press the enemies manfully, and, having seized them more tightly, setting to with swords, allow them nowhere to escape. Accordingly, with very many of them slain, and the rest also, by fear of death, turned to flight, rejoicing and rendering thanks to the Lord, laden with spoils and made more opulent from the goods of the enemies, they finish the journey begun, hastening toward Joppen.

At vero Joppitae consternati animo, pro his quae audierant, ubi nostra redire respiciunt agmina, quasi de gravi somno expergefacti, fusis prae gaudio lacrymis, portas aperiunt; eis exeunt obviam, significantes quam tristia de ipsis audierant, et in quantum deciderant desperationis profundum. Ingressi igitur in urbem, laetum et celebrem egerunt diem, recensentes adinvicem quantam fecerat cum illis Dominus misericordiam. Ut vero dominus rex cognovit quomodo regina et qui circa eam erant in illo mentis excessu, quem prae timoris angustia passi fuerant, domino Tancredo scripserant, misso celerrime nuntio, eumdem egregium principem pro regni casu sollicitum, et jam accinctum ad iter, de suo mirabili successu litteris certificat.

But indeed the Joppites, dismayed in spirit on account of the things they had heard, when they behold our ranks returning, as if roused from a heavy sleep, with tears poured forth for joy, open the gates; they go out to meet them, signifying how grievous things they had heard about them, and into how deep a depth of desperation they had fallen. Having entered the city, they spent a glad and celebrated day, recounting to one another how great a mercy the Lord had done with them. But when the lord king learned how the queen and those around her, in that excess of mind which they had suffered from the straits of fear, had written to lord Tancred, he, sending a messenger very swiftly, informs by letters that same distinguished prince—solicitous for the peril of the kingdom and already girded for the journey—of his marvelous success.

Qui suscepto nuntio, et de victoria domini regis laetabundus et gaudens, gratias Creatori persolvit immensas.

Who, upon receiving the message, and exultant and rejoicing at the victory of the lord king, rendered immense thanks to the Creator.

CAPUT XIX Principes qui de novo advenerant Tortosam capiunt, et captam comiti tradunt Tolosano; deinde Hierosolymam properant; rex eis usque Berithum obvium egreditur

CHAPTER 19 The princes who had newly arrived capture Tortosa, and, once captured, hand it over to the Count of Toulouse; then they hasten to Jerusalem; the king goes out to meet them as far as Beirut

Interim principes illi, de quibus prius feceramus mentionem, qui in partibus Romaniae miserabili casu tantum amiserant exercitum, ut praediximus, Antiochiam pervenerant; et inde progressi, urbem Tortosam, sicuti praemissum est, ab hostibus expeditam, domino Raymundo comiti Tolosano tradiderant. Quibus Hierosolymam properantibus, ne forte ad fluvium Canis eorum iter praepediretur, rex assumpta secum occurrens militia, transitus angustias praeoccupavit: nec fuit leve quod eorum gratia tentavit; nam, juxta hostium urbes quatuor nobiles et populosas, Ptolomaidam videlicet, Tyrum, Sidonem et Berytum, eum oportuit pertransire, priusquam ad locum perveniret praedictum. Domino igitur rege cum suis transitus difficultatem obtinente, adsunt illustres viri, dominus videlicet Willelmus, comes Pictaviensium, Aquitaniae dux idem; dominus Stephanus, comes Blesensium; dominus Stephanus, comes Burgundiae; dominus Gaufridus, comes Vindocinensium; dominus Hugo, Lisiniacensis domini Raimundi comitis Tolosani frater, et alii nobiles multi, laeti plurimum et gaudentes, tum quia transitum, quem tanquam periculosum nimis diu ante suspectum habuerant, invenerunt expeditum; tum quia dominum regem sibi obviam repererunt.

Meanwhile those princes, of whom we made mention before, who in the parts of Romania, by a wretched chance, had lost so great an army, as we foretold, had reached Antioch; and thence advancing, the city of Tortosa, as was premised, being cleared of the enemy, they had handed over to Lord Raymond, count of Toulouse. As they were hastening to Jerusalem, lest perchance at the River Dog their journey should be impeded, the king, taking forces with him and going to meet them, forestalled the narrow passes of the crossing: nor was what he attempted for their sake a light thing; for, near the enemy, four noble and populous cities—namely Ptolemais, Tyre, Sidon, and Berytus—it was necessary for him to pass before he could reach the aforesaid place. Therefore, the lord king with his men having secured the difficulty of the passage, there arrive illustrious men, namely Lord William, count of the Poitevins, the same duke of Aquitaine; Lord Stephen, count of the Blesians; Lord Stephen, count of Burgundy; Lord Geoffrey, count of the Vindomians; Lord Hugh of Lusignan, brother of Lord Raymond, count of Toulouse; and many other nobles, very glad and rejoicing, both because they found the passage, which they had long before held to be too dangerous, cleared, and because they found the lord king coming to meet them.

Convenientes igitur adinvicem, in mutuos irruunt amplexus, et alternae salutationis affatu depenso, pacis jungunt oscula, vicarlis confabulationibus se recreantes: adeo ut jam et laborum et damnorum viderentur immemores, tanquam sinistrum nihil pertulissent: quibus secum assumptis, et legibus humanitatis, et plena charitate benigne tractatis, rex Hierosolymam perduxit. Et quoniam prope erat paschalis solemnitas, transcursis ibi diebus festis, Joppen quasi in patriam redituri pervenerunt; ubi dominus comes Pictaviensium, qui multa premebatur indigentia, navem similiter ingressus, prospere satis ad suam pervenit regionem. Uterque vero Stephanus navem similiter ingressi, postquam diu et multum fatigati sunt in aequore, contrariis acti flatibus, Joppen redire coacti sunt.

Accordingly, convening with one another, they rush into mutual embraces, and, the utterance of reciprocal salutation having been exchanged, they join kisses of peace, refreshing themselves with mutual confabulations: to such a degree that they already seemed forgetful both of their labors and their losses, as though they had borne nothing adverse; and taking them along with him, and treating them kindly according to the laws of humanity and with full charity, the king led them to Jerusalem. And since the Paschal solemnity was near, after the feast days had been passed through there, they came to Joppa, as if about to return to their fatherland; where the lord the count of the Poitevins, who was pressed by much need, likewise embarking a ship, reached his own region quite prosperously. But the two Stephans, likewise having embarked a ship, after they were long and much wearied on the open sea, driven by contrary blasts, were compelled to return to Joppa.

CAPUT XX. Aegyptii cum infinitis copiis fines ingrediuntur nostros. Rex illis occurrit; incautius pugnat cum eis, et vincitur.

CHAPTER 20. The Egyptians with countless forces enter our borders. The King meets them; he fights more incautiously with them, and is conquered.

Cumque omnes isti pariter moram ibi facerent, Ascalonitae adjunctis sibi ex iis qui de praedicto praelio evaserant Aegyptiis, et ingenti militia congregata, quae ad numerum viginti millium dicebatur accedere, fines nostros circa Liddam, Sauronam et Ramulam ingressi sunt: quod ut domino regi nuntiatum est, praeter morem se habens nimis provide, non convocatis ex finitimis urbibus militaribus copiis, sed de sua virtute praesumens; non exspectatis etiam iis qui secum erant in urbe, properus nimis, imo praeceps, vix secum ducentos habens equites, urbe egressus est. Porro illi nobiles, sumptis equis mutuo ab amicis et cognatis, ignominiosum sibi reputantes si tanta ingruente necessitate ipsi fruerentur otio, nec fratrum laboribus communicarent, egressi sunt pariter, dominum regem sequentes. Rex vero qui alios nimis incaute praecesserat, ubi hostium contemplatus est legiones, admirans multitudinem, facti coepit poenitere, reputans apud se vere dictum:

And while all those men alike were making delay there, the Ascalonites, having joined to themselves some of the Egyptians who had escaped from the aforesaid battle, and a huge soldiery having been gathered, which was said to approach the number of 20,000, entered our borders around Lydda, Saron, and Ramla: which, when it was reported to the lord king, behaving contrary to his custom, over-prudently, not having summoned the military forces from the neighboring cities, but presuming upon his own prowess; not even having waited for those who were with him in the city, too hasty—nay, headlong—having with him scarcely two hundred horsemen, he went out from the city. Moreover, those nobles, having taken horses on loan from friends and kinsmen, considering it ignominious for themselves if, with so great a necessity impending, they themselves should enjoy leisure and not share in their brothers’ labors, went out likewise, following the lord king. But the king, who had too incautiously gone on ahead of the others, when he beheld the legions of the enemy, marveling at the multitude, began to repent of his deed, reckoning with himself the true saying:

. . . . . Male cuncta ministrat
Impetus; STATIUS.

. . . . . Impetus ill-administers all things;
STATIUS.

optaret non venisse se; verum adeo hostium cohortibus se immerserat, ut jam nec pudor, nec mortis periculum reditum suaderent. At vero qui in exercitu nostium erant prudentiores et in re militari majorem habebant experientiam, videntes nostros praeter morem absque peditum manipulis, equitum quoque turmas, praetermisso ordine militari confusas accedere, coeperunt apud se majorem de victoria spem habere; unde facti animosiores, digestis in ordinem aciebus, uno impetu in nostros irruunt, tanto instantes animosius, quanto eos ordinem solitum magis neglexisse conspexerant. Oppressi itaque irruentium vehementius ingenti multitudine, et belli pondus ferre non valentes, caesis pluribus in fugam versi sunt; qui tamen in conflictu ceciderunt, cruentam hostibus de se reliquerunt victoriam; nam usque ad supremum defectum decertantes viriliter, ex hostibus plurimos gladiis cominus obtruncantes, reliquos dissolutis agminibus pene in fugam converterant, cum, ecce resumptis animis, nostrorum paucitatem, suorum vero attendentes multitudinem, exhortantes se adinvicem, iterato se ingerunt vehementius, et nostros, ut praediximus, adegerunt in fugam; qui autem sani evaserunt, in oppidum Ramulam se conferentes, salutem se sperabant invenisse.

he would have wished that he had not come; but he had so immersed himself in the cohorts of the enemy that now neither shame nor the danger of death urged a return. But those who in the army of our foes were more prudent and had greater experience in the military art, seeing our men contrary to custom without the maniples of foot-soldiers, and the squadrons of horsemen too, with the military order neglected, approaching in confusion, began among themselves to have a greater hope of victory; whence, made more high-spirited, their battle lines marshaled in order, with one onset they rush upon our men, pressing the more boldly the more they had observed them to have neglected the accustomed order. Overborne therefore by the very vehemently attacking great multitude, and not able to bear the weight of war, with many slain they were turned to flight; yet those who fell in the conflict left to the enemy a bloody victory over themselves; for, contending manfully even to the final exhaustion, cutting down very many of the enemy at close quarters with swords, they had almost turned the rest to flight, their ranks dissolved, when, behold, with their spirits regained, considering the fewness of our men and, indeed, the multitude of their own, exhorting one another, they again press in more vehemently, and, as we said above, drove our men to flight; but those who escaped unhurt, betaking themselves into the little town of Ramula, hoped that they had found safety.

Ceciderunt in ea acie uterque comes Stephanus, et alii nobiles, quorum numerum vel nomina non tenemus. Congratulandum est, ut nobis videtur, huic viro nobili, et apud suos et sanguinis generositate et operum magnificentia praeclaro, comiti videlicet Carnotensium, domino Stephano. Certum est enim quod juxta magnam misericordiam suam egit cum eo Dominus, cui veterem infamiae notam, quam ab expeditione fugiens Antiochena, miserabiliter contraxerat, optimo fine abolere concessit; nec enim merito ei ad naevum imputabitur de caetero, quod tam fausto fine redemit.

In that battle-line both Count Stephen fell, and other nobles, whose number or names we do not possess. It is to be congratulated, as it seems to us, this noble man—illustrious among his own both by the nobility of his blood and by the magnificence of his works—namely the count of the people of Chartres, Lord Stephen. For it is certain that the Lord, according to His great mercy, dealt with him, granting him to abolish, with the best end, the old mark of infamy which he had miserably contracted by fleeing from the Antiochene expedition; for henceforth it will not deservedly be imputed to him as a blemish, that which he redeemed by so auspicious an end.

Nam qui pro Christi nomine decertantes, in acie fidelium et Christiana militia dicuntur occumbere, non solum infamiae, verum et peccaminum et delictorum omnimodam credimus abolitionem promereri.

For those who, contending for the name of Christ, are said to fall in the battle-line of the faithful and in the Christian militia, we believe they merit not only the removal of infamy, but even the complete abolition of sins and delicts.

CAPUT XXI. Rex, fugiens de praelio, in castrum Ramulense se recipit; cujusdam Arabis beneficio eripitur, aliis ibidem peremptis.

CHAPTER 21. The king, fleeing from the battle, withdraws into the fortress of Ramla; by the aid of a certain Arab he is rescued, the others slain there.

Rex vero, etsi de oppidi munitione non multum praesumeret, tamen ut mortis imminens declinaret dispendium, videns quod circumfusis hostium agminibus alias non dabatur ei evadendi locus, cum aliis intus in municipium se recepit; dumque de vita et salute tota nocte sollicitus, curis gravibus ureretur, ecce intempestae noctis silentio, ab hostium se subtrahens exercitu, adfuit oppido vicinus, solus absque comitatu, praedictus ille nobilis de Arabia princeps, cujus uxori dominus rex, ut praemisimus, modico ante tempore, tantam exhibuerat humanitatem: memor sane collati beneficii et ingratitudinis declinans peccatum, suppressa voce, iis qui in muro erant, locutus est, dicens: Verba habeo ad dominum regem secretiora, quae perfero; facite ut ad eum introducar; expedit enim. Quod postquam domino regi nuntiatum est, verbum admisit, et illum praecepit introduci; qui admissus, regem quis ipse sit, edocet: beneficium quod ab eo in uxore sua receperat, ad memoriam revocans; et ejus se intuitu illi obligatum perpetuo ad refundendam vicem non dissimilem asserens, regem instruit ut de praesidio egrediatur, consilium pandens hostium, quod summo mane castrum debeant obsidione vallare, et omnes intus comprehensos in mortis praecipitare sententiam: juxta quod dominum regem monet ut secum egrediatur, spondens se, auctore Domino, tanquam locorum peritum, eum in tuto sine difficultate repositurum. Tandemque rex egressus cum eo, paucissimis comitatus, ne forte si majores turbas traheret, hostium in se concitaret exercitum, illum sequens ad montana conscendit: ubi praedictus nobilis ab eo digrediens, ad hostium expeditiones reversus est, obsequium suum et promptam tempore opportuno promittens devotionem. At vero hostes victoria potiti, eos qui intra oppidum se contulerant, obsidione vallantes et undique impugnantes hostiliter, violenter comprehenderunt, comprehensosque pro libero tractantes arbitrio, partim neci tradiderunt, partim compedibus alligantes, perpetuae mancipaverunt servituti.

The king, indeed, although he did not presume much upon the fortification of the little town, yet, that he might avert the imminent loss of death, seeing that, with the enemy’s battalions surrounding it, there was otherwise given to him no place of escape, withdrew with others inside into the municipium; and while, anxious about life and safety through the whole night, he was being consumed by heavy cares, behold, in the silence of the dead of night, withdrawing himself from the enemy’s host, there arrived near the town, alone and without a retinue, that aforesaid noble prince of Arabia, to whose wife the lord king, as we have premised, a little before had shown such humanity: mindful, to be sure, of the favor conferred and shunning the sin of ingratitude, in a suppressed voice he spoke to those who were on the wall, saying: I have words of a more secret sort for the lord king, which I bring; see that I be brought in to him; for it is expedient. When this was reported to the lord king, he admitted the message and ordered him to be brought in; and he, admitted, informs the king who he himself is, recalling to memory the benefit which he had received from him in the case of his wife; and declaring that on his account he stood perpetually obliged to repay a not dissimilar return, he instructs the king to go forth from the stronghold, disclosing the counsel of the enemy, that at first light they are to gird the castle with a siege and to hurl all therein enclosed into a sentence of death: whereupon he advises the lord king to go out with him, pledging himself, the Lord being the author, as one skilled in the locales, to place him in safety without difficulty. And at length the king, going out with him and accompanied by very few, lest perchance, if he drew larger crowds, he should rouse the enemy’s army against himself, followed him and mounted to the highlands; where the aforesaid noble, departing from him, returned to the enemy’s expeditions, promising his service and prompt devotion at an opportune time. But the enemies, masters of the victory, surrounding with a siege those who had betaken themselves within the town and attacking them on every side in hostile fashion, violently seized them, and, handling the seized at their free discretion, some they consigned to death, others, binding with shackles, they made over to perpetual servitude.

Tanta quidem nobilium virorum et fortium strages usque ad illum diem in regno non legitur accidisse. Confusum est pene regnum et omnium vires enervatae, cordibus prudentium interius liquefactis, ita ut, nisi mature visitasset eos misericorditer Oriens ex alto (Luc. I), in desperationis decidentes abyssum, regnum parati erant deserere.

So great indeed a slaughter of noble and valiant men is not read to have happened in the kingdom up to that day. The realm was nearly confounded and the strengths of all enervated, the hearts of the prudent inwardly melted, so that, unless the Orient from on high (Luke 1) had mercifully visited them in due time, falling into the abyss of desperation, they were ready to abandon the kingdom.

Erat quippe nostrorum populus exiguus; nec de partibus transmarinis tute poterant in Orientem accedere, timentes hostium urbes maritimas, quae a dextra laevaque erant plurimae. Nam, ut praediximus, a Laodicia Syriae usque ad Aegypti fines novissimos, non nisi duas de urbibus maritimis noster obtinebat populus, Joppen videlicet, et de novo captam Caesaream. Qui autem accedebant, completis orationibus, illico revertebantur, nostrorum videntes debilitatem, et pene defectum, timentes communibus cum eis calamitatibus involvi.

For indeed our people were scant; nor could they from the transmarine parts safely make access into the Orient, fearing the enemies’ maritime cities, which on the right and on the left were very many. For, as we have previously said, from Laodicea of Syria as far as the farthest borders of Egypt, our people held of the maritime cities only two, namely Joppa and Caesarea, newly captured. But those who did come, their prayers completed, straightway returned, seeing the weakness of our own and their almost exhaustion, fearing to be entangled in calamities common with them.

CAPUT XXII. Rex per diverticula fugiens, Arsur, inde Joppem pervenit. Conveniunt de regno universi, ut regi subveniant; pugnatur cum hostibus; nostri victores evadunt.

CHAPTER 22. The king, fleeing by by-ways, reaches Arsur, then Joppa. All from the kingdom assemble, to succor the king; there is fighting with the enemies; our men come forth victors.

Rex ergo ad montes, ut praediximus, fugiens, amissis viae consortibus, velocis equi ereptus beneficio et praedicti nobilis viri ducatu, tota nocte in locis desertis trepidus latuit: mane facto, duobus sociis, quos casus obtulerat, comitatus, viarum secutus dispendia, per medias hostium insidias Arsur usque pervenit. Ubi a suis, qui in eodem oppido erant, gaudenter exceptus, sumpto cibo, confortatus est; nam prae famis sitisque angustia, dum veniret, pene defecerat. Videtur autem et divinitus procuratum quiddam quod ei dicitur accidisse.

Therefore the king, fleeing to the mountains, as we have foretold, having lost his companions of the way, snatched away by the benefit of a swift horse and by the conduct of the aforesaid noble man, all night, anxious, hid in desert places; when morning was made, accompanied by two companions whom chance had offered, having followed the by-ways of the roads, he came as far as Arsur through the midst of the enemies’ ambushes. There, joyfully received by his own who were in the same town, with food taken, he was strengthened; for by the straitness of hunger and thirst, while he was coming, he had nearly failed. Moreover, what is said to have happened to him seems also to have been divinely procured.

Nam eadem die, vix unius horae interjecto spatio, ab eodem oppido maximus hostium discesserat numerus, qui sine intermissione oppidanis tota die pro foribus bellum intulerant; quos si in eodem loco perseverantes rex accedens reperisset, vix eorum manus potuisset effugere. Rumor interim de rege varius habebatur; nam qui de praelio evaserant pauci, Hierosolymam venientes, regem inter caeteros cecidisse asserebant. Episcopus vero Liddensis qui, audita et prope conspecta eorum qui in Ramulensi praesidio capti fuerant strage, relicta Ecclesia sua Joppen confugerat, de rege interrogatus, se nihil omnino scire fatebatur; eos tamen qui in praesidium se receperant, vitam miserabiliter finiisse constanter asserebat; se quoque fuga latenter elapsum, ut vitae consuleret, dicere non verebatur.

For on the same day, with scarcely the interval of one hour interposed, from that same town a very great number of the enemy had departed, who without intermission had brought war before the doors upon the oppidans the whole day; whom, had the king, approaching, found persevering in that same place, he could scarcely have escaped their hands. Meanwhile a various rumor concerning the king was current; for the few who had escaped from the battle, coming to Jerusalem, asserted that the king had fallen among the rest. But the Bishop of Lydda, who, the massacre of those who had been captured in the garrison of Ramla having been heard and almost seen, had left his Church and fled for refuge to Joppa, when asked about the king, confessed that he knew absolutely nothing; yet he steadfastly asserted that those who had withdrawn into the garrison had miserably finished their life; he did not hesitate to say that he too had stealthily slipped away by flight, in order to look to his life.

Erat ergo per totum regnum, ad quos sermo iste pervenerat, ubique luctus, ubique gemitus et lacrymae, diffidentibus de vita singulis et mortem optantibus celerem, ne viderent mala gentis suae, et regni desolationem aspicerent. Cum ergo moeror et luctus et suspiria regnum occupassent universum, ecce rex, quasi stella matutina in medio refulgens nebulae, ab Antipatrida egressus, Joppe navigio subitum se intulit. Ubi a civibus cum gaudio susceptus, ex insperato depulsis tenebris serenum intulit, sua delens praesentia quidquid sinistrum acciderat.

Therefore through the whole kingdom, wherever this report had come, there was everywhere mourning, everywhere groaning and tears, as each despaired of life and wished for swift death, lest they should see the evils of their nation and behold the desolation of the realm. And when sorrow and mourning and sighs had seized the entire kingdom, behold, the king—like the morning star shining in the midst of the cloud—having set out from Antipatrida, suddenly presented himself by ship at Joppe. There, received by the citizens with joy, with the darkness unexpectedly driven away, he brought in a clear sky, blotting out by his very presence whatever sinister thing had occurred.

Exiit ergo sermo iste per universos regni fines; et quos rumor primus animo dejecerat, secundus in spem bonam erexit. Interea, dominus Hugo de Sancto Aldemaro, Tyberiadensis dominus, a Hierosolymitanis commonitus ut domino regi subveniret, cum octoginta equitibus usque Arsur pervenerat, regi auxilium ministraturus. Quod rex audiens, assumptis secum quos apud Joppen invenire poterat, ei procedit obviam, timens ne hostes per regionem libere diffusi eis advenientibus insidias molirentur; aut, congregatis copiis, eorum manifeste iter impedire niterentur.

Therefore this report went out through all the borders of the kingdom; and those whom the first rumor had cast down in spirit, the second raised up into good hope. Meanwhile, Lord Hugh of Saint Aldemar, lord of Tiberias, having been urged by the Jerusalemites to come to the aid of the lord king, had come with eighty horsemen as far as Arsur, about to minister assistance to the king. Which when the king heard, taking with him those whom he could find at Joppa, he proceeds to meet him, fearing lest the enemies, freely diffused through the region, might contrive ambushes for them as they came; or, their forces congregated, might strive openly to impede their march.

Occurrens ergo illis junctis cum multa hilaritate conplexibus et agminibus sociatis, Joppen cum multa civium exsultatione ingressi sunt. Missis igitur nuntiis, eos qui in montibus erant ad subveniendum ei sollicitat; qui mature convenientes, propter hostes qui media liberius obtinebant, viarum secuti dispendia, infra paucos dies apud Arsur pervenerunt: unde cum difficultate et vitae periculo, hostibus inter eundum occurrentibus, Joppen, auctore Domino, pervenerunt. Erant autem qui de novo accesserant equites promiscui meriti, quasi nonaginta; quibus receptis, dominus rex in bonam spem erectus, quaerens, quas intulerant, hostibus recompensare injurias et mala quae irrogaverant refundere cum usuris, instructis et juxta rei militaris disciplinam ordinatis congrue tam equitum aciebus quam peditum manipulis, hostibus obviam egreditur, eorum multitudinem de Domini fretus auxilio parvipendens.

Meeting them, then, embraces joined with much hilarity and the columns associated, they entered Joppa with much exultation of the citizens. Therefore, messengers having been sent, he solicits those who were in the mountains to come to his aid; who, convening promptly, because the enemies held the central regions more freely, having followed the detours of the roads, within a few days arrived at Arsur: whence, with difficulty and peril of life, the enemies meeting them on the way, they reached Joppa, by the Lord as Author. Now those who had newly come were knights of promiscuous (mixed) merit, about ninety; and these received, the lord king, erected into good hope, seeking to recompense to the enemies the injuries which they had inflicted and to refund with usury the evils they had imposed, with both the squadrons of horse and the maniples of foot suitably arrayed and ordered according to the discipline of the military art, goes out to meet the enemies, making small account of their multitude, relying on the Lord’s aid.

Erant autem hostes in proximo quasi ad milliaria tria, crates, scalas et varii generis machinas ex electa lignorum materia contexentes; quibus erat propositum, et id ipsum leve videbatur, urbem inimicam impugnare, regemque obsessum interius, cum civibus universis, quasi vilia captivare mancipia. Dumque in hoc essent opere solliciti, ecce rex cum suo jam praesens aderat exercitu. Quod videntes adversarii, quod ab iis quos victos reputabant ultro provocarentur ad praelia, correptis armis accingunt se ut occurrant, nihil timentes eos quos jam penitus defecisse arbitrabantur.

Moreover the enemies were in the vicinity, at about three miles’ distance, weaving together hurdles, ladders, and engines of various kinds from selected timber; with which it was their purpose—and this very thing seemed easy—to assault the hostile city, and to capture the king, besieged within, together with all the citizens, as if cheap chattel-slaves. And while they were busy at this work, behold, the king was already present with his army. Seeing this, the adversaries—because by those whom they reputed vanquished they were of their own accord provoked to battle—snatching up their arms, gird themselves to go meet them, fearing nothing from those whom they supposed had already utterly failed.

Nostris tamen irruentibus, et pro omnibus quae acceperant paratis recompensare duplicia, more leonum, quibus raptis catulis est ira propensior, et pro uxoribus et liberis, pro libertate et patria totis viribus decertantes, infusa de supernis virtute et divina praeeunte gratia, hostium gladiis dissolvunt agmina; et interfectis ex eorum numero quampluribus, reliquos turpiter fugam inire compellunt. Insequi autem, diutius propter eorum paucitatem, nostris non est visum expediens; sed in castra hostium redeuntes, spolia colligunt plurima; asinos, camelos, papiliones et tentoria, victusque et alimentorum diversa genera secum deferentes, Joppen cum victoria, populo applaudente universo, reversus est. Quievitque regnum quasi mensibus septem.

However, as our men burst in, prepared to recompense double for all that they had received, after the manner of lions, whose anger is more prone when their cubs have been snatched, and, fighting it out with all their strength for their wives and children, for liberty and fatherland, with valor infused from on high and divine grace going before, they dissolve with swords the battle-lines of the enemy; and, with very many of their number slain, they compel the rest shamefully to enter upon flight. To pursue them longer, however, on account of their paucity, did not seem expedient to our men; but returning to the enemies’ camp, they gather up very many spoils, bringing with them asses, camels, pavilions and tents, and diverse kinds of victuals and provisions; and he returned to Joppa with victory, while the whole people applauded. And the kingdom rested for, as it were, seven months.

CAPUT XXIII. Tancredus interim urbes nobilissimas, Apamiam et Laodiceam, in suam recipit ditionem.

CHAPTER 23. Tancred meanwhile receives the most noble cities, Apamea and Laodicea, into his dominion.

Igitur dum haec in regno varie multipliciterque sic aguntur, dominus Tancredus vir illustris, congregata de universis suis militia et tam equitum quam peditum copiis convocatis, nobilem sedem, Coelesyriae metropolim, obsidet Apamiam. Ubi cum aliquandiu more optimi principis, debita perseverasset instantia, singula percurrens argumenta quibus hostium solent expugnari praesidia; nihil omittens eorum quae obsessis molestias solent inferre graviores, operoso studio et sollicitudine non pigra, praeveniente eum divina clementia, civitatem obtinuit, principatus fines amplians in immensum. Inde eadem, ut dicitur die, Laodiciam perveniens, quae a Graecis possidebatur, eam in suam recepit ditionem; veteribus conditionibus interpositis inter se et eosdem Laodicenses, quod quacunque die Apamiam sibi vindicaret, eadem die ei sine difficultate resignarent Laodiciam.

Therefore, while these things in the kingdom were being done in varied and manifold wise, Lord Tancred, a distinguished man, having gathered from all his own soldiery and having convoked forces both of horse and of foot, besieges Apamea, a noble seat, the metropolis of Coelesyria. Where, for some time, as an excellent prince, having persisted with due urgency, running through each of the devices by which the strongholds of the enemy are wont to be stormed; omitting nothing of those things which are wont to inflict heavier molestations upon the besieged, with painstaking zeal and a diligence not slothful, with divine clemency going before him, he obtained the city, enlarging the bounds of his principality immeasurably. Thence on the same day, as it is said, arriving at Laodicea, which was possessed by the Greeks, he received it into his dominion; the old conditions having been interposed between himself and those same Laodiceans, namely that on whatever day he should vindicate Apamea to himself, on that same day they would resign Laodicea to him without difficulty.

Harum utramque nobilissimarum urbium, Antiochus Seleuci filius fundasse legitur, et de nominibus filiarum, quarum altera Apamia, altera vero Laodicia dicebatur, civitatibus dedisse nomina. Hic autem de Laodicia Syriae nobis est sermo; nam est et alia Laodicia quae inter septem urbes Asiae minoris numeratur, juxta id quod in Apocalypsi Joannis scribitur ita: Quod vides scribe in libro, et mitte septem Ecclesiis, Ephesum, Smyrnam, Pergamum, Tyatiram, Sardis, Philadelphiam et Laodiciam (Apoc. I, 11). Harum alteram, Laodiciam videlicet, divus Severus coloniam fecit, teste Ulpiano, qui de ea in Digestis, titulo De censibus, ita ait: Est et Laodicia in Syria, cui divus Severus jus Italicum ob belli civilis merita concessit. Domino igitur ejus promovente negotia, opus multorum dierum uno perfecit itinere, duas simul urbes recipiens, quarum ampla lateque diffusa cum multis oppidis et suburbanis jacebant territoria.

Each of these two most noble cities is read to have been founded by Antiochus, son of Seleucus, and from the names of his daughters—of whom the one was called Apamia, the other indeed Laodicia—he gave the cities their names. But here our discourse is about the Laodicia of Syria; for there is also another Laodicia which is counted among the seven cities of Asia Minor, according to that which is written in the Apocalypse of John thus: What you see, write in a book, and send to the seven Churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (Rev. 1, 11). Of these, the latter—namely Laodicia—the deified Severus made a colony, Ulpian being witness, who about it in the Digests, in the title On Censuses, thus says: There is also a Laodicea in Syria, to which the deified Severus, for services in the civil war, granted the Italic right. Therefore, with the Lord promoting his affairs, he accomplished in one journey the work of many days, receiving at once two cities, whose territories, broad and far-spread, with many towns and suburban districts, lay around.

Erat quippe vir Deum amans Deoque amabilis, fide insignis, strenuitate conspicuus, exigentibus meritis populo acceptus et in cunctis prospere agens.

He was indeed a man loving God and lovable to God, distinguished in faith, conspicuous for strenuity, accepted by the people owing to his merits, and conducting himself prosperously in all things.

CAPUT XXIV. Balduinus de Burgo comes Edessanus, Gabrielis ducis filiam uxorem ducit.

CHAPTER 24. Baldwin of Bourcq, Count of Edessa, takes as wife the daughter of Duke Gabriel.

Dominus etiam Balduinus, Edessanorum comes, vir magnificus et per omnia commendabilis, qui domino regi, ut praedictum est, in comitatu Edessano successerat, strenue et feliciter terram sibi subditam administrabat, hostibus circumpositis suspectus plurimum et formidabilis. Cumque sine uxore esset et liberis, cujusdam Gabrielis Meleteniae ducis, de quo superius fecimus mentionem, filiam Morsiam nomine, uxorem duxit, magnam et valde necessariam cum ea, dotis nomine, suscipiens pecuniam. Erat autem praedictus Gabriel natione, lingua et habitu Armenius; fide tamen Graecus.

Lord Baldwin, count of the Edessenes, a magnificent man and in all things commendable, who, as has been said, had succeeded the lord king in the County of Edessa, was vigorously and happily administering the land subject to him, very greatly suspected and formidable to the surrounding enemies. And since he was without a wife and children, he took to wife the daughter of a certain Gabriel, duke of Melitene, of whom we made mention above, by name Morsia, receiving with her, in the name of a dowry, a great and very necessary sum of money. Now the aforesaid Gabriel was Armenian by nation, language, and habit; in faith, however, Greek.

Accidit autem quod, dum in optimo esset statu et optima tranquillitate frueretur, quidam consobrinus ejus, Joscelinus videlicet de Cortenay, vir nobilis de Francia, de regione quae dicitur Gastineis, accessit ad eum; qui cum non haberet terram vel possessiones aliquas, ne ad alium ignotum, gratia promerendi beneficii, cogeretur declinare, possessiones ei maximas contulit; omnem illam videlicet suae regionis partem, quae circa Euphratem fluvium magnum sita est, in qua erant urbes Coritium et Tulupa; oppida vero ampla et munitissima Turbessel, Hamtab et Ravendel, et quaedam alia. Sibi vero regionem trans Euphratem, hostibus magis vicinam, detinuit, una sola urbe de interioribus, Samosato videlicet, retenta. Erat autem vir prudentia praeditus saeculari, in agendis circumspectus; in cura et dispositione rei familiaris providus valde; optimus paterfamilias, utilium provisor; ubi necessitas exigebat liberalis, sed modice alias parcus, domesticorum bonorum solertissimus conservator; in sumendis alimentis sobrius, de habitu et ornatu proprii corporis non multum habens curam.

It came to pass, moreover, that while he was in the best state and was enjoying the best tranquillity, a certain cousin of his, namely Joscelin of Courtenay, a noble man from Francia, from the region which is called Gastineis, came to him; and since he did not have land or any possessions, lest he be compelled to turn aside to some unknown other, for the sake of meriting a benefice, he bestowed upon him very great possessions: namely, all that part of his region which is situated around the great river Euphrates, in which were the cities Coritium and Tulupa; and, indeed, the large and most strongly fortified towns Turbessel, Hamtab, and Ravendel, and certain others. For himself, however, he kept the region across the Euphrates, closer to the enemies, with only one city of the interior retained, namely Samosata. He was a man endowed with secular prudence, circumspect in conducting affairs; in the care and disposition of the household very provident; an excellent paterfamilias, a purveyor of useful things; liberal where necessity demanded, but otherwise moderately sparing, a most skillful conserver of domestic goods; sober in taking food, not having much care for the dress and adornment of his own body.

Unde et praedictam regionis portionem, sibi a domino comite liberaliter concessam, multa rexit industria, bonis omnibus abundans.

Whence also he governed the aforesaid portion of the region, liberally granted to him by the lord count, with much industry, abounding in all goods.

CAPUT XXV. Boamundus a vinculis hostium solutus redit Antiochiam, et Daimbertum patriarcham ad se confugientem benigne suscipit.

CHAPTER 25. Bohemond, freed from the enemies’ chains, returns to Antioch, and kindly receives Daimbert the patriarch, who flees to him for refuge.

Eodem tempore dominus Boamundus Antiochenorum princeps, vir magnificus et per omnia commendabilis, divina eum respiciente gratia, post annos quatuor, quibus vinculis hostium mancipatus fuerat, pretio interveniente redemptus, Antiochiam reversus est. Ubi a domino patriarcha, clero et populo universo gratanter susceptus, universam provinciam, et regnum nihilominus, desiderato ejus laetificavit adventu. Cognitoque quam prudenter fideliterque dominus Tancredus, ejus consanguineus, commissum sibi in ejus absentia administraverat principatum, captisque duabus eximiis urbibus ejus fines strenue dilataverat, gratias illi agens immensas, benigne habuit; plurimam partem regionis, sicut ejus videbantur exigere merita, sibi et haeredibus suis jure perpetuo tradidit possidendam.

At the same time lord Bohemond, prince of the Antiochenes, a magnificent man and in all things commendable, divine grace regarding him, after four years in which he had been consigned to the chains of the enemy, was redeemed, a price intervening, and returned to Antioch. There, gladly received by the lord Patriarch, the clergy, and the whole people, he gladdened the whole province, and likewise the kingdom, by his longed-for arrival. And when it was learned how prudently and faithfully lord Tancred, his consanguine, had administered the principality committed to him in his absence, and how, having taken two exceptional cities, he had vigorously enlarged its borders, giving him immense thanks, he treated him kindly; and he handed over a very great part of the region, as his merits seemed to require, to be possessed by him and his heirs by perpetual right.

Nec multo post, universum ei, sicut in sequentibus dicetur, commisit principatum. Interea vero Arnulfo, de quo superius diximus, Hierosolymitano archidiacono more suo inter regem et dominum patriarcham Daimbertum scandala serente et ministrante odium, coepit repullulare quae prius sopita videbatur inter eos inimicitia; adeoque creverat inter eos indignatio ut, suscitato adversus eum per ejusdem seductoris operam et studium clero, vir religiosus et pacis amator, juges molestias ferre non valens, ecclesia simul et urbe relicta, inops et pauper, consilii simul et auxilii indigens, ad dominum confugit Boamundum; qui advenientem honeste suscipiens, tanto erga eum majore motus misericordia, quo ejus sollicitudine et opera ad Hierosolymitanam ecclesiam noverat esse promotum; et ne apud se aliter quam tantum virum haberi oportebat, moram faceret, ecclesiam Sancti Gregorii, quae infra Antiochenam urbem sita est, cum ingentibus praediis et multis redditibus, consentiente domino Bernardo, ejusdem loci patriarcha, liberaliter assignavit; ibique cum eo usque ad ejus in Apuliam transitum, sicut in sequentibus dicetur, moram habuit continuam.

Not long after, as will be said in what follows, he entrusted to him the whole principate. Meanwhile indeed Arnulf, of whom we spoke above, the Jerusalemite archdeacon, after his fashion sowing scandals and ministering odium between the king and lord Patriarch Daimbert, the enmity which had seemed previously lulled began to sprout again between them; and to such a degree had indignation grown between them that, the clergy having been stirred up against him by the effort and zeal of the same seducer, the man religious and a lover of peace, not able to bear continual annoyances, leaving both church and city, needy and poor, in need alike of counsel and of aid, fled for refuge to lord Boamund; who, receiving him honorably as he came, was moved with so much the greater misericordia toward him, in proportion as he knew that by his solicitude and effort he had been promoted to the Church of Jerusalem; and, so that, when with him, he might not in any way be held otherwise than it was fitting for so great a man, nor be kept waiting, he generously assigned the Church of Saint Gregory, which is situated within the city of Antioch, with vast estates and many revenues, lord Bernard, patriarch of the same place, consenting; and there with him he had a continuous stay until his crossing into Apulia, as will be said in what follows.

CAPUT XXVI. Expulso Daimberto, quidam Ebremarus, Hierosolymis inordinate praeficitur. Rex Ptolemaidam obsidet, nec proficit; rediens inde, lethaliter sauciatur.

CHAPTER 26. With Daimbert expelled, a certain Ebremarus is inordinately set over Jerusalem. The king besieges Ptolemais, and does not make progress; returning from there, he is lethally wounded.

At vero rex, praedicti Arnulfi seductus malitia, praetermisso Dei timore, expulso domino patriarcha Daimberto, adjecit etiam ut pejus faceret. Quemdam enim simplicem et religiosum circumveniens sacerdotem, Ebremarum nomine, in sedem intrusit patriarchalem. Hic autem simplex homo, in prima venerat expeditione, honestae conversationis merito cunctis acceptus; sed in hoc crassam nimis et supinam inventus est ignorantiam habuisse, quod, vivente domino patriarcha, sedem ejus licere sibi credebat usurpare.

But indeed the king, seduced by the malice of the aforesaid Arnulf, with the fear of God set aside, and Lord Patriarch Daimbert expelled, went on to do even worse. For, circumventing a certain simple and religious priest, by name Ebremar, he intruded him into the patriarchal see. This simple man, however, had come in the first expedition, accepted by all by the merit of honorable conversation; but in this he was found to have had a gross and supine ignorance, namely, that, while the lord patriarch was alive, he believed it was permitted to him to usurp his seat.

Eodem etiam anno, qui erat ab Incarnatione Domini 1103, circa veris initium, celebrata Hierosolymis Dominicae resurrectionis solemnitate, convocatis de regno universo militaribus copiis, dominus rex obsidet Ptolomaidam. Est autem Ptolomaida civitas maritima, provinciae Phoenicis, una de urbibus suffraganeis quae ad Tyrensem metropolim habent respectum: portum habens infra moenia et exterius, ubi tranquillam possit navibus praebere stationem. Est autem et satis commode sita inter montes et mare, pingue et optimum habens latifundium, Belo flumine praeterfluente civitatem.

In the same year also, which was from the Incarnation of the Lord 1103, about the beginning of spring, the solemnity of the Lord’s resurrection having been celebrated at Jerusalem, with the military forces of the whole kingdom convoked, the lord king besieges Ptolemais. Now Ptolemais is a maritime city of the province of Phoenicia, one of the suffragan cities which have regard to the Tyrian metropolis: having a harbor within the walls and outside as well, where it can offer a tranquil station to ships. And it is very conveniently situated between the mountains and the sea, having a rich and most excellent broad domain, the river Belus flowing past the city.

Hanc frequens fama est geminos fratres fundasse Ptolomaeum et Acconem et muris vallasse solidioribus; eamque quasi per medium divisam, suis nominibus appellasse; unde et hodie binomia est, ut Ptolomaida dicatur et Accon, sicut pene omnes Syriae civitates duo vel tria habent nomina. Ad hanc igitur cum suis legionibus dominus rex perveniens, quoniam navalem non habebat exercitum, non multum potuit quoad deditionem arctare; sed caesis in circuitu pomeriis, interemptis ex civibus nonnullis; abducta etiam praeda, gregibus et armentis, quae extra civitatem repererunt, soluta obsidione, ad propria revertebatur. Volensque per Caesaream redire, accidit quod in loco, qui dicitur Petra incisa, juxta antiquam Tyrum, inter Capharnaum et Doram oppida maritima, qui locus hodie Districtum appellatur, praedones et viarum publicarum effractores invenit.

A frequent report is that twin brothers, Ptolemy and Accon, founded this place and walled it with sturdier walls; and that, as if divided almost down the middle, they named it with their own names; whence even today it is binomial, so that it is called Ptolemais and Accon, just as nearly all the cities of Syria have two or three names. Therefore, when the lord king came to this with his legions, since he did not have a naval army, he could not much tighten it toward capitulation; but, the orchards around being cut down, with some of the citizens slain, and booty carried off—flocks and herds which they found outside the city—the siege being raised, he was returning to his own. And wishing to return by Caesarea, it happened that in the place called Petra Incisa, near ancient Tyre, between the maritime towns Capharnaum and Dora, which place today is called the District, he found brigands and breakers of the public roads.

in quos in insidiis latentes vehementer irruens, pluribus interemptis, aliis elapsis fuga, unus casu in regem vibrans jaculum, a parte posteriore per cratem costarum, cordi vicinum immisit telum, quo ictu eum pene morti tradidit; sed tandem medicorum adhibita sollicitudine, post incisiones et cauteria, salutem recepit aliqualem; ejusdem vulneris certis temporibus recrudescente dolore, perpetuo fatigatus.

Rushing vehemently upon them as they lay hidden in ambush, with many slain and others slipping away in flight, one man, by chance, hurling a javelin at the king from the rear, drove the weapon through the lattice of the ribs, near to the heart; by which blow he nearly consigned him to death; but at length, with the solicitude of the physicians applied, after incisions and cauteries, he recovered some measure of health; the pain of the same wound recrudescing at certain times, he was perpetually wearied.

CAPUT XXVII. Comes Tolosanus ante urbem Tripolim castrum aedificat, cui nomen est mons peregrini.

CHAPTER 27. The Count of Toulouse builds a castle before the city of Tripoli, whose name is Mount of the Pilgrim.

Per idem tempus, dominus Raimundus bonae memoriae, Tolosanus comes, obtenta civitate quae vulgo dicitur Tortosa, ut praemisimus, fines suos tanquam vir egregius, magnificus et verus Dei cultor, strenue nimis et viriliter dilatabat circumquaque; anxiusque quo modo Christiani nominis adversarios a finibus illis propulsaret, in colle quodam ante urbem Tripolitanam, vix ab ea milliaribus distante duobus, fundaverat praesidium; cui, quoniam a peregrinis constituebatur, nomen ex re dedit, ut perpetuo diceretur Mons Peregrinus; et ita usque hodie a fundatore nomen servat impositum, naturali situ, et artificum industria satis munitum. Unde Tripolitanis civibus incessanter diebus pene singulis inferebat molestias; ita ut universae regionis incolae, et etiam ipsius civitatis habitatores annua eidem persolverent tributa; nec minus ei obedirent in omnibus, quam si urbem ipsam sine contradictore possideret. Natus est etiam ei in eodem loco, ex propria uxore, Deo devota femina, filius de nomine majorum dictus Amphossus, qui eidem postea in comitatu Tolosano successit.

At the same time, Lord Raymond of good memory, Count of Toulouse, having obtained the city which is commonly called Tortosa, as we have said above, was expanding his borders all around very strenuously and manfully, like a distinguished, magnificent, and true worshipper of God; and, anxious as to how he might drive the adversaries of the Christian name from those borders, he had founded a stronghold on a certain hill before the city of Tripoli, scarcely two miles distant from it; to which, since it was constituted by pilgrims, he gave a name from the fact, so that it might forever be called Mount Pilgrim; and so even to this day it keeps the name imposed by its founder, well fortified both by its natural situation and by the industry of craftsmen. Whence he was incessantly inflicting annoyances upon the citizens of Tripoli almost every day; so that the inhabitants of the whole region, and even the dwellers of the city itself, paid annual tributes to him, and obeyed him in all things no less than if he possessed the city itself without a contradictor. A son was also born to him in the same place, from his own wife, a God‑devoted woman, a son called by the ancestral name Amphossus, who afterwards succeeded him in the County of Toulouse.

CAPUT XXVIII. Rex iterum Ptolemaidam obsidet; et Januensium fretus auxilio, obsessam urbem occupat violenter.

CHAPTER 28. The king again besieges Ptolemais; and, relying on the aid of the Genoese, he forcibly occupies the besieged city.

Anno ab Incarnatione Domini 1104, mense Maio, idem dominus rex convocatis viribus et populo universo, a minimo usque ad maximum, eamdem de qua supra diximus, Ptolomaidam obsidere contendit: inde potissimum occasione sumpta, quod per eosdem dies, Januensium in partes Syriae classis applicuerat, navium rostratarum, quae vulgo dicuntur galeae, septuaginta. Quo cognito, missa statim ad consules legatione, verbis amicis invitat eos, ut antequam ad propria redeant, Christo velint militare; exemplum etiam familiare proponens de eorum civibus, quorum studio et opera urbem Caesaream regno vindicaverat, non sine perpetua civium Januensium gloria, et emolumento non modico. Tandemque prudentibus interpositis viris, et rem effectui fideliter mancipare quaerentibus, responsum dederunt: Quod si reddituum et obventionum quae ex marino accessu in portu colligerentur, tertia pars illis in perpetuum concederetur; et in civitate ecclesia, et in vico jurisdictio plena daretur, ad capiendam praedictam urbem fideliter elaborarent. Placuerunt itaque domino regi et principibus ejus conditiones praedictae, et fidei nexu corroboratas, utrinque, scripti beneficio, perpetuae memoriae mandaverunt.

In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1104, in the month of May, that same lord king, the forces and the whole people convoked, from the least to the greatest, strove to besiege that same Ptolemais of which we spoke above: taking his chief occasion from this, that in those same days a fleet of the Genoese had put in to the parts of Syria, of beaked ships, which are commonly called galleys, seventy. Learning this, he immediately sent a legation to the consuls, and with friendly words invites them, that before they return to their own, they should be willing to soldier for Christ; proposing also a familiar example concerning their citizens, by whose zeal and work he had vindicated the city Caesarea for the kingdom, not without the perpetual glory of the Genoese citizens, and with no small emolument. And at length, prudent men being interposed, and seeking faithfully to commit the matter to effect, they gave answer: That if a third part of the revenues and takings which were collected from maritime access in the port were granted to them in perpetuity; and if in the city a church, and in the quarter full jurisdiction were given, they would labor faithfully to take the aforesaid city. The aforesaid conditions therefore pleased the lord king and his princes, and, strengthened by a bond of faith, on both sides, by the benefit of a writing, they consigned them to perpetual memory.

Sic igitur die praefixa illi per mare, dominus rex cum suis per terram urbem praedictam, locatis in gyrum castris, obsidione vallant; civibusque introitu negato et exitu, molestias inferunt quales quantasque solent obsessis irrogari. Machinis etiam circumpositis, quales solent argutorum hominum reperire ingenia, in hostium erigunt perniciem, turres ex eis flagellantes et moenia; et aedificia etiam interiora magnorum molarium immissione confringentes. Praeterea crebris congressionibus tam a classe per oram maritimam, quam ex opposita parte per regium exercitum fatigatis, plurimis ex civibus casibus variis interemptis, obsidentium instantiam, et frequentes impetus, durum videbatur portare.

Thus therefore, on the day appointed—with them by sea, and the lord king with his own by land—they invest the aforesaid city, the camps being placed around it, and they gird it with a siege; and, entrance and exit being denied to the citizens, they inflict molestations such and so great as are wont to be imposed upon the besieged. Engines also being set round about, such as the ingenuity of shrewd men is wont to devise, they erect the enemy’s ruin, scourging from them the towers and the ramparts; and they shatter even the inner edifices by the discharge of great millstones. Moreover, with frequent encounters—both by the fleet along the maritime shore and on the opposite side by the royal army—the defenders being wearied, and very many of the citizens slain by various mishaps, it seemed hard to bear the urgency of the besiegers and their frequent onsets.

Cumque per dies viginti continuos, tam nostri oppugnando quam illi a se repellendo injurias, desudassent, interpositis conditionibus, quod qui egredi optarent, cum uxoribus et liberis, et eorum mobilibus, ad quas vellent partes liberum haberent exitum; qui vero in domibus suis manere, et natale solum eligerent non deserere, data singulis annis domino regi certa praestatione, bonis conditionibus uterentur; regi civitatem tradiderunt: qua obtenta, Januensibus juxta singulorum merita, possessionis et domicilia assignavit. Hic primum per mare accedentibus patuit secura tranquillitas, et portu commodiore recepto, et littore ab hostibus aliquantulum expedito.

And when for twenty continuous days, both our men by attacking and they by repelling from themselves injuries, had sweated it out, with conditions interposed, that those who might wish to go out, with their wives and children, and their movables, should have free exit to whatever parts they willed; but those who would choose to remain in their houses and not to abandon their native soil, a certain due being paid each year to the lord king, should enjoy good conditions; they handed the city over to the king: which having been obtained, he assigned to the Genoese, according to the merits of individuals, holdings and dwellings. Here for the first time secure tranquility lay open to those approaching by sea, both with a more commodious port received, and the shore somewhat cleared of the enemies.

CAPUT XXIX. Carra Mesopotamiae a Tancredo, Balduino et aliis obsidetur. Cives fame compulsi, de tradenda urbe consilium ineunt.

CHAPTER 29. Carrhae of Mesopotamia is besieged by Tancred, Baldwin, and others. The citizens, compelled by hunger, enter into counsel about handing over the city.

Eodem anno, dominus Boamundus, cum universis ejusdem provinciae magnatibus, dominus quoque Tancredus, dominus etiam nihilominus Balduinus, Edessanorum comes, una cum domino Joscelino ejusdem consanguineo, convenientes ad invicem, fide media compromiserunt, quod Euphraten transeuntes, Carran urbem, Edessae vicinam, ab infidelibus detentam, obsiderent. Juxta quod conceptum, evocantes certatim ex suis regionibus militares copias et auxilia undecunque conrogantes, die praefixa Euphraten transeuntes, apud Edessam pervenerunt. Interfuerunt autem eidem infaustae expeditioni viri venerabiles et Ecclesiae praeclara lumina, dominus Bernardus, Antiochenorum patriarcha; dominus Daimbertus, Hierosolymorum patriarcha, qui tunc vagus, exsul et profugus apud Antiochiam demorabatur; dominus quoque Benedictus, Edessanorum archiepiscopus.

In the same year, lord Bohemond, with all the magnates of the same province, lord likewise Tancred, and lord likewise Baldwin, count of the Edessenes, together with lord Joscelin, his consanguine kinsman of the same blood, coming together to one another, made a compact, faith as mediator, that, crossing the Euphrates, they would besiege the city of Carrhae, near to Edessa, held by the unfaithful. According to this plan thus conceived, vying to summon military forces from their own regions and mustering auxiliaries from wherever, on the fixed day they crossed the Euphrates and came to Edessa. Present, moreover, at this same ill‑fated expedition were venerable men and illustrious lights of the Church: lord Bernard, patriarch of the Antiochenes; lord Daimbert, patriarch of the people of Jerusalem, who then, wandering, an exile and a fugitive, was staying at Antioch; and lord likewise Benedict, archbishop of the Edessenes.

Hi omnes apud praedictam urbem congregati, propositum effectui mancipare satagentes, cum suis legionibus ad locum perveniunt destinatum. Est autem Carran, ut veteres tradunt historiae, is locus, ad quem Thare, filium Abraham, et ex filio Haran nepotem Lot, de Ur Chaldaeorum fugiens et in terram Chanaan properans, eduxit, et habitavit ibi, secundum quod in libro Geneseos (cap. XI) continetur, ubi et idem mortuus est, ubi et Abraham responsum accepit a Domino ut, egrediens de terra sua et de cognatione sua, Domini sequeretur promissiones.

All these, gathered at the aforesaid city and striving to bring their plan into effect, arrive with their legions at the appointed place. Now Carran is, as the old histories hand down, that place to which Thare led out his son Abraham, and Lot his grandson from his son Haran, fleeing from Ur of the Chaldaeans and hastening toward the land of Canaan, and he dwelt there, according as is contained in the Book of Genesis (ch. 11), where also the same man died, where also Abraham received a response from the Lord that, going forth from his land and from his cognation, he should follow the Lord’s promises.

Idemque est locus, in quo et Romanorum dictator Crassus, aurum quod sitierat, Parthis propinantibus, bibit. Quo cum pervenissent, sicuti ab initio proposuerant, urbem claudunt obsidione; nec multum erat necessarium urbem aliter impugnare, quam ingressus exitusque civibus prohibere, modicum enim, et pene nihil intus habebant alimentorum. Causa autem hujus erat inopiae: dominus Balduinus longe ante multam dabat operam, quomodo inopia illius loci fatigarentur cives, ut fame aliquando molestati, urbem ei traderent.

And it is the same place in which the Roman dictator Crassus, the gold which he had thirsted for, with the Parthians proffering it, drank. When they had come there, just as they had proposed from the beginning, they enclose the city with a siege; nor was it much necessary to assault the city otherwise than to forbid to the citizens the ingresses and egresses, for they had within a small amount, and almost nothing, of aliments. But the cause of this want was: Lord Baldwin long before was expending much effort as to how the citizens of that place might be wearied by want, so that, once at length molested by famine, they would deliver the city to him.

Modus autem, quo propositum effectui mancipare satagebat, hic ei visus erat idoneus. Inter Edessam porro, et praedictam illam civitatem, quae vix quatuordecim a se distant milliaribus, fluvius quidam discurrit medius, qui sua irrigatione, canalibus derivatus, circumadjacentem planitiem uberem reddebat et frugibus fecundam. A priscis autem temporibus solum praedictum hanc habuerat limitationem, ut quod citra fluvium erat, Edessanis sine molestia cederet; quod vero trans fluvium, Carrenses proprium possiderent.

The method, moreover, by which he was striving to hand over his purpose to effect, seemed to him apt in this way. Now between Edessa and that aforesaid city, which scarcely is distant from it by fourteen miles, a certain river runs in the midst, which, by its irrigation, being derived by canals, made the circumadjacent plain rich and fecund with crops. But from ancient times the aforesaid soil had had this delimitation: that what was on this side of the river should yield without molestation to the Edessans; but what was across the river the Carrans should possess as their proper own.

Videns autem dominus Balduinus quod hostium civitati omnino exterius nihil alimentorum accederet, sed de locis illis communibus omnem sibi victum propagarent; maluit ipse hac commoditate defraudari, quam ut hostes, qui non satis commode aliunde poterant, de locis mediis alerentur. Frequentibus igitur irruptionibus diu ante prohibuerat in locis suis agriculturam exerceri, sperans quod de regione trans Euphratem, et de ea quae inter Edessam et eumdem fluvium jacebat media, alimentorum posset suis civibus ministrare sufficientiam; Carrenses autem, ea subtracta commoditate, quam de praedictis locis communibus habere consueverant, ad intolerabilem compellerentur inopiam, sicut vere rei exitus manifestum dabat; idque jam annis ante pluribus inhibuerat. Obsidentes igitur praedictam urbem, ut praemisimus, multa victus inopia eam invenerunt laborantem.

But seeing that to the enemies’ city absolutely nothing of provisions was coming in from outside, but that they were spreading forth all their sustenance for themselves from those common places, Lord Baldwin preferred to be defrauded of this convenience himself, rather than that the enemies, who could not quite conveniently get it from elsewhere, should be nourished from the middle places. Therefore, by frequent irruptions he had long before prohibited agriculture from being practiced in his own lands, hoping that from the region beyond the Euphrates, and from that which lay in the middle between Edessa and the same river, he might supply his citizens with a sufficiency of provisions; but that the people of Carrhae, that convenience withdrawn which they had been accustomed to have from the aforesaid common places, should be driven to intolerable want, as indeed the outcome of the matter was making clear; and this he had already inhibited several years before. Accordingly, besieging the aforesaid city, as we have premised, they found it laboring under much scarcity of victuals.

Cives tamen nostrorum adventu longe ante praecognito, per nuntios et litteras principes Orientis sollicitaverant, significantes quod, nisi mature subvenirent, parati erant deficere. Videntes autem quod eis inde nullum ministrabatur subsidium, et famis angustia singulis diebus eos amplius molestaret, communicato consilio, potius eligunt urbem resignare quam intus fame tabescere et prae alimentorum defectu liquefieri.

The citizens, however, our men’s arrival having been foreknown long before, had solicited the princes of the East through messengers and letters, signifying that, unless they should promptly come to succor, they were ready to defect. But seeing that no aid was being ministered to them from that quarter, and that the straits of famine were molesting them more each day, counsel having been taken, they choose rather to resign the city than to waste away within from hunger and to be liquefied because of the defect of provisions.

CAPUT XXX. Nostri disceptantes de imperio urbis, ea excidunt; cives subsidia recipiunt; pugnatur ibi quominus; vincuntur nostri, fitque casus nostris valde periculosus.

CHAPTER 30. Our men, disputing over the imperium of the city, let it slip; the citizens receive subsidies; there fighting is waged to hinder this; our men are defeated, and the situation becomes very perilous for our men.

Exeuntes ergo, tradunt se in manus obsidentium, sine conditione aliqua. Sed, stimulante invidia, effusa est contentio inter principes; et dum contendunt ad invicem dominus princeps Boamundus et dominus comes Balduinus, utri illorum tradatur civitas, utrius illorum prius in urbem inducatur vexillum, differunt usque mane urbem traditam occupare, quousque de illa frivola quaestione plenius deliberarent. Didicerunt itaque per rerum experientiam quam verum sit illud:

Going out, therefore, they surrender themselves into the hands of the besiegers, without any condition. But, envy urging them on, a contention burst forth among the princes; and while Lord Prince Boamundus and Lord Count Baldwin vie with one another, as to which of them the city should be handed over, and whose banner should be led into the city first, they defer until morning the occupation of the surrendered city, until they might deliberate more fully about that frivolous question. Thus they learned by the experience of events how true that saying is:

Mora secum
Periculum trahit;

Delay
draws peril with it;

et illud iterum: . . . . .

and that again: . . . . .

Nocuit differre paratis.

To defer has harmed the prepared.

Nam, antequam dies illucesceret crastina, tam ingens hostium adfuit multitudo, tamque numerosus et formidabilis Turcorum exercitus, ut nostri etiam de vita diffiderent. Qui autem advenerant, alimentorum infinitas secum trahebant copias; condixerantque adinvicem prudenter satis et callide, ut se in duas dividerent turmas, ut dum altera cum nostris quocunque eventu, sive prospere sive sinistro, dimicaret, altera civibus inferret victualia. Factumque est ita.

For, before the morrow’s day began to grow light, so immense a multitude of enemies was present, and so numerous and formidable an army of the Turks, that our men even despaired of life. But those who had arrived were carrying with them infinite supplies of provisions; and they had agreed with one another, prudently enough and craftily, to divide themselves into two troops, so that, while the one should fight with our men, with whatever outcome, whether prosperous or sinister, the other should bring victuals in to the citizens. And so it was done.

Nam, statim die jam aliquantulum adulta, adversae partis principes instruunt agmina, ordinant acies, tanquam protinus pugnaturi, seorsum illis constitutis, quibus sarcinarum cura fuerat commissa. Neque his tamen, qui se aptabant ad praelia, spes erat ulla, aut obtinendi victoriam, aut resistendi diutius; sed id solum eis videbatur sufficere ad propositum si, nostris circa eos occupatis, obsessi cives allatum sibi possent victum recipere. Videntes igitur nostri principes hostes praeparari ad praelium, ipsi quoque aciebus et agminibus congruo digestis ordine, utroque patriarcha sermonibus exhortatoriis, addere militibus nituntur animos; sed Domini gratia destituti, nec verbis juvantur, nec admonitionibus.

For, immediately when the day was now somewhat advanced, the leaders of the adverse party marshal the columns, order the battle-lines, as though about to fight forthwith, with those set apart to whom the care of the baggage had been committed. Nor, however, had these who were fitting themselves for battle any hope either of obtaining victory or of resisting longer; but this alone seemed to suffice for their purpose, if, with our men occupied around them, the besieged citizens might be able to receive the victuals brought to them. Therefore, seeing the enemies being prepared for battle, our leaders likewise, with the battle-lines and columns arranged in congruous order, and with both patriarchs by exhortatory speeches, strive to add spirit to the soldiers; but, destitute of the Lord’s grace, they are aided neither by words nor by admonitions.

Nam, statim primo conflictu facti sunt hostes eorum in capite, et ipsi ignominiose cedentes terga dederunt hostibus, castra deserentes et sarcinas, fuga salutem quaerebant, quam non potuerunt invenire. Nam hostes rejectis arcubus et eorum officio neglecto, gladiis instantes quominus, pene omnes interficiendo deleverunt. Capti sunt ibi comes Edessanus et dominus Joscelinus ejus consanguineus; et vinculis alligati, in terras hostium tracti sunt remotiores.

For, at once in the first clash the foes were upon them in the van, and they themselves, yielding ignominiously, turned their backs to the enemies; deserting the camp and the baggage, they sought safety in flight, which they could not find. For the enemies, having cast aside their bows and neglecting their office, pressing in with swords, nearly annihilated them by slaying almost all. The Count of Edessa and lord Joscelin, his consanguineous kinsman, were taken there; and, bound with fetters, they were dragged off into the more remote lands of the enemy.

Dominus autem Boamundus, cum domino Tancredo et utroque patriarcha, tumultui se subducentes bellico, viarum studiose declinantes compendia, Edessam pervenerunt incolumes. At vero ejusdem loci archiepiscopus, sicut vir simplex erat, turbis involutus praeliaribus, vinctus et catenatus, numerum auxit captivorum. Accidit autem quod cujusdam Christiani deputatus custodiae, super eum, ex quo episcopum novit esse, motus visceribus charitatis, animam suam pro illius ponens anima, illaesum abire permisit; qui tandem, protegente eum Domino, infra paucos dies Edessam reversus est, cum multa civium hilaritate susceptus.

But Lord Bohemond, with Lord Tancred and both patriarchs, withdrawing themselves from the warlike tumult, carefully taking the shortcuts of the roads, reached Edessa unharmed. But in truth the archbishop of the same place, since he was a simple man, entangled in the battle-throngs, bound and chained, increased the number of captives. Moreover, it happened that, assigned to the custody of a certain Christian, he—once he knew him to be a bishop—moved in the bowels of charity, laying down his soul for that man’s soul, allowed him to depart unhurt; who at length, with the Lord protecting him, within a few days returned to Edessa, received with much hilarity of the citizens.

At vero dominus princeps, dum adhuc Edessae moram faceret, audiens quod, peccatis exigentibus, comes captus esset, consentientibus civibus, urbem domino Tancredo servandam credidit, et regione universam, ea conditione, ut redeunti de carcere domino comiti, ei statim sine difficultate resignaret; ipse autem domini Joscelini terram in suam recepit sollicitudinem. Porro nec prius nec postmodum in universo Oriente, tempore Latinorum, uspiam legitur tam periculosum fuisse praelium, tantaque strages virorum fortium, gentisque nostrae tam ignominiosa fuga.

But indeed the lord prince, while he was still making a stay at Edessa, hearing that, with sins demanding it, the count had been captured, and the citizens consenting, entrusted the city to Lord Tancred to be kept, and the whole region as well, on this condition: that, upon the lord count returning from prison, he would at once, without difficulty, resign it to him; but he himself took the land of Lord Joscelin into his own solicitude. Moreover, neither before nor afterwards in the whole Orient, in the time of the Latins, is it read anywhere that there was so perilous a battle, and so great a slaughter of brave men, and so ignominious a flight of our nation.