William of Tyre: HISTORIA RERUM IN PARTIBUS TRANSMARINIS GESTARUM

Est autem Tyrus civitas antiquissima, secundum quod Ulpianus vir prudentissimus jurisconsultus, ex eadem urbe trahens originem, in Digestis, titulo De censibus, asserit, dicens: Sciendum est esse quasdam colonias juris Italici, ut est in Syria Phoenice splendidissima Tyriorum colonia, unde mihi origo est, nobilis regionibus, serie saeculorum antiquissima, armipotens, foederis quod cum Romanis percussit tenacissima. Huic enim divus Severus et imperator noster, ob egregiam in rempublicam imperiumque Romanum insignem fidem, jus Italicum concessit.

Moreover, Tyre is a most ancient city, according to what Ulpian, a most prudent jurisconsult, drawing his origin from that same city, asserts in the Digests, under the title On Censuses, saying: It must be known that there are certain colonies of Italian right, as is in Syria Phoenice the most splendid colony of the Tyrians, whence my origin is, noble in its regions, most ancient by the series of ages, armipotent, most tenacious of the treaty which it struck with the Romans. For to this city the deified Severus and our emperor, on account of its outstanding, remarkable fidelity toward the commonwealth and the Roman imperium, granted the Italian right.

Ex hac urbe, si ad veteres recurramus historias, Agenor rex fuit, et filii ejus, Europa, Cadmus et Phoenix, a quorum altero tota regio, ut Phoenicis diceretur, nomen accepit. Alter vero Thebanae conditor urbis, et Graecarum inventor litterarum, celebrem posteris de se reliquit memoriam. Tertia vero ejusdem regis filia, orbis terrarum parti tertiae nomen dedit, ut Europa diceretur.

From this city, if we recur to the ancient histories, there was King Agenor, and his children, Europa, Cadmus, and Phoenix, from one of whom the whole region received its name, so that it was called Phoenicia. Another, indeed, the founder of the Theban city and the inventor of the Greek letters, left to posterity a celebrated memory of himself. The third, indeed, the daughter of the same king, gave her name to the third part of the world, so that it was called Europe.

Hujus quoque cives excellenti mentis acumine et ingenii vivacitate praeclari, individua vocum elementa, convenientibus designare apicibus, primi tentaverunt, et memoriae thesauros aedificantes, mortalium primi scribendi prudentiam et mentis interpretem sermonem, characteribus designandi formam posteris tradiderunt: id et veterum habent historiae, et belli civilis egregius prosecutor Lucanus designat, dicens:

The citizens of this one also, renowned for excellent acumen of mind and vivacity of ingenium, were the first to attempt to designate the indivisible elements of voices with fitting apices, and, building the treasures of memory, they, the first of mortals, handed down to posterity the prudence of writing and speech, interpreter of the mind, the form of designating by characters: this both the histories of the ancients contain, and Lucan, the distinguished prosecutor of the civil war, designates, saying:

Phoenices primi, famae si creditur, ausi
Mansuram rudibus vocem signasse figuris.

The Phoenicians were the first, if report is believed, to dare
to mark the enduring voice with rude figures.

Haec et triti conchylii, et pretiosi muricis, egregio purpuram colore prima insignivit: unde et praecipua inter eos, etiam hodie, urbis trahens nuncupationem, Tyria dicitur. Ex hac etiam Sychaeus, et uxor ejus Elisa Dido fuisse leguntur, qui in Africana dioecesi, civitatem illam admirabilem et Romani aemulam imperii, Carthaginem videlicet, condiderunt; regnumque illud Punicum quasi Phoenicum, a regione unde exierant denominantes, appellaverunt; sed etiam et originis memores, perpetuo se Tyrios, Carthaginenses voluerunt appellari. Unde illud Maronis in primo:

This people also first graced purple with the excellent color of crushed conch and precious murex; whence too their chief city, drawing its appellation even today, is called Tyre. From this same stock, moreover, Sychaeus and his wife Elissa Dido are read to have been, who, in the African diocese, founded that admirable city and rival of the Roman empire—namely Carthage; and they named that Punic realm, as it were Phoenician, denominating it from the region whence they had gone out; but also, mindful of their origin, they wished perpetually to be called Tyrians, Carthaginians. Whence that of Maro in the first:

Urbs antiqua fuit, Tyrii tenuere coloni.

There was an ancient city; Tyrian colonists held it.

Et illud:

And that:

Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine habetur.

Trojan and Tyrian are held by me with no discrimination.

Fuit autem ab initio binomia; nam et Sor Hebraice dicitur, quod nomen tenet usitatius et Tyrus; quod posterius, licet et Graecam videatur redolere eloquentia (interpretatur enim angustia), tamen a conditore certum est, eam hujusmodi contraxisse vocabulum. Certum est enim juxta veterum traditiones, quod Tyras septimus filiorum Japhet, filii Noe, hanc urbem condiderit, et a suo sumptum vocabulo nomen eidem indiderit. Quanta hujus civitatis priscis temporibus gloria fuerit, ex verbis Ezechielis prophetae manifeste est colligere, cui a Domino dicitur: Et tu, fil.

But from the beginning it was binominal; for it is called both Sor in Hebrew, which name it more commonly holds, and Tyrus; the latter, although it seems also to savor of Greek eloquence (for it is interpreted narrowness), nevertheless it is certain that it contracted a vocable of this kind from its founder. For it is certain, according to the traditions of the ancients, that Tyras, the seventh of the sons of Japheth, son of Noah, founded this city, and bestowed upon it a name taken from his own appellation. How great the glory of this city was in former times is manifestly to be gathered from the words of the prophet Ezekiel, to whom it is said by the Lord: And you, son.

hominis, assume super Tyrum planctum; et dices Tyro quae habitat in circuitu maris, negotiatio populorum ad insulas multas: Tu dixisti: Perfecti decoris ego sum, et in corde maris sita: Finitimi tui, qui te aedificaverunt, impleverunt decorem tuum, abietibus de Sanir, et exstruxerunt te cum omnibus tabulatis maris. Cedrum de Libano tulerunt, ut facerent tibi malum; quercus de Basan dolaverunt in remos tuos, transtra tua fecerunt ex ebore Indico, et praetoriola de insulis Italiae. Byssus varia de Aegypto texta est tibi in velum ut poneretur in malo Hyacinthus et purpura de insulis Elisa facta sunt operimentum tuum (Ezech.

son of man, take up over Tyre a lamentation; and you shall say to Tyre, who dwells in the circuit of the sea, a commerce of peoples unto many islands: You said, I am perfect in beauty, and set in the heart of the sea: Your neighbors, who built you, fulfilled your adornment, with firs from Senir, and they constructed you with all the plankings of the sea. They took cedar from Lebanon to make you a mast; they hewed oaks from Bashan for your oars, they made your cross‑benches from Indian ivory, and little pavilions from the islands of Italy. Variegated byssus from Egypt was woven for you for a sail, to be set upon the mast; hyacinth and purple from the islands of Elisha were made your covering (Ezek.).

XXVII, 2). Et Isaias: Transite maria, ululate qui habitatis in Insula. Nunquid non haec vestra est, quae gloriabatur a diebus pristinis in antiquitate sua? Ducent eam pedes sui longe ad peregrinandum.

27, 2). And Isaiah: Cross the seas, howl, you who dwell in the Island. Is this not yours, she who gloried from pristine days in her antiquity? Her own feet will lead her far to sojourn.

Quis cogitavit hoc super Tyrum, quondam coronatam, cujus negotiatores, principes, institores ejus inclyti terrae. (Isa. XXIII, 6). Ex hac etiam et Hiram, Salomonis cooperator ad aedificium templi Domini, rex fuit; et Apollonius, gesta cujus celebrem et late vulgatam habent historiam.

Who has conceived this against Tyre, once crowned, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the illustrious of the earth. (Isa. 23, 6). From this city also Hiram, Solomon’s co-operator for the building of the Temple of the Lord, was a king; and Apollonius, whose deeds have a celebrated and widely disseminated history.

Ex hac nihilominus urbe fuit Abdimus adolescens, Abdaemonis filius, qui Salomonis omnia sophismata et verba parabolarum aenigmatica, quae Hiram regi Tyriorum solvenda mittebat, mira solvebat subtilitate; de quo ita legitur in Josepho Antiquitatum libro octavo: Meminit horum duorum regum Menander, qui ex Phoenica lingua antiquitates Tyriorum in vocem convertit Helladicam, ita dicens: Moriente Abibalo, successit in ejus regnum filius ejus Hiram, qui cum vixisset annis quinquaginta tribus, regnavit triginta quatuor. Hujus temporibus erat Abdimus, Abdaemonis filius in vinculis, qui semper propositiones quas imperasset Hierosolymorum rex, evincebat. Et iterum infra: Adjecit ad hoc, regem Hierosolymorum Salomonem misisse ad Hiram Tyri regem figuras quasdam, et petiisse ab ea solutionem, ita ut si non posset discernere, solventi pecunias daret; cumque fateretur Hiram, se non posse illas solvere, multaque foret pecuniarum detrimenta passurus, per Abdimum quemdam Tyrium, quae proposita fuerant, sunt absoluta; et alia ab eo proposita, quae si Salomon non solveret regi Hiram, multas pecunias daret. Et hic fortasse est quem fabulose popularium narrationes Marcolfum vocant, de quo dicitur quod Salomonis solvebat aenigmata, et ei respondebat, aequipollenter iterum solvenda proponens.

From this same city, nonetheless, there was Abdimus, a youth, son of Abdaemon, who with wondrous subtlety solved all Solomon’s sophisms and the enigmatic words of proverbs, which he was sending to Hiram, king of the Tyrians, to be solved; about whom thus it is read in Josephus, Antiquities, book eight: Menander, who from the Phoenician language converted the antiquities of the Tyrians into the Hellenic tongue, makes mention of these two kings, saying thus: When Abibaal died, his son Hiram succeeded to his kingdom; and when he had lived fifty-three years, he reigned thirty-four. In his times there was Abdimus, son of Abdaemon, in chains, who always solved the propositions which the king of Jerusalem had ordered. And again below: He added to this, that Solomon, king of Jerusalem, had sent certain figures to Hiram, king of Tyre, and had asked for a solution of them, to the effect that if he could not discern them he would pay money to the solver; and when Hiram admitted that he could not solve them, and was going to suffer many losses of money, through a certain Tyrian, Abdimus, the things that had been proposed were completed; and others were proposed by him, which, if Solomon should not solve them to King Hiram, he would give much money. And this perhaps is he whom the popular tales fabulously call Marcolf, of whom it is said that he solved Solomon’s riddles, and answered him, proposing in turn things to be solved with equal weight.

Haec eadem et Origenis corpus occultat, sicut oculata fide etiam hodie licet inspicere. Et Hieronymus Pammachio et Occearano scribens in ea epistola quae sic incipit: Schedulae quas misistis, hoc ipsum asserit dicens: Centum et quinquaginta prope anni sunt hodie, ex quo Origenes Tyri mortuus est. Sed, etsi ad evangelicam recurramus historiam, haec eadem nihilominus et illam admirabilem genuit Chananaeam, cujus pro filia, quae male a daemonio vexabatur, supplicantis magnitudinem fidei commendat Salvator dicens: Mulier, magna est fides tua (Matth. XV, 28); quae concivium filiabus admirandae fidei, et commendabilis patientiae monumenta relinquens, prima docuit, ut in muneribus fidei, charitatis et spei, Christum Salvatorem deprecarentur, juxta verbum Prophetae dicentis: Filiae Tyrii in muneribus vultum tuum deprecabuntur (Psal.

This same city also conceals the body of Origen, as it is permitted even today to inspect with ocular faith. And Jerome, writing to Pammachius and Oceanus in that epistle which begins thus: The memoranda which you sent, asserts this very thing, saying: It is today nearly 150 years since Origen died at Tyre. But even if we revert to the evangelic history, this same city nonetheless also begot that admirable Canaanite woman, whose supplicating on behalf of her daughter, who was badly vexed by a demon, the Savior commends for the greatness of faith, saying: Woman, great is your faith (Matt. 15, 28); who, leaving to the daughters of her fellow citizens monuments of admirable faith and praiseworthy patience, first taught that, with the gifts of faith, charity, and hope, they should beseech Christ the Savior, according to the word of the Prophet saying: The daughters of Tyre, with gifts, will supplicate your face (Ps.

XLIV, 14).

44, 14).

Est autem et Phoenicis universae metropolis, quae inter Syriae provincias et bonorum pene omnium commoditate, et incolarum frequentia primum semper obtinuit locum.

Moreover, it is also the metropolis of all Phoenicia, which among the provinces of Syria, both in the availability of almost all commodities and in the multitude of inhabitants, has always held the first place.

CAPUT II. Quantum protenditur, et quas partes habeat Syria.

CHAPTER 2. How far it extends, and what parts Syria has.

Porro advertendum est quod hoc nomen Syria, aliquando largius, ut sit nomen totius; aliquando strictius, ut parti tantum conveniat, accipitur; sed aliquando cum adjectione dicitur, et notat partes, sicuti manifestius dicetur. Syria ergo major multas provincias infra suum continet ambitum; a Tigride enim habens initium, usque in Aegyptum protenditur, et a Cilicia usque in mare Rubrum; cujus ab inferiori parte, quae est inter Tigridem et Euphratem, prima ejus partium Mesopotamia est, quae quia inter duo flumina sita est, Mesopotamia dicitur: quasi quae inter duo flumina jaceat; potamos enim Graece, Latine fluvius dicitur; quae, quia Syriae pars est, idcirco frequenter in Scripturis Mesopotamia Syriae dicitur. Post hanc vero ejusdem Syriae, Coelesyria regio, maxima portio est, in qua Antiochia, civitas illa nobilis, cum suis suffraganeis urbibus sita est: cui, quasi a septentrione, utraque Cilicia contermina est, quae ejusdem Syriae sunt partes.

Moreover it should be noted that this name Syria is taken sometimes more broadly, so that it is the name of the whole; sometimes more strictly, so that it suits only a part; but sometimes it is said with an addition, and marks the parts, as will be said more manifestly. Greater Syria, then, contains many provinces within its circuit; for having its beginning from the Tigris, it is extended as far as Egypt, and from Cilicia as far as the Red Sea; of which, on the lower side, which is between the Tigris and the Euphrates, the first of its parts is Mesopotamia, which, because it is situated between two rivers, is called Mesopotamia: as if it lay between two rivers; potamos in Greek, in Latin fluvius is said; which, because it is a part of Syria, therefore frequently in the Scriptures is called Mesopotamia of Syria. After this, indeed, of the same Syria, the region Coelesyria is the greatest portion, in which Antioch, that noble city, is situated with its suffragan cities: to which, as it were from the north, both Cilicias are contiguous, which are parts of the same Syria.

Ab austro vero Phoenicis statim conjungitur, inter partes ejus praecipua, quae olim, per multa tempora, simplex fuit et uniformis; nunc autem in duas divisa est; quarum prima maritima dicitur, cujus metropolis est Tyrus, unde nobis est sermo; urbes habens quatuordecim suffraganeas; a rivo Valaniae, qui est sub castro Margath, habens initium, finem autem ad Lapidem incisum, qui hodie dicitur Districtum, juxta vetustissimam urbem quae dicitur Tyrus antiqua. Urbes autem quae infra hanc provinciam continentur, sunt hae: ab austro novissima Porphyria, quae alio nomine dicitur Heffa, vulgari vero appellatione Caifas; secunda Ptolomaida, quae alio etiam nomine dicitur Accon; tertia ab oriente Paneas, quae est Caesarea Philippi; quarta a septentrione Sarepta; quinta Sidon, sexta Berythum, septima Biblium, octava Botrium, nona Tripolis, decima Artusiae, undecimae Archis, duodecima Arados, tertia decima Antarados, quarta decima Maraclea. Altera vero Phoenicis dicitur Libanica, cujus metropolis est Damascus, quae etiam aliquando dicitur Syria; ut ibi: Caput Syriae Damascus (Isa.

But on the south it is immediately conjoined, among its principal parts, with that which once, for many ages, was simple and uniform; now, however, it has been divided into two; of which the first is called the Maritime, whose metropolis is Tyre, whence our discourse is; having fourteen suffragan cities; taking its beginning from the brook of Valania, which is beneath the castle Margat, but its end at the Hewn Stone, which today is called the District, near the most ancient city which is called Old Tyre. Now the cities which are contained within this province are these: on the south the farthest, Porphyria, which by another name is called Heffa, but by the common appellation Caiphas; the second Ptolemais, which by another name also is called Acco; the third on the east Paneas, which is Caesarea Philippi; the fourth on the north Sarepta; the fifth Sidon, the sixth Berythum, the seventh Biblium, the eighth Botrium, the ninth Tripolis, the tenth Artusiae, the eleventh Archis, the twelfth Arados, the thirteenth Antarados, the fourteenth Maraclea. But the other of Phoenicia is called the Libanian, whose metropolis is Damascus, which also is sometimes called Syria; as there: The head of Syria is Damascus (Isa.

VII, 8) : haec iterum Phoenicis postea divisa est in duas portiones; quarum altera dicitur Damascena; altera vero, Emisena. Sunt etiam et Syriae partes utraque Arabia; prima cujus metropolis est Bostrum; secunda, cujus metropolis est Petra deserti. Sed et Syria Sobal, ejusdem Syriae majoris pars est, cujus est metropolis Sobal.

7, 8) : this, again, of Phoenice was afterwards divided into two portions; of which one is called the Damascene; the other, indeed, the Emesene. There are also, as parts of Syria, both Arabias; the first whose metropolis is Bostra; the second, whose metropolis is Petra of the desert. But also Syria Sobal is a part of the same Greater Syria, whose metropolis is Sobal.

Nihilominus et tres Palaestinae, ejusdem Syriae partes sunt; prima, cujus est metropolis Hierosolyma, quae proprie appellatur Judaea; secunda, cujus metropolis est Caesarea maritima; tertia, cujus metropolis est Scythopolis, quae alio nomine dicitur Bethsam, cujus hodie locum tenet Nazareth. Idumaea quoque hujus ejusdem Syriae majoris, pars est novissima, ad Aegyptum respiciens.

Nevertheless, the three Palestines also are parts of the same Syria; the first, whose metropolis is Jerusalem, which is properly called Judaea; the second, whose metropolis is Caesarea Maritima; the third, whose metropolis is Scythopolis, which by another name is called Bethsam, whose place today Nazareth holds. Idumaea likewise, of this same Greater Syria, is the furthest part, facing Egypt.

CAPUT III. Descriptio regionis ejusdem urbi adjacentis, et commoditatum quas praestat.

CHAPTER 3. Description of the region adjacent to that same city, and of the commodities which it affords.

Erat autem praedicta civitas non solum munitissima, ut praediximus, sed etiam fertilitate praecipua, et amoenitate quasi singularis, nam licet in ipso mari sita sit et in modum insulae tota fluctibus ambiatur; habet tamen pro foribus latifundium per omnia commendabile, et planitiem sibi continuam divitis glebae et opimi soli, multas civibus ministrans commoditates; quae, licet modica videatur, respectu aliarum regionum, exiguitatem suam multa redimit ubertate; et infinita jugera multiplici fecunditate compensat. Nec tamen tantis arctatur angustiis; protenditur enim in austrum versus Ptolemaidam, usque ad eum locum qui hodie vulgo dicitur Districtum Scandarionis, milliaribus quatuor aut quinque; e regione in septentrionem, versus Sareptam et Sidonem iterum porrigitur totidem milliaribus; in latitudinem vero, ubi minimum, ad duo; ubi plurimum, ad tria habens milliaria. In hac eadem fontes sunt plurimi, qui perspicuas et salubres emanant aquas; et grata temperie contra immoderatos aestus praestant refrigerium.

The aforesaid city was not only most fortified, as we have said before, but also of outstanding fertility, and in pleasantness as it were singular; for although it is situated in the very sea and, after the manner of an island, is entirely surrounded by waves, yet it has before its doors a broad domain in all respects commendable, and a plain continuous with it of rich glebe and opulent soil, supplying many advantages to the citizens; which, although it may seem modest in comparison with other regions, redeems its smallness by much abundance, and compensates endless acres by manifold fecundity. Nor, however, is it confined by such great straits; for it is extended southward toward Ptolemaïs, as far as the place which today in the common tongue is called the District of Scandarion, for four or five miles; in the opposite direction to the north, toward Sarepta and Sidon, it again stretches for the same number of miles; in breadth, indeed, where least, to two; where most, to three miles. In this same region there are very many springs, which pour forth limpid and healthful waters; and by a pleasing temperateness they provide refreshment against immoderate heats.

Inter quos praestantissimus, et famae titulis celeberrimus, de quo etiam et Salomon in Canticis cecinisse dicitur: Fons hortorum, puteus aquarum viventium, quae fluunt impetu de Libano (Cant. IV, 15). Hic licet in humiliore totius regionis parte fluentorum suorum habeat originem, et non ex montibus, sicut alii plerumque fontes, sed ex ipsis abyssi cataractis scaturire videatur; tamen cura et manu artifice in superas elatus auras, totam circumquaque regionem affluenter irrigat, et suae visitationis beneficio ad usus multiplices reddit fecundam. Erectus est ergo, et in sublime deductus miro opere lapideo, ferri duritiem imitante, ad altitudinem cubitorum decem; et qui in imo situ naturali, non multum poterat esse utilis, artificio contra naturam obtinente factus sublimior, universae regioni se gratum praestat, et ad proventus fructuarios aquas porrigit affluenter.

Among which the most outstanding, and most celebrated with the titles of fame, of whom even Solomon is said to have sung in the Song of Songs: Fountain of gardens, well of living waters, which flow with an impulse from Lebanon (Cant. 4, 15). This one, although he has the origin of his streams in the lower part of the whole region, and not from the mountains, as most other springs, but seems to gush forth from the very cataracts of the abyss; nevertheless, by care and a craftsman’s hand lifted into the upper airs, he abundantly irrigates the whole region round about, and by the benefit of his visitation renders it fruitful for manifold uses. He has therefore been erected, and drawn up on high by a wondrous work of stone, imitating the hardness of iron, to a height of ten cubits; and he who, in the low natural site, could not have been of much use, with art prevailing against nature and having made him loftier, offers himself welcome to the entire region, and stretches forth waters abundantly for fruit-bearing yields.

Accedentibus et facti miraculum volentibus intueri, turris exterius videtur eminentior, nec fontis aliquam praetendit effigiem: ubi vero ad ejus perventum est fastigium, collectarum est videre quasi cumulum aquarum, quae inde per aquaeductus ejusdem altitudinis, sed et mirae soliditatis, ad circumjacentem se transferunt regionem. Praeparata sunt nihilominus ad ejus summum ascendere cupientibus, ascensoria per gradus eadem soliditate lapidea, quibus etiam equites sine difficultate possint ad ejus provehi superiora. Procuratur autem adjacenti regioni ex ejus beneficio miranda commoditas; ita ut non solum hortos, et lignis fructiferis insita, et amoenitate praecipua nutriat pomaria; verum et canamellas, unde pretiosissima usibus et saluti mortalium necessaria maxime, conficitur zachara; unde per institores ad ultimas orbis partes deportatur.

To those drawing near and wishing to behold the miracle of the deed, the tower outwardly appears more eminent, nor does it present any effigy of a fountain; but when one has come to its summit, one may see as it were a heap of collected waters, which from there, through aqueducts of the same height, and of wondrous solidity, are transferred to the region lying around. Nonetheless, for those desiring to ascend to its top, means of ascent have been prepared by steps of the same stony solidity, by which even horsemen can without difficulty be conveyed to its upper parts. Moreover, for the adjacent region there is procured from its benefaction a marvelous convenience; so that it not only nourishes gardens and orchards planted with fruit-bearing trees and of exceptional agreeableness, but also sugar-canes, whence is made sugar, most precious and most especially necessary for the uses and health of mortals; whence through factors it is carried to the farthest parts of the world.

Sed et vitri genus elegantissimum, et in eodem rerum genere facile obtinens principatum, de arena quae in eadem planitie colligitur, mirabiliter conficitur, quod inde ad remotas etiam delatum provincias, aptam vasis mirabilibus, et perspicua sinceritate praecipuis materiam praebet; unde et nomen urbis longe ad exteras nationes porrigitur celebre et multiplici fenore lucrum accrescit institoribus. Nec solum his commoditatibus, verum et munitione incomparabili praedita erat civitas, sicut in sequentibus dicetur: unde ob id quod munitissima erat, tantisque commoditatibus abundans, Aegyptiorum principi, omnium fere potentissimo, qui omnem regionem a Laodicia Syriae usque in arentem Libyam libero possidebat imperio, grata erat et accepta, et eam quasi regnorum suorum robur et domicilium suum reputans, victu, armis et viris armipotentibus diligenter communierat, arbitrans reliqui corporis in tuto partes consistere, si capitis salutem inviolatam posset conservare.

But also a most elegant kind of glass, easily holding the principate in the same class of things, is wondrously manufactured from the sand that is gathered on the same plain; which, carried even to remote provinces, provides material fit for marvelous vessels, and, by its perspicuous purity, for things of the first rank; whence too the city’s name is extended far to foreign nations as renowned, and profit with manifold interest accrues to the dealers. Nor was the city endowed only with these conveniences, but also with incomparable fortification, as will be said in what follows: wherefore, because it was most strongly fortified and abounded with such amenities, it was pleasing and acceptable to the prince of the Egyptians, almost the most powerful of all, who held in free dominion the whole region from Laodicea of Syria as far as arid Libya; and reckoning it, as it were, the strength of his realms and his own domicile, he had diligently furnished it with victuals, arms, and men mighty in arms, thinking that the parts of the remaining body would stand in safety, if he could preserve inviolate the safety of the head.

CAPUT IV. Quod saepius priscis temporibus obsessa fuerit.

CHAPTER 4. That in earlier times it was more frequently besieged.

Igitur XV Kal. Martii, ut praediximus, uterque noster exercitus ad praedictam applicuit civitatem, et eam quantum potuit, obsidione vallavit. Sita autem est haec eadem civitas, juxta verbum prophetae, in corde maris (Ezech.

Therefore on February 15, as we have foretold, both our armies reached the aforesaid city, and, as far as they could, encompassed it with a siege. Now this same city is situated, according to the word of the prophet, in the heart of the sea (Ezech.

XXVII, 3) , ita ut pelago undique ambiatur, nisi in modico spatio, quantum arcus sagittam jaculari possit. Tradunt seniores, eam aliquando insulam, et a solida terra omnino separatam fuisse; sed obsidens eam aliquando Assyriorum potentissimus princeps Nabuchodonosor, voluit eam solo continuare, sed opus non consummavit: hujus quoque obsidionis Ezechiel propheta memoriam facit, dicens: Ecce ego adducam ad Tyrum Nabuchodonosor, regem Babylonis ab Aquilone, regem regum, cum equis et curribus et equitibus, et coetu populoque magno: filias tuas quae sunt in agro, gladio interficiet, et circumdabit te munitionibus, et comportabit in gyro, et levabit contra te clypeum et lanceam (Ezech. XXVI, 7), et caetera.

27, 3) , so that it is surrounded on all sides by the sea, except in a small span, as far as a bow can hurl an arrow. The elders hand down that it was once an island, and entirely separated from the solid land; but when at one time the most powerful prince of the Assyrians, Nebuchadnezzar, was besieging it, he wished to connect it to the mainland, but he did not complete the work: of this siege too the prophet Ezekiel makes mention, saying: Behold, I will bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon from the North, king of kings, with horses and chariots and horsemen, and with a concourse and a great people: your daughters who are in the field he shall slay with the sword, and he shall surround you with fortifications, and he shall heap up around, and he shall lift against you shield and spear (Ezech. 26, 7), and the rest.

Hujus obsidionis in decimo libro Antiquitatum Josephus memoriam facit, dicens: Sed etiam Diocles in secundo Coloniarum libro meminit hujus regis. Et Philostratus in Indicis et Phoenicibus historiis dicit: Quia rex iste obsedit Tyrum annis tribus, et mensibus decem, cum illo tempore in Tyro regnabat Joatabalus. Post eum vero Alexander Macedo, continuavit eam solo, et continuatam violenter occupavit. Cujus obsidionis idem Josephus in undecimo libro Antiquitatum memoriam facit, dicens: Alexander autem ad Syriam veniens, Damascum cepit, et subjugata Sidone, Tyrum obsidebat. Et infra: Quapropter in obsidione intentius perseverans, expugnavit: cumque eam cepisset, ad civitatem Gazam pervenit. Et infra: Septem autem mensibus in obsidione transactis, et duobus in Gaza, Sanabala mortuus est. Obsederat autem et eam prius Salmanasar, et invaserat Phoenicen universam.

Of this siege Josephus makes mention in the tenth book of the Antiquities, saying: But even Diocles, in the second book of the Colonies, makes mention of this king. And Philostratus in the histories of the Indians and the Phoenicians says: That this king besieged Tyre for three years and ten months, when at that time Joatabalus was reigning in Tyre. After him indeed Alexander the Macedonian connected it to the mainland, and, once connected, seized it violently. Of whose siege the same Josephus makes mention in the eleventh book of the Antiquities, saying: But Alexander, coming to Syria, took Damascus, and, Sidon having been subjugated, was besieging Tyre. And below: Wherefore, persevering more intently in the siege, he took it by storm; and when he had taken it, he reached the city Gaza. And below: But, seven months having been spent in the siege, and two in Gaza, Sanabala died. Moreover, Shalmaneser also had previously besieged it, and had invaded all Phoenicia.

De hoc autem memoriam facit Josephus in nono libro Antiquitatum dicens: Pugnavit enim adversus Tyrum, cum in ea regnaret Elisaeus; de quibus testatur et Menander, qui temporum facta conscripsit, et Tyriorum antiquitatem in Graecam linguam convertens, sic ait: Elisaeus nomine, regnavit annis triginta sex: hic recedentibus Cuthaeis navigans reduxit eos, contra quos denuo Salmanasar Assyriorum rex insurgens, cunctam Phoenicem bellis invasit; qui facta pace cum omnibus, post terga sua reversus est. Recessit autem a Tyro civitas Sidon, et Arche, et antiqua Tyrus, et multae aliae urbes, quae semetipsas Assyriorum regi tradiderunt: quapropter Tyriis non subjectis, denuo rex adversus eos egressus est, Phoenicibus exhibentibus ei naves sexaginta, et remiges octoginta: contra quos Tyrii navigantes in duodecim navibus, dispersis hostium navibus, cepere captivos viros quingentos, unde honor Tyriorum propter hoc crevit eximie. Revertens autem Assyriorum rex, disposuit custodias super fluvium et aquaeductus civium, ut Tyrios haurire pocula prohiberet; et dum hoc quinque annis fuisset factum, tulerunt de effossis puteis bibentes aquam.

Concerning this Josephus makes mention in the ninth book of the Antiquities, saying: For he fought against Tyre, when Elisaeus was reigning in it; and Menander also bears witness to these things, he who compiled the deeds of the times and, translating the antiquity of the Tyrians into the Greek language, thus says: A man by the name Elisaeus reigned for 36 years; this man, when the Cuthaeans had withdrawn, sailing, brought them back; against whom, rising up anew, Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, invaded all Phoenicia with wars; who, peace having been made with all, turned back again. But from Tyre there defected the city of Sidon, and Arche, and Old Tyre, and many other cities, which surrendered themselves to the king of the Assyrians; wherefore, the Tyrians not being subjected, the king again went out against them, the Phoenicians furnishing him with 60 ships and 80 oarsmen; against whom the Tyrians, sailing in 12 ships, after scattering the ships of the enemy, took 500 men captive, whence the honor of the Tyrians grew exceedingly on this account. Returning, however, the king of the Assyrians stationed guards over the river and the aqueducts of the citizens, in order to prohibit the Tyrians from drawing draughts of water; and while this had been done for five years, they took drinking water from dug wells.

Haec in archivis Tyriorum de Salmanasar Assyriorum rege scripta sunt.

These things are written in the archives of the Tyrians about Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians.

CAPUT V. Describitur civitas; et status civium et conditio aperitur.

CHAPTER 5. The city is described; and the status of the citizens and the condition are laid open.

Sic ergo, ut diximus, quasi insula est praefata civitas, procellosum circa se habens mare, latentibus scopulis et nimia inaequalitate periculosum; ita ut peregrinis et ignaris locorum, ad urbem navigantibus periculosum sit accedere; et nisi ducem habeant, qui adjacentis maris habeat notitiam, non nisi cum naufragio urbi possunt appropinquare. Erat autem ex parte maritima per circuitum muro clausa gemino, turres habens altitudinis congruae proportionaliter distantes. Ab oriente vero, unde est per terras accessus, muro clausa triplici, cum turribus mirae altitudinis, densis admodum, et prope se contingentibus.

Thus then, as we have said, the aforesaid city is as it were an island, having around it a stormy sea, dangerous with hidden reefs and with excessive unevenness; so that for foreigners and those ignorant of the places, sailing to the city, it is dangerous to approach; and unless they have a pilot who has knowledge of the adjoining sea, they cannot draw near to the city except with shipwreck. Moreover, on the maritime side it was enclosed all around by a double wall, having towers of suitable height, proportionally spaced. But from the east, whence there is access by land, it was enclosed by a triple wall, with towers of wondrous height, very dense and almost contiguous with one another.

Praeterea et vallum late patens, per quod facile ejus cives possent mare introducere in alterutrum. A parte vero septentrionali portus civitatis interior, inter turres geminas habet ostium, infra moenia tamen receptus; nam exterius insula fluctibus objecta, aestuantis pelagi primos frangens impetus, inter se et solum tutam navibus praebet stationem, ventis inaccessam, soli tamen obnoxiam aquiloni. Classe ergo in eam partem inducta, et in tranquillo locata, exercituque pomeria urbi vicina tenente, castris quoque per circuitum collocatis, exitus introitusque civibus negant, et solis moenibus cogunt esse contentos.

Moreover, there is also a broadly spreading vallum, through which its citizens could easily bring the sea into either side. But on the northern side the city’s inner port has an entrance between twin towers, yet received within the walls; for outside, an island set against the waves, breaking the first assaults of the heaving sea, between itself and the mainland offers ships a safe station, inaccessible to the winds, yet liable only to the north wind. Therefore, with the fleet brought into that part and set in calm water, and the army holding the outskirts near the city, and with camps also placed all around, they deny the citizens exit and entrance, and force them to be content with the walls alone.

Erat autem praedicta civitas duos habens dominos; nam aegyptius Calipha tanquam major dominus, duas habebat ejus portiones; Damascenorum vero regi, quia vicinior erat, ne eam molestaret, imo etiam ut in necessitatibus civium, eis auxilii sui ministraret suffragia, tertiam concessit. Erant autem in ea cives nobiles et pecuniosi valde, quippe qui continuis navigationibus universas pene mediterraneo mari adjacentes provincias, gratia commerciorum, peregrinis mercibus et multiplicibus divitiis urbem repleverant. Confugerant ad eam praeterea, intuitu munitionis ejus, de Caesarea, Ptolemaida, Sidone, Biblio, Tripoli et aliis maritimis urbibus, quae in nostram jam devenerant potestatem, cives inclyti et locupletes, ibique domicilia multa sibi pretio comparaverant: impossibile penitus arbitrantes, quod urbs tam munita in nostrorum ditionem, aliquo casu posset descendere.

Now the aforesaid city had two lords; for the Egyptian Caliph, as the greater lord, held two portions of it; but to the king of the Damascenes, because he was nearer—lest he should molest it, nay rather, even that in the necessities of the citizens he might supply the aid of his support—he granted the third. Moreover, in it there were citizens very noble and very wealthy, who, by continual voyagings, for the sake of commerce, had filled the city with foreign wares and manifold riches from nearly all the provinces adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea. Besides, in view of its fortification, renowned and well-to-do citizens had fled to it from Caesarea, Ptolemais, Sidon, Byblus, Tripoli, and the other maritime cities which had already come into our power, and there had purchased many dwellings for themselves at a price: judging it utterly impossible that so fortified a city could, by any chance, descend into our dominion.

Unicum enim et singulare totius regionis, sicuti etiam est hodie, videbatur esse praesidium, et robur incomparabile.

For it seemed to be the unique and singular safeguard of the whole region, as indeed it is today, and an incomparable strength.

CAPUT VI. Locatur obsessio, et principibus in ea parte designantur; et civitas hostiliter impugnatur.

CHAPTER 6. The siege is laid, and the princes are designated for that part; and the city is attacked in hostile fashion.

Compositis ergo sarcinis et rebus ad quamdam commoditatem locatis, juxta portum naves universas educunt ad siccum, excepta una galea, quae semper ad suspectos casus, qui emergere poterant, erat parata: quo facto, ducto vallo profundo convenienter a mari superiori ad inferius, universum claudunt exercitum. Tunc sumpta de navibus conveniente materia, unde secum Veneti multam detulerant copiam, convocatis artificibus, varii generis erigunt machinas. Dominus sane patriarcha cum regni principibus, vicem domini regis obtinens, lignorum caesores et architecturae peritos convocans, subjecta pro votis materia, castellum aedificari praecipit multae altitudinis: unde cum his qui in turribus erant, pugnari posset quasi cominus, et urbem totam liceret intueri.

Therefore, with the packs arranged and the things placed to a certain convenience, they draw out all the ships onto the dry ground near the port, one galley excepted, which was always prepared for suspicious contingencies that could emerge: this done, with a deep rampart drawn suitably from the upper sea to the lower, they enclose the whole army. Then, taking from the ships suitable material, of which the Venetians had brought with them a great supply, the craftsmen having been called together, they set up machines of various kinds. The lord patriarch, indeed, with the princes of the realm, holding the place of the lord king, summoning woodcutters and those skilled in architecture, with material supplied according to desire, orders a castle of great height to be built, whence, with those who were in the towers, it might be possible to fight as if at close quarters, and it were permitted to look upon the whole city.

Machinas nihilominus jaculatorias fabricari praecepit, quibus magnis molaribus turres et moenia concutiantur, et civibus terror inferatur. Dux etiam cum suis partem regiam aemulantes, ejusdem generis erigunt machinas, locisque competentibus componunt erectas. Instant ergo coepto, cum omni sollicitudine, operi, et propositum urgent non deficientes ab incepto; sed magis ac magis accensi, cives arctant, et de machinis urbi molestias inferunt incessanter.

Nevertheless he ordered hurling machines to be fabricated, by which with great millstones the towers and ramparts might be shaken, and terror be brought upon the citizens. The duke also, with his men emulating the royal party, raised engines of the same kind, and set them up, erected, in suitable places. They press on therefore with the undertaking, with all solicitude, and they urge the plan, not falling away from what was begun; but rather, more and more enkindled, they hem in the citizens, and from the machines bring vexations upon the city incessantly.

Assultibus quoque et congressionibus assiduis, obsessis requiem negant. Cives nihilominus ut se tueantur solliciti, cuncta discutiunt, ut a se nostrorum propulsent injurias et hostibus damna inferant. Erigunt ergo ipsi de intus e regione machinas, et saxis ingentibus earum jactu libratis, castella nostra sine intermissione cedunt; et circa ea regionem, timore molarium emissorum, ita sibi vindicant propriam, ut nemo de nostris ibi auderet immorari; sed et eos quibus conservandi machinas sors dederat necessitatem, ut non nisi cum cursu celerrimo ad eas auderent accedere, nec in eis nisi cum maximo discrimine commorari.

By assaults too and assiduous engagements, they deny the besieged any repose. The citizens nonetheless, solicitous to defend themselves, examine everything, so that they may repel from themselves the injuries of our men and inflict damages upon the enemy. They therefore themselves raise engines on the inside, opposite, and by hurling huge stones, their casts well-balanced, our towers give way without intermission; and the region around them, for fear of the millstones sent forth, they so vindicate as their own, that none of ours would dare to linger there; nay, even those whom the lot had assigned the necessity of preserving the engines would not dare to approach them except at the swiftest run, nor to tarry in them except with the greatest peril.

Qui autem in excelsis turribus erant constituti, arcubus et balistis tantam inferebant his, qui in castellis et circa machinas eos impugnabant, jaculorum et sagittarum multitudinem, tantoque instabant saxorum pugillarium jactu, ut vix etiam manus auderent exerere. Nostri etiam qui in castellis erant, aequipollenter nimis ictus ictibus recompensantes, vim vi repellentes, tantam his qui in turribus et supra muros erant positi, ingerebant laboris necessitatem, ut saepius in die permutati, belli pondus sustinere non possent. Qui autem in machinis erant, docentibus his qui jaculandi peritiam erant assecuti, tantis viribus, tantoque conamine ingentia torquebant saxa, ut muris illisa, vel turribus, universa concuterent et pene traherent in ruinam.

But those who had been stationed on the lofty towers, with bows and ballistae, were bringing upon those who in the castles and around the machines attacked them such a multitude of javelins and arrows, and pressed so hard with the casting of fist-sized stones, that they scarcely even dared to put forth their hands. Our men also who were in the castles, matching blows with blows in equal measure—indeed overmuch—and repelling force by force, were imposing such a necessity of toil upon those posted in the towers and upon the walls that, being changed more often in a day, they could not bear the weight of war. But those who were at the engines, with instruction from men who had attained expertise in hurling, were twisting forth and hurling huge stones with such force and such exertion that, dashed against the walls or the towers, they shook the whole and almost dragged it into ruin.

Excitabatur de collisis lapidibus et caemento dissoluto pulvis tam immensus, ut his qui in moenibus et supra turres erant, quasi nubes interposita, nostrorum negaret aspectum. Si qui autem de missis lapidibus turres aut moenia praeteribant, in urbem cum impetu lapsi, aedificia magna cum habitatoribus in minuta redigebant fragmenta. Qui autem in campo, tam pedites quam equites praeliabantur, animose viriliterque singulis pene diebus cum his, qui de urbe ad pugnam egrediebantur, conserebant; nostris plerumque, interiores ad committendum irritantibus; civibus nonnunquam, sponte etiam, in obsidentes facientibus irruptiones.

So immense a dust was stirred up from the collided stones and the dissolved cement, that to those who were on the walls and atop the towers, as if an interposed cloud, it denied a view of our men. But if any of the hurled stones passed by the towers or the walls, slipping into the city with impetus, they reduced great buildings with their inhabitants into minute fragments. Those, however, who were fighting in the field, both infantry and cavalry, boldly and manfully almost every single day engaged with those who were going out from the city to the fight; our men for the most part provoking those inside to commit to engagement; the citizens sometimes, even of their own accord, making sallies against the besiegers.

CAPUT VII. Damasceni qui in civitate erant, resistunt animosius; civibus aliquantulum remissis.

CHAPTER 7. The Damascenes who were in the city resist more spiritedly; the citizens being somewhat remiss.

Cum igitur ita diebus singulis, ancipiti Marte, nostri nunc de machinis, nunc circa portam cum civibus experirentur, et quanta poterant instantia sese mutuo provocarent: vocatus a regni principibus cum honesto comitatu adfuit dominus Pontius Tripolitanus comes; in cujus adventu nostrorum visae sunt vires quasi geminatae, multiplicata audacia; hostibus vero e converso illata formido, et quasi desperatio resistendi. Erant autem in eadem civitate de Damascenis equites septingenti, qui civibus nobilibus, mollibus et delicatis, et in re militari non multum exercitatis, sui exemplo animos ad resistendum ministrabant, et in seipsis prompto animo suffragia debita largiebantur. Tamen hi etiam videntes nostrorum vires et conatus singulis diebus in melius proficere, opes vero civium sensim comminui, vires quotidie periclitari, fieri coeperunt tepidiores, et onus quod portare non poterant, sapienter declinare; ita tamen, ut nec civibus deditionem persuaderent, nec multum de viribus praesumendum esse hortarentur.

Accordingly, as day by day, with the fortune of war hanging in the balance, our men now from the engines, now around the gate, were engaging with the citizens, and with as much urgency as they could were provoking one another in turn: summoned by the princes of the realm, Lord Pons, Count of Tripoli, arrived with an honorable retinue; at whose coming our men’s forces seemed as if doubled, their audacity multiplied; but to the foes, conversely, there was brought dread, and as it were a despair of resisting. There were moreover in that same city seven hundred knights of the Damascenes, who to the citizens—noble, soft and delicate, and not much exercised in the military art—by their own example supplied courage for resistance, and in themselves, with ready spirit, were lavishing the due supports. Nevertheless these too, seeing that our men’s strength and endeavors were advancing for the better each day, but the citizens’ resources were little by little being diminished, and their powers daily imperiled, began to become cooler, and wisely to decline the burden which they could not carry; yet in such a way that they neither persuaded the citizens to surrender, nor encouraged them to presume much upon their strength.

Porro in civitatem, sicut hodie etiam est, unicus erat introitus, et porta singularis; nam, ut praediximus, civitas tota quasi insula, fretis undique ambitur, excepto loco quodam angusto, per quem est accessus ad portam, in quo sine intermissione tam equitum quam peditum erant conflictus varii, sicut in hujusmodi solet contingere plerumque eventu.

Furthermore, into the city, as even today it is, there was a single entrance and a single gate; for, as we have said before, the whole city, as if an island, is encompassed on every side by straits, except for a certain narrow place through which there is access to the gate, in which, without intermission, there were various conflicts both of cavalry and of infantry, as usually happens in cases of this kind.

CAPUT VIII. Ascalonitae Hierosolymam accedunt, ut urbem impugnent; sed in reditu a civibus male tractantur.

CHAPTER 8. The Ascalonites approach Jerusalem, to assail the city; but on the return they are badly treated by the citizens.

Interea dum haec apud Tyrum aguntur, Ascalonitae videntes regnum militiae viribus desolatum, omneque robur regionis apud Tyrum in obsidione detineri, sumpta occasione ex tempore cum universa militia, transcursa planitie, quae media jacet, ad montes, in quibus Hierosolyma sita est, festinanter properant; arbitrantes praedictam urbem felicissimam, vacuam reperire; et de ejus habitatoribus aliquos incautius egredientes, secum posse trahere captivos. Accedentes ergo ex improviso nimis, quosdam de civibus per agros et vineas improvide se habentes, occiderunt, circiter octo. Cives autem, etsi pauci numero, tamen fide ferventes, zelo justissimo pro patria, pro liberis et uxoribus succensi, armis correptis, urbem egrediuntur, unanimiter hostibus occurrentes.

Meanwhile, while these things are being transacted at Tyre, the Ascalonites, seeing the realm bereft of the strength of its soldiery, and all the might of the region being detained at Tyre in the siege, taking occasion from the moment, with the whole soldiery, the plain which lies between having been traversed, hasten in haste to the mountains in which Jerusalem is situated; thinking to find the aforesaid most fortunate city empty, and that of its inhabitants they could draw off with them as captives some who might go out incautiously. Approaching therefore very unexpectedly, they killed certain of the citizens, behaving incautiously through the fields and vineyards, about eight. But the citizens, though few in number, yet fervent in faith, inflamed with the most just zeal for fatherland, for children and wives, having snatched up arms, go out of the city, meeting the enemies with one mind.

Et cum trium horarum spatio se mutuo conspexissent, nostris non audentibus in eos irruere, cum non nisi pedites haberent: videntes Ascalonitae, quod ibi non possent absque periculo moram facere: nec erat tutum cum gente obstinata, atque ad resistendum animosius praeparata, juxta urbem congredi, parant reditum cum velocitate. Nostri autem eos cautius aliquantulum insecuti, retentis ex hostium equis decem et septem, de militibus quatuor, quadraginta duos ex eis interficiunt: consummatoque feliciter negotio, cum plena sospitate domum reversi sunt.

And when, in the space of three hours, they had caught sight of one another, our men not daring to rush upon them, since they had nothing but infantry: the Ascalonites, seeing that they could not make a delay there without danger, and that it was not safe to engage near the city with a people obstinate and more spiritedly prepared to resist, made ready their return with celerity. Our men, however, pursuing them somewhat cautiously, having detained seventeen of the enemies’ horses and four of their men-at-arms, kill forty-two of them: and, the business happily consummated, they returned home with complete safety.

CAPUT IX. Rex Damascenorum Doldequinus, ut solvat obsidionem accedit; nostri occurrunt; ille territus, a proposito discedit.

CHAPTER 9. Doldequinus, king of the Damascenes, comes to dissolve the siege; our men meet him; he, terrified, departs from his purpose.

At Tyrenses interea crebris vigiliis, assiduis conflictibus, et labore continuo fatigati, rarius accedunt ad praelia, remissius occurrunt officiis sibi deputatis: stupentes supra modum, quod civitas, quae singulis pene diebus cum terrestri tum marino populorum frequentabatur accessu; omnibusque commodis utroque accessu consueverat cumulari, in tam arcto sederet posita, ut neque civibus, neque exteris introitus pateret aut exitus; quodque victus deficeret, et alimoniarum jam pene nullum esset residuum. Habito consilio ad aegyptium Calipham et Damascenorum regem scribunt epistolas, monentes et deprecantes anxie, quatenus rebus eorum jam pene desperatis, mature subveniant: instantiam significant hostium, et vires et animos singulis diebus ampliores; suorum defectum, alimentorum inopiam, angustias importabiles. Quo facto, in spem erecti aliquantulam, praedictorum principum praestolantes subsidia, ad resistendum pro more solito se invitant.

But the Tyrians meanwhile, wearied by frequent vigils, assiduous conflicts, and continuous labor, more rarely come up to battles, more slackly attend to the duties deputed to them: astonished beyond measure that the city, which on almost every single day was frequented by the access of peoples both by land and by sea, and had been accustomed to be heaped up with all commodities by either access, should sit set in so narrow a strait, that neither for citizens nor for outsiders was entrance or exit lying open; and that sustenance was failing, and of aliments almost none was left. Counsel having been taken, they write epistles to the Egyptian Caliph and the king of the Damascenes, admonishing and anxiously beseeching, that, since their affairs were now almost desperate, they would maturely succor: they signify the instancy of the foes, and that their forces and spirits are greater with each day; the failure of their own, the want of foodstuffs, insupportable straits. This done, raised into some small hope, awaiting the subsidies of the aforesaid princes, they exhort themselves to resist in their accustomed manner.

Et, licet ex eis plures lethaliter saucii, pugnare ipsi non possent, alios tamen verbis quibus possunt ad resistendum hortantur. Nuntiatur interea, quod Damascenorum rex Doldequinus obsessorum epistolis et legatione motus, cum innumera Turcorum manu, et copiosissimo equitatu a finibus Damascenis egressus, in dioecesi Tyria, secus fluvium castrametatus fuerat. Erat autem idem fluvius a civitate Tyrensi, vix quatuor distans milliaribus.

And although several of them were mortally wounded and they themselves could not fight, yet they exhort others to resist with such words as they can. Meanwhile it is reported that Doldequinus, king of the Damascenes, moved by the epistles and the legation of the besieged, having gone forth from the Damascene borders with an innumerable band of Turks and a most copious cavalry, had encamped in the Tyrian diocese, along the river. Now that same river was scarcely four miles distant from the city of Tyre.

Dicebatur etiam, quod classis Aegyptia, major solito et armatis instructior, civibus deferens et subsidia militum, et victui necessaria, intra triduum esset adfutura. Asserebatur nihilominus, Damascenorum regem, et militum majora praestolari suffragia; et ad hoc fluminis transitum, et cum nostris congressum prudenter differre, donec classis veniat, ut eo nobiscum dimicante, classis liberum et sine difficultate ad urbem habeat accessum. Quo audito, nostri communicato consilio et partibus provida deliberatione libratis, optimum ducunt, universum exercitum in tres partes dividere, ita ut equites omnes et stipendiarii pedites, una cum domino comite Tripolitano, et domino Willelmo de Buris, regio constabulario et regni negotiorum procuratore, de castris egrediantur; et cum opus fuerit Damasceno occurrant, cum eo auctore Domino pugnaturi; dux autem cum suis galeas conscendant, et classi advenienti occurrentes, cum eis belli tentent fortunam, et tanquam viri strenui, gladiis viriliter experiantur; cives autem, qui de universis regni urbibus ad eamdem obsidionem convenerant, cum parte Venetorum maxima, machinas et castella vigilanter servent; et ita efficiant, ut et de castellis non remittatur manus pugnantium, nec machinae desinant solitos impulsus importunius inferre, et ante portam indeficiens habeatur conflictus.

It was also being said that the Egyptian fleet, greater than usual and better furnished with armed men, bringing to the citizens both reinforcements of soldiers and the things necessary for sustenance, would arrive within three days. Nevertheless it was asserted that the king of the Damascenes too was awaiting greater suffrages of soldiers; and to this end he was prudently deferring the crossing of the river and an engagement with our men until the fleet should come, so that, with him fighting with us, the fleet might have free access to the city without difficulty. On hearing this, our men, counsel having been shared and the sides weighed with provident deliberation, deem it best to divide the whole army into three parts, in such a way that all the knights and the stipendiary foot-soldiers, together with the lord Count of Tripoli and lord William of Bures, the royal constable and procurator of the kingdom’s affairs, should go out from the camp; and, when need shall be, should meet the Damascene, going to fight with him, with the Lord as author. But the duke with his men should board the galleys and, meeting the arriving fleet, should try the fortune of war with them and, as strenuous men, make manly trial with swords. But the citizens, who from all the cities of the kingdom had gathered to that same siege, together with the greater part of the Venetians, should vigilantly guard the engines and the towers; and so bring it about that neither from the towers is the hand of the fighters remitted, nor do the machines cease to inflict their accustomed assaults more importunately, and that before the gate an unflagging conflict be maintained.

Placuit verbum universis, et statim sicuti videbatur expedire, effectui mancipatur. Egressi sunt enim comes Tripolitanus, et regius constabularius, cum universa militia hostibus obviam; et cum processissent quasi ad duo milliaria, hostes nullatenus ausi sunt comparere. Certum tamen erat, quod secus fluvium praedictum castra locaverat Doldequinus, ab initio cor gerens et animum transeundi; sed audiens nostros, quorumdam relatione, tam prudenti usos consilio, periculosum ducit cum viris tam prudentibus, tamque strenuis temere dimicare; sed tubis clangentibus suos convocat, imperat ad propria regressum.

The plan pleased everyone, and straightway, just as it seemed expedient, it is delivered to effect. For the Count of Tripoli and the royal constable went out with the whole soldiery to meet the enemy; and when they had advanced about two miles, the foes did not at all dare to appear. It was certain, however, that Doldequin had pitched his camp along the aforesaid river, from the beginning bearing the heart and mind to cross; but, hearing by the report of some that our men had used so prudent a counsel, he deems it perilous to contend temerariously with men so prudent and so strenuous; and so, the trumpets blaring, he summons his men and orders a return to their own quarters.

Dux autem classe instructa et parata, usque Alexandrium descendit; qui locus a praedicta civitate quasi sex distat milliaribus, qui hodie vulgari appellatione dicitur Scandarium. Cognoscentes autem, quod rex Damascenorum ad propria remeasset et quod classis exspectatae nullum comparebat signum, iterum repositis in littore galeis, omnes in castra se recipiunt, et civium impugnationi vehementius instant.

The duke, however, with the fleet equipped and prepared, went down as far as Alexandrium; which place is distant from the aforesaid city about 6 miles, which today by the common appellation is called Scandarium. Learning, however, that the king of the Damascenes had returned to his own domains, and that no sign of the expected fleet appeared, again, the galleys having been set back upon the shore, all withdraw to the camp, and they press more vehemently upon the assault of the citizens.

CAPUT X. Cives in nostra machinas ignem adhibent, nostri resistunt viriliter. Ab Antiochia quidam jaculandi habens peritiam, a nostris evocatur.

CHAPTER 10. The citizens apply fire against our machines; our men resist manfully. From Antioch a certain man, possessing expertise in dart-throwing, is summoned by our men.

Factum est autem una die, quod quidam juvenes de civitate, ut se in populo suo commendabiliores redderent et perennem sibi acquirerent apud posteros gloriam, mutuo se obligantes compromiserunt, quod clam ad nostra castra egredientes, machinas et nostra castella succenderent. Quod verbum effectui mancipantes, clam ab urbe egredientes, incendium machinae, quae nobis utilior erat, supposuerunt. Quod videntes nostri, ad arma convolant, et aquis copiose ministratis, ignibus tentant resistere.

Now it came to pass on one day, that certain youths from the city, in order to render themselves more commendable among their own people and to acquire for themselves a perennial glory with posterity, mutually obligating themselves, made a compact that, going out secretly to our camp, they would set fire to the engines and to our field-forts. Putting their word into effect, going out secretly from the city, they applied fire beneath the engine which was more useful to us. Which when our men saw, they rush to arms, and, waters being copiously supplied, they attempt to resist the fires.

Factumque est ibi quiddam admiratione et relatione dignum. Quidam enim juvenis probitatis eximiae et admirandae virtutis, videns machinam succensam, constanter ascendit super eam, et aquas porrectas desuper infundebat. Quod videntes qui in turribus erant, arcus habentes et balistas, omnes in eum manus dirigunt; jacientesque certatim in eum, qui positus erat quasi signum ad sagittam, operam consumpserunt; nam tota illa die in propria carne nullam sensit penitus laesionem.

And there took place there something worthy of admiration and of relation. For a certain youth of exceptional probity and admirable virtue, seeing the engine set on fire, steadfastly climbed up upon it and poured down from above the waters that were proffered. Seeing this, those who were in the towers, having bows and ballistas, all aimed their hands at him; and, casting at him in rivalry—he who was set, as it were, a target for the arrow—they expended their effort; for throughout that whole day he felt utterly no lesion in his own flesh.

Qui autem ignem subjecerant, a nostris comprehensi, omnes ultore gladio confossi, suis cernentibus interierunt. Porro videntes nostri, quod machina interior lapides magnae quantitatis, in castella nostra ita directe jacularetur; et quod utrumque ex magna parte laeserat; quodque non esset in castris qui dirigendi machinas et torquendi lapides, plenam haberet peritiam, vocantes quemdam de Antiochia, Armenium natione, Havedic nomine, qui in ea facultate dicebatur instructissimus, subito receperunt eum; qui tanta arte in dirigendo machinas et ex eis missos molares contorquendo utebatur, ut quidquid ei pro signo deputaretur, id statim sine difficultate contereret. Qui postquam ad exercitum pervenit, designatum est ei honestum de publico salalarium, unde se pro modo suo magnifice poterat exhibere; tantaque deinceps operi ad quod vocatus est institit diligentia, tantaque arte usus est in facto, ut non solum civibus continuatum, sed de novo videretur bellum illatum, et molestiae duplicatae in ejus adventu.

But those who had applied the fire, seized by our men, all were run through by the avenging sword and perished with their own looking on. Moreover, our men, seeing that the inner engine was hurling stones of great size so directly against our castles; and that it had grievously damaged both; and that there was in the camp no one who had full expertise in directing the machines and in twisting (torsion-hurling) the stones, calling a certain man from Antioch, an Armenian by nation, named Havedic, who was said to be most instructed in that faculty, forthwith received him; and he used such art in aiming the engines and in hurling the millstones launched from them, that whatever might be assigned to him as a mark, that he would immediately crush without difficulty. After he reached the army, an honorable salary from the public funds was assigned to him, whereby he could display himself magnificently according to his station; and thereafter he applied himself to the work to which he was called with such diligence, and used such art in the deed, that to the citizens war seemed not only continued but newly brought upon them, and the annoyances doubled at his advent.

CAPUT XI. Balac apud Hierapolim occiditur: quo rumore audito, noster exercitus fit hilarior, et ad impugnandam urbem insistunt animosius.

CHAPTER 11. Balac is slain at Hierapolis: when this rumor was heard, our army becomes more cheerful, and they press on more spiritedly to assault the city.

Dum haec Tyri aguntur, Balac, potentissimus Turcorum satrapa, in cujus vinculis dominus rex tenebatur, civitatem Hierapolim obsidet; dumque in obsidione perseveraret, vocavit ad se ejusdem civitatis dominum, verbis pacificis in dolo; qui simplex et nimium credulus, verbis illius fidem habens, suam statim exhibuit praesentiam; quem ante se constitutum, Balac statim praecepit decollari. Audiens ergo Joscelinus senior, comes Edessanus, quod Balac civitatem sibi vicinam obsideret, timensque ne priore domino expulso, durior ei pararetur adversarius, convocata tum ex partibus Antiochenis, tum ex suis ingenti militia, ei obviam ire festinat; inventoque ejus exercitu, agminibus suis in acies ordinatis, repente irruit super eum; conversoque in fugam ejus exercitu, ipsum casu obvium habuit; quem gladio transverberans, ad terram dejecit, dejectoque caput amputavit, nesciens tamen quod hic esset princeps exercitus. Hic plane manifestam habuit ejusdem Balac somnii interpretationem; nam vere oculos dici potest quis illi eruisse, cujus caput amputans, videndi vivendique finem indicit.

While these things are being transacted at Tyre, Balac, the most powerful satrap of the Turks, in whose chains the lord king was held, besieges the city Hierapolis; and while he was persevering in the siege, he called to himself the lord of the same city, with pacific words in deceit; who, simple and too credulous, giving faith to his words, straightway exhibited his presence; whom, once set before him, Balac straightway commanded to be beheaded. Therefore hearing, Joscelin the elder, Count of Edessa, that Balac was besieging a city neighboring to him, and fearing lest, the former lord having been driven out, a harsher adversary be prepared for him, having convoked both from the Antiochene parts and from his own a huge militia, he hastens to go to meet him; and having found his army, with his columns ordered into a battle-line, he suddenly rushes upon him; and with his army turned to flight, he by chance had the man himself in his way; and, transfixing him with the sword, he cast him to the ground, and, when he was cast down, he cut off the head, not knowing, however, that this was the prince of the army. Here plainly he had the manifest interpretation of that same Balac’s dream; for truly he can be said to have dug out his eyes, who, by cutting off his head, proclaims an end to seeing and living.

Statimque sicut vir circumspectissimus erat, et cui nihil ad plenam deerat experientiam, ejusdem principis caput, ut nostros de sua prosperitate exhilaresceret et victoria, per quemdam adolescentem dirigit, et per Antiochiam, ut nec hos nec illos tanti successus sineret esse expertes, ad nostrum praecipit exercitum festinare; qui adveniens corda satiavit universorum, et in supremam erexit laetitiam. Dominus vero comes Tripolitanus Pontius, qui in ea expeditione cum suis domino patriarchae, et aliis principibus, tanquam unus de vernaculis, obediens semper exstitit, et ad publica negotia humiliter expeditus ob reverentiam domini comitis, qui eum miserat, et tantae legationis dignitatem, ad equestrem promovit ordinem, arma ei conferens militaria. Haec postquam nostris qui in expeditione erant, comperta sunt, erectis in coelum manibus, coeperunt laudare, benedicere et glorificare Deum, qui terribilis est in consiliis super filios hominum (Psal.

And immediately, as he was a most circumspect man and lacking nothing for full experience, he dispatches that same prince’s head by a certain adolescent, that he might exhilarate our men by his prosperity and victory, and he bids it, through Antioch—so that neither these nor those should be left unacquainted with so great a success—to hasten to our army; and when he arrived, he satisfied the hearts of all and lifted them into supreme joy. But the lord Count Pontius of Tripoli, who in that expedition, with his own men, to the lord Patriarch and to the other princes, had always shown obedience as though one of the household-born, and was humbly ready for public affairs, out of reverence for the lord count who had sent him, and for the dignity of so great a legation, advanced him to the equestrian order, conferring on him military arms. After these things were learned by our men who were on the expedition, with hands raised to heaven they began to praise, bless, and glorify God, who is terrible in counsels above the sons of men (Psal.

LXV, 4). Tunc demum zelo majore accensus noster exercitus, quasi reparatis viribus, receptoque denuo spiritu, ad opus inceptum ferventius accingitur, crebrisque congressionibus omnem obsessis negant requiem. Cives autem, alimentis jam penitus consumptis, fame periculosissime laborantes, cum jam nulla spe subsidii foverentur, remissius se habebant. Accidit autem semel, quod quidam juvenes de civitate, natandi habilitatem habentes multam, de portu egressi interiore, in exteriorem nando pervenientes ad galeam illam, quam superius diximus in mari semper esse paratam, fune quem secum deportaverant, eidem firmiter alligato, eisque incisis, quibus galea tenebatur defixa, redeuntes in urbem secum coeperunt trahere quam firmiter alligaverant: quod videntes qui in castellis erant ad speculam deputati, clamare coeperunt, quo excitati nostri, ad littus convolant; sed antequam de remedio plenius deliberarent, praefati juvenes eam infra urbem jam receperant; cum autem in ea quinque viri essent, qui ad ejus erant custodiam deputati, uno occiso, reliqui quatuor se in mare praecipites dederunt, unde enatando, ad littus pervenerunt incolumes.

65, 4). Then at last our army, kindled with greater zeal, as if its strengths were repaired and its spirit taken back anew, girds itself more fervently to the work begun, and by frequent engagements denies all rest to the besieged. But the citizens, their provisions now utterly consumed, laboring most perilously with famine, since they were now nourished by no hope of succor, were conducting themselves more slackly. It happened once, however, that certain youths of the city, having much aptitude for swimming, going out from the inner harbor, and by swimming reaching the outer, to that galley which above we said was always kept ready on the sea, after the rope which they had carried with them had been firmly tied to it, and after those moorings had been cut by which the galley was held fast, returning into the city they began to drag along with them that which they had firmly made fast: which, seeing, those who were in the towers appointed to watch began to shout, whereat our men, aroused, flock to the shore; but before they could deliberate more fully about a remedy, the aforesaid youths had already received it within the city; now, as there were in it five men who had been appointed to its guard, one having been slain, the remaining four hurled themselves headlong into the sea, whence, by swimming, they reached the shore unharmed.

CAPUT XII. Ascalonitae iterum, dum noster in obsidione adhuc detinetur exercitus, partes vastant Hierosolymitanas.

CHAPTER 12. The Ascalonites again, while our army is still detained in the siege, lay waste the Jerusalemite parts.

Porro Ascalonitae velut culices inquieti, in nocendi proposito perseverantes, videntes regni robur circa Tyrum in obsidione detineri; regionem autem universam militia vacuam, irruptionibus expositam; collectis viribus iterum ad montana Judaeae unanimiter conscendunt; ibique juxta Hierosolymam locum a septentrione positum ab eadem Hierosolyma quinque aut sex milliaribus distantem, Bilin dictum, qui hodie celebriori vocabulo Mahomeria appellatur, subito invadunt et occupant violenter; ejusque incolis ex maxima parte interemptis gladio, senes cum mulieribus et parvulis in turrim se recipientes, mortis evaserunt discrimen. Illi vero totam adjacentem regionem liberis discursibus peragrantes, nemine contradicente, quoscunque obviam reperiunt, aut vinculis mancipant, aut obtruncant gladiis, in provinciales pro libero arbitrio debacchantes.

Moreover the Ascalonites, like restless gnats, persevering in the purpose of harming, seeing the strength of the kingdom detained around Tyre in a siege; and the whole region bereft of soldiery, exposed to irruptions; their forces gathered, again unanimously they ascend the mountains of Judea; and there, near Jerusalem, a place set to the north, distant from that same Jerusalem by five or six miles, called Bilin, which today is called by the more celebrated name Mahomeria, they suddenly invade and seize by violence; and with its inhabitants for the greatest part slain by the sword, the old men with the women and the little ones, taking refuge into a tower, escaped the peril of death. But they, traversing the whole adjacent region with free courses, no one gainsaying, whomever they find to meet them, either they consign to chains, or they hew down with swords, running riot against the provincials at their free discretion.

CAPUT XIII. Cives famis importunitate laborant; ad deditionem se praeparant. Doldequinus in eorum subsidium properat, sed incassum; nostris civitas resignatur.

CHAPTER 13. The citizens labor under the pressing urgency of hunger; they prepare themselves for surrender. Doldequinus hastens to their aid, but in vain; the city is handed over to our men.

Interea Tyrii famis importunitate solito vehementius laborantes, alias ingrediuntur vias; et jam per conventicula coeuntes, tractare incipiunt, quomodo his molestiis quas patiuntur, finem imponant; commodius esse dicentes, urbe hostibus tradita, ad alias, liberos, suae gentis civitates posse transire, quam fame tabescere; quam uxores cum liberis, ipsis cernentibus, nec opem ferre valentibus, inopia liquefieri. Tandem post hujusmodi per turbas tractatus, verbum de communi consensu ad majores natu, et urbis moderatores et ad publicum defertur. Congregataque civitate universa, verbum in publico auditorio proponitur et tractatur diligentius.

Meanwhile the Tyrians, laboring more vehemently than usual under the importunity of famine, take other courses; and now, coming together in conventicles, they begin to discuss how they might impose an end to these troubles which they are suffering; saying that it would be more expedient, the city having been handed over to the enemies, to pass over to other free cities of their own race, than to waste away with hunger; than that their wives with their children, while they themselves look on and are not able to bring help, be melted away by want. At length, after debates of this sort through the crowds, the proposal by common consent is carried to the elders, and the moderators of the city, and to the public. And the entire city having been assembled, the proposal is set forth in the public auditorium and is examined more diligently.

Stat omnibus sententia, tantis malis finem imponere; et quocunque casu, quibuscunque conditionibus ad obtinendam pacem perveniendum. Porro Damascenorum rex, civium calamitate permotus, et quod supremo defectu laborarent audiens, eorum compassus molestiis, convocatis undique militaribus copiis, ad mare descendit, ubi et prius fuerat; circa fluvium urbi praedictae vicinum castrametatur. Quod audientes nostri, suspectum habentes ejus adventum, iterum se instruunt, quasi praelium pro foribus exspectantes; urbi tamen, propositum nihilominus non deserentes, instant incessanter.

It stands as the judgment of all to impose an end to such great evils; and, whatever the outcome, under whatever conditions, to arrive at obtaining peace. Moreover, the king of the Damascenes, moved by the citizens’ calamity and hearing that they were laboring under extreme want, having compassion for their hardships, convened military forces from every side and descended to the sea, where he had been before; he encamps around a river near to the aforesaid city. Our men, on hearing this, holding his arrival as suspect, array themselves again, as though expecting battle at the very doors; yet, nevertheless not abandoning their purpose toward the city, they press on incessantly.

Rex interim Damascenorum legatos, cum verbis pacificis, ad nostri capitaneos exercitus, ad dominum videlicet patriarcham, ad dominum ducem Venetiae, ad dominum comitem Tripolitanum, ad dominum Willelmum de Buris et ad reliquos regni proceres, dirigit viros prudentes et discretos, qui viam pacis praetentarent. Tandem post multas altercationes, parti placuit utrique, ut concesso civibus cum uxoribus et liberis, et omni substantia egressu libero, civitas Christianis tradatur. Si qui autem de civibus in eadem civitate magis optarent commorari, iis, salvis possessionibus et domiciliis, libera commorandi licentia concedatur.

Meanwhile the king of the Damascenes sends legates, with pacific words, to the captains of our army, namely to the lord patriarch, to the lord duke of Venice, to the lord count of Tripoli, to lord William of Bures, and to the remaining nobles of the kingdom, dispatching prudent and discreet men, who might pre-taste and probe the way of peace. At length, after many altercations, it pleased both parties that, free egress being granted to the citizens with their wives and children and all their substance, the city be handed over to the Christians. But if any of the citizens should rather prefer to remain in the same city, to them, their possessions and domiciles being saved, a free license of residing shall be granted.

Populus sane et secundae classis homines, intelligentes quod his civitas conditionibus traderetur, quod de hoc verbo inter principes tractaretur aegre ferentes, quodque violenter effracta eis ad manubias et praedam non pateret, operas unanimiter bellicis necessitatibus subtrahere decreverunt, parati a principibus omnino dissentire; praevaluit tamen majorum mens sanior; et urbe recepta, data est civibus libera egrediendi, sicut pactis convenerat, facultas. In signum ergo victoriae super eam turrim, quae portae civitatis imminet, positum est Domini regis vexillum; super eam autem quae dicitur viridis, domini ducis Venetiae; super eam autem quae dicitur turris Tanariae, domini comitis Tripolitani, cum multa gloria sunt collocata vexilla. Porro priusquam civitas aut caperetur aut obsideretur, maxima pars ejus dioeceseos in nostrorum devenerat potestatem: ita quod omnia montana quae urbi adjacent, tam in castris quam in suburbiis, pene usque ad Libanum quidam nobilis et potens homo, qui in montibus habitabat, Henfredus videlicet de Torono, junioris Henfredi, qui postea factus est regius constabularius, pater, usque pene ad quartum vel quintum ab urbe lapidem, quiete possidebat, castrum habens in eisdem montibus naturali situ et artificio munitissimum, unde praedictis civibus frequentes et subitas inferebat molestias; sed et dominus Tiberiadensis, dominus Willelmus de Buris, regius constabularius, et ante eum dominus Joscelinus comes Edessanus, qui praedictae civitatis dominus fuerat, in eisdem montibus possessiones habebant amplissimas, unde etiam frequentius, et ex improviso urbi praedictae periculosas moliebantur insidias; nihilominus et ab austro dominus rex Balduinus, bonae memoriae, praedecessor istius, in littore maris juxta fontem salubrem et perspicuum, castrum fundaverat, Alexandrium nomine, ab urbe Tyrensi sex aut septem distans milliaribus.

The people and the men of the second class, understanding that the city would be handed over on these conditions, taking it ill that this matter was being treated among the princes, and that, since it was not broken open by force, it would not lie open to them for spoils and plunder, unanimously resolved to withdraw their labors from the necessities of war, ready to dissent utterly from the princes; nevertheless the sounder mind of the elders prevailed; and, the city being received, there was granted to the citizens, as had been agreed in the pacts, the liberty of going forth. As a sign therefore of victory, upon that tower which overhangs the city gate the lord king’s standard was set; upon that which is called the Green, the lord Duke of Venice’s; upon that which is called the Tower of Tanaria, the lord Count of Tripoli’s—the standards were placed with much glory. Moreover, before the city was either taken or besieged, the greater part of its diocese had come into our power: so that all the mountains adjacent to the city, both in the strongholds and in the suburbs, almost up to Lebanon, were peacefully possessed by a certain noble and powerful man who dwelt in the mountains, namely Humphrey of Toron, father of the younger Humphrey, who afterwards was made royal constable, almost up to the fourth or fifth milestone from the city, having in those same mountains a castle most strongly fortified by natural site and by art, whence he inflicted frequent and sudden harryings upon the aforesaid citizens; and likewise the lord of Tiberias, lord William of Bures, royal constable, and before him lord Joscelin, Count of Edessa, who had been lord of the aforesaid city, had very ample possessions in those same mountains, whence also, more frequently and unexpectedly, they contrived dangerous ambushes for the aforesaid city; nonetheless also to the south the lord King Baldwin, of good memory, predecessor of this one, on the sea-shore near a healthful and limpid spring, had founded a castle, by name Alexandrium, six or seven miles distant from the city of Tyre.

Quibus molestiis urbs praedicta, multo ante tempore crebrius fatigata, majorem in se oppugnandi, eam obsidentibus praestitit facultatem. Dicitur autem in eadem expeditione vita decessisse, vir venerabilis Odo nomine, qui ad titulum ejusdem ecclesiae, urbe adhuc ab hostibus detenta, ordinatus fuerat metropolitanus, et a patriarcha Hierosolymitano consecratus dicebatur.

By which harassments the aforesaid city, long before and more frequently wearied, afforded to those besieging it a greater facility for attacking it. Moreover, it is said that in the same expedition there departed this life a venerable man named Odo, who to the title of that same church—while the city was still held by the enemies—had been ordained metropolitan, and was said to have been consecrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

CAPUT XIV. Urbe capta, in castra cives egrediuntur; nostri quoque urbem occupant.

CHAPTER 14. With the city taken, the citizens go out into the camp; our men likewise occupy the city.

Egressi ergo cives longa obsidione fatigati, sublevandi gratia taedii ad castra nostra deproperant, considerantes diligentius, quisnam esset populus iste tam ferreus, tam laboris patiens, tam in usu armorum edoctus, qui tam egregiam civitatem, et tam munitam urbem intra menses paucos, ad supremam redegisset inopiam, et extremas subire conditiones compulisset; intueri libet machinarum formam, castellorum proceritatem, armorum genus, castrorum positionem, principum etiam nomina diligentius investigare, cunctaque cum sollicitudine percunctari, ut inde posteris fide plenas, certa relatione texere possint historias. Nostri quoque civitatem ingressi, urbis munitionem, aedificiorum robur, turrium eminentiam, murorum soliditatem, portus elegantiam, introitus difficultatem admirantes, civium etiam commendant constantiam, qui intanta famis necessitate positi, et tanta laborantes inedia, deditionem eo usque protraxerant; nam civitate a nostris recepta, nonnisi quinque modii frumenti in civitate reperti sunt. Et, licet prima facie durum plebeis visum foret, quod praedictis conventionibus civitas in nostram deveniret potestatem, consequenter tamen placere incipit; commendatur labor impensus; et perpete dignum memoria opus credunt, quod eorum laboribus et sumptibus est consummatum.

The citizens therefore, worn out by the long siege, hasten to our camp for the sake of alleviating their tedium, considering more closely what people this was, so iron, so patient of toil, so taught in the use of arms, who had reduced so choice a city and so fortified a city within a few months to utter want, and had compelled it to undergo extreme conditions; it pleases them to look upon the form of the machines, the loftiness of the siege-towers, the kind of arms, the position of the camps, even to investigate more diligently the names of the princes, and to inquire into everything with solicitude, so that from there they may be able to weave for posterity histories full of credibility by a sure report. Our men also, having entered the city, admiring the city’s munition, the strength of the edifices, the eminence of the towers, the solidity of the walls, the elegance of the harbor, the difficulty of the entrance, likewise commend the constancy of the citizens, who, placed in so great a necessity of famine and laboring under such inedia, had prolonged the surrender thus far; for when the city was taken into our hands, there were found in the city only five modii of grain. And, although at first sight it seemed harsh to the common folk that by the aforesaid conventions the city should come into our power, nevertheless subsequently it begins to please; the labor expended is commended; and they judge the work worthy of perpetual memory, which has been consummated by their labors and expenses.

Tripartita ergo civitate, duabus domino regi, tertia Venetis secundum quod pactis prius fuerat insertum, assignata, cum multa laetitia et plena jucunditate, singuli ad propria remearunt. Capta est autem eadem civitas, et nomini restituta Christiano, III Kal. Julii, anno ab Incarnatione Domini 1124, regni vero domini Balduini, regis Hierosolymorum, secundi, anno sexto.

Therefore, the city having been divided into three parts—two assigned to the lord king, the third to the Venetians, according as it had earlier been inserted in the pacts—with much rejoicing and full delight, each returned to his own. Moreover, that same city was taken and restored to the Christian name on June 29, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1124, and in the sixth year of the reign of lord Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, the second.

CAPUT XV. Rex a vinculis solvitur; Halapiam obsidet, sed occurrentibus hospitibus solvitur obsidio; rex Hierosolymam revertitur; Calixtus papa moritur; substituitur ei Honorius.

CHAPTER 15. The king is loosed from bonds; he besieges Halapia (Aleppo), but with guests coming up the siege is dissolved; the king returns to Jerusalem; Pope Calixtus dies; Honorius is substituted in his place.

Eodem anno, IV Kal. Septembris, dominus rex Hierosolymorum Balduinus, cum quasi mensibus decem et octo, vel amplius aliquid, apud hostes detentus fuisset in vinculis, pacta pro se pecunia, obsidibus datis, libertatem pretio interveniente consecutus, Domino auctore, Antiochiam reversus est. Dicitur autem summa pro se pactae pecuniae fuisse centum millia Michaelitarum, quae moneta, in regionibus illis, in publicis commerciis et rerum venalium foro, principatum tenebat.

In the same year, on the 4th day before the Kalends of September, the lord king of Jerusalem, Baldwin, when for as it were 18 months, or somewhat more, he had been detained among the enemies in chains, with money bargained for himself and hostages given, having obtained liberty with a price intervening, with the Lord as author, returned to Antioch. It is said, moreover, that the sum of money bargained for himself was 100,000 Michaelites, which coin, in those regions, in public commerce and in the marketplace of things for sale, held the primacy.

Reversus igitur Antiochiam, anxius quomodo pactam solvere posset pecuniam, et suos ad se revocare obsides, cum prudentioribus deliberat, quid ad suum expedimentum facere possit. Igitur persuasum est ei, ut Halapiam, alimentorum inopia laborantem et quasi pene vacuam, obsideat; eaque via facile obtinere posse, ut civibus obsidione angustiatis, aut obsides sibi restituant, aut pecuniam conferentes tantam summam tribuant, quantam pro sui liberatione ab initio pepigerat. Convenit ergo apud eum, publice convocata universa de toto principatu militia; urbem praedictam obsidet, et legionibus ut mos est per gyrum collocatis, civibus introitus negat et exitus, modicosque cibos secum ponere cives violenter compellit.

Having therefore returned to Antioch, anxious how he might be able to pay the bargained money and call back to himself his hostages, he deliberates with the more prudent what he might do for his expedience. Accordingly it was persuaded to him to besiege Aleppo, laboring under a scarcity of aliments and as it were almost vacant; and that by this way he could easily obtain that, the citizens being straitened by the siege, they should either restitute to him the hostages, or, contributing money, bestow so great a sum as he had from the beginning bargained for his own liberation. Therefore it is agreed with him, the entire soldiery from the whole principality having been publicly convoked; he besieges the aforesaid city, and, with the legions, as is the custom, placed in a circuit, he denies to the citizens entrance and exit, and violently compels the citizens to carry with them only meager foods.

Illi vero Orientalibus, et maxime qui trans Euphraten erant, crebris de sua necessitate epistolis significant, nisi mature subveniant, urbem in proximo ruituram. Habentes ergo principes illi pro urbe amica sollicitudinem, certatim vires convocant, et de communi ministrato auxilio militares congregant copias; tandemque Euphrate transmisso accelerant, omnem dantes operam, ut praedictam urbem obsidionis liberent molestia. Erant autem qui in subsidium venerant obsessorum, equitum septem millia, exceptis iis qui et sarcinarum et impedimentorum curam gerebant, et vernaculis, qui majoribus dominis debitum impendebant obsequium.

They indeed signify to the Orientals, and especially to those who were beyond the Euphrates, by frequent epistles, that unless they promptly come to succor, the city is about to collapse shortly. Therefore those princes, having solicitude for a friendly city, vie to muster their strengths, and, with aid administered in common, gather military forces; and at length, the Euphrates having been crossed, they hasten, giving every effort to free the aforesaid city from the vexation of the siege. Now those who had come as a subsidy to the besieged were 7,000 horsemen, excepting those who bore the care both of the baggage and the impedimenta, and the homeborn servants, who were paying due obedience to their greater lords.

Rex vero, et qui in expeditione secum erant, intelligentes, quod tanta esset hostium multitudo advenientium, arbitrati, commodius esse retrocedendo, in tuto se et suas expeditiones locare, quam temere cum hostium turbis validioribus congredi: antequam venirent ad urbem eorum expeditiones, nostri in quoddam castrum suum munitum, Ceperum nomine, se receperant, unde Antiochiam pariter convenientes, divisi sunt ab invicem, domino rege cum familiari comitatu Hierosolymam reverso; ubi ab universo clero et populo, tanquam diu desideratus, cum multa susceptus honorificentia, plebi et patribus, quasi post actum biennium, acceptabilem suam intulit praesentiam. Eodem anno dominus Calixtus, bonae memoriae papa secundus, vita decessit, cui substitutus est quidam Lambertus, patria Bononiensis, Ostiensis episcopus, qui dictus est Honorius. Hic electus est sub contentione, cum quodam Theobaldo presbytero cardinali, tituli Sanctae Anastasiae; et quia electio ipsius Honorii minus canonice processerat, post duodecim dies in conspectu fratrum, mitram et mantum sponte refutavit atque deposuit.

The king, however, and those who were with him on expedition, understanding that so great was the multitude of enemies coming on, judged it more expedient, by retroceding, to place themselves and their expeditions in safety than rashly to engage with stronger throngs of the enemy: before their expeditions should come to the city, our men had withdrawn into a certain fortified castle of theirs, by name Ceperum, whence, coming together likewise to Antioch, they were divided from one another, the lord king with his familiar retinue returning to Jerusalem; where by the entire clergy and people, as long desired, received with much honor, he brought to the plebs and the fathers, as though after a biennium had elapsed, his acceptable presence. In the same year the lord Calixtus, of good memory, Pope Calixtus II, departed this life, and in his stead there was substituted a certain Lambert, by country a Bolognese, bishop of Ostia, who was called Honorius. He was elected under contention, together with a certain Theobald, presbyter-cardinal of the title of Saint Anastasia; and because the election of this Honorius had proceeded less canonically, after twelve days, in the sight of the brethren, he of his own accord refused and laid aside the mitre and the mantle.

Fratres vero tam episcopi quam presbyteri et diaconi cardinales, videntes ipsius humilitatem et prospicientes inposterum, ne in Romanam Ecclesiam aliquam inducerent novitatem, quod perperam factum fuerat, in melius reformarunt, et eumdem Honorium denuo auctorisantes, ad ejus vestigia prociderunt et tanquam pastori suo et universali papae, consuetam obedientiam sibi exhibuere.

But the brethren, both bishops and presbyters and cardinal deacons, seeing his humility and looking forward for the future, lest they introduce any novelty into the Roman Church, reformed for the better what had been done amiss; and, authorizing the same Honorius anew, they fell at his footsteps and, as to their shepherd and universal pope, rendered to him the accustomed obedience.

CAPUT XVI. Bursequinus Turcorum princeps fines Antiochenos depopulatur; rex occurrit, et cum eo congreditur; hostium prosternitur exercitus.

CHAPTER 16. Bursequinus, prince of the Turks, lays waste the Antiochene borders; the king meets him and engages with him; the enemy’s army is laid low.

Interea domino rege Hierosolymis existente, crebris nuntiatur legationibus, quemdam inter orientales principes potentissimum, Bursequinum nomine, congregata ex finibus Orientalibus ingenti militia, transito Euphrate, in partes pervenisse Antiochenas. Hic regionem pro arbitrio, nemine prohibente, discurrens, quidquid extra urbes et munita poterat repetire praesidia, tradebat incendiis, et suis ad praedam exposuerat universa. Huic cum proceres Antiocheni resistere, saepius frustra vires experti, attentassent, videntes quod non proficerent, domino regi, cui multo ante principatus curam commiserant, id ipsum significant, orantes instantius, ut dilatione postposita, ad se venire procuret.

Meanwhile, while the lord king was in Jerusalem, it is reported by frequent legations that a certain man among the Oriental princes, most powerful, by name Bursequinus, having gathered from the Oriental borders an immense militia, with the Euphrates crossed, had come into the Antiochene parts. He, ranging through the region at his pleasure, with no one hindering, whatever outside the cities and fortified garrisons he could assail, he consigned to fires, and had exposed all things to his men for plunder. When the Antiochene nobles had attempted to resist him, having often tried their forces in vain, seeing that they were not making headway, they signify this very thing to the lord king, to whom long before they had entrusted the care of the principality, begging the more urgently that, delay set aside, he would take care to come to them.

Rex autem gemina fatigatus cura, regni videlicet et principatus, in regno, cui multo amplius obligatus fuerat, minus impendebat sollicitudinis. Principatus enim molestiis saepius evocatus, omnem pene jam per decennium ibi et operam et opes consumpserat, ita quod in negotiis eorum versatus, in propria persona captus fuerat, per biennium fere continuum indigne satis hostium vincula passus, et carceres; nam in regno, protegente eum manu divina, nihil ei prorsus sinistri acciderat; sed omnia prospere et feliciter in manu ejus dirigebat electorum regum consolator Dominus; tamen propositum cum omni reverentia volens observare, collecta quantam habere potuit militia, ad partes illas festinus accessit. Praedictus vero Bursequinus, sicuti vir potens erat et in armis multam habens experientiam, adjuncto sibi Damascenorum rege Doldequino, ante regis adventum, quem ab Antiochenis citatum noverat, castrum obsidet nomine Caphardan, et obsessos interius, multis compulsos molestiis, ad deditionem, conditionibus de salute conservanda interpositis, compulit.

The king, however, wearied by a twin care—namely of the kingdom and of the principality—was expending less solicitude upon the kingdom, to which he had been much more obligated. For the principality, having more often summoned him by vexations, had there consumed almost all his effort and resources for nearly 10 years, such that, engaged in their affairs, he had been captured in his own person and, for almost a continuous 2-year period, suffered the enemies’ chains and prisons, quite unworthily; for in the kingdom, with the divine hand protecting him, nothing at all adverse had befallen him, but the Lord, consoler of chosen kings, was directing all things prosperously and happily in his hand. Nevertheless, wishing to observe his purpose with all reverence, and having gathered as much soldiery as he could, he hastened to those parts. But the aforesaid Bursequinus—being a powerful man and having much experience in arms—having joined to himself Doldequinus, king of the Damascenes, before the king’s advent (which he knew had been summoned by the Antiochenes), besieged a castle named Caphardan, and compelled those besieged within, driven by many vexations, to surrender, terms being interposed for the preservation of their safety.

Inde minorem Syriam pertransiens, sperans similibus abundare successibus, Sardanum oppidum obsidione vallat. Sed cum per dies aliquot operam ibi consumpsisset, videns se non posse proficere, insigne oppidum Hasard nomine, minus tamen munitum, apponit obsidere; dumque ibi machinas erigit et bellicos instruit apparatus, vires in damnum obsessorum experiens, ecce rex et comos cum eo Tripolitanus, nec non et Edessanus, cum ingentibus copiis adsunt, obsessis opem, auctore Domino, in proximo collaturi. Qui postquam ad hostes inceperunt accedere, tres ex se ordinaverunt acies; quarum in prima, quae in dextro erat cornu, Antiochenos locant proceres; in secunda vero quae in sinistro erat ordinata latere, utrumque cum suis constituunt comitem; in medio vero, dominum regem.

Thence, traversing Lesser Syria, hoping to abound in similar successes, he girds the town Sardanum with a siege. But when for several days he had spent effort there, seeing that he could not make progress, he sets himself to besiege the notable town called Hasard, less fortified, however; and while there he raises machines and arrays warlike apparatus, trying his forces to the harm of the besieged, behold, the king and the Count of Tripoli with him, and likewise the Edessan, arrive with vast forces, about to bring aid to the besieged, the Lord being the author. Who, after they began to approach the foe, arranged three battle-lines among themselves; in the first of which, which was on the right wing, they place the Antiochene nobles; but in the second, which was arrayed on the left flank, they set both counts with their men; and in the center, the lord king.

Erant autem eis, equites mille et centum; peditum autem duo millia. Bursequinus vero nostrorum videns adventum et pro certo sciens quod ad congrediendum statim more prudentum erant parati, videns quod honeste bellum declinare non posset, instituit et ipse acies viginti; dicebantur enim equitum esse quindecim millia. Ordinatis ergo hinc inde cohortibus, et in ordinem dispositis, et contra se mutuo accedentibus, irruunt in se, hostium more, vehementius; et armis protervo studio vicissim illatis stragem inferunt, mortem modis pluribus, irrogantes; solet enim in hujusmodi conflictibus odiorum incentivum et inimicitiarum fomitem dare majorem, sacrilegii et legis contemptae dolor; aliter enim et demissius solet inter consortes ejusdem legis et fidei pugna committi; aliter inter discolos et contradictorias habentes traditiones; hic enim sufficit ad materiam jugis scandali et perpetuorum jurgiorum, quod in ejusdem fidei articulis non communicant, etsi nulla alia sit odiorum materia.

They had, moreover, 1,100 knights; and of foot-soldiers, 2,000. But Bursequin, seeing our men’s arrival and knowing for certain that they were straightway prepared to come to close combat, in the manner of the prudent, seeing that he could not honorably decline the war, himself arrayed twenty battle-lines; for it was said there were 15,000 horsemen. Therefore, with the cohorts on this side and that set in order and drawn up in array, and approaching one another, they rush upon each other, after the fashion of enemies, with greater vehemence; and with weapons, brought in with insolent zeal, by turns they inflict carnage, imposing death in many modes; for in conflicts of this kind the grief of sacrilege and of a despised law is wont to give a greater incentive of hatreds and a tinder of enmities; for otherwise, and more submissively, is combat wont to be joined among partners of the same law and faith; otherwise among the discordant and those having contradictory traditions; for here it suffices, as material of continual scandal and perpetual quarrels, that they do not communicate in the articles of the same faith, even if there be no other matter of hatreds.

Congredientes ergo praedictae acies instant protervius in alterutrum; sed divina praesente clementia (cui non est difficile cum paucis multos superare; cujus sermo est de suis: Unus mille, et duo fugabunt decem millia [Deut. XXXII, 30] ); praevaluit pars nostra; et hostibus in fugam conversis victoria de coelis concessa, gloriosissime potiti sunt. Dicuntur autem in eo conflictu hostium cecidisse duo millia, de nostris vero viginti quatuor.

Coming together, therefore, the aforesaid battle-lines press more boldly against one another; but with divine clemency present (to whom it is not difficult with few to overcome many; whose saying about his own is: One will chase a thousand, and two will put ten thousand to flight [Deut. 32, 30]); our side prevailed; and the enemies being turned to flight, the victory granted from the heavens, they most gloriously carried it off. It is said, moreover, that in that conflict there fell of the enemy two thousand, but of ours twenty-four.

Bursequinus autem videns quod longe aliter quam ratus fuerat, ei accidisset, confusione indutus et reverentia transito Euphrate, non jam ambulans in mirabilibus super se, ad propria reversus est. Rex autem tum ex hostium spoliis, tum ex fidelium et amicorum suorum liberalitate, ingenti collecta pecunia, filiam suam quinquennem, quam pro se obsidem dederat, soluta pecunia recepit; sumptaque ab Antiochenis ad tempus licentia, sospes victorque Hierosolymam reversus est. Eodem anno rex super urbem Berytensem in montanis castrum unum, cui mons Glavianus nomen, fundavit.

Bursequinus, however, seeing that it had befallen far otherwise than he had reckoned, clothed with confusion and, with reverence, after the Euphrates had been crossed, no longer walking in marvels beyond himself, returned to his own. The king, moreover, both from the spoils of the enemy and from the liberality of his faithful and friends, a huge sum of money having been collected, received back his five-year-old daughter, whom he had given as a hostage in his stead, the money having been paid; and, having obtained from the Antiochenes license for a time, safe and victorious he returned to Jerusalem. In the same year the king founded, above the city of Beirut in the mountains, a certain castle, by the name Mount Glavianus.

CAPUT XVII. Rex Ascalonitas prosternit, et simul Aegyptios, qui ad eorum subsidium convenerant.

CHAPTER 17. The king prostrates the Ascalonites, and at the same time the Egyptians, who had convened for their aid.

Per idem tempus, elapso pacis temporalis et initi foederis spatio, quod inter dominum regem et Doldequinum, interventu pecuniae prius convenerat, sociata sibi de universo regno militia, in terram Damascenorum rex ingreditur; ubi regionem liberis peragrans discursibus, suburbana quaedam diruit; eorumque habitatores secum deducens, praedam maximam et spolia de hostibus referens uberrima, sospes et incolumis in sua se recepit. Necdumque dissolutis cohortibus vix elapso triduo, nuntiatur, Aegyptiorum exercitum cum ingenti apparatu ad urbem Ascalonam accessisse; erat enim Aegyptiis consuetudo per annos singulos quater ad eamdem civitatem novas expeditiones dirigere ut viribus continue reparatis, sustinere possent assiduos nostrorum conflictus, et pene continuas quae saepius irrogabantur injurias. His autem qui novi recentesque venerant, mos erat et consuetudo, ut nostrorum plurimum affectarent congressus, experiri cupientes nostrorum vires, et de sua probitate certa civibus dare argumenta: unde et frequentius in bellicis congressionibus ex eis plures, et capi consueverant, et gladiis interire saepius, tanquam regionis ignari, et armorum plenam non assecuti experientiam; veteranis civibus, nostrorum prudentius declinantibus occursum, et remissius insectantibus aliquando fugientes.

At the same time, with the span of temporal peace and the initiated treaty elapsed—an agreement which between the lord king and Doldequinus had earlier been concluded by the intervention of money—having associated to himself the militia from the whole kingdom, the king enters the land of the Damascenes; where, traversing the region with free forays, he demolishes certain suburbs; and leading their inhabitants away with him, bringing back very copious booty and most abundant spoils from the enemies, safe and unharmed he betook himself home. And with the cohorts not yet disbanded, scarcely three days having passed, it is reported that the army of the Egyptians, with huge apparatus, had approached the city of Ascalon; for it was the consuetude of the Egyptians four times in each single year to direct new expeditions to that same city, so that, their forces continually repaired, they might be able to sustain the assiduous conflicts of our men, and the well-nigh continuous injuries which were more often inflicted. But for those who had come new and fresh, it was the custom and consuetude to court encounters with our men very much, wishing to test our strength and to give to their fellow-citizens sure proofs of their own prowess; whence, more frequently in warlike engagements, more of them were accustomed both to be taken captive and more often to perish by the sword, as being ignorant of the region and not having attained the full experience of arms; while the veteran citizens more prudently declined a meeting with our men, and our men, pursuing more remissly those at times fleeing.

Quod postquam domino regi nuntiatum est, magis continuata quam renovata expeditione, illuc celerrime contendit: quo cum pervenisset, ipse cum fortioribus et magis strenuis loco ad id congruo se locat in insidiis, levis armaturae praemissis militibus, qui discursionibus vagis urbanorum irritent animos, et provocent ad insectandum. At vero cives videntes liberis discursionibus per loca urbi contermina nostros evagari, indigne ferentes nimium eorum tantam audaciam, certatim arma corripiunt; et egressi imprudenter seorsum per manipulos, nostros sponte terga dantes, in fugam vertunt. Fugientes quoque sequentes imprudentius, usque ad locum, ubi rex cum electa militia latebat in insidiis, pervenerunt.

After this was reported to the lord king, with the expedition continued rather than renewed, he hastened thither most swiftly; and when he had arrived, he himself, with the stronger and more strenuous men, in a place suitable for that, stationed himself in ambush, having sent forward light-armed soldiers to irritate the spirits of the townsmen by roving excursions and to provoke them to pursue. But the citizens, seeing our men range with free excursions through the places bordering the city, bearing with indignation their excessive audacity, snatched up arms in rivalry; and, having gone out imprudently, separately by maniples, they turn our men to flight, who of their own accord were giving their backs. And, following the fugitives more imprudently, they came as far as the place where the king, with a chosen militia, was lying in ambush.

Rex autem opportunitatem non respuens oblatam, et qui cum eo erant, ei fideliter adhaerentes, hostes ad urbem redire volentes praeveniunt, cum eisque cominus conserentes, gladiis instant animosius; et antequam in urbem se recipiant, quadraginta ex eis passim obtruncant, caeteris in urbem confugientibus, et vix intra moenia salvari se credentibus. Qui autem ceciderunt, strenuos fuisse, et de nobilioribus, civium lamenta et ejulatus in civitate solito amplior, docuerunt. Rex autem tubis clangentibus, et tympanorum strepitu suis ad se revocatis, cum ingenti laetitia prope urbem castrametatus, tota nocte ibidem victor quievit; inde sospes Hierosolymam reversus est.

But the king, not spurning the proffered opportunity, and those who were with him faithfully adhering to him, forestall the enemies wishing to return to the city; and, joining with them at close quarters, press them more spiritedly with swords; and before they could betake themselves into the city, they cut down forty of them here and there, the rest fleeing into the city and scarcely believing themselves safe within the walls. That those who fell had been valiant, and of the more noble, the citizens’ laments and wailings in the city, larger than usual, made clear. But the king, with the trumpets blaring, and his men recalled to him at the din of the drums, encamping near the city with great joy, rested there the whole night as victor; thence safe he returned to Jerusalem.

CAPUT XVIII. Rex fines Damascenorum ingreditur; occurrit ei Doldequinus; pugna committitur; victor redit noster exercitus.

CHAPTER 18. The King enters the borders of the Damascenes; Doldequinus meets him; battle is committed; our army returns victor.

Sequenti vero anno, qui erat ab Incarnatione Domini 1126, regni vero ejusdem domini Balduini octavus, mense Januario, congregatus est de mandato domini regis et principum, universi regni populus, a maximo usque ad minimum, voce praeconia, per urbes singulas; et infra paucos dies, collectum est universi regni robur, quasi vir unus, juxta urbem Tiberiadensem, quasi in fines Damascenorum ex condicto ingressuri. Quo pervenientes, signis commoniti militaribus, compositis sarcinis et agminibus ordine incedentibus, peragrata Decapoli regione, terras hostium ingrediuntur: inde vallem angustam, quae dicitur Cavea Roob, usque ad campestria Medan transierunt. Est autem planities longe lateque patens, prospectibus libera, per quam fluvius, Dan nomine, transiens, inter Tiberiadem et Scythopolim, quae olim dicta est Bethsan, Jordanem influit.

In the following year, which was from the Incarnation of the Lord 1126, and the eighth of the reign of that same lord Baldwin, in the month of January, at the mandate of the lord king and the princes, the whole populace of the kingdom, from the greatest down to the least, was assembled by the voice of a herald through each several city; and within a few days the strength of the whole kingdom was gathered, as if one man, near the city of Tiberias, as though about to enter the borders of the Damascenes by preconcerted agreement. Arriving there, prompted by military signals, with the baggage arranged and the columns advancing in order, after traversing the region of the Decapolis, they enter the lands of the enemy: thence they passed a narrow valley, which is called Cavea Roob, as far as the plains of Medan. Now it is a plain stretching far and wide, open to prospects, through which the river, by name Dan, passing between Tiberias and Scythopolis, which once was called Beth-shan, flows into the Jordan.

Arbitrantur autem quidam, qui et nominis juvantur argumento, quod iste sit fluvius, qui Jordani praestat ultimam nominis partem; nam quidquid in mare descendit Galilaeae, et inde egreditur, usque ad istius fluminis influentiam, Jor dicunt; reliquum vero quod exinde defluit, Jordanem esse dicunt, quasi Jor et Dan commistis. Beda tamen, et quidam alii nostri doctores, auctoritatis praecipuae, utrumque fontem juxta Caesaream Philippi, ad radices Libani sitam, originem dicunt habere; quorum alter Jor, alter dicitur Dan; ex quibus Jordanis fluenta contrahens, totus inde in stagnum Genesar, quod est mare Galilaeae, descendit; et inde totus egrediens, per milliaria pene centum, in lacum Asphaltites, qui alio nomine dicitur mare salsissimum, vallem sulcans illustrem, se infundit. Praedicta ergo campestria noster pertransiens exercitus, usque ad vicum, cui nomen Salome, pervenit.

Some, moreover, think—and are aided by the argument of the name—that this is the river which supplies to Jordan the last part of its name; for whatever descends into the Sea of Galilee, and goes out from there, up to the inflow of this river, they call Jor; but the remainder which from that point flows down they say is Jordan, as though Jor and Dan were commingled. Bede, however, and certain other of our doctors of principal authority, say that both sources have their origin near Caesarea Philippi, situated at the roots of Lebanon; of which one is called Jor, the other Dan; from which streams Jordan, contracting its currents, from there in its entirety descends into the pool of Genesar, which is the Sea of Galilee; and from there, going forth whole, for nearly one hundred miles, furrowing a renowned valley, it pours itself into the lake Asphaltites, which by another name is called the most salty sea. Therefore our army, passing through the aforesaid level fields, came as far as the village whose name is Salome.

Erat autem locus is, sicut et hodie, Christianis deputatus habitatoribus; unde nostri loco parcentes, habitatoribus ejus quasi fratribus usi, ad locum cui nomen Mergisafar, ordinatis cohortibus, et militia locis congruis deputata, contendunt. Dicitur autem idem esse locus, in quo Saulus, lupus rapax, Ecclesiae Dei persecutor, vocem audivit dicentis: Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris? (Act. IX, 4) et caetera.

Now that place was, as also today, allotted to Christian inhabitants; whence our men, sparing the place, dealt with its inhabitants as with brothers, and they hasten to the place whose name is Mergisafar, with the cohorts arrayed and the soldiery assigned to suitable positions. Moreover, it is said to be the very place in which Saul, a ravening wolf, persecutor of the Church of God, heard the voice saying: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9, 4) and the rest.

Videtur autem divinitus procuratum, ut in eo loco, in quo haec acciderant, eadem die qua haec eadem accidisse dicebantur, ut ex persecutore fieret vas electionis, fidelium exercitus illuc perveniret. Illic ergo congregati, per biduum sustinentes, castra Damascenorum contra se posita non longius intuentur. Tertia demum die convenientes adinvicem, ordinato hinc inde et diligentius instructo praeliandi apparatu, arma conferunt ex utraque parte nimis hostiliter; et paribus quasi congressibus incedentes, ancipitem diu de victoria protraxerunt sententiam.

It seems, moreover, to have been divinely procured that in the very place where these things had occurred, on the same day on which these same things were said to have occurred, so that out of a persecutor a vessel of election might be made, the army of the faithful should arrive there. There, therefore, gathered together, holding out for two days, they look upon the camp of the Damascenes set over against them not far off. On the third day at last, coming together one to another, with the apparatus for fighting on this side and that arranged and more carefully drawn up, they join arms from either side very hostilely; and, advancing with, as it were, equal encounters, they prolonged for a long time the ambiguous judgment concerning victory.

Rex tamen more solito hostibus instans atrocius, strenuorum quemque vocat ex nomine; et verbis simul et exemplo commonens, ad stragem invitat et victoriam pollicetur. Illi vero stricto gladio hostibus incumbentes, regem quoad possunt, strenue nimis imitari nituntur; et fidei zelum habentes, divinam simul et suas ulcisci nituntur injurias. At vero Doldequinus suos nihilominus dictis animat, et ad pugnam promissis incendit, asserens eos justum bellum gerere pro uxoribus et liberis; et pro libertate, quod majus est, proque solo patrio cum praedonibus decertare. His et similibus insistunt non inferiore spiritu, viribus non imparibus.

Nevertheless the king, pressing upon the enemies more fiercely in his accustomed manner, calls each of the valiant by name; and, admonishing at once by words and by example, he invites to slaughter and promises victory. They, indeed, with sword drawn, pressing upon the foes, strive most strenuously, so far as they can, to imitate the king; and, having zeal for the faith, they strive to avenge at once the divine wrongs and their own. But Doldequinus likewise animates his men with words, and inflames them for battle with promises, asserting that they are waging a just war for wives and children; and for liberty, which is greater, and to contend against robbers for their native soil. On these and similar things they insist with a spirit no lower, with forces not unequal.

Porro pedestres manipuli, domini regis et equitum exemplis edocti, in ipsas hostium acies acrius se ingerunt et insistunt animosius; si quos de hostibus lapsos vel saucios reperiunt, gladiis obtruncant, evadendi vias intercludunt; nostros vero dejectos erigunt et restituunt ad conflictum; saucios vero remittunt ad sarcinas, ut sui curam possint habere; quodque amplius hostilibus turbis illa die damnosum fuisse creditur, quidam equis hostium sauciandis omnem dabant operam, eorumque sessores subsequentibus sociis parabant ad victimam. Rex vero in condensis hostium cuneis, strenuis quibusdam, et illustribus comitatus, quasi leo fulminat, et a dextris et a laeva stragem operans ipsis victoribus miserabilem. Non legitur apud nos usque ad illum diem, tam periculoso et ancipiti certamine desudatum esse; nam cum ab hora diei tertia, usque in decimam protractum esset praelium, vix hora undena discerni poterat, utra pars meliorem esset reportatura calculum.

Furthermore, the footman maniples, taught by the examples of the lord king and the knights, rush more keenly into the very battle-lines of the enemy and press on more spiritedly; if they find any of the enemy fallen or wounded, they cut them down with swords, they block the ways of escape; but our men who have been cast down they raise up and restore to the clash; the wounded they send back to the baggage, so that they may be able to have care of themselves; and what is moreover believed to have been more damaging to the hostile crowds that day, certain men gave every effort to wounding the enemies’ horses, and prepared their riders for slaughter by the comrades following after. But the King, in the dense wedges of the enemy, accompanied by certain valiant and illustrious men, like a lion thunders, working a slaughter on the right and on the left, pitiable even to the victors themselves. It is not recorded among us up to that day that there had been toil in so perilous and doubtful a contest; for since the battle had been prolonged from the third hour of the day up to the tenth, scarcely at the eleventh hour could it be discerned which side would carry off the more favorable tally.

Tandem, opitulante divina clementia, et intercedente pro eis doctore gentium egregio, hostes in fugam versi sunt, suorum stragem perpessi saeculis memorabilem. Dicuntur ex eis cecidisse illa die plusquam duo millia, de nostris vero recensito tam equitum quam peditum numero, inventum est, de equitibus viginti quatuor cecidisse; de pedestribus vero, octoginta. Sic ergo nostris divinitus collata victoria, rex victor agonis campum obtinuit.

At length, with divine clemency helping, and the distinguished doctor of the nations interceding for them, the enemies were turned to flight, having suffered a slaughter of their own men memorable for the ages. It is said that more than two thousand of them fell that day; but of our men, the number both of horsemen and footmen having been reviewed, it was found that twenty-four of the horsemen had fallen; and of the foot, eighty. Thus therefore, victory having been divinely conferred upon our side, the king, as victor, held the field of the contest.

Unde cum laetitia et gratiarum actionibus educens exercitum, ad propria coepit habere regressum. Dumque in itinere esset, turrim habens obviam, in qua nonaginta sex de hostibus, gratia salutis, se receperant, eam violenter, impugnant, et hostes comprehensos gladiis vitam finire compellunt. Inde etiam procedentes, aliam nihilominus turrim occupant violenter, viginti de hostibus, qui ad eam conservandam erant deputati, indulgentes vitam, eo quod nostris turrim praedictam sine difficultate tradiderant; quam celerius suffodientes, cum ingenti strepitu ad terram dejiciunt penitus dissolutam.

Whence, leading the army out with joy and acts of thanksgiving, he began to have a return to his own places. And while he was on the journey, a tower coming in his way, in which ninety-six of the enemies, for the sake of safety, had taken refuge, they impugn it with force, and compel the enemies, once apprehended, to finish life by the sword. Thence proceeding further, they likewise seize another tower by force, granting life to twenty of the enemies who had been deputed to conserve it, because they had delivered the aforesaid tower to our men without difficulty; which, more speedily undermining, they cast down to the ground with a huge crash, utterly dissolved.

Unde multiplici et saeculis memoranda potiti victoria, ad propria cum gaudio remearunt.

Whence, having gained a manifold victory to be remembered through the ages, they returned to their own with joy.

CAPUT XIX. Comes Tripolitanus urbem Rapfaneam occupat. Henricus Romanorum imperator moritur; Lotharius ei substituitur.

CHAPTER 19. The Count of Tripoli occupies the city of Rapfanea. Henry, Emperor of the Romans, dies; Lothair is substituted in his place.

Per idem tempus, dominus Pontius Tripolitanus comes, urbem Rapfaneam finibus suis conterminam, videns propositum effectui mancipabile, obsidere proponit; sed, ut facilius conceptum assequatur, dominum regem Hierosolymorum, ut et praesentiam suam exhibeat, et opem conferat, et litteris sollicitat, et frequentibus nuntiis hortatur. Rex autem ut impiger erat, et populi Christiani communibus fideliter obtemperans negotiis, assumpto sibi honesto comitatu, illuc sine dilatione properat: quo perveniens, comitem ad praedictum opus reperit succinctum; unde machinas et quae ad impugnandam urbem poterant esse necessaria, viaticumque ad dies aliquot sufficientem assumentes, praemissis pedestribus alis, ad partes destinatas expeditiones suas dirigunt. Quo pervenientes, urbem juxta propositum obsidione vallant, primo statim eorum adventu civibus introitum negantes et exitum.

At the same time, Lord Pons, Count of Tripoli, seeing the plan as mancipable to effect, proposes to besiege the city of Raphanea, contiguous with his borders; but, that he may more easily attain what he has conceived, he both solicits the lord king of Jerusalem by letters and urges him by frequent messengers, that he both exhibit his presence and contribute aid. The king, however, as he was un-slothful and faithfully obeying the common affairs of the Christian people, having taken to himself an honorable retinue, hastens thither without delay; and on arriving there, he finds the count girded for the aforesaid work. Whence, taking on engines and whatever could be necessary for assailing the city, and provision sufficient for several days, and the infantry wings having been sent ahead, they direct their expeditions to the appointed parts. Arriving there, they gird the city with a siege according to the plan, denying to the citizens both entrance and exit at their very first arrival.

Erat autem civitas, tum situ naturali, tum etiam inhabitantium paupertate munita modicum; multisque fatigata molestiis, diu resistere non poterat. Nam idem comes in monte quodam illi contermino praesidium aedificaverat; cujus incolae urbem praedictam, continuis opprimentes angustiis, usque ad supremum pene defectum eos compulerant. Cum ergo diebus decem et octo eam vehementius impugnassent, cives ad deditionem compulerunt, indulto prius sibi et uxoribus et liberis libero exitu, et indemnitate promissa.

It was, however, a city fortified only a little, both by its natural site and also by the poverty of its inhabitants; and, wearied by many molestations, it was not able to resist for long. For the same count had built a garrison on a certain mountain contiguous to it; whose inhabitants, pressing the aforesaid city with continual straits, had driven them almost to their ultimate exhaustion. Therefore, when for eighteen days they had assailed it more vehemently, they compelled the citizens to capitulate, a free exit having first been granted to themselves and their wives and children, and indemnity promised.

Est autem praedicta Rapfanea in provincia Apamiensi, una de suffraganeis ejus; capta est autem ultimo Martii die. Rex vero Hierosolymam reversus, ibi Paschales cum multa devotione celebravit dies. Per idem tempus, dominus Henricus Romanorum imperator ultimum fato clausit diem; cui substitutus est vir per omnia commendabilis Saxoniae dux dominus Lotharius, qui postmodum in Apuliam cum infinito descendens exercitu, universam usque ad Farum regionem violenter occupavit, ducem in Apulia constituens, providum virum et discretum, Reinonem nomine; Rogerum autem comitem, qui terram illam violenter occupaverat, in Siciliam fugere compulit, quam postmodum discedente imperatore recuperans, pugnavit cum praedicto Reinone, eoque defuncto ducatum obtinuit; postmodum etiam Siciliae et universae provinciae rex effectus est.

But the aforesaid Rapfanea is in the province of Apamea, one of its suffragans; it was captured, however, on the last day of March. The king, in truth, having returned to Jerusalem, there celebrated the Paschal days with much devotion. At the same time, Lord Henry, emperor of the Romans, closed his last day by fate; in his place was substituted a man in all things commendable, Lord Lothar, duke of Saxony, who afterwards, descending into Apulia with an infinite army, violently occupied the whole region as far as the Pharos, appointing in Apulia a duke, a prudent and discreet man, by name Reinon; but Count Roger, who had violently occupied that land, he compelled to flee into Sicily, which afterwards, the emperor departing, recovering it, he fought with the aforesaid Reinon, and he, dying, he obtained the duchy; afterwards also he became king of Sicily and of the whole province.

CAPUT XX. Iterum Bursequinus fines Antiochenos ingreditur; tandem a suis confossus interiit. Classis Aegyptia in Syriam ascendit; sed infecto negotio, damnum perpessa, revertitur.

CHAPTER 20. Bursequinus again enters the Antiochene frontiers; at length, run through by his own men, he perished. The Egyptian fleet ascended into Syria; but with the affair left undone, having suffered loss, it returned.

Porro domino rege apud Tyrum moram faciente, ecce nuntius ab Antiochia properans, litteris et viva voce astruit, immanissimum nostrae fidei persecutorem Bursequinum cum ingenti apparatu in partes Coelesyriae descendisse; oppida obsidere, suburbana nemine prohibente, passim et sine delectu incendere, eorum habitatores trahere captivos, uxores vero et liberos mancipare servituti. Quod rex audiens, quamvis Aegyptios suspectos haberet, et cum ingenti classe quam paraverant, in proximo venturos non dubitaret; tamen more prudentis medici, qui ubi violentiorem morbi sentit instantiam, illic properat aptare remedia; neglectis aliis, majori occurrens necessitati, ad partes illas celerius contendit. Quod audiens Bursequinus, obsidionem quam circa Cerepum nobile oppidum cum ingenti cura locaverat, continuo solvit, in ulteriores fines hostium retrocedens.

Moreover, while the lord king was making delay at Tyre, behold, a messenger hurrying from Antioch establishes by letters and by viva voce that Bursequin, the most savage persecutor of our faith, had descended with a huge apparatus into the parts of Coele‑Syria; to besiege towns, to burn the suburbs, no one hindering, everywhere and without selection, to drag their inhabitants away as captives, and to consign wives and children to servitude. Which when the king heard, although he held the Egyptians as suspect, and did not doubt that, with the huge fleet which they had prepared, they would come shortly; nevertheless, after the manner of a prudent physician, who, when he feels a more violent urgency of a disease, hastens to fit remedies there; with other matters neglected, meeting the greater necessity, he hastened more swiftly to those regions. Which hearing, Bursequin immediately raised the siege which he had laid with enormous care around Cerepum, a noble town, retreating into the more remote confines of the enemy.

Priusquam tamen rex adveniret, municipium quoddam non magni nominis violenter ceperat, in quo mulierculas quasdam cum liberis suis captivaverat; nam viri qui in eodem obsessi fuerant, cum multa difficultate et periculis, eorum manus evaserant, malentes sibi salutem fuga reperire, quam cum uxoribus et liberis eodem captivitatis jugo miserabiliter involvi. Postmodum autem praedictus impius et maledictionis haeres Bursequinus a domesticis et familiaribus suis gladiis confossus, interiit, nequitiarum suarum semina simul et fructus impietatis, opere suo recolligens.

Before, however, the king might arrive, he had violently seized a certain municipium of no great name, in which he had taken captive some womenfolk with their children; for the men who in the same place had been besieged, with much difficulty and dangers, had escaped their hands, preferring to find safety for themselves in flight rather than to be miserably entangled with their wives and children in the same yoke of captivity. Afterwards, however, the aforesaid impious man and heir of malediction, Bursequinus, pierced through by the swords of his domestics and familiars, perished, reaping by his own deed both the seeds of his wickednesses and the fruits of impiety.

At vero dum haec geruntur in partibus Antiochenis, classis Aegyptia, sicut et praenuntiatum fuerat, galeis viginti quatuor universam oram maritimam perlustrantes, usque ad urbem Berytensem descenderunt, explorantes sollicite, si quid in aliqua nostrarum urbium damni possent irrogare; aut si quos forte incaute praetereuntes, vel accedentes in Syriam, ex improviso, quasi de insidiis egressi, possent occupare; tandem vero potus inopia laborantes, sitis necessitate compulsi, ut aquas hauriant, ad terram secus fluenta descenderunt: quibus occurrens populus civitatis cum quibusdam aliis, qui de finitimis urbibus ad eorum convenerant subsidium, ab aquis eos violenter repulerunt, aquae usum omnino contradicentes; sed et armis instantes animosius, in naves eos violenter compulerunt redire, centum et triginta ex eis gladio peremptis.

But indeed while these things are being transacted in the Antiochene parts, the Egyptian fleet, as had been pre-announced, sweeping the whole maritime shore with twenty‑four galleys, put in as far as the city of Berytus, diligently exploring whether they could inflict any damage upon any of our cities; or whether they might, perchance, seize by surprise any who were incautiously passing by, or approaching into Syria, as if issuing from ambush; at length, however, suffering from lack of drink, compelled by the necessity of thirst to draw water, they made for the land beside the streams: where the people of the city, coming out to meet them, together with certain others who had gathered to their succor from neighboring cities, violently drove them back from the waters, absolutely denying the use of the water; and, pressing them with arms more boldly, they violently forced them to return to their ships, one hundred and thirty of them slain by the sword.

CAPUT XXI. Boamundus junior Antiochiam pervenit; rex ei terram suam restituit; filia sua Halis nomine, in uxorem data.

CHAPTER 21. Bohemond the Younger arrived at Antioch; the king restored his land to him; his daughter, by the name Halis, was given to him in marriage.

Automno sequente, dominus Boamundus junior, domini Boamundi senioris filius, princeps Tarentinus, inito pacto et composito foedere cum domino Guillelmo duce Apuliae patruo suo, de futura successione, videlicet tali, ut uter eorum prior vita decederet, alter ei succederet in universum: paratis navibus, galeis videlicet decem, et duodecim aliis ad sarcinas et impedimenta devehenda, et arma simul et victualia transferenda opportunis, iter in Syriam dirigit, de domini regis fide praesumens, ut ei advenienti, et paternam reposcenti haereditatem non negaret. Advenienti igitur, et infra fauces Orontis fluminis classe jam in tuto recepta, postquam domino regi compertum est, cum magnatibus regionis ei processit obviam: et Antiochiam ingresso, urbem et regionem benigne ei restituit universam, cujus cura pervigil et anxia nimis sollicitudo eum per annos maceraverat octo. Restituto igitur principatu, universi proceres et magnates regionis praesente domino rege, et monente, fidelitatem ligiam in palatio suo illi exhibuerunt.

In the following autumn, Lord Boamund the Younger, son of Lord Boamund the Elder, prince of Tarentum, a pact having been entered and a composed treaty with Lord William, duke of Apulia, his paternal uncle, concerning future succession, namely on this term: that whichever of them should first depart from life, the other should succeed to him in the whole—having made ready ships, to wit ten galleys, and twelve others for conveying baggage and impedimenta, and suitable likewise for transferring arms and victuals—directed his journey into Syria, presuming upon the good faith of the lord king, that to him on arriving and demanding back his paternal heritage he would not deny it. Therefore, on his arrival, and with the fleet now received into safety within the narrows of the river Orontes, after it had been made known to the lord king, he went forth to meet him with the magnates of the region; and when he had entered Antioch, he kindly restored to him the city and the whole region, whose wakeful care and overly anxious solicitude had worn him for eight years. Therefore, the principate being restored, all the nobles and magnates of the region, with the lord king present and urging, rendered to him liege fealty in his palace.

Postmodum interventu quorumdam utrique parti familiarium factum est, quod dominus rex unam de filiabus suis Halim nomine, natu secundam, placitis utrinque conditionibus, ei concederet uxorem, ut amplior inter eos gratia et amica magis proportio intercederet. Erat autem dominus Boamundus adolescens, quasi annorum decem et octo, formae venustate conspicuus, procerus admodum, crine flavo, vultu favorabili, et qui vere principem, etiam ignorantibus, indicaret; sermone gratus, et qui verbo audientium animos facile sibi conciliaret; liberalis plurimum, et more patris vere magnificus; secundum carnem nulli mortalium nobilitate secundus; quippe cui Boamundus senior, domini Roberti Guischardi illustris et per saecula viri memorabilis filius pater erat; mater vero, spectabilis et nobilissima inter illustres Constantia, excellentis regis Francorum Philippi filia. Celebratis igitur de more ruptiis, et filia apud dominum principem lege conjugali solemniter collocata, rex Hierosolymam, oneris majore parte deposita, sospes et incolumis reversus est.

Afterwards, by the intervention of certain intimates of both parties, it was arranged that the lord king would grant to him as wife one of his daughters, by name Halis, the second-born, with conditions agreed on both sides, so that greater favor and a more friendly accord might intervene between them. Now the lord Bohemond was a youth, about eighteen years of age, conspicuous for the comeliness of his form, very tall, with blond hair, a pleasing countenance, and one who would truly proclaim a prince even to those who did not know him; pleasing in speech, and such as by his word easily to win over the minds of his hearers; very liberal, and in the manner of his father truly magnificent; according to the flesh second to none of mortals in nobility; for Bohemond the elder, son of the lord Robert Guiscard, an illustrious man and memorable through the ages, was his father; while his mother was the notable and most noble among the illustrious, Constance, daughter of the excellent king of the Franks, Philip. Therefore, the nuptials having been celebrated in the customary way, and the daughter solemnly established in wedlock with the lord prince, the king returned to Jerusalem, safe and unharmed, having laid down the greater part of the burden.

Dominus vero Boamundus vere sequenti oppidum Cafardan, quod aliquot ante annis, hostes in manu forti sibi violenter subjugaverant, convocatis ex universo principatu militaribus copiis et machinis ad impugnationem praesidiorum necessariis per operam artificum fabrefactis, castrum obsidet; et modico temporis intervallo violenter expugnatum recepit, nulli parcens eorum quos intus comprehendit, quamvis multo pretio vitam tentarent emere, et pecuniae interventu obtinere salutem. Has dedit primitias, inclytus et nobilis, suae adolescentiae, princeps et bonae indolis argumenta prima.

But indeed Lord Bohemond, in the following spring, besieged the town of Cafardan—which several years before the enemies, with a strong hand, had violently subjugated to themselves—having convoked from the whole principate the military forces and the machines necessary for the assault of strongholds, fashioned by the work of artisans; and, after a short interval of time, he recovered the fortress taken by storm, sparing none of those whom he seized within, although they tried to buy their life at a great price and to obtain safety by the intervention of money. These first-fruits he gave, illustrious and noble, of his adolescence—the prince and the first proofs of good disposition.

CAPUT XXII. Inter eumdem Boamundum et Joscelinum comitem Edessanum, graves oriuntur inimicitiae; sed rex celer advolat, et componit. Africani urbem Siciliae Syracusam violenter effringunt.

CHAPTER 22. Between that same Boamund and Joscelin, Count of Edessa, grave enmities arise; but the king swiftly flies to and composes them. The Africans violently break open the city of Sicily, Syracuse.

Nec mora, causis intervenientibus occultis, quantum ad nos, Deo tamen odibilibus, ortae sunt graves inimicitiae inter eumdem dominum principem et comitem Edessanum Joscelinum seniorem: ita quod contra bonos mores et nostrorum disciplinam temporum, perniciosum posteris relinquens exemplum, Turcos et infidelium turmas in suum convocaret subsidium; et eorum fretus auxilio, regionem Antiochenam incendiis traderet, et ejus habitatoribus, Christi servis, indebitae jugum induceret servitutis; quodque notabilius et divina animadversione dignius creditur, absente principe, et hoc penitus ignorante, dum in servitio Christi hostes impugnando desudat, haec omnia commissa dicuntur. Unde praedictus Joscelinus eorum omnium, ad quos sermo iste pervenit odium incurrens et indignationem, omnium maledictiones merebatur. Rex vero, fama deferente haec audiens, sollicitus primum, ne illius occasione scissurae, major in nostram confusionem hostibus pateret introitus, quia Regnum in seipsum divisum, juxta verbum Domini, desolabitur (Luc.

No delay: with causes, so far as concerns us, intervening that were occult—yet hateful to God—grave enmities arose between that same lord prince and Joscelin the elder, count of Edessa; so that, contrary to good morals and to the discipline of our times, leaving to posterity a pernicious example, he would summon the Turks and the troops of unbelievers to his own subsidy; and, relying on their aid, would deliver the Antiochene region over to fires, and upon its inhabitants, servants of Christ, would impose the yoke of undue servitude; and what is believed more notable and more worthy of divine animadversion, with the prince absent and utterly ignorant of this—while he, sweating in the service of Christ by attacking the enemies—these things are said to have been committed. Whence the aforesaid Joscelin, incurring the hatred and indignation of all to whom this report came, was meriting the curses of all. The king, however, hearing these things as rumor bore them, was anxious first, lest by the occasion of that rift a greater entrance might lie open to the enemies to our confusion, because A kingdom divided against itself, according to the word of the Lord, will be made desolate (Luc.

XI, 17); consequenter autem, quia secundum carnem uterque illi erat proximus; alter enim consobrinus materterae filius; alter vero gener, et cui recenter desponsaverat filiam: velox ad partes illas pacem compositurus, advolat, dominoque Antiochenorum patriarcha Bernardo, fidelem et devotum cooperatorem se exhibente, pacem optimam inter eos reformavit: eo maxime opportunitatem praestante, quod medio tempore comes gravem incurrit aegritudinem, qua periculosissime laborans, et facti poenitens, Domino se votis obligavit, quod si vitam indulgeret et salutem, domino principi satisfaceret, et ei debitam fidelitatem impendens reconciliaretur: quod et factum est. Nam postquam plenam adeptus est convalescentiam, praesentibus domino rege, domino quoque patriarcha, reconciliatis eis adinvicem, et plena intercedente gratia, fidelitatem ei manualiter exhibuit, eam deinceps debito tenore, conservans. Rex autem, pace composita, Hierosolymam reversus est.

11, 17); consequently, because according to the flesh each of the two was near to him—for the one, indeed, was a cousin, the son of his maternal aunt; but the other a son-in-law, to whom he had lately betrothed a daughter—swift, to compose peace in those parts, he flies thither; and Lord Bernard, patriarch of the Antiochenes, showing himself a faithful and devoted co-operator, he restored an excellent peace between them: this especially affording opportunity, that in the meantime the count incurred a grave sickness, under which he labored most perilously, and, repenting of the deed, bound himself to the Lord by vows, that, if He should grant life and health, he would satisfy the lord prince, and, rendering to him the due fealty, be reconciled—which also was done. For after he obtained full convalescence, with the lord king present, and the lord patriarch as well, they having been reconciled to each other, and full favor intervening, he manually exhibited fealty to him, thereafter keeping it in due tenor. The king, however, the peace arranged, returned to Jerusalem.

Per idem tempus, comes Siciliae Rogerus classem galearum quadraginta multo studio paratam, ad partes Africae dicitur direxisse; ubi earum adventu praecognito, provinciales praemoniti, provide se habentes, nullam hostibus nocendi sibi praebuerunt opportunitatem: imo e converso galeas quas pene se habebant, studio non inferiore armantes, praedictos malefactores suos, infecto negotio redeuntes, cursu celerrimo persequentes, usque in Siciliam devecti sunt; quo pervenientes cum galeis octoginta, urbem Syracusanam nobilem et antiquam, longa pace desidem, securam et nihil tale verentem, aggrediuntur subito, et protinus occupant violenter. Impugnata etiam urbe, cives obtruncant gladiis, nemini parcentes sexus intuitu vel aetatis; quibus autem parcebatur, omni morte durior servitus parabatur. Porro episcopus loci cum paucis ecclesiae clericis ad suburbana fugiens, vix evasit.

At the same time, Roger, count of Sicily, is said to have directed a fleet of forty galleys, prepared with much zeal, to the parts of Africa; where, their arrival being foreknown, the provincials, having been premonished and conducting themselves providently, afforded the enemies no opportunity of harming them: nay rather, on the contrary, arming with no inferior zeal the galleys which they had—well-nigh all they had—they pursued at most rapid speed their aforesaid malefactors, returning with the business unaccomplished, and were borne as far as Sicily; and arriving there with eighty galleys, they suddenly attack the Syracusan city, noble and ancient, idle through long peace, secure and fearing nothing of the sort, and forthwith seize it by violence. The city being assaulted, they hew down the citizens with swords, sparing no one out of regard for sex or age; but for those to whom sparing was shown, a slavery harsher than any death was prepared. Moreover, the bishop of the place, fleeing to the suburbs with a few clerics of the church, scarcely escaped.

CAPUT XXIII. Tyri, primus Latinorum constituitur archiepiscopus.

CHAPTER 23. At Tyre, the first of the Latins is established as archbishop.

Vere demum proxime subsecuto, quarto anno postquam civitas fidei restituta est Christianae, rex cum domino patriarcha, et majoribus regni principibus apud Tyrum convenientes, de pontifice eidem ecclesiae ordinando coeperunt habere tractatum; tandemque dominum Willelmum, virum venerabilem, ecclesiae Dominici Sepulcri priorem, natione Anglicum, vita et moribus commendabilem, eidem urbi praeficiunt. Hic jam novit Dominus, non possumus satis gemitus cohibere; nam sicut proverbialiter dici solet: Ubi amor, ibi oculus; ubi dolor, ibi manus; haec nos premunt altius, et inflicto dolore, praecordia non sinunt quiescere. Admirantes enim illius temporis prudentiam, haeremus in nobis ipsis quasi temeritatem reputantes.

At last, the spring next ensuing, in the fourth year after the city was restored to the Christian faith, the king, with the lord patriarch and the greater princes of the realm, meeting at Tyre, began to have a tractation about ordaining a pontiff for that same church; and at length they set over that city lord William, a venerable man, prior of the Church of the Lord’s Sepulchre, English by nation, commendable in life and morals. Here now—the Lord knows—we cannot sufficiently restrain our groans; for, as it is wont to be said proverbially: Where love is, there is the eye; where pain is, there is the hand; these things press us more deeply, and, the wound inflicted, they do not allow the inmost heart to rest. For marveling at the prudence of that time, we hang back within ourselves, as though reckoning it temerity.

Nam qui biennio antequam praedicta civitas Christianae restitueretur libertati, episcopum ibi consecraverant sibi, postmodum supina et crassa prudentia usque in quartum annum distulerunt eidem antistitem providere, ut interim distractis ecclesiis, et cathedrali ecclesia membris mutilata propriis, qui primus accederet curam habens regiminis, cum maledicto homine partem deteriorem acciperet; scriptum est enim: Maledictus homo, gui partem suam deteriorem facit. Praedecessor tamen ille noster, et qui postea usque ad nos subsecuti sunt, illius maledicti merito declinamus effectum, qui non ipsi nobis partes fecimus deteriores; sed deteriores factas ab aliis, de necessitate suscepimus conditiones. Parcat eis Dominus et ad gehennam non imputet, qui Ecclesiam ita tractaverunt. Porro praedictus bonae memoriae praedecessor noster dominus Willelmus, suscepto consecrationis suae munere a domino Hierosolymitano patriarcha, ut pallium reciperet, invito et renitente eodem suo consecratore, Roma profectus est: ubi a domino papa Honorio secundo benigne susceptus, quod petebat obtinuit, cum multa honorificentia, et de apostolicarum prosecutione litterarum, remissus ad propria; quarum hic erat tenor:

For those who, two years before the aforesaid city was restored to Christian liberty, had consecrated a bishop there for themselves, afterwards by supine and gross prudence deferred until the fourth year to provide a prelate for the same, so that in the meantime, with the churches torn asunder and the cathedral church mutilated of its own members, whoever first should come, having the care of governance, would, along with the accursed man, take the worse part; for it is written: Cursed is the man, who makes his own portion the worse. Yet that predecessor of ours, and those who afterwards down to us have succeeded, we by merit decline the effect of that curse, in that we did not ourselves make our portions worse; but portions made worse by others, of necessity we accepted the conditions. May the Lord spare them and not impute it unto Gehenna, those who have thus handled the Church. Furthermore, the aforesaid predecessor of good memory, lord William, having received the gift of his consecration from the lord Patriarch of Jerusalem, in order to receive the pallium, with that same his consecrator unwilling and resisting, set out for Rome; where, kindly received by lord Pope Honorius II, he obtained what he sought, with much honorificence, and, with the furtherance of apostolic letters, was sent back to his own; the tenor of which was as follows:

HONORIUS episcopus, servus servorum Dei, venerabilibus fratribus suffraganeis Episcopis, clero et populo Tyri, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem.

HONORIUS bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the venerable brothers the suffragan bishops, the clergy and people of Tyre, greeting and apostolic benediction.

Venientem ad nos charissimum fratrem nostrum Willelmum, archiepiscopum vestrum, debita charitate recepimus, et quem canonice electum, et a venerabili fratre nostro Gormundo, Hierosolymitano patriarcha consecratum accepimus, pallii dignitate, plenitudine videlicet pontificalis officii, decoravimus. Quia vero de persona sua maximum fructum matri ecclesiae vestrae Tyri, divina suffragante misericordia, credimus proventurum, ipsum cum gratia sedis apostolicae, et nostrarum litterarum prosecutione, ad vos duximus remittendum. Universitati ergo vestrae mandando praecipimus, quatenus eum benigne recipiatis, et tanquam proprio metropolitano et animarum vestrarum episcopo, subjectionem, obedientiam et reverentiam humiliter deferatis.

We received our most dear brother William, your archbishop, coming to us with due charity; and him whom we have understood to have been canonically elected and consecrated by our venerable brother Gormund, patriarch of Jerusalem, we have adorned with the dignity of the pallium, to wit, the plenitude of the pontifical office. And since indeed, with divine mercy suffraging, we believe that from his person the greatest fruit will come forth to your mother church of Tyre, we have deemed him, with the grace of the apostolic see and with the prosecution of our letters, to be remitted to you. To your Universality, therefore, by mandating we do enjoin, that you receive him kindly, and, as your own metropolitan and bishop of your souls, you humbly render subjection, obedience, and reverence.

HONORIUS episcopus, servus servorum Dei, venerabili fratri GORMUNDO Hierosolymitano patriarchae, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem.

HONORIUS bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the venerable brother GORMUND patriarch of Jerusalem, greeting and apostolic blessing.

Susceptis fraternitatis tuae litteris, fratrem nostrum Guillelmum, quem in ecclesia Tyri consecrasti archiepiscopum, benigne suscepimus, et eum dignitate pallii, plenitudine videlicet pontificalis officii, decoravimus. Suffraganeis etiam ecclesiae suae mandando praecipimus, quatenus ei tanquam proprio metropolitano, subjectionem, obedientiam et reverentiam deferant.

Upon receiving the letters of your fraternity, we kindly received our brother William, whom you consecrated archbishop in the church of Tyre, and we adorned him with the dignity of the pallium, namely with the plenitude of the pontifical office. To the suffragans also of his church, by mandating we strictly command, that they render to him, as to their own metropolitan, subjection, obedience, and reverence.

Data in territorio Barensi, VIII Idus Julii.

Given in the territory of Bari, 8 Ides of July.

Misit etiam et cum eodem archiepiscopo, dominum Egidium Tusculanum episcopum, apostolicae sedis legatum, virum eloquentem et litteratum admodum, cujus usque hodie exstant ad Antiochenos epistolae valde celebres: per quem Antiocheno patriarchae Bernardo epistolam scripsit, monens ut domino Tyrensi suos, quos detinebat, restitueret suffraganeos, ait enim inter caetera: Unde per apostolica scripta et venerabilem fratrem nostrum Egidium, Tusculanum episcopum, apostolicae sedis legatum tibi mandamus, quatenus suffraganeos Tyrensis Ecclesiae sibi restituas: quod nisi infra quadraginta dies, post earum inspectionem litterarum, quas ad eos direximus, debitam ei subjectionem exhibuerint, nos ex tunc eos ab officio episcopi suspendimus. Quid autem in causa exstiterit quod a Hierosolymitano patriarcha consecratus et ei obediens fuerit, cum a tempore apostolorum usque ad eum diem Tyrensis Ecclesia Antiochenae sedi subdita fuisse dignoscatur, sequens competenti loco subjunctus edocebit tractatus.

He also sent along with the same archbishop Lord Aegidius, bishop of Tusculum, legate of the apostolic see, a man very eloquent and very learned, whose epistles to the Antiochenes down to this day exist and are most celebrated: through whom he wrote a letter to Bernard, patriarch of Antioch, admonishing that he should restore to the lord of Tyre his suffragans, whom he was detaining, for he says among other things: Whence through apostolic writings and our venerable brother Aegidius, bishop of Tusculum, legate of the apostolic see, we command to you, that you restore to him the suffragans of the Church of Tyre: which, unless within forty days after the inspection of those letters which we have directed to them they shall have exhibited to him the due subjection, we from that time suspend them from the office of bishop. But what there was in the case, that he was consecrated by the Jerusalemite patriarch and was obedient to him, whereas from the time of the apostles up to that day the Church of Tyre is recognized to have been subject to the Antiochene see, the following treatise, subjoined in a fitting place, will instruct.

CAPUT XXIV. Fulco Andegavensium comes vocatus accedit; eique Milisendis primogenita regis filia in uxorem datur.

CHAPTER 24. Fulk, Count of Anjou, being summoned, arrives; and to him Melisende, the king’s firstborn daughter, is given in marriage.

Anno sequenti circa veris medium, vir illustris et magnificus, dominus Fulco Andegavensium comes, pro quo rex de communi omnium tam ecclesiasticorum quam saecularium principum consilio miserat, ad hoc ut ei dominam Milisendam primogenitam suam, uxorem daret, apud Acconensem urbem applicuit cum honesto nobilium comitatu et apparatu opes regias excedente. Venit etiam et cum eo dominus Willelmus de Buris, regius constabularius, qui statim a domino rege, de hostium vinculis educto, ad citandum praedictum comitem, cum quibusdam aliis nobilibus directus fuerat. Fuerat autem abeunti datum in mandatis, ut in anima regis et regni principum confidenter juraret, quod ex quo regnum sospes attingeret, infra quinquaginta dies, ei primogenita regis filia cum spe regni post regis obitum, traderetur; cui postquam applicuit, statim sine dilatione, juxta legem pactorum, antequam adveniret sanctae Pentecostes in proximo futurae celebritas, praedictam filiam suam lege tradidit maritali, eisque urbes geminas, Tyrum videlicet et Ptolemaidam, in vita sua tradidit possidendas, quas usque ad ejusdem regis obitum possederunt.

In the year following, about the middle of spring, the illustrious and magnificent man, lord Fulk, Count of the Angevins (Count of Anjou), for whom the king, by the common counsel of all the princes both ecclesiastical and secular, had sent, to this end that he might give him Lady Melisende, his firstborn daughter, as wife, made landfall at the city of Acre with an honorable retinue of nobles and with an apparatus surpassing royal resources. There came also with him lord William of Bures, the royal constable, who, immediately after he had been brought out from the bonds of the enemy by the lord king, had been dispatched to summon the aforesaid count, together with certain other nobles. Moreover, to him departing it had been given in instructions that he should confidently swear upon the soul of the king and of the princes of the realm, that once he should reach the kingdom safe, within 50 days, the firstborn daughter of the king would be delivered to him, with the hope of the kingdom after the king’s death; to whom, after he made landfall, immediately without delay, according to the law of the agreements, before the festival of Holy Pentecost, then soon to come, he delivered his aforesaid daughter under the marital law, and to them he handed over the twin cities, namely Tyre and Ptolemais, to be held in his lifetime, which they possessed up to the death of that same king.

Astitit autem praedictus comes tanquam vir providus et discretus, domino regi tota vita sua, fideliter in negotiis regni ingrediens et egrediens, filii devote implens officium: et ea quibus solent amici comparari merita, in obsequiis domini regis, in eo non fuerunt otiosa.

The aforesaid count stood by as a provident and discreet man, to the lord king through his whole life, faithfully entering and exiting in the business of the realm, devoutly fulfilling the filial office; and the merits by which friends are wont to be procured were not idle in him in the services of the lord king.

CAPUT XXV. Gormundus Hierosolymorum patriarcha moritur; Stephanus ei substituitur. Inter regem et patriarcham quaestiones oriuntur difficiles.

CHAPTER 25. Gormundus, patriarch of Jerusalem, dies; Stephen is substituted for him. Between the king and the patriarch difficult questions arise.

Eodem anno dominus Gormundus, bonae memoriae Hierosolymitanus patriarcha, dum in pago Sidoniensi praesidium quoddam, cui Belhasem nomen, obsideret, quod a quibusdam detinebatur praedonibus, mortis causa collecta, aegritudine correptus valida, Sidonem deportatus est: ubi invalescente aegritudine, conditioni mortalium satisfaciens, viam universae carnis ingressus est, cum Hierosolymitanae quasi per annos decem praefuisset ecclesiae. Cui substitutus est vir quidam secundum carnem nobilis, sed vita et moribus multo nobilior, Stephanus nomine, abbas Sancti Joannis de Vallea, qui locus in urbe Carnotensi habetur. Erat autem ipse Carnotensis genere, domini regis Balduini consanguineus.

In the same year Lord Gormund, of good memory, Patriarch of Jerusalem, while in the Sidonian district he was besieging a certain stronghold, called Belhasem, which was being held by certain brigands, with the cause of death contracted, was seized by a severe illness and was carried off to Sidon; where, as the illness grew stronger, satisfying the condition of mortals, he entered the way of all flesh, after he had presided over the Church of Jerusalem for almost ten years. In his place there was substituted a certain man noble according to the flesh, but much more noble in life and morals, Stephen by name, Abbot of Saint John of the Valley, which place is held in the city of Chartres. He himself was of Chartres by lineage, a kinsman of Lord King Baldwin.

Hic ejusdem civitatis, ante conversionem suam, in equestri ordine et habitu fuerat vice dominus; postmodum saeculo renuntians, habitum religionis in praedicto claustro suscepit, demum suffragantibus meritis, ad regimen ejusdem ecclesiae promotus est; in adolescentia sua liberalibus disciplinis convenienter instructus. Qui cum orationis gratia et devotionis intuitu Hierosolymam venisset, ibique transitum exspectans, moram faceret, contigit quod post exsequias domini Gormundi patriarchae, dum clerus et populus de substituendo pastore tractarent, communi omnium voto electus est. Postquam ergo consecratus est, coepit adversus dominum regem quaestiones movere difficiles, allegans, Joppensem civitatem ad jus suum et ecclesiae Dominicae Resurrectionis pertinere; ipsamque sanctam civitatem post captam Ascalonam eodem modo ecclesiae cessuram, de jure confirmans.

He, of the same city, before his conversion, in the equestrian order and dress had been vidame (vice-lord); afterward, renouncing the world, he received the habit of religion in the aforesaid cloister, and at length, his merits concurring, he was promoted to the governance of the same church, having in his youth been suitably instructed in the liberal disciplines. When he had come to Jerusalem for the sake of prayer and with a view to devotion, and there, awaiting passage, was making a stay, it befell that, after the obsequies of lord Gormund the patriarch, while the clergy and people were deliberating about appointing a substitute shepherd, he was elected by the common vote of all. After he was consecrated, therefore, he began to raise difficult questions against the lord king, alleging that the city of Joppa pertained to his right and to the Church of the Lord’s Resurrection; and confirming as a matter of right that the holy city itself, after Ascalon was taken, would in the same way pass over to the church.

Erat autem homo magnificus, in proposito constans, honestae conversationis, juris sui sollicitus prosecutor. Unde inter eum et dominum regem graves exortae sunt inimicitiae; quarum tamen, mors immatura finem dicitur fecisse. Nam non completo biennio, in fata concessit.

He was, moreover, a magnificent man, constant in purpose, of honorable conduct, a solicitous prosecutor of his own right. Whence between him and the lord king grave enmities arose; of which, however, an untimely death is said to have made an end. For, before the biennium was completed, he passed to the fates.

Opinantur nonnulli, eum veneno dato interiisse; sed nos pro certo id compertum non habemus. Traditur tamen, quod dum in lecto supremae decubaret aegritudinis, et rex ad eum visitandum esset ingressus, et ab eodem de ejus statu quaereret, ita responderit: Sic est nobis in praesenti, domine rex, sicuti vultis.

Some opine that he perished by poison administered; but we do not have that ascertained for certain. Yet it is handed down that, while he was lying in bed with his final sickness, and the king had entered to visit him, and was asking him about his condition, he answered thus: So it is with us at present, lord king, just as you wish.

CAPUT XXVI. Rex, princeps Antiochenus, comes Tripolitanus, comes Edessanus, fines Damascenorum ingrediuntur; sed confusi, exercitus parte amissa, redeunt. Moritur Stephanus patriarcha; Willelmus ei substituitur.

CHAPTER 26. The king, the prince of Antioch, the count of Tripoli, the count of Edessa, enter the borders of the Damascenes; but, thrown into confusion, with part of the army lost, they return. Stephen the patriarch dies; William is appointed in his stead.

Anno sequenti Hugo de Paganis, magister militiae templi primus, et quidam alii viri religiosi, qui a domino rege, et aliis regni principibus ad Occidentales missi fuerant principes, ut nostrorum subsidium populos excitarent, et ad obsidionem Damascenae urbis, potentes specialiter invitarent, reversi sunt: plurimaque nobilium virorum turba, verborum illorum fidem secuti, in regnum venerant. Unde de eorum confisi viribus et opera, ex condicto convenerunt omnes Orientis Christiani principes; dominus videlicet rex Balduinus, dominus Fulco comes Andegavensium, dominus Pontius comes Tripolitanus, dominus Boamundus junior princeps Antiochenus, dominus Joscelinus senior, comes Edessanus: hi omnes communicato consilio, collectis undique copiis militaribus et subsidiis convocatis, instructis agminibus certatim properant, ut egregiam et nobilem Damascenorum civitatem obsideant, obsessamque aut violenter ad deditionem compellant, aut armis cominus expugnent. Sed tantis conatibus, ex occulto, justo tamen, judicio divina occurrit providentia; nam cum fines Damascenorum prosperis, Deo duce, adhuc successibus attigissent, pervenientes ad locum, qui dicitur Mergesaphar, separaverunt se ab exercitu inferioris manus homines, quibus in castris id solet esse officii, ut pro victualibus necessariis que tam ad usum hominum quam jumentorum alimentis per suburbana longe lateque vagantes se porrigerent.

In the following year Hugh of Payns, the first Master of the Knighthood of the Temple, and certain other religious men, who had been sent by the lord king and by other princes of the kingdom to the Western princes, that they might stir up the peoples to our subsidy and might in particular invite the powerful to the siege of the city of Damascus, returned; and a very great crowd of noble men, following faith in their words, had come into the kingdom. Whence, trusting in their strength and effort, by prior agreement all the Christian princes of the East assembled; namely, the lord King Baldwin, the lord Fulk count of the Angevins, the lord Pons count of Tripoli, the lord Bohemond the younger, prince of Antioch, the lord Joscelin the elder, count of Edessa: all these, after counsel shared, with military forces gathered from everywhere and subsidies summoned, with their columns drawn up, hasten in rivalry to besiege the distinguished and noble city of the Damascenes, and, once besieged, either to compel it by force to surrender, or to storm it at close quarters with arms. But to such great endeavors divine providence, hidden yet just in judgment, set itself in the way; for when, with God as leader, they had thus far reached the borders of the Damascenes with favorable successes, coming to the place which is called Mergesaphar, there separated themselves from the army the men of the lower sort, to whom in the camp it is wont to be an office that, for necessary victuals and for aliments both for the use of men and of beasts of burden, roaming far and wide through the suburbs they should extend themselves.

Quibus ad custodiam datus est dominus Willelmus de Buris, cum equitibus mille. Porro illi, sicut talibus solet esse consuetudo, separati ab invicem, omnem coeperunt regionem temere perlustrare, studiose seorsum et sine consortibus incedentes, ut quod quisque reperiret caeteris non communicans, sibi proprium vindicaret; dumque circa haec detinerentur occupati, et suburbana effringentes, spolia ad suos comportare nituntur, imprudenter nimis coeperunt se habere, et militarem transgredi disciplinam. Quod audiens Damascenorum princeps Doldequinus, sperans sicuti accidit, incautos eos et locorum ignaros, si subito cum suis irrueret, posse conficere, assumptis sibi ex omni numero suorum expeditissimis et re militari prudentioribus, subita congressione nostros qui pabulatum, ut praediximus, incaute processerant, adoritur; et imparatos, aliisque studiis dantes operam, facile vertit in fugam; dispersos passim per agros, obtruncat; nec insequi desistit, donec tam vulgus quam robur egregiorum, qui eis ad custodiam deputati fuerant, in fugam convertit, pluribus ex eis interemptis.

To whose custody lord William of Bures was assigned, with one thousand knights. Moreover they, as is the custom for such men, separated from one another, began recklessly to perambulate the whole region, proceeding diligently apart and without companions, so that whatever each might discover, not sharing it with the rest, he might vindicate as his own; and while they were held occupied with these matters, and, breaking into the suburbs, strove to carry the spoils back to their own, they began to conduct themselves most imprudently and to transgress military discipline. Hearing this, the prince of the Damascenes, Doldequin, hoping—as in fact occurred—that, if he should suddenly rush in with his men, he could dispatch them, unwary and ignorant of the places, took to himself out of the whole number of his followers the most expeditious and the more prudent in the military art; with a sudden encounter he assails our men who, for forage, as we have said before, had gone forth incautiously; and, unprepared and giving attention to other pursuits, he easily turns them to flight; scattered far and wide through the fields, he cuts them down; nor does he cease to pursue until he turns to flight both the common mass and the strength of the select men who had been appointed to guard them, with many of them slain.

Quo comperto, nostri qui in exercitu erant, ad tantam propulsandam injuriam, et ad ultionem prosequendam parati, arma corripiunt, hostibus obviam, viriliter obstinatis animis et indignatione nimia accensis, ire parant: cum subito virtus divina, qua invita, hominum non satis promoventur negotia, tantam imbrium immisit intemperiem, tantam aeris caliginem, tantam viarum, propter aquarum abundantiam difficultatem, ut vix de vita nemine, nisi sola aeris inclementia perurgente, sperare liceret. Caliginosus enim aer, et nubium densitas, ventorum etiam irregularis concursus, tonitrua et coruscationes saepissimae, id ipsum multo ante significaverant. Sed ignara futuri mens hominum caeca, revocantem non exaudivit divinam longanimitatem; sed ea invita, quod impossibile est, procedere nititur.

When this was learned, our men who were in the army, ready to repel so great an injury and to pursue vengeance, seize their arms and prepare to go to meet the enemies, manfully, with obstinate spirits and kindled with excessive indignation; when suddenly the divine power—without whose favor the affairs of men are not sufficiently promoted—sent in such an intemperance of rains, such a murkiness of the air, such a difficulty of the roads on account of the abundance of waters, that scarcely could anyone hope for his life, with no assailant pressing them save the inclemency of the air itself. For a dusky air and a density of clouds, and even an irregular concurrence of winds, with very frequent thunders and lightnings, had long before signified that very thing. But the mind of men, ignorant of the future, blind, did not hearken to the divine longanimity that was calling them back; rather, with it unwilling—which is impossible—it strives to proceed.

Videntesque pro peccatis eorum immissam aeris intemperiem, revocant de necessitate propositum; et mutatis conditionibus qui hostibus primum terribiles, nimiumque suspecti advenerant, nunc hoste quieto et etiam superiore facto, sibi ipsis oneri erant; et ad propria redire victoriam reputabant immensam. Igitur VIII Idus Decembris, anno ab Incarnatione Domini 1130, regni domini Balduini duodecimo, accidit hoc, in eodem fere loco, ubi quadriennio prius insignem et cunctis memorabilem de eisdem hostibus idem rex obtinuerat palmam. Mirabile est, et vere mirabile, et supra opiniones hominum, quod de sua virtute praesumentes humilias, aeterne Salvator; et qui in homine confidunt, et carnem ponunt brachium suum, jaculo tuae maledictionis, meritis exigentibus, confodis; adjutorem non quaerens, nec gloriae conparticipem.

And seeing that, on account of their sins, an intemperance of the air had been sent, they of necessity revoke their plan; and with the conditions changed, they who at first had come terrible to the enemies and exceedingly suspected, now, the foe being quiet and even made superior, were a burden to themselves; and to return to their own they reckoned an immeasurable victory. Therefore, on the 8th day before the Ides of December, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1130, in the 12th year of lord Baldwin’s reign, this happened, in nearly the same place where 4 years earlier the same king had obtained the palm, distinguished and memorable to all, from these same enemies. It is wonderful, and truly wonderful, and beyond the opinions of men, that those presuming on their own virtue you humble, eternal Savior; and those who trust in man and set flesh as their arm, with the javelin of your malediction, their merits requiring it, you pierce; seeking no helper, nor conparticipant of glory.

Tu enim dixisti, benedicte Domine: Gloriam meam alteri non dabo (Isa. XLVIII, 11). Mihi vindictam, et ego retribuam (Rom. XII, 19). Percutiam, et sanabo; et ego vivere faciam; et non est qui de manu mea possit eruere (Deut.

For you have said, blessed Lord: I will not give my glory to another (Isa. 48, 11). Vengeance is mine, and I will repay (Rom. 12, 19). I will strike down, and I will heal; and I will make to live; and there is no one who can snatch from my hand (Deut.

XXXII, 39). Et vere, Domine. Nam dum rex solis regni sui viribus et propria usus militia, superabundanti divinae gratiae se commisit totum, de hostibus saepius insperatos reportavit triumphos; ubi vero de multitudine confidens, hominis opera se sublimari posse praesumpsit, et multiplicatis auxiliis de mortalium coepit virtute confidere, gratiam subtrahens, eum suis conditionibus reliquisti. Abiit enim in multitudine confusus, qui in paucitate, Domini fretus auxilio, de hostibus facile consueverat triumphare.

32, 39). And truly, Lord. For while the king, using only the forces of his realm and his own soldiery, having committed himself wholly to the superabundant divine grace, brought back from the enemies triumphs oftentimes unlooked-for; but when, trusting in multitude, he presumed that he could be exalted by the works of man, and with auxiliaries multiplied began to put confidence in the virtue of mortals, withdrawing grace, you left him to his own conditions. For he went away confounded in multitude, he who in paucity, relying on the Lord’s aid, had been wont easily to triumph over the enemies.

Sic ergo temporis divinitus immissa abacti intemperie et coelis contra eos impugnantibus, nec de suis qui hostium gladiis ceciderant sumpta est ultio, nec propositum effectui mancipare potuerunt. His ita gestis, nostri principes ab alterutro divisi, impossibile credentes quod incoeptum prius opus, facile posset de caetero continuari, ad propria sunt reversi. Mortuus est interim piae memoriae dominus Stephanus patriarcha Hierosolymorum; cui successit dominus Willelmus, prior ecclesiae Dominici Sepulcri: vir simplex, modice litteratus, forma decorus, moralitate commendabilis; Flamingus natione, de eo loco qui dicitur Mecine; regi, regnique principibus et populo universo plurimum acceptus.

Thus then, with an intemperance of weather divinely sent having driven them off and the heavens assailing them, neither was vengeance taken for their own who had fallen to the enemies’ swords, nor could they deliver their purpose to effect. With these things thus done, our princes, divided from one another, believing it impossible that the work previously begun could easily thereafter be continued, returned to their own places. In the meantime the lord Stephen, patriarch of Jerusalem, of pious memory, died; and lord William, prior of the Church of the Lord’s Sepulchre, succeeded him: a simple man, moderately lettered, comely in form, commendable for morality; a Fleming by nation, from that place which is called Mecine; most acceptable to the king, and to the princes of the realm and to the whole people.

CAPUT XXVII. Boamundus Antiochenorum princeps, in Cilicia circa Mamistram occiditur. Rex Antiocham properat.

CHAPTER 27. Bohemond, prince of the Antiochenes, is slain in Cilicia near Mamistra. The king hastens to Antioch.

Boamundi uxor patrem advenientem tentat repellere; sed civium opera regi traditur civitas, exclusa principissa.

Bohemond’s wife tries to repel her father as he arrives; but by the efforts of the citizens the city is handed over to the king, the princess being excluded.

Postquam igitur dominus Boamundus regis gener, princeps Antiochenus, ab ea expeditione rediens in suam se recepit provinciam, Rodoan maledictionis filius, Halapiae princeps, Turcorum dominator potentissimus, fines Antiochenorum ingressus est. Cui cum dominus princeps volens eum a suis arcere finibus, obviam properasset, in Ciliciam descendit, aliis etiam tractus causis, quae domesticam et familiarem habebant rationem. Ubi cum in eo loco qui dicitur Pratum palliorum, in campestribus late patentibus castrametatus est, hostium irruente subito multitudine, suis eum destituentibus, gladiis confossus interiit.

After, therefore, Lord Boamund, the king’s son-in-law, prince of Antioch, returning from that expedition withdrew into his own province, Rodwan, son of malediction, prince of Aleppo, a most potent ruler of the Turks, entered the borders of the Antiochenes. When the lord prince, wishing to ward him off from his borders, had hastened to meet him, he descended into Cilicia, drawn also by other causes which had a domestic and familial consideration. There, when in the place which is called the Meadow of the Mantles, in wide-spreading champaigns, he had encamped, as a sudden multitude of enemies rushed in, his own abandoning him, pierced with swords he perished.

Magnus princeps, et Deo si vixisset amabilis, nisi mors immatura et sors invida humanis eum rebus subtraxisset: quo casu populus Antiochenus mente plurimum consternatus, qui sub illius regimine tutum per longa tempora se arbitrabatur posse conservari, et de ejus adolescentia supra id quam expediret praesumebat, in recidivas iterum incidentes querimonias, ut sine principis officio iterum hostibus praeda fierent, communicato consilio dominum Hierosolymorum regem evocant. Quod postquam domino regi nuntiatum est, facti novitate permotus, timens ne pro ducis defectu praedictae regioni deterius aliquid contingeret, omissis propriis, coepit aliena curare, nil reputans alienum, quod Christianis principibus accidisset; dignum etiam sua existimans sollicitudine, quidquid populo Christiano per labores suos posse videbat accedere, citatis gressibus Antiochiam properat. Interea ejus filia, morte mariti cognita, nequam agitata spiritu, rem concipit nefariam, antequam de adventu patris quidquam persentisceret.

A great prince, and lovable to God, if he had lived, unless untimely death and an envious lot had withdrawn him from human affairs: by which event the Antiochene people, greatly dismayed in mind, who under his regimen judged themselves able to be kept safe for long times, and presumed upon his adolescence beyond what was expedient, falling again into relapsed complaints, lest without the prince’s office they should again become prey to enemies, after counsel was taken in common, summon the lord king of Jerusalem. Which, after it was announced to the lord king, moved by the novelty of the deed, fearing lest on account of the leader’s defect something worse should befall the aforesaid region, with his own matters laid aside, he began to care for those of others, reckoning nothing alien that had happened to Christian princes; deeming as worthy also of his solicitude whatever he saw could accrue to the Christian people through his labors, with quickened steps he hastens to Antioch. Meanwhile his daughter, the death of her husband learned, stirred by a wicked spirit, conceives a nefarious design, before she had any presentiment of her father’s advent.

Ut statum sibi praepararet tranquilliorem et effectui manciparet propositum, ad quemdam Turcorum potentissimum ducem, nomine Sanguinum, nuntios dirigit, ejus ope sperans, invitis patribus et universa plebe, Antiochiam sibi in perpetuum vindicare posse. Erat autem eidem ex domino Boamundo bonae memoriae, unica filia, cujus non multa apud matrem videbatur esse gratia; illuc enim tota matris videbatur properare intentio, ut vel in viduitate consistens, vel ad secunda vota demigrans, principatum sibi exhaeredata filia, perpetuo possideret. Miserat autem et praedicto nobili viro, per quemdam familiarem suum, palefredum albissimum, argento ferratum, freno et caeteris argenteis phaleris redimitum, exameto coopertum albissimo, ut in omnibus candor niveus consonaret.

That she might prepare for herself a more tranquil condition and deliver her purpose into effect, she sends envoys to a certain most powerful duke of the Turks, by name Sanguinus, hoping by his help, with the fathers and the whole populace unwilling, to vindicate Antioch for herself in perpetuity. Now she had by lord Bohemond of good memory a single daughter, who seemed to have no great favor with her mother; for the mother’s whole intention seemed to hasten to this point: that, whether remaining in widowhood or migrating to second vows, she might possess the principate for herself in perpetuity, the daughter being disinherited. Moreover, she had sent also to the aforesaid noble man, through a certain intimate of hers, a very white palfrey, shod with silver, adorned with a bridle and the other silver trappings, covered with most white samite, so that in all things the snowy candor might harmonize.

Qui nuntius in itinere casu interceptus, et in domini regis constitutus praesentia, facti seriem confessus, viarum suarum fructus colligens, supremo supplicio vitam finivit. Rex itaque Antiochiam ob praedicta quae acciderant infortunia properans, illucque perveniens in civitatem, filia prohibente non est admissus, cauteriatam quae timens conscientiam, etiam patris arbitrium verebatur; suis ergo complicibus et quos pecunia corruperat civitatem tradens, omnino resistere moliebatur, et tyrannidem suam liberius exercere. Sed accidit ei longe secus a proposito.

That messenger, intercepted by chance on the journey and set in the presence of the lord king, having confessed the sequence of the deed, and gathering the fruits of his ways, ended his life by the supreme punishment. Therefore the king, hastening to Antioch on account of the aforesaid misfortunes which had happened, and arriving there in the city, was not admitted, his daughter forbidding, who, fearing her cauterized conscience, also dreaded her father’s judgment; therefore, handing over the city to her accomplices and those whom she had corrupted with money, she strove utterly to resist and to exercise her tyranny more freely. But it befell her far otherwise than according to her purpose.

Nam in eadem civitate erant viri timentes Deum, insanientis feminae contemnentes proterviam; quorum unus erat Petrus Latinator, monachus Sancti Pauli, et Willelmus de Adversa. Hi consentientibus aliis, dominum regem occultis vocant internuntiis, et ex condicto dominum Fulconem, Andegavensium comitem, in porta Ducis locant; dominum vero comitem Joscelinum, in porta Sancti Pauli; deinde aditus reserant, regem introducunt. Quo cognito principissa in arcem contendit: unde postmodum a prudentioribus, et quibus plenam fidem habebat, evocata, ante patris praesentiam se constituit, ejus arbitrio paritura.

For in the same city there were men fearing God, despising the insolence of the raving woman; of whom one was Peter the Latinator, a monk of Saint Paul, and William of Adversa. These, with the others consenting, call the lord king by secret go-betweens, and by prior agreement they station lord Fulk, count of the Angevins, at the Duke’s Gate; but lord Count Joscelin at Saint Paul’s Gate; then they unbar the entrances and bring in the king. When this was learned, the princess hastens into the citadel; whence afterwards, summoned by the more prudent and by those in whom she had full trust, she presented herself before her father’s presence, to submit to his judgment.

Pater vero, licet pro commisso graviorem adversus eam indignationis motum conceperat, tamen intervenientium prece devictus, et paterno non destitutus affectu, recepta Antiochia, ne filia simile aliquando attentaret, Laodiciam et Gabulum urbes maritimas ei concessit, quas tamen maritus supremo judicio ei ob donationem propter nuptias destinaverat. Ordinatis igitur illius civitatis negotiis, et cura principibus concessa, revocante eum domestica sollicitudine, Hierosolymam reversus est; sumptis tamen prius, tam majorum quam minorum fidelitatibus, et corporaliter juramentis: quod vel eo vivente, vel post ejus obitum Antiochiam cum suis pertinentiis, Constantiae pupillae, domini Boamundi junioris filiae, fideliter conservarent. Verebatur enim propriae filiae suae malitiam, ne praedictam pupillam tentaret, sicut et prius fecerat, exhaeredem facere.

The father, however, although on account of the offense he had conceived a graver movement of indignation against her, yet, overcome by the plea of the interceders and not bereft of paternal affection, Antioch having been recovered, lest the daughter should at some time attempt something similar, granted to her Laodicea and Gabulum, maritime cities, which, however, her husband by a supreme judgment had destined to her as a donation on account of the nuptials. Therefore, the affairs of that city being set in order, and the care committed to the princes, with domestic solicitude calling him back, he returned to Jerusalem; having first, however, taken the fidelities of both the greater and the lesser, and corporal oaths: that, either while he lived or after his death, they would faithfully preserve Antioch with its appurtenances for Constance the ward, daughter of Lord Bohemond the Younger. For he feared the malice of his own daughter, lest she attempt to make the aforesaid ward disinherited, just as she had previously done.

CAPUT XXVIII. Rex Hierosolymam revertitur; valida correptus aegritudine moritur; cum aliis regibus in ecclesia Dominici Sepulcri tumulatur.

CHAPTER 28. The king returns to Jerusalem; seized by a strong sickness he dies; he is entombed with other kings in the church of the Lord’s Sepulchre.

Reversus ergo Hierosolymam, decidit in gravem nimis aegritudinem; vidensque sibi mortis imminere diem, egressus de proprio palatio, supplex et humilis in conspectu Domini, regio statu deposito, in domum domini patriarchae, quia loco Dominicae resurrectionis erat vicinior, se transferri praecepit; spem habens in eo, qui mortem ibi devicerat, quod suae resurrectionis faceret eum participem. Ibique accitis filia et genero, pueroque Balduino jam bimulo, coram positis domino patriarcha, et ecclesiarum praelatis, et de principibus nonnullis, qui forte aderant, regni curam et plenam eis tradidit potestatem, more pii principis paterna eis benedictione indulta. Ipse vero Christi verus confessor, habitum religionis assumens, et vitam regularem professus, si viveret, ei qui spirituum pater est, tradidit spiritum, cum piis principibus, auctore Domino, praemia percepturus.

Having therefore returned to Jerusalem, he fell into a very grave sickness; and seeing the day of death impending for himself, he went out from his own palace, a suppliant and humble in the sight of the Lord, the royal state laid aside, and ordered himself to be transferred to the house of the lord patriarch, because it was nearer to the place of the Lord’s Resurrection, having hope in Him who there overcame death, that He would make him a participant in His Resurrection. And there, his daughter and son-in-law summoned, and the boy Baldwin now two years old, with the lord patriarch and the prelates of the churches set before him, and some of the princes who happened to be present, he handed over to them the care of the kingdom and full power, after the manner of a pious prince, a fatherly benediction having been granted to them. But he himself, a true confessor of Christ, having assumed the habit of religion, and having professed the regular life—if he should live—gave up his spirit to Him who is the Father of spirits, about to receive rewards, by the Lord’s ordinance, together with the pious princes.

Mortuus est autem anno ab Incarnatione Domini 1131, regni vero ejus tertio decimo, mense Augusto, vicesima prima die mensis; sepultus est autem inter praedecessores suos piae recordationis reges, sub monte Calvariae, ante locum qui dicitur Golgotha, multa suorum cura et solemnibus obsequiis, regia dignis magnificentia. Cujus usque in praesentem diem ob egregiam fidem et opera insignia, memoria est in benedictione apud omnes.

He died, moreover, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1131, and of his reign the 13th, in the month August, on the 21st day of the month; he was buried, moreover, among his predecessors, kings of pious memory, under Mount Calvary, before the place which is called Golgotha, with much care on the part of his own and with solemn obsequies, with magnificence worthy of royal dignity. Whose memory, even to the present day, on account of distinguished faith and signal works, is in benediction among all.