William of Tyre: HISTORIA RERUM IN PARTIBUS TRANSMARINIS GESTARUM

Dignum credimus, et praesenti satis convenire videtur historiae ut posteritatis mandetur memoriae, qui principes praedictae interfuerunt curiae, qui ex tantis convenerant regionibus. Interfuit ergo primus dominus Conradus inclytae recordationis, Teutonicorum rex et Romanorum imperator: et de principibus ejus ecclesiasticis, dominus Otto Frisingensis episcopus, vir litteratus frater ejus; dominus Stephanus Metensis episcopus; dominus Henricus, domini Theodorici Flandrensium comitis frater, Tullensis episcopus; dominus Theotinus natione Teutonicus, episcopus Portuensis, apostolicae sedis legatus, qui de mandato domini Eugenii papae, ejusdem domini imperatoris castra fuerat secutus. De laicis vero dominus Henricus dux Austriae, ejusdem imperatoris frater; dominus dux Guelpho, vir illustris et potens; dominus Fredericus, inclytus Suevorum et Vindelicorum dux, ejusdem domini imperatoris ex fratre primogenito nepos, eximiae indolis adolescens, qui ei postmodum succedens, Romanum hodie strenue et viriliter administrat imperium; dominus Hermannus, provinciae Veronensis marchio; dominus Bertholdus de Andes, qui postea fuit Bavariae dux; dominus Wilelmus, marchio de Monteferrato, ejusdem domini imperatoris sororius; Guido comes de Blandrada, qui praedicti marchionis sororem habebat uxorem, ambo de Lombardia erant, magni et egregii principes.

We deem it worthy, and it seems to suit the present history well enough, that it be committed to the memory of posterity which princes were present at the aforesaid curia, who had come together from such great regions. Present therefore first was lord Conrad, of illustrious memory, king of the Teutons and emperor of the Romans: and, of his ecclesiastical princes, lord Otto, bishop of Freising, a learned man, his brother; lord Stephen, bishop of Metz; lord Henry, brother of lord Theodoric, count of the Flemings, bishop of Toul; lord Theotinus, Teutonic by nation, bishop of Porto, legate of the apostolic see, who by the mandate of lord Pope Eugenius had followed the camp of that same lord emperor. As for the laity, lord Henry, duke of Austria, brother of the same emperor; lord Duke Welf, an illustrious and potent man; lord Frederick, the renowned duke of the Suevi and Vindelici, nephew of the same lord emperor by his eldest brother, a youth of exceptional natural disposition, who, succeeding him afterward, today vigorously and manfully administers the Roman empire; lord Hermann, margrave of the Veronese province; lord Berthold of Andechs, who afterward was duke of Bavaria; lord William, marquess of Montferrat, the brother-in-law of that same lord emperor; Guy, count of Blandrada, who had the aforesaid marquis’s sister as his wife—both were from Lombardy, great and distinguished princes.

Interfuerunt et alii nonnulli, nobiles et spectabiles viri, quorum nomina vel titulos non tenemus.

There were also several others present, noble and notable men, whose names or titles we do not retain.

Interfuit dominus Ludovicus Francorum rex piissimus, inclytae in Domino memoriae, et cum eo dominus Godefridus, Lingonensis episcopus; dominus Arnulphus, Lexoviensis episcopus; dominus Guido de Florentia, Ecclesiae Romanae presbyter cardinalis, tituli Sancti Chrysogoni, apostolicae sedis legatus; dominus Robertus, comes Perchensis, ejusdem domini regis frater; dominus Henricus, domini Theobaldi senioris comitis filius, comes Trecensis, ejusdem domini regis gener, egregiae indolis adolescens; dominus Theodoricus; Flandrensium magnificus comes, domini regis Hierosolymorum sororius; dominus Ivo de Neella Suessionensis, vir fidelis et prudens. Interfuerunt et alii multi, nobiles, et potentes, et digni memoria viri, quorum nomina, prolixitatem declinantes, studiose praeterimus. De nostris autem regionibus, adfuit dominus Balduinus, Hierosolymorum rex, inclytae indolis adolescens; et cum eo mater ejus, prudens et circumspecta mulier, cor habens virile, et quolibet consulto principe nihil inferius sapiens; et cum eis, dominus Fulcherus, patriarcha; dominus Balduinus, Caesariensis archiepiscopus; dominus Robertus, Nazarenus archiepiscopus; dominus Rorgo, Acconensis episcopus; dominus Bernhardus, Sidoniensis episcopus; dominus Willelmus, Berytensis episcopus; dominus Adam, Paneadensis episcopus; dominus Geraldus, Bethlehemita episcopus; Robertus magister militiae Templi; Raimundus, magister domus Hospitalis.

There was present Lord Louis, most pious king of the Franks, of renowned memory in the Lord, and with him Lord Geoffrey, bishop of Langres; Lord Arnulf, bishop of Lisieux; Lord Guy of Florence, presbyter cardinal of the Roman Church, of the title of Saint Chrysogonus, legate of the Apostolic See; Lord Robert, count of Perche, brother of the same lord king; Lord Henry, son of Lord Theobald the elder count, count of Troyes, son-in-law of the same lord king, an adolescent of select disposition; Lord Theodoricus; the magnificent count of the Flemings, brother-in-law of the lord king of Jerusalem; Lord Ivo of Nesle of Soissons, a faithful and prudent man. There were present also many others, noble, and powerful, and men worthy of memory, whose names, avoiding prolixity, we diligently pass over. But from our own regions, there was present Lord Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, an adolescent of renowned disposition; and with him his mother, a prudent and circumspect woman, having a virile heart, and inferior in wisdom to no prince consulted; and with them, Lord Fulcher, patriarch; Lord Baldwin, archbishop of Caesarea; Lord Robert, archbishop of Nazareth; Lord Rorgo, bishop of Acre; Lord Bernard, bishop of Sidon; Lord William, bishop of Beirut; Lord Adam, bishop of Paneas; Lord Gerald, bishop of Bethlehem; Robert, master of the militia of the Temple; Raymond, master of the House of the Hospital.

De laicis vero, Manasses regis constabularius, Philippus Neapolitanus, Helinandus Tiberiadensis, Gerardus Sidoniensis, Galterius Caesariensis, Paganus dominus regionis quae est trans Jordanem, Balianus senior, Hunfredus de Torono, Guido Berytensis; et alii multi, de quibus per singula longum nimis esset enumerare. Hi omnes, ut diximus, in urbem convenerant Acconensem, tractaturi quod optimum et loco et tempori magis conveniens videretur; quod primum, auctore Domino, ad incrementum regni et Christiani gloriam nominis attentarent.

But as for the laymen, Manasses the king’s constable, Philip the Neapolitan, Helinand of Tiberias, Gerard of Sidon, Walter of Caesarea, Pagan, lord of the region which is beyond the Jordan, Balian the elder, Humphrey of Toron, Guy of Beirut; and many others, of whom to enumerate each in detail would be far too long. All these, as we have said, had come together into the city of Acre, to deliberate on what might seem best and more fitting both to the place and to the time; what first, with the Lord as author, they might attempt for the increment of the kingdom and the glory of the Christian name.

CAPUT II. Urbem Damascenam proponunt obsidere, et ex condicto ad eam accedunt.

CHAPTER 2. They propose to besiege the city of Damascus, and, as agreed, they approach it.

Tractatis igitur continuo libramine deliberationis partibus, post subjecta, sicut in talibus fieri solet, diversarum partium diversa consilia, de communi consilio visum est tempori expedientius Damascum urbem nostris damnosam obsidere: unde firmato circa id consilio, voce praeconia praecipitur publicari, quatenus die statuta omnes unanimiter parati sint copias suas ad partes illas dirigere. Mense igitur Maio, vicesima quinta die mensis, anno ab Incarnatione Domini 1147, congregatis ex universo regno militaribus tam equitum quam peditum copiis, tam ex indigenis quam ex peregrinis, praevio vivificae crucis salutari ligno, praedicti Deo amabiles reges, una cum suis expeditionibus, ad urbem Tiberiadem, ex condicto perveniunt. Inde viarum compendia secuti, secus mare Galilaeae usque Paneadem, quae est Caesarea Philippi, universos deduxerunt exercitus.

With the parts of deliberation at once weighed in the balance, after the diverse counsels of the different parties had been set forth, as is wont to be done in such matters, by common counsel it seemed more expedient for the time to besiege the city of Damascus, harmful to our side: whereupon, the counsel regarding this being fixed, it is ordered to be published by a herald’s voice, to the effect that on the appointed day all should unanimously be ready to direct their forces to those parts. Therefore, in the month of May, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1147, the military forces of the whole kingdom, both of horse and of foot, both from natives and from foreigners, having been assembled, with the saving wood of the life-giving Cross going before, the aforesaid God-beloved kings, together with their expeditions, came, as had been agreed, to the city Tiberias. Thence, following the shortcuts of the roads, along the Sea of Galilee as far as Paneas, which is Caesarea Philippi, they led all the armies.

Ubi deliberatione habita cum iis qui situs urbis Damascenae et adjacentis regionis habebant peritiam, communicato cum majoribus principibus consilio, utilius judicant praedictam urbem eatenus obsidione vallare, ut prius occupentur pomeria, quae ex maxima parte urbem ambiunt eamdem et plurimam videntur conferre munitionem, arbitrantes quod occupatis pomeriis urbem deinceps obtinere satis esset in expedito. Sic igitur juxta initum consilium iter agressi, transcurso famosissimo monte Libano, qui medius inter Caesaream Philippi et eamdem Damascum interjacet, apud vicum cui nomen Daria est, in agrum descenderunt Damascenum, ab urbe quatuor aut quinque distantes milliaribus: unde et totam civitatem cum adjacente regione, de plano dabatur intueri.

When deliberation had been held with those who had expertise in the site of the city of Damascus and the adjacent region, and counsel had been shared with the greater princes, they judge it more expedient to gird the aforesaid city with a siege to this extent: that the pomeria—orchards/suburbs—which for the most part surround that same city and seem to confer very great fortification, be first occupied; thinking that, the pomeria once seized, thereafter to obtain the city would be sufficiently unimpeded. Thus, then, according to the plan that had been entered upon, having traversed the most famous Mount Lebanon, which lies in the midst between Caesarea Philippi and Damascus itself, at the village whose name is Daria they descended into the Damascene countryside, at a distance of four or five miles from the city; whence the whole city with the adjacent region could be surveyed in plain view from the level ground.

CAPUT III. Describitur situs Damascenae urbis.

CHAPTER 3. The site of the city of Damascus is described.

Est autem Damascus civitas maxima minoris Syriae, quae alio nomine Phoenicis Libanica nuncupatur metropolis, sicut ibi legitur: Caput Syriae Damascus (Isa. VII, 8); a quodam Abrahae servo denominata, qui eam creditur fundasse. Interpretatur autem sanguinea vel sanguinolenta. Est autem in campestribus sita, in agro sterili et arido, nisi quantum aquarum antiquis meatibus deductarum irrigatur beneficio.

Now Damascus is the greatest city of Lesser Syria, which by another name is called the metropolis of Phoenicia Libanica, as it is read there: The head of Syria is Damascus (Isa. 7, 8); denominated from a certain servant of Abraham, who is believed to have founded it. It is interpreted as sanguineous or sanguinolent. Moreover, it is situated in the plains, in a barren and arid field, except insofar as it is irrigated by the benefit of waters led down by ancient channels.

Fluvius enim a promuntorio descendens vicino, in superioribus illius regionis partibus, canalibus exceptus, ut inde liberius per plana possit deduci, per diversas subjectae regionis partes ad agrorum sterilitatem fecundandam dirigitur; quod vero residuum est, quia copiosas habet aquas, ex utraque ripa pomeria nutrit, arboribus consita fructiferis, juxtaque civitatis murum Orientem versus labitur. Pervenientes igitur praedicti reges ad locum praenominatum, videlicet Dariam, urbem habentes jam vicinam, instruunt acies, et ordinem incedendi assignant legionibus, ne promiscue incedentes, contentiones suscitent ad invicem et operi futuro ministrent impedimentum. Primus itaque cum suis Hierosolymorum rex, eo maxime quod locorum peritiam ejus cohortes dicebantur habere, de communi principum statuto ire praecipitur, et caeteris subsequentibus iter aperire.

The river, indeed, descending from a nearby promontory in the upper parts of that region, being taken up by canals, so that from there it might be led more freely across the level grounds, is directed through diverse parts of the subject region to fecundate the sterility of the fields; but what remains, since it has copious waters, nourishes orchards on both banks, planted with fruit-bearing trees, and it glides alongside the city’s wall toward the East. The aforesaid kings, therefore, arriving at the place before named, namely Daria—now having the city near—form their battle-lines and assign to the legions the order of marching, lest, proceeding promiscuously, they stir up quarrels among themselves and furnish an impediment to the work to come. Therefore the king of Jerusalem, with his own, is ordered to go first, by the common statute of the princes, chiefly because his cohorts were said to have knowledge of the places, and to open the way with the rest following.

Secundum et medium locum rex Francorum cum suis expeditionibus tenere jubetur, ut praecedentibus, si necessitas emerserit, opem ferat. Tertium et novissimum imperator, eodem decreto, conservare mandatur, ut hostibus, si forte a parte irruant posteriore, resistere sit paratus, et praecedentes copias a parte relicta reddat securiores. His ergo tribus exercitibus ordine congruo dispositis, ad urbem castra promovent, accedere contendentes.

The king of the Franks is ordered to hold the second and middle place with his expeditions, so that he may bring aid to those going before, if necessity should emerge. The emperor, by the same decree, is commanded to preserve the third and rearmost, so that he may be prepared to resist the enemies, if by chance they should rush in from the posterior side, and render the preceding forces more secure on the side left behind. Therefore, with these three armies arranged in a congruent order, they advance the camp toward the city, striving to draw near.

Est autem civitas ab occidentali parte, unde nostris erat accessus, et a septentrionali pomeriis obsita longe lateque, instar condensorum nemorum et opacarum silvarum, ita ut ultra quinque aut amplius milliaria versus Libanum protendantur. Et haec eadem, ne dominia fortasse sint in incerto, et ne volentibus passim introire liceat, clausa sunt muro, licet luteo; nam lapidibus regio illa non abundat. Clausa sunt itaque, et secundum hoc quod cuique designatae sunt possessiones, muro hujusmodi vallata, relictis semitis et viis publicis, licet angustis, quibus hortulanis et curam pomeriorum habentibus ad urbem cum jumentis fructus deferentibus perveniatur.

Now the city, on the western side—whence there was access for our men—and on the northern side, is overgrown with orchards far and wide, in the likeness of dense groves and shady forests, so that they stretch beyond five or more miles toward Lebanon. And these same orchards, lest the lordships be perhaps in uncertainty and lest it be permitted for those who wish to enter everywhere indiscriminately, are enclosed by a wall, albeit of clay; for that region does not abound in stones. They are therefore enclosed, and, according to how possessions have been designated to each, are fenced with a wall of this sort, footpaths and public roads being left, though narrow, by which one may reach the city—gardeners and those having the care of the orchards conveying the fruits with juments (beasts of burden).

Sunt autem haec pomeria urbi pro summo munimine; nam prae densitate et arborum frequentia, et viarum angustiis, videbatur durum et pene impossibile, ut ab ea parte esset transitus urbem adire volentibus. Per haec tamen loca decretum erat nostris principibus ab initio exercitus introducere, et ad urbem patefieri accessum; ex causa gemina, tum ut occupatis munitioribus locis, et in quibus populo Damasceno major erat fiducia, quod superesset, leve videretur et compleretur facilius; tum ut expeditionibus, fructuum et aquae non deesset commoditas. Immittit ergo primus Hierosolymorum rex, per illas pomeriorum angustiores semitas, suas acies; sed vix et cum multa difficultate procedere poterat exercitus, tum viarum impeditus angustiis; tum eorum qui in virgultis latebant, insidiis lacessitus; tum etiam manifesto hostium qui aditus obsederant, et viarum praeoccupaverant anfractus, conflictu.

Now these orchards are for the city as its chief muniment; for because of the density and frequency of the trees, and the narrowness of the roads, it seemed hard and almost impossible that from that side there should be a passage for those wishing to approach the city. Through these places, however, it had been decreed by our princes from the beginning to lead the army in, and to have access to the city opened; for a twin cause, first, that, the more fortified places occupied, and those in which the Damascene people had greater confidence, what remained might seem light and be completed more easily; second, that the expeditions not lack the convenience of fruits and of water. Therefore the king of Jerusalem first sends in, along those narrower paths of the orchards, his battle-lines; but the army could scarcely, and with much difficulty, advance—both hindered by the narrowness of the roads; and harassed by the ambushes of those who were lurking in the thickets; and also by open conflict with the enemy, who had beset the approaches and had preoccupied the windings of the roads.

Egressus enim erat unanimiter civitatis populus, et in praedicta descenderat pomeria, ut tam occultis quam manifestis congressionibus exercitum transire prohiberet. Erant praeterea, intra ipsa pomeriorum septa, domus eminentes et excelsae, quas viris pugnaturis communierant, quorum possessiones erant vicinae: unde sagittis et aliorum immissione telorum, hortorum septa tuebantur, neminem accedere permittentes; sed et publicam volentibus transire viam reddebant eminus sagittis valde periculosam. Nec erant tamen ex una tantum parte nostris praedictorum formidabiles insidiae; sed ex omni latere par erat incautis periculum, et suspectum aeque improvisae mortis discrimen.

For the people of the city had gone out unanimously, and had descended into the aforesaid orchards, so as to hinder the army from passing by encounters both hidden and manifest. There were, moreover, within the very enclosures of the orchards, houses eminent and lofty, which they had fortified for men about to fight, whose possessions were adjacent: whence, with arrows and the discharge of other missiles, they were protecting the enclosures of the gardens, allowing no one to approach; and they were also rendering the public road very dangerous from afar with arrows for those wishing to pass. Nor, however, were the aforesaid ambuscades fearful for our men from only one side; but on every side the danger was equal for the incautious, and the peril of unforeseen death was equally to be suspected.

Erant nihilominus et secus muros interius latentes viri cum lanceis, qui per specularia modica, in muris ad hoc studiosius ordinata, unde videre transeuntes poterant, minime vero ipsi videri, praetereuntes confodiebant ex latere: quo casu plurimi dicuntur illa die miserabiliter occubuisse. Sed et aliae innumerabiles non defuerunt inter illas angustias periculorum transire volentibus species.

There were nonetheless also men with lances, lying hidden on the inside along the walls, who, through little viewing-slits, more carefully arranged in the walls for this purpose—whence they could see those passing by, while they themselves were scarcely seen—were stabbing passers-by from the side; in which event, very many are said to have pitiably perished that day. But likewise other innumerable species of perils were not lacking in those narrows for those seeking to pass through.

CAPUT IV. Nostri pomeria civitatis violenter effringunt, et fluvium invitis hostibus occupant in manu forti. Factum imperatoris eximium et admirabile describitur.

CHAPTER 4. Our men violently break open the city's pomeria, and, the enemies unwilling, seize the river with a strong hand. The emperor’s deed, eximious and admirable, is described.

Hoc igitur intelligentes nostri, instant acerbius et effractis hortorum violenter claustris, pomeria certatim occupant; et quos intra septa vel in hujusmodi domibus reperiunt, gladiis transverberant, aut in vincula captos conjiciunt. Quod audientes qui ad simile opus exierant, aliorum exemplo timentes interire, relictis hortis, catervatim in urbem se recipiunt; sicque illis in fugam versis, aut peremptis gladio, liber nostris ad anteriora patuit aditus. Equestres porro tam civium, quam eorum qui eis in subsidium venerant, copiae, intelligentes quod ad obsidendum urbem per illas partes noster venturus esset exercitus, ad amnem qui urbem praeterlabitur, accesserant, ut arcubus et balistis expeditiones ex itinere fatigatas, et prae sitis angustia laborantes, arcerent a flumine et aquarum maxime necessariam negarent sitientibus commoditatem.

Our men, therefore, understanding this, press the harder, and, the enclosures of the gardens violently broken open, they seize the pomeria in eager rivalry; and those whom they find within the pens or in houses of this sort, they pierce through with swords, or, taken captive, they cast into bonds. Hearing this, those who had gone out to a similar task, fearing to perish by the example of the others, abandoning the gardens, in troops betake themselves back into the city; and so, with them turned to flight or slain by the sword, a free approach lay open to our men toward the fore-parts. The equestrian forces, moreover, both of the citizens and of those who had come to them in subsidy, understanding that our army would be coming by those parts to besiege the city, had gone to the river which glides past the city, so that with bows and ballistae they might keep the expeditions, wearied from the journey and laboring under the straitness of thirst, away from the river, and deny to the thirsty the most necessary convenience of waters.

Nostri vero ad relevandam sitim, quam ex laboris difficultate et ex pulveris nube densa, equorum hominumque pedibus agitati, collegerant, ad fluvium quem vicinum audierant properantes, ubi secus ripam viderunt tantam hostium multitudinem, substiterunt ad modicum; tandemque collectis viribus, necessitate vires et audaciam ministrante, semel et secundo, sed frustra aquas sibi vindicare nituntur. Dumque circa id Hierosolymorum rex cum suis plurimum desudat et frustra laborat, nuntiatur domino imperatori qui posterioribus praeerat agminibus, sciscitanti: Quaenam esset causa quare non procederet exercitus? quod hostes, fluvium obtinentes, nostros non permittebant accedere. Quo cognito, ira succensus, per medias regis Francorum acies usque ad conflictum eorum qui pro flumine contendebant, cum suis principibus celer pervenit.

Our men indeed, to relieve the thirst which, from the difficulty of the toil and from the dense cloud of dust stirred up by the feet of horses and men, they had gathered, hastening to the river which they had heard was near, when they saw along the bank so great a multitude of enemies, halted for a short while; and at length, their forces collected, necessity supplying strength and audacity, once and a second time, but in vain, they strive to vindicate the waters for themselves. And while the king of Jerusalem with his men sweats greatly over this and labors in vain, it is reported to the lord emperor, who was in command of the rearmost columns, as he inquired: What was the cause why the army did not proceed? that the enemies, holding the river, were not permitting our men to approach. Which being known, inflamed with wrath, through the midst of the battle-lines of the king of the Franks, as far as the engagement with those who were contending for the river, he swiftly arrived with his princes.

Ubi tam ipse quam sui de equis descendentes, et facti pedites (sicut mos est Teutonicis, in summis necessitatibus bellica tractare negotia) objectis clypeis, gladiis cominus cum hostibus experiuntur; quorum impetus, qui prius fortiter restiterant, sustinere non valentes, in fugam versi, flumina deserunt, in urbem cum summa velocitate se conferentes. In quo congressu, domini imperatoris factum saeculis memorabile dicitur accidisse; nam uni de resistentibus, viriliter et strenue dimicanti, quamvis loricato, uno ictu caput, collum, cum sinistro humero et brachio cohaerente, simulque partem subjecti lateris dicitur amputasse. Quod factum cives, tum qui hoc viderant, tum eos qui ex aliorum relatione id ipsum cognoverant, in tantam dejecit formidinem, ut et de resistendo et de vita penitus desperarent.

Where both he himself and his men, dismounting from their horses and made foot-soldiers (as it is the custom for the Teutons, in the utmost necessities, to handle warlike affairs), with shields set before them, at close quarters with swords make trial with the enemies; and the latter, unable to endure the onset of those who previously had stood bravely, turned to flight, abandon the rivers, and with utmost speed betake themselves into the city. In which encounter, the deed of the lord emperor is said to have occurred—memorable for ages; for to one of those resisting, fighting manfully and strenuously, although in mail, he is said with a single stroke to have lopped off the head, the neck, together with the left shoulder and the arm adhering, and likewise a part of the side beneath. This deed cast the citizens—both those who had seen it, and those who from the report of others had learned the same—into such fear, that they utterly despaired both of resisting and of life.

CAPUT V. Desperant cives, et de fuga cogitant; ex nostris principibus quosdam data corrumpunt pecunia, quorum persuasione in oppositam civitatis partem transfertur exercitus.

CHAPTER 5. The citizens despair, and think of flight; they corrupt certain of our chiefs with money given, by whose persuasion the army is transferred to the opposite part of the city.

Obtento igitur flumine et ripa liberius concessa, longe lateque secus urbem castrametantur; et tam pomeriis violenter expugnatis quam fluminis libere pro arbitrio usi sunt commoditate. Attoniti ergo cives, et exercitus nostri et numerum stupentes et virtutem, de viribus suis coeperunt diffidere, quasi resistere non valentes; timentesque subitas nostrorum irruptiones, nihil tutum reputant, dum ad mentem reducunt, quales eos hesternis congressionibus sint experti. Habita igitur deliberatione, usi ea quae miseris et afflictis rebus solet adesse, solertia, et ad ultima recurrentes argumenta, omnes vicos civitatis, ex ea parte, in qua nostri castra locaverant, magnis et proceris contexunt trabibus; in eo solo spem habentes, ut dum nostri circa effringenda repagula hujusmodi laborarent, ipsi per partem oppositam, cum uxoribus et liberis egrederentur fugientes.

Therefore, the river having been obtained and the bank more freely conceded, they encamp far and wide along the city; and, both with the pomeria having been violently stormed and with the river’s convenience freely used at their discretion, they availed themselves of the advantage. Thunderstruck, then, the citizens—and marveling at both the number and the valor of our army—began to distrust their own forces, as though not able to resist; and fearing sudden irruptions of our men, they reckon nothing safe, while they bring back to mind what sort of men they had found them to be in yesterday’s encounters. Deliberation therefore having been held, and using the solertness which is wont to be present to wretched and afflicted circumstances, and resorting to last expedients, they weave together with great and tall beams all the streets of the city on that side on which our men had pitched camp; having hope in this alone, that while our men were laboring at breaking such barriers, they themselves, by the opposite side, might go out in flight with their wives and children.

Videbatur satis in expedito, si propitia nobis esset Divinitas, quod urbem in vicino obtenturus esset populus Christianus; sed aliter visum est ei qui terribilis est in consiliis super filios hominum (Psal. LXV 4). Nam dum, ut diximus, civitas in arcto constituta esset, nec ejus cives resistendi aut salutis spem haberent ullam, sed compositis sarcinis migrare e loco disponerent, peccatis nostris exigentibus, coeperunt de nostrorum praesumere cupiditate; et pecuniarum interventu, eorum expugnare animos sunt aggressi, quorum corpora posse vinci diffidebant; tota enim sollicitudine in argumenta varia se attollentes, quibusdam de principibus promissa et collata infinitae quantitatis pecunia, ut eorum studio et opera obsidio solveretur, ut Judae proditoris officio fungerentur persuaserunt. Hi ergo datis et pollicitis corrupti, et vitiorum omnium fomitem, cupiditatem secuti, in id sceleris descenderunt, ut regibus et peregrinis principibus, de eorum fide et industria confidentibus, impiis suggestionibus persuaderent ut, relictis pomeriis, in oppositam civitatis partem transferrent expeditiones; et ut dolum quocunque colore tegerent, allegant in opposita civitatis parte, quae austrum respicit et quae ad orientem, nec pomeria esse, quae urbi sint pro robore; nec ad murum expugnandum, vallo vel flumine impediri accessum.

It seemed quite in the clear, if Divinity were propitious to us, that the Christian people would be about to obtain the city at hand; but it seemed otherwise to Him who is terrible in counsels over the sons of men (Psalm 65:4). For while, as we said, the city was placed in a strait, and its citizens had no hope either of resisting or of safety, but with their packs made up were arranging to migrate from the place, our sins demanding it, they began to presume upon the cupidity of our men; and by the intervention of monies they set about assaulting the spirits of those whose bodies they despaired could be conquered; for with all solicitude lifting themselves into various stratagems, to certain of the princes they both promised and paid money of infinite quantity, so that by their zeal and effort the siege might be lifted, persuading them to perform the office of Judas the traitor. These therefore, corrupted by gifts and promises, and following cupidity, the tinder of all vices, descended into such a crime as to persuade kings and foreign princes, who were confident in their faith and industry, by impious suggestions that, the pomeria abandoned, they should transfer the expeditions into the opposite part of the city; and that they might cover the trick by whatever color, they allege that in the opposite part of the city, which looks to the south and which to the east, there are no pomeria, which are for the city as a strength; nor is access to storm the wall impeded by rampart or by river.

Murum quoque asserunt humilem, et ex crudis compactum lateribus, primos vix posse impetus sustinere. Ibi nec machinis, nec multo opus esse conamine dicunt, sed statim primis congressionibus manibus murum dejici, et in civitatem irrumpere non esse difficile. Horum autem ad hoc solum properabat intentio, ut exercitus ab ea parte, qua locatus erat, quaque civitas maxime premebatur, et diu tolerare neque poterat, amoverent, scientes quod in opposita parte perseverare, et obsidionem continuare non possent.

They also assert the wall to be low, and compacted of raw bricks, scarcely able to sustain the first assaults. There, they say, there is need neither of engines nor of much exertion, but that immediately at the first encounters the wall can be cast down by hands, and to burst into the city is not difficult. Moreover, the intention of these men was hastening only to this: that they might remove the army from that side where it had been stationed, and by which the city was most pressed and could not long endure, knowing that on the opposite side they could not persevere nor continue the siege.

Crediderunt ergo tam ipsi reges, quam totius primores exercitus, et loca quae prius cum multo sudore, et multa suorum strage occupaverant, deserentes, universas transferunt legiones; et in opposita civitatis parte praeviis seductoribus castrametati sunt. Ubi videntes se ab aquarum commoditate longe positos, fructuum quoque ubertate carere, et jam deficere penitus alimenta, dolum intercessisse; et malitiose a locis uberibus se translatos, licet sero, conqueruntur.

Therefore both the kings themselves and the chiefs of the whole army believed, and, deserting the places which they had previously occupied with much sweat and with much slaughter of their own, they transfer all the legions; and with seducers going before, they encamped on the opposite side of the city. There, seeing themselves placed far from the convenience of waters, to lack also the abundance of fruits, and that their aliments were now utterly failing, they complain—albeit late—that a stratagem had intervened, and that they had been maliciously transferred from fertile places.

CAPUT VI. In nostrorum castris victus deficit; detegitur proditorum malitia; et soluta nostri redeunt obsidione.

CHAPTER 6. In our camp the victuals fail; the malice of the traitors is detected; and, the siege lifted, our men return.

Deficiebat ergo victus in castris; nam spe subito obtinendi civitatem, sicut eis persuadebatur antequam iter arriperent, ad paucos dies sufficientia detulerant alimenta; et maxime peregrini, quibus non multum poterat imputari, tanquam locorum ignaris. Persuasum namque illis fuerat quod primis congressionibus statim, et sine difficultate urbem essent obtenturi; interimque fructuum alimonia, qui gratis occurrerent, etsi alius omnino deesset victus, magnum posse ali exercitum asserebant. Quid ergo faciant dubii, et in secreto et in publico deliberant.

Therefore the victuals in the camp were failing; for, in the hope of suddenly obtaining the city, as they had been persuaded before they took up the march, they had brought along food sufficient for a few days; and especially the pilgrims, to whom not much could be imputed, as being ignorant of the places. For it had been persuaded to them that at the first engagements, straightway and without difficulty, they would obtain the city; and meanwhile the nourishment of fruits, which would occur gratis, they asserted could feed a great army, even if all other sustenance were altogether lacking. Doubtful, therefore, what they should do, they deliberate both in private and in public.

Redire enim ad loca unde exierant, durum videbatur et impossibile; nam, nostris egredientibus, statim hostes, ut viderunt effectui mancipatum quod cupierant, multo fortius quam ante eadem loca ingressi, communierant vias quibus nostri prius introierant; objectis trabibus et molibus magnis praestruxerant, sagittariorum immittentes manum infinitam, qui ab ingressibus arcerent ingredi cupientes. Rursum ex ea parte in qua castra locaverant, urbem impugnare, moram videbatur exigere; sed ferias longiores victus inopia non indulgebat. Colloquentes itaque peregrini principes ad invicem, videntesque manifestam illorum, quorum fidei animas suas et negotia commiserant, malitiam, scientes quod non proficerent, redeundum esse decernunt, fraudes eorum qui eos seduxerant detestantes.

For to return to the places whence they had gone out seemed hard and impossible; for, as our men were egressing, immediately the enemies, when they saw that what they had desired had been delivered over to accomplishment, having entered the same places much more strongly than before, had fortified the roads by which our men had previously entered; by casting beams and great masses in front they had barricaded them, sending in an innumerable band of archers to ward from the entrances those desiring to enter. Again, to assault the city from that side on which they had pitched the camp seemed to require delay; but scarcity of victuals did not allow longer respite. Therefore the pilgrim princes, conversing with one another and seeing the manifest malice of those to whose faith they had committed their souls and their affairs, knowing that they were not advancing, decide that there must be a return, detesting the frauds of those who had led them astray.

Sic igitur reges et principes, quantos a saeculis non legimus convenisse, confusione induti et reverentia, peccatis nostris exigentibus, infecto negotio, redire compulsi, eadem via qua venerant, in regnum sunt reversi. Qui deinceps, non solum quandiu in Oriente moram egerunt, nostrorum principum vias omnes suspectas habebant; et eorum merito, tanquam malitiosa nimis declinabant consilia, circa regni negotia tepidos se exhibentes; verum, postquam ad eorum regiones eis datum est reverti, susceptarum perpetuo memores injuriarum, eorumdem principum abominati sunt malitiam. Nec se solos, verum etiam et alios, qui non interfuerant, circa amorem regni efficiebant remissiores: ita ut jam de caetero, neque tot, neque ferventes adeo, hujus peregrinationis viam arriperent, et advenientes etiam nolentes eorum illaqueari fraudibus, domum citius redire etiam hodie contendant.

Thus then the kings and princes, such as we do not read to have assembled for ages, clothed in confusion and reverence, our sins demanding it, with the business left undone, compelled to return, went back by the same road by which they had come, and returned into the kingdom. Who thereafter, not only for as long as they made a sojourn in the East, held all the ways of our princes as suspect; and with good reason they declined their counsels as too malicious, showing themselves tepid concerning the affairs of the kingdom; but, after it was granted them to return to their own regions, perpetually mindful of the injuries they had sustained, they abominated the malice of those same princes. And they made not themselves alone, but even others who had not been present, more remiss regarding love for the kingdom: so that from then on neither so many, nor so fervent, would take up the way of this pilgrimage; and those who do arrive, unwilling to be ensnared by their frauds, strive even today to return home the sooner.

CAPUT VII. Diversae ponuntur opiniones, quis tantae proditionis auctor fuerit. Iterum Ascalonam proponunt obsidere, sed non proficiunt.

CHAPTER 7. Diverse opinions are set forth as to who was the author of so great a betrayal. Again they propose to besiege Ascalon, but they do not make progress.

Memini me frequenter interrogasse et saepius prudentes viros, et quibus illius temporis solidior adhuc suberat memoria, et ea maxime intentione ut compertum historiae mandarem praesenti, quaenam tanti mali causa fuerit et qui tanti sceleris fuerint auctores; et quomodo tam detestabilis conceptus effectui potuit mancipari. In assignatione autem causae dissonas inveni relationes; nam quorumdam erat opinio quod comitis Flandrensium factum quoddam occasionem praestiterat huic malo; is namque, ut praemisimus, in eo fuit exercitu. Qui, postquam nostrae legiones ad urbem praedictam accesserunt, et jam violenter obtentis pomeriis et flumine, obsessa est civitas, ad singulos regum dicitur singillatim et seorsum accessisse, et profusis precibus postulasse, ut capta civitas ei daretur; et hoc etiam dicitur impetrasse, quod audientes regni nostri quidam proceres, consentientibus etiam aliorum nonnullis, indignati sunt quod tantus princeps, et cui sua poterant sufficere, et qui gratis Domino militare videbatur, regni tantam portionem sibi dari postulabat; sperabant enim sibi accrescere, quidquid per istorum principum operam et laborem regno incrementi accederet.

I remember that I frequently inquired, and more often prudent men, and those in whom there still subsisted a more solid memory of that time, and with this intention especially, that, once ascertained, I might commit to the present history what had been the cause of so great an evil and who had been the authors of so great a crime; and how so detestable a conception could be delivered to effect. In the assigning of the cause, however, I found dissonant accounts; for it was some men’s opinion that a certain deed of the Count of the Flemings had afforded an occasion for this evil; for he, as we have premised, was in that army. He, after our legions had approached the aforesaid city, and already, the purlieus and the river having been violently seized, the city being besieged, is said to have approached each of the kings singly and apart, and with outpoured prayers to have demanded that the captured city be given to him; and this also is said that he obtained; which, when certain nobles of our realm heard, with some of the others also consenting, they were indignant that so great a prince, and one to whom his own means could suffice, and who seemed to soldier for the Lord gratis, was demanding that so great a portion of the kingdom be given to himself; for they hoped that there would accrue to themselves whatever increase should come to the kingdom through the work and labor of these princes.

Unde indignati, in hoc tam piaculare descenderunt flagitium, ut mallent eam hostibus conservare quam ut comiti praedicto cederet in sortem. Indignum enim eis admodum videbatur ut qui tota vita sua regno militantes, infinitos labores pertulerant aliis qui recentes advenerant, tantorum fructus laborum colligentibus, ipsis neglectis et absque remunerationis spe, quam diu et ex meritis videbantur collegisse. Alii dicunt principem Antiochenum indignatum quod rex Franciae ita ab eo divertisset, et beneficiorum suorum immemor, in nullo eum juvisset, quibusdam mandasse in exercitu principibus, et obtinuisse, quatenus ejus gratia efficeret, ne conatus ejus finem sortiretur optatum, et ut ita procurarent, ut infecto negotio redire cogeretur inglorius.

Whence, indignant, they descended into so piacular a scandal, that they preferred to preserve it for the enemies rather than that it should fall by lot to the aforesaid count. For it seemed to them most unworthy that those who, serving the kingdom all their life, had borne infinite labors, should, with themselves neglected and without hope of remuneration, see others who had newly arrived gathering the fruits of such great toils—which fruits they themselves seemed to have collected for so long and by their merits. Others say that the prince of Antioch, indignant that the king of France had thus turned aside from him and, unmindful of his benefactions, had in no way aided him, gave orders to certain princes in the army and prevailed, to this effect: that for his sake they should bring it about that his endeavor would not obtain the desired end, and that they should so procure matters that he would be forced to return with the business unfinished, inglorious.

Alii dicunt omnino nihil aliud intercessisse, nisi quod ab hostibus infinita sint redempti pecunia, qui hoc tam ingens procuraverunt malum; et pro summo solent recitare miraculo, quod postmodum tota illa male sumpta pecunia, inventa est reproba et penitus inutilis. Qui autem fuerint tam detestabilis ministri sceleris, varia multorum nihilominus fuit opinio, sed mihi pro certo compertum non est. Quicunque tamen sunt, sciant quod pro meritis digna quandoque praemia reportabunt, nisi misericors Dominus condigne satisfacientibus clementer indulgeat.

Others say that absolutely nothing else intervened, except that those who procured this so huge an evil were bought off by the enemies with boundless money; and they are accustomed to recite as the highest miracle that afterward all that ill-gotten money was found reprobate and utterly useless. As to who were the ministers of so detestable a crime, nevertheless diverse was the opinion of many, but it has not been ascertained by me for certain. Whoever they are, however, let them know that they will someday carry back recompenses worthy according to their deserts, unless the merciful Lord graciously indulge those who make due satisfaction.

Ita ergo, ut praemisimus, nostri sunt sine gloria reversi. Laetata est ergo Damascus in profectione ipsorum, quia incubuit timor eorum super eos; nostris autem e diverso, versa est in luctum cithara; et facti sumus canticum hostium nostrorum tota die (Job. XXX, 31). Reversi itaque in regnum praedicti reges, iterum convocato procerum coetu, aggredi conantur (sed incassum) factum aliquod, in quo memoriam suam posteris possint reddere commendabilem.

Thus therefore, as we have premised, our men returned without glory. Damascus therefore rejoiced at their departure, because the fear of them weighed upon them; but for our side, conversely, the cithara has been turned into mourning; and we have become the song of our enemies all the day (Job. 30, 31). Therefore, the aforesaid kings, having returned into the kingdom, with an assembly of nobles again convened, attempt (but in vain) to undertake some deed by which they might render their memory commendable to posterity.

Erant nonnulli qui suggererent circa Ascalonam, quam adhuc detinebat populus infidelis, quae quasi in regni medio sita erat, et ad quam sine difficultate poterant universa deferri necessaria, ponendam obsidionem; facileque esse dicebant, et in promptu, ut cultui restitueretur Christiano; sed post multa hujusmodi verba, sicut et praedictus conceptus passus est aborsum; et dum adhuc ordiretur, succisus. Iratus enim Dominus omnes eorum conatus videbatur evacuare.

There were some who suggested that around Ascalon, which the unfaithful people still held, which was, as it were, set in the midst of the kingdom, and to which all necessaries could be conveyed without difficulty, a siege should be laid; and they said it would be easy and ready at hand to restore it to Christian worship; but after many words of this kind, just so the aforesaid conception suffered an abortion; and while it was still only being begun, it was cut down. For the Lord, angered, seemed to make void all their endeavors.

CAPUT VIII. Imperator Conradus ad propria regreditur, rege Francorum in Syria moram faciente.

CHAPTER 8. Emperor Conrad returns to his own lands, the king of the Franks making a delay in Syria.

Videns igitur dominus Conradus imperator quod ei gratiam suam subtraxerat Dominus, et in regni negotiis ei procedere negabatur, parato navigio, sumptaque licentia, in regnum proprium est reversus. Quo perveniens, infra paucos annos apud Bauenberg mortuus est, ubi et magnifice in ecclesia majori sepultus est: vir pius et misericors, corpore conspicuus, generositate insignis, rei militaris ad perfectum habens experientiam, vita et moribus per omnia commendabilis, cujus memoria in benedictione est. Cui dominus Fredericus Suevorum dux illustris, qui ejusdem peregrinationis comes adhaeserat indivisus, ex fratre primogenito nepos (cujus supra fecimus mentionem) inclytae indolis adolescens, in imperio successit, qui hodie Romanum strenue et feliciter administrat imperium.

Seeing therefore that the Lord had withdrawn His grace from him, lord Conrad the emperor, and that in the affairs of the kingdom it was denied him to make progress, with a ship prepared and leave having been taken, returned to his own realm. Upon arriving there, within a few years he died at Bauenberg, where also he was magnificently buried in the greater church: a pious and merciful man, conspicuous in body, distinguished for generosity, having experience of the military art to perfection, in life and morals in all things commendable, whose memory is in blessing. To him succeeded in the empire lord Frederick, the illustrious duke of the Swabians, who had adhered as an undivided companion of the same pilgrimage, a grandson from his firstborn brother (of whom we made mention above), a youth of illustrious disposition, who today vigorously and happily administers the Roman empire.

Dominus vero rex Francorum, peracto apud nos unius anni curriculo, circa transitum vernalem, Pascha Hierosolymis celebrato, cum uxore et principibus suis ad propria reversus est. Quo perveniens, injuriarum memor, quas in via et in toto peregrinationis tractu, uxor ei irrogaverat, in praesentia pontificum regni sui solemniter celebrato divortio, ab uxore, titulo consanguinitatis objecto, divertit. Quam protinus sine temporis intervallo, Henricus Normanniae dux et Andegavensium comes, antequam in Aquitaniam suam, quae ei paterna erat haereditas, se reciperet, duxit uxorem.

The lord king of the Franks, the course of one year having been completed with us, around the vernal crossing, Easter having been celebrated at Jerusalem, returned to his own with his wife and his princes. Arriving there, mindful of the injuries which on the way and in the whole tract of the pilgrimage his wife had inflicted on him, in the presence of the pontiffs of his kingdom, a divorce having been solemnly celebrated, he turned aside from his wife, the plea of consanguinity being alleged. Her, immediately without any interval of time, Henry, duke of Normandy and count of the Angevins, before he withdrew into his Aquitaine, which was to him a paternal inheritance, took as wife.

Qui statim ea ducta, domino Stephano Anglorum regi, sine liberis sexus melioris defuncto successit in regno. Dominus vero rex Francorum, Hispaniarum imperatoris filiam, Mariam nomine, virginem Deo placitam, moribus et sancta conversatione commendabilem, secundis votis felicior, sibi matrimonio copulavit.

Who, immediately after having married her, succeeded to the kingdom, Lord Stephen, king of the English, having died without issue of the better sex. But the lord king of the Franks, happier in his second vows, joined to himself in matrimony Mary by name, the daughter of the Emperor of the Spains, a virgin pleasing to God, commendable for morals and holy conduct.

CAPUT IX Noradinus ingreditur fines Antiochenos; princeps Raimundus occurrit; pugnatur inter eos. Princeps Raimundus occiditur.

CHAPTER 9 Noradin enters the Antiochene borders; Prince Raymond comes out to meet him; a battle is fought between them. Prince Raymond is killed.

Ab ea die coepit Orientalium Latinorum manifeste deterior fieri conditio; nam nostrorum principum et regum maximorum, qui Christiani populi videbantur bases esse solidiores, viderunt hostes nostri, et subsannaverunt labores sine fructu, sine effectu conatus, vires attritas, confractam gloriam; et quorum sola nomina hostibus nostris prius erant formidini, nunc praesentiam sine damno despexerant; unde in tantam elati sunt praesumptionem et audaciam, ut jam de caetero nec eorum vires haberent suspectas, nec nostris instare solito acerbius vererentur. Inde fuit, quod statim post utriusque regis discessum, Noradinus, Sanguini filius, cujus superius fecimus mentionem, convocata infinita Turcorum ex omni Oriente manu, circa partes Antiochenas coepit solito protervius desaevire; vidensque Latinorum terram principum auxilio destitutam, apposuit etiam castrum, cui nomen Nepa, obsidere. Quod postquam domino Raimundo principi Antiocheno plenius innotuit, sicut homo animosus et impetuosus, nec alterius consilio in hujusmodi regebatur, non exspectato suorum equitum, quos evocari praeceperat comitatu, cum paucis imprudens ad partes illas accelerat; et adhuc in obsidione perseverantem, circa praedictum municipium invenit Noradinum.

From that day the condition of the Eastern Latins began manifestly to become worse; for our enemies saw in the case of our greatest princes and kings, who seemed to be the more solid bases of the Christian people, labors without fruit, efforts without effect, forces worn down, glory broken; and those whose very names before had been a terror to our enemies, they now despised their presence with impunity; whence they were raised to such presumption and audacity that henceforth they neither held their forces in suspicion, nor feared to press upon ours more sharply than was usual. Hence it was that immediately after the departure of both kings, Noradinus, the son of Sanguinus, of whom we made mention above, having convoked an infinite band of Turks from all the East, began to rage with greater than customary insolence around the Antiochene regions; and seeing the land of the Latins bereft of the aid of princes, he moreover set himself to besiege the castle which is called Nepa. Which, after it had become more fully known to Lord Raymond, prince of Antioch, as a spirited and impetuous man, nor was he in such matters governed by another’s counsel, without waiting for the retinue of his knights, whom he had ordered to be summoned, with a few men, imprudently hastens to those parts; and he found Noradinus, still persevering in the siege, around the aforesaid stronghold.

Qui audiens principem advenire, timens ne majores secum traheret copias, exspectare et cum eo congredi veritus, ab obsidione discessit, in loco tuto se conferens, et exspectans, et frequentibus nuntiis doctior fieri cupiens, qualia secum princeps traxerat auxilia, et utrum majora accederent adminicula. Princeps vero praesenti successu elatus et de se, more solito, plus aequo praesumens, coepit se habere incautius; et dum haberet finitima praesidia in quibus se indemnem cum suis poterat conservasse, et suos reduxisse incolumes, maluit se campis credere patentibus; indignum judicans ut illius timore videretur cessisse vel ad tempus; et hostium maluit patere insidiis. Ea igitur nocte, videns Noradinus nullas principi vires accrevisse majores, sperans cum suis eas quas secum adduxerat, facile superaturum, principis comitatum vallat, per gyrum agminibus dispositis; et in modum urbis obsidet.

Hearing that the prince was coming, fearing lest he might be drawing larger forces with him, he did not dare to wait and engage with him, but left the siege, betook himself to a safe place, and waited, wishing to be made more learned by frequent messengers as to what sort of auxiliaries the prince had drawn with him, and whether greater aids were approaching. The prince, however, elated by the present success and, in his accustomed manner, presuming more than is right about himself, began to conduct himself more incautiously; and although he had neighboring garrisons in which he could have preserved himself unharmed with his men and brought his followers back unhurt, he preferred to trust himself to the open plains, judging it unworthy that through fear of that man he should seem to have yielded even for a time; and he chose rather to be exposed to the ambushes of the enemy. Therefore that night, seeing that no greater forces had accrued to the prince, Noradin, hoping with his own men easily to overcome those whom he had brought with him, walls about the prince’s retinue, with columns disposed all around in a circle, and besieges it in the manner of a city.

Mane autem facto, videns princeps hostium multitudinem, et de viribus suis, licet sero diffidens, dubitare coepit; tamen acies instruit, militiam ordinat, tanquam cominus cum hostibus congressurus. Inito itaque praelio, qui cum eo erant, viribus impares, hostium non ferentes multitudinem, principe cum paucis relicto, in fugam versi sunt. Princeps vero tanquam magnanimus, et in armis singulariter strenuus, viriliter decertans, in media hostium strage quam exercuerat, caedendo fatigatus et exhaustus spiritu, gladiis confossus interiit; cujus caput cum brachio dextro a corpore separantes, reliquum corpus mutilum, inter alios vita privatos, reliquerunt.

But when morning came, the prince, seeing the multitude of the enemy and, though late, becoming diffident of his own forces, began to doubt; nevertheless he arrays the battle-lines, orders the soldiery, as though about to engage hand-to-hand with the enemies. Therefore, the battle joined, those who were with him, unequal in strength and unable to bear the enemy’s multitude, turned to flight, leaving the prince with a few. But the prince, as magnanimous and singularly strenuous in arms, contending manfully, in the midst of the slaughter of the enemy which he had wrought, wearied with hewing and exhausted of breath, was pierced through by swords and perished; and they, separating his head with his right arm from the body, left the remaining mutilated corpse among others deprived of life.

Cecidit ibi inter alios vir magnus et potens, suae perpetuo lugendus regioni, dominus Rainaldus de Mares, cui comes Edessanus filiam suam uxorem dederat. Ceciderunt et alii nobiles nonnulli, quorum nomina non tenemus. Fuit autem dominus Raimundus vir magnanimus, rei militaris experientissimus, hostibus supra modum formidabilis, parum tamen felix, cujus multa quae in principatu strenue et magnifice gessit opera, speciales exigunt tractatus; sed nos ad prosequenda communia festinantes, in singulis hujusmodi negotiorum articulis immorari, et his stylum committere non valemus.

There fell there among others a great and powerful man, to be mourned perpetually by his own region, Lord Rainald of Mares, to whom the Count of Edessa had given his daughter as wife. There fell also several other nobles, whose names we do not retain. Now Lord Raymond was a magnanimous man, most experienced in the military art, exceedingly formidable to the enemies, yet little fortunate, whose many works which he carried out strenuously and magnificently in his principate demand special treatises; but we, hastening to pursue common matters, are not able to linger on each several point of affairs of this sort, nor to commit our pen to these.

Occisus est autem anno ab Incarnatione Domini 1148, principatus ejus anno tertiodecimo, mense Junio, vicesima septima die mensis, die festo Sanctorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, inter urbem Apamiam et oppidum Rugiam, in eo loco qui dicitur Fons-muratus. Cujus corpus quibusdam notis et cicatricibus cognitum, inter caeterorum defunctorum corpora repertum, Antiochiam delatum est, et in vestibulo ecclesiae apostolorum Principis, inter ejus praedecessores, solemnibus exsequiis sepultum.

He was slain in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1148, in the 13th year of his principate, in the month of June, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, on the feast day of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, between the city Apamea and the town Rugia, at the place which is called Fons-muratus. His body, recognized by certain marks and scars, found among the bodies of the other deceased, was borne to Antioch, and in the vestibule of the church of the Prince of the apostles, among his predecessors, was interred with solemn exequies.

CAPUT X. Noradinus universam regionem pro suo tractat arbitrio. Rex illuc properat, solatium ministraturus. Soldanus Iconiensis terram comitis ingreditur Edessani.

CHAPTER 10. Noradin treats the whole region according to his own arbitrament. The king hastens thither, to minister solace. The Sultan of Iconium enters the land of the Count of Edessa.

Noradinus vero in augmentum gloriae et in signum victoriae, et quod maximus gentilitatis persecutor crederetur occidisse, caput cum manu dextera, quae ad hos usus de corpore praedicti viri separari fecerat, ad maximum Sarracenorum principem et monarcham, calipham videlicet Baldacensem, et alios Turcorum satrapas, per Orientem constitutos direxit. Destituta itaque tanti rectoris solatio Antiochena regio, in lamenta se dedit, fletus non cohibens et crebris suspiriis dolorem indicans, querulis quoque et lacrymosis vocibus fortis viri egregia gesta rememorans. Nec solum finitimos mors illius audita contristavit populos; sed et longe lateque rumor hic dispersus, tam majorum quam minorum in amaritudinem deduxit animas, et acerbo interius moerore confecit.

But Noradinus, for the augmentation of glory and as a sign of victory, and because he would be believed to have slain the greatest persecutor of heathenism, sent the head together with the right hand—which he had caused to be separated from the body of the aforesaid man for these uses—to the greatest prince and monarch of the Saracens, namely the Baldacensian Caliph, and to other satraps of the Turks stationed throughout the East. Therefore, the Antiochene region, bereft of the solace of so great a ruler, gave itself to lamentations, not restraining its weeping and by frequent sighs declaring its grief, and with querulous and tearful voices recalling the outstanding deeds of the brave man. Nor did the hearing of his death sadden only the neighboring peoples; but this rumor, spread far and wide, led the souls of both the greater and the lesser into bitterness, and consumed them with inward bitter mourning.

Interea idem fidei et nominis, more patris, maximus persecutor Christiani Noradinus, videns principem regionis, et maximam robustorum ejus partem cecidisse in praelio, totamque provinciam suo subjacere arbitrio, immissis statim expeditionibus suis, totam coepit hostiliter circuire regionem: ita ut juxta Antiochiam pertransiens, et cuncta praestans incendio, ad monasterium Sancti Simeonis, quod inter Antiochiam et mare in montibus sublimibus situm est, ascenderet, propria in ea usus potestate, et cuncta libero tractans imperio; et inde ad mare, quod nunquam prius viderat, descenderet, et in eo, in signum quod victor usque ad mare pervenerat, coram suis lavaretur. Inde rediens castrum Harenc, ab Antiochia vix milliaribus distans decem, praeteriens occupat, et occupatum armis et militibus et alimentis muniens, instruit diligenter; ita ut multorum dierum posset obsidionem sustinere. Timuit ergo populus universus, et humiliata est in conspectu ejus terra, eo quod tradiderat Dominus in manus ejus, robur militiae et principem regionis; et non erat auxiliator, nec qui contra imminentia pericula protectionis afferre posset remedium.

Meanwhile that same Noradin, the greatest persecutor of the Christian faith and name, in the manner of his father, seeing that the prince of the region and the greatest part of his stout men had fallen in battle, and that the whole province lay subject to his discretion, immediately letting loose his expeditions, began to circuit the whole region in hostile fashion: so that, passing near Antioch and delivering all things to fire, he ascended to the monastery of Saint Simeon, which is situated between Antioch and the sea in lofty mountains, using his own power therein and handling all things with free command; and from there he descended to the sea, which he had never before seen, and in it, as a sign that as victor he had come even to the sea, he bathed in the sight of his own. Thence returning, he, as he passed by, seizes the castle Harenc, scarcely 10 miles distant from Antioch, and, fortifying what he had seized with arms and soldiers and provisions, equips it diligently, so that it might be able to sustain a siege of many days. Therefore all the people were afraid, and the land was humbled in his sight, for the Lord had delivered into his hands the strength of the soldiery and the prince of the region; and there was no helper, nor anyone who could bring a remedy of protection against the impending dangers.

Relicta enim erat in reipublicae et principatus administratione sola principis uxor Constantia, cum filiis duobus et filiabus totidem, adhuc impuberibus; nec erat qui principis fungeretur officio, et plebis erigeret dejectionem. Ea tamen tempestate, dominus Aimericus ejusdem civitatis patriarcha, vir solers et locupletissimus, strenue satis afflictae se regioni praebuit patronum; et ad conducendas militum copias, stipendia, contra morem suum non parce ministravit, temporis satisfaciens necessitati. Porro Hierosolymorum rex audiens illarum partium pericula, et morte domini principis cognita, mente plurimum consternatus, convocata subito militia, ut oppressis opem ferat fratribus, celer ad partes convolat Antiochenas, et de se diffidentibus et animo dejectis propria praesentia praebuit consolationem.

For in the administration of the republic and the principate there had been left only the prince’s wife, Constance, with two sons and as many daughters, still underage; nor was there one to perform the office of the prince and to lift up the dejection of the plebs. At that time, however, Lord Aimeric, patriarch of that same city, a shrewd and most wealthy man, vigorously enough offered himself as a patron to the afflicted region; and for hiring companies of soldiers he dispensed stipends not sparingly, contrary to his custom, satisfying the necessity of the time. Moreover, the king of Jerusalem, hearing of the perils of those parts, and when the death of the lord prince was learned, greatly dismayed in mind, the soldiery suddenly convoked, that he might bring help to his oppressed brethren, swiftly flies to the Antiochene parts, and to those diffident of themselves and cast down in spirit he afforded consolation by his own presence.

Collectis itaque militaribus tam suorum, quos secum traxerat, quam de tota regione auxiliis, ad resistendum invitat; et ut resumptis cordibus respirare discant, castrum Harenc, quod superius de novo captum diximus, obsidet. Sed post dies aliquot non proficiens, quia instructum erat diligentius, infecto negotio, Antiochiam est reversus.

Accordingly, the military forces having been collected, both of his own men, whom he had drawn along with him, and auxiliaries from the whole region, he invites them to make resistance; and, that with hearts resumed they might learn to breathe again, he besieges the castle Harenc, which above we said had been newly captured. But after some days, making no progress, because it had been more diligently fortified, with the business left unfinished, he returned to Antioch.

Soldanus etiam Iconiensis, audita principis morte, in multitudine gravi in Syriam descendit, et captis multis urbibus et castellis pluribus, Turbessel obsidet, licet comes cum uxore et liberis intus esset. Rex vero Henfredum constabularium, cum sexaginta militibus ad tuendum Hasart, interea dirigit, ne a Turcis occupetur. Tandemque comes datis Soldano captivis omnibus quos de sua regione vinctos habebat, et duodecim equitum armis, pace facta, abeunte Soldano, ab obsidione liberatus, eodem die Hasart venit; et inde Antiochiam, domino regi gratias pro humanitate quam in eum exercuerat, acturus properavit: inde etiam viso rege, sumptaque ab eo licentia, cum modico quem deduxerat comitatu, ad propria reversus est.

The Soldan of Iconium also, upon hearing of the prince’s death, descended into Syria with a massive multitude, and, many cities and more castles having been seized, he besieges Turbessel, although the count was inside with his wife and children. The king, however, meanwhile dispatches Henfred the constable with sixty knights to guard Hasart, lest it be occupied by the Turks. At length the count, having given to the Soldan all the captives whom he held bound from his own region, and twelve sets of knightly arms, peace having been made and the Soldan departing, being freed from the siege, on the same day came to Hasart; and thence he hastened to Antioch, to render thanks to the lord king for the humanity which he had exercised toward him: from there also, having seen the king, and having received leave from him, with the small retinue which he had led, he returned to his own.

Rex autem apud Antiochiam destitutae regionis curam agens, ad hoc moram faciens, compositis pro loco et tempore negotiis, tranquillitate aliquatenus restituta, revocantibus eum curis domesticis, in regnum suum est reversus.

The king, moreover, at Antioch attending to the care of the abandoned region, making delay for this purpose, the business composed according to place and time, tranquility in some measure restored, his domestic cares recalling him, returned to his kingdom.

CAPUT X. Comes Edessanus, post regis ab Antiochia discessum ab hostibus capitur, ubi et ignominiose moritur.

CHAPTER 10. The Count of Edessa, after the king’s departure from Antioch, is captured by the enemies, where he also dies ignominiously.

Interea comes Edessanus, Joscelinus junior, vir supinus, a patria degener honestate, sordibus effluens, libidine dissolutus, spretis melioribus perniciosa sequens, putans sibi optime successisse quod princeps Antiochenus, quem odio insatiabili persequebatur, occubuerat; non multum attendens, quam vere dicatur: Tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet; dum Antiochiam, ut dicitur, a domino patriarcha evocatus, de nocte proficisceretur, separatus a comitatu, cum adolescente, qui ejus equum trahebat, gratia, ut dicitur, alvum purgandi, et ut secretioribus naturae satisfaceret debitis, ignorantibus tam iis qui praeibant quam qui sequebantur, irruentibus in eum praedonibus, qui in insidiis latebant, captus est; ac vinculis mancipatus, Halapiam perductus est. Ubi immundarum viarum suarum fructus colligens, squalore carceris et catenarum pondere fatigatus, anxietate spiritus et corporis jugi molestia consumptus, fine miserabili vitam finivit. Reddita terris die, qui in ejus erant comitatu, eorum quae circa ipsum acciderant penitus ignari, dominum suum quem non reperiunt, anxie quaerentes, ubi vident se inquirendo non proficere, reversi nuntiant quid eis acciderat; et iterum repleta est stupore et exstasi universa terra.

Meanwhile the Edessan count, Joscelin the Younger, a supine man, degenerate from his country’s honor, overflowing with sordidness, dissolved in lust, spurning better things and following pernicious ones, thinking it had turned out most excellently for himself that the Prince of Antioch, whom he pursued with insatiable hatred, had fallen; not paying much heed how truly it is said: Your affair is at stake, when the neighboring wall is burning; while, as it is said, having been summoned to Antioch by the lord patriarch, he set out by night, separated from his retinue, with a youth who was leading his horse, for the sake, as it is said, of purging the belly and to satisfy the more secret dues of nature, unknown alike to those who went before and those who followed, robbers who were lurking in ambush rushed upon him, and he was taken; and delivered over to chains, he was led to Aleppo. There, gathering the fruits of his unclean ways, worn by the squalor of prison and the weight of chains, consumed by anxiety of spirit and the continual molestation of the body, he ended his life with a miserable end. Day being restored to the lands, those who were in his retinue, utterly ignorant of the things which had happened around him, anxiously seeking their lord whom they do not find, when they see that by inquiring they do not make progress, returned and announced what had befallen them; and again the whole land was filled with stupor and ecstasy.

Et quamvis vicinorum sinistris non noverant condolere casibus, nunc familiaribus oppressi periculis eodem discunt experimento, quomodo doloribus sit compatiendum alienis. Tandem post dies aliquot quorum dam relatione, quibus id pro certo compertum erat, cognoverunt, quod apud Halapiam detinebatur in compedibus. Uxor vero ejus, mulier pudica, sobria, et timens Deum, quales Deus amat, cum filio impubere et duabus filiabus remanserat; quae quantum potuit, consilio procerum, qui superstites erant, populum regere nitebatur: et regionis praesidia adversus hostes, armis viris et alimentis communire, vires transcendens femineas, satagebat.

And although they had not known to condole with the adverse fortunes of their neighbors, now, oppressed by domestic perils, by the same experiment they learn how one must compassionate the pains of others. At length, after several days, by the report of certain persons, by whom it had been ascertained for certain, they learned that he was being detained at Halapia in fetters. But his wife, a modest, sober, and God-fearing woman—such as God loves—had remained with a prepubescent son and two daughters; who, as much as she could, by the counsel of the nobles who had survived, strove to govern the people, and was busy to fortify the defenses of the region against the enemies with arms, men, and provisions, transcending feminine strengths.

Sic igitur peccatis nostris exigentibus, utraque regio, melioribus destituta consiliis, vix in se subsistens, femineo regebatur imperio.

Thus therefore, our sins demanding it, each region, destitute of better counsels, hardly subsisting in itself, was ruled by female rule.

CAPUT XII. Rex cum regni principibus juxta Ascalonam, Gazam reaedificat.

CHAPTER 12. The King, with the princes of the kingdom, near Ascalon, rebuilds Gaza.

Dum vero haec ita circa partes aguntur Antiochenas, non multo post temporis intervallo visitante regnum divina clementia, erigentes se de pulvere et de abjectione nimia, in qua propter sinistros casus, qui frequentes acciderant, jacere videbantur; redeuntes ad cor tam dominus rex quam caeteri Hierosolymitanae regionis principes, ut Ascalonitas hostes immanissimos arctius cohibeant, et magis eorum periculosos refrenent impetus, Gazam urbem antiquissimam, ab Ascalona decem distantem in parte australi milliaribus, dirutam et habitatoribus carentem, reformare proponunt, ut sicut a septentrione et ab oriente fundatis in gyrum municipiis eam quasi obsederant, ita eidem ab austro simul non deesset stimulus; et ex ea quoque parte continuis impugnaretur congressionibus et frequentibus lacesseretur insidiis. Die igitur statuta, convenit universus populus, quasi vir unus, ad praedictum locum; et opus unanimiter aggressi, urbem certatim reaedificare contendunt. Fuerat autem eadem Gaza, civitas antiquissima, una de quinque urbibus Philistiim, aedificiis praeclara, cujus antiquae nobilitatis in ecclesiis et amplis domibus, licet dirutis, in marmore et magnis lapidibus, in multitudine cisternarum, puteorum quoque aquarum viventium, multa et grandia exstabant argumenta.

Meanwhile, as these things were thus being done around the Antiochene parts, not long after an interval of time, with divine clemency visiting the kingdom, lifting themselves from the dust and from the excessive abjection in which, on account of sinister mishaps that had occurred frequently, they seemed to lie, both the lord king and the other princes of the region of Jerusalem, returning to their senses, that they might more closely restrain the most savage Ascalonite enemies and more effectively bridle their dangerous onsets, propose to restore Gaza, a most ancient city, distant ten miles to the south from Ascalon, torn down and lacking inhabitants, so that, just as from the north and from the east, with municipalities founded around it, they had as it were besieged it, so from the south likewise there might not be lacking a goad to the same; and from that side also it might be assailed with continual encounters and provoked with frequent ambushes. Therefore, on an appointed day, the whole people gathers, as if one man, to the aforesaid place; and, undertaking the work unanimously, they strive, vying with one another, to rebuild the city. Now this same Gaza, a most ancient city, had been one of the five cities of the Philistines, distinguished by its buildings, of whose ancient nobility many and great proofs stood forth in the churches and ample houses, though ruined, in marble and great stones, in the multitude of cisterns, and also in wells of living waters.

Fuerat autem sita in colle aliquantulum edito, magnum satis et diffusum infra muros continens ambitum. Videntes autem nostri quod non satis expediret, nec fortasse praesentis temporis vires sufficerent ut tota reformaretur, partem praedicti collis occupant; et jactis ad congruam altitudinem fundamentis, opus muro insigne et turribus aedificant, et in brevi, opitulante Domino, consummant feliciter. Consummatum etiam et partibus suis absolutum, de communi consilio fratribus militiae Templi custodiendum, et perpetuo cum universa adjacente regione possidendum committunt.

It had, moreover, been sited on a somewhat raised hill, containing within the walls a sufficiently great and expansive ambit. But our men, seeing that it would not be quite expedient, nor perhaps would the forces of the present time suffice for it to be wholly refashioned, occupy a part of the aforesaid hill; and, the foundations cast to a suitable height, they build a work notable with wall and towers, and in a short time, with the Lord giving aid, they consummate it happily. Completed also and brought to perfection in its parts, by common counsel they commit it to the brothers of the militia of the Temple to be guarded, and to be possessed in perpetuity together with the whole adjoining region.

Qui tanquam viri fortes, et in armis strenui, et commissum usque in praesentem diem fideliter prudenterque servaverunt; et urbem praedictam frequentibus, cum occultis tum manifestis impugnationibus viriliter afflixerunt: ita ut qui prius excurrentes et per universam regionem hostiliter desaevientes, nostris erant formidini, nunc pro summa felicitate reputent, si clausis intra moenia vivere liceat, et quiete perfrui, pace precibus vel pretio ad tempus impetrata. Nec solum urbe praedicta, ad cujus laesionem constructum erat illud praesidium, recalcitrante, utile fuit; sed etiam ea devicta, quasi regni limes ab austro contra Aegyptios, pro multo fuit regioni tutamine. Circa veris autem initium, domino rege dominoque patriarcha, completo ex parte municipio interiore, relictis ibi militiae Templi fratribus, quorum diligentiae deputatum erat, Hierosolymam reversis, accidit subsidium Aegyptiorum, quod ter vel quater in anno ad reparandas vires Ascalonitarum solemniter solebat accedere, in multitudine gravi ante praedictum oppidum adesse; et oppidanis interius hostium metu congregatis, assultus hostiles multa instantia dedisse.

Who, as brave men and strenuous in arms, have faithfully and prudently guarded what was committed up to the present day; and they have manfully afflicted the aforesaid city with frequent assaults, both covert and overt: so that those who before, sallying out and raging hostilely through the whole region, were a terror to our people, now count it the highest felicity if it be permitted to live shut within the walls, and to enjoy quiet, peace having been obtained for a time by prayers or by a price. Nor was it only useful with the aforesaid city, against whose injury that garrison had been constructed, resisting; but even with it subdued, as a border of the kingdom on the south against the Egyptians, it was for much safeguard to the region. About the beginning of spring, the lord king and the lord patriarch, the inner municipality being in part completed, the brothers of the militia of the Temple—whose diligence it had been assigned to—having been left there, and they having returned to Jerusalem, it befell that the Egyptian relief-force, which three or four times in the year was wont solemnly to come to repair the strength of the Ascalonites, was present in heavy multitude before the aforesaid town; and, the townsmen within having gathered for fear of the enemies, they delivered hostile assaults with much urgency.

Sed videntes, qui militiae praeerant, quod non proficerent, cum dies aliquot in obsidione operam consumpsissent, Ascalonam profecti sunt. Ab ea itaque die, tanquam attritis viribus et nocendi contracta licentia, coeperunt prorsus a vexatione adjacentis quiescere regionis. Sed et Aegyptiorum exercitus, qui ita frequens, ut praediximus, civitati jam afflictae solatium ministrabat, jam non nisi marino accedere consuevit itinere, praedicti municipii interpositas timens insidias et militiam habens suspectam.

But seeing—those who were presiding over the militia—that they were not making progress, after they had spent several days in the siege, they set out for Ascalon. From that day, therefore, as though their forces were worn down and their license for harming contracted, they began altogether to desist from the vexation of the adjacent region. And even the army of the Egyptians, which so frequently, as we have said, used to minister solace to the already afflicted city, now was accustomed to approach only by a sea route, fearing the ambushes interposed by the aforesaid municipium and holding the militia suspect.

CAPUT XIII. Inter regem et matrem ejus graves oriuntur simultates et matre ignorante rex coronatur.

CHAPTER 13. Between the king and his mother grave dissensions arise, and, his mother being ignorant, the king is crowned.

Inter haec, dum satis prospero cursu regni orientalis negotia procederent, et quasi quadam tranquillitate gauderet; eo minus, quod comitatus nobis deperierat et in hostium nostrorum cesserat potestatem Edessanus, regio quoque Antiochena frequentibus hostium insidiis fatigabatur; videns inimicus homo, qui solet superseminare zizania, et nostrae invidens prosperitati, intestinis nos tentans concutere seditionibus, quietem nostram perturbare aggressus est, cujus periculi haec fuit causa et origo. Domina Milisendis regina, inclytae recordationis et piae in Domino memoriae, defuncto marito, ut praediximus, relicta cum duobus liberis adhuc infra annos constitutis, regni tanquam jure haereditario sibi debiti curam et administrationem sortita est, filiorum legitimam agens tutelam. Hanc consilio principum regionis, strenue et fideliter, vires et animum transcendens femineum, usque ad illum diem administraverat: filio primogenito, domino Balduino, cujus in praesenti gesta conscribimus, etiam postquam in regni sublimatus est solium, ejus multum favente et merito subjacente imperiis.

Meanwhile, while the affairs of the eastern kingdom were advancing with a sufficiently prosperous course, and it rejoiced as it were in a certain tranquility; the less so, in that the Edessan county had been lost to us and had passed into the power of our enemies, and the Antiochene region also was wearied by the frequent ambushes of the enemy; seeing this, the inimical man, who is wont to overseed tares, and envying our prosperity, attempting to shake us with internal seditions, undertook to disturb our quiet, of which peril this was the cause and origin. The lady Queen Melisende, of illustrious remembrance and pious in memory in the Lord, her husband having died, as we have said, left with two children still placed below years, obtained the care and administration of the kingdom as though by hereditary right owed to herself, exercising the legitimate tutelage of her sons. This, by the counsel of the princes of the region, vigorously and faithfully, surpassing a womanly strength and spirit, up to that day she had administered: her firstborn son, lord Baldwin, whose deeds we are presently writing, even after he was exalted to the throne of the kingdom, very much favoring her and, with merit, subject to her commands.

Inter caeteros autem quorum opera consilioque utebatur, familiarem admodum habebat quemdam nobilem virum, ejus consobrinum, Manassen videlicet; cui, statim post ejus introitum in regnum, curam militiae tradiderat omnem et [quem] ordinaverat constabularium. Hic autem de dominae reginae gratia praesumens, nimium arrogans, ut dicitur, et regni majoribus insolenter se praeferens, nullique debitam exhibens reverentiam, invidiam in se nobilium regionis concitaverat maximam; et nisi dominae reginae eos cohiberet auctoritas, parati erant conceptum odium usque in opus pertrahere. Duxerat autem et domini Baliani senioris viduam, nobilem matronam Hugonis, Balduini et Baliani Ramatensium fratrum matrem: unde sibi cumulaverat divitias et multiplicaverat possessiones.

Among the others whose service and counsel he employed, he had as a very intimate a certain noble man, his cousin, namely Manasses; to whom, immediately after his entrance into the kingdom, he had entrusted the whole care of the military and had appointed [whom] constable. This man, however, presuming upon the favor of the lady queen, excessively arrogant, as it is said, and insolently putting himself before the magnates of the kingdom, showing to no one the reverence due, had stirred up against himself the very greatest ill-will of the nobles of the region; and had not the authority of the lady queen restrained them, they were ready to carry the hatred they had conceived even into deed. Moreover, he had taken to wife the widow of Lord Balian the elder, the noble matron, mother of Hugh, Baldwin, and Balian, the brothers of Ramla: whence he had heaped up riches for himself and multiplied possessions.

Eorum autem qui praedictum Manassen odio prosequebantur, primus erat et affectu et opere rex ipse: asserens quod ei matris suae subtraheret gratiam et munificentiam impediret. Habebat autem super eodem facto plurimos incentores, odiorum fomitem ministrantes, quibus praedicti viri invisa erat potentia et molesta nimis dominatio. Hi dominum regem impellebant, ut etiam matrem a regni amoveret potestate, dicentes, eum jam ad adultam pervenisse aetatem, indignum esse ut femineo regeretur arbitrio, et regni proprii curam aliquam sibi committeret moderandam.

But of those who were prosecuting the aforesaid Manasses with hatred, the first both in feeling and in deed was the king himself: asserting that he was withdrawing from him his mother’s favor and was hindering her munificence. Moreover, on this same matter he had very many instigators, supplying the tinder of hatreds, to whom the power of the aforesaid man was hateful and his domination excessively troublesome. These were impelling the lord king to remove even his mother from the power of the kingdom, saying that he had already come to adult age, that it was unworthy for him to be ruled by a feminine arbitrament, and that he should commit to himself some share of the care of his own kingdom to be moderated.

Horum igitur et similium rex fretus consilio, proposuerat, in die festo Paschae Hierosolymis solemniter coronari; cujus gloriae, cum a domino patriarcha et a viris prudentibus qui pacem regni diligebant, instanter rogaretur, ut matrem participem faceret, distulit praedictorum consilio, ne matrem haberet consortem, illa die qua proposuerat; et sequenti die subito, matre non vocata, in publicum processit laureatus.

Therefore, relying on the counsel of these and the like, the king had proposed to be solemnly crowned at Jerusalem on the feast day of Easter; and as to this glory, when he was urgently entreated by the lord patriarch and by prudent men who cherished the peace of the kingdom to make his mother a participant, he deferred, by the counsel of the aforesaid, to have his mother as consort on the day he had planned; and on the following day, suddenly, his mother not having been summoned, he went forth into public laurel-wreathed.

CAPUT XIV Regnum inter se dividunt filius et mater. Rex Hierosolymam ingreditur violenter, et matrem in arce obsidet Davidica; tandem pax cum tranquillitate reformatur.

CHAPTER 14 The son and the mother divide the kingdom between themselves. The king enters Jerusalem violently, and besieges his mother in the Davidic citadel; at length peace with tranquillity is restored.

Transcursa igitur illa solemnitate, convocato procerum coetu, praesente etiam Ivone Suessionensi comite et Galtero castellano Sancti Aldemari, matrem convenit, et ut regnum secum dividat instanter exigit, et avitae sibi postulat haereditatis portionem assignari. Tandem post multos hinc inde habitos deliberationis tractatus, divisa haereditate, domino regi optione data, assumpsit sibi in partem Tyrensem et Acconensem, cum pertinentiis suis, urbes maritimas: relictis dominae reginae Hierosolyma et Neapoli, cum suis iterum pertinentiis. Sicque divisi sunt ab invicem, sperante populo quod pro bono pacis tolerandum esset quod sic ordinatum fuerat: quod uterque contentus esse deberet sua, quae eum contigerat, portione.

Therefore, that solemnity having been concluded, with an assembly of the nobles convoked, and with Ivo, Count of Soissons, and Walter, castellan of Saint Aldemar, also present, he met with his mother, and urgently demands that she divide the kingdom with him, and demands that a portion of the ancestral inheritance be assigned to himself. At length, after many deliberations held on both sides, the inheritance having been divided, with choice given to the lord king, he took to himself the Tyrian and Acrean part, the maritime cities with their appurtenances: leaving to the lady queen Jerusalem and Neapolis, with their appurtenances likewise. And thus they were divided from one another, the people hoping that, for the good of peace, what had been thus ordained would have to be tolerated: that each ought to be content with his portion which had fallen to him.

Per eosdem itaque dies dominus rex nobilem quemdam et magnificum virum dominum Henfredum de Torono, cui magnae et amplae possessiones erant in Phoenice, in montibus qui Tyrensi adjacent metropoli, ordinavit constabularium suum, et ei militiae suae curam commisit. Sed neque sic etiam quievit dominam reginam persequentium stimulus; sed et causis levibus vires resumens ignis, qui latuerat in favilla, incendium majus et priore multo periculosius, coepit ministrare. Nam rex eisdem impellentibus quorum consilio prius acquieverat, matrem iterum coepit molestare, et eam quam ex utriusque beneplacito regni obtinuerat portionem, exclusa omnino matre, sibi vindicare proposuit.

In those same days, therefore, the lord king appointed as his constable a certain noble and magnificent man, Lord Humphrey of Toron, who had great and ample possessions in Phoenicia, in the mountains that adjoin the Tyrian metropolis, and he entrusted to him the care of his militia. But not even thus did the goad of those persecuting the lady queen grow quiet; rather, on slight causes the fire, which had lain hidden in the embers, taking up strength again, began to furnish a conflagration greater and much more perilous than the former. For the king, impelled by those same men whose counsel he had previously acquiesced in, began again to trouble his mother, and the portion of the kingdom which she had obtained by the good-pleasure of both, he proposed to vindicate to himself, his mother being altogether excluded.

Quod intelligens regina, commendata Neapoli quibusdam fidelibus suis, qui ejus curam haberent, Hierosolymam se recepit. Rex vero interea congregata quanta potuit militia, praedictum Manassen in castello quodam ejus, cui nomen Mirabel, obsidet; eumque ad deditionem compellens, regnum et omnem cismarinam regionem abjurare coegit: inde occupata Neapoli, matrem persequens Hierosolymam proficiscitur. Recesserant autem a domina regina, juramentorum et fidelitatis immemores, quidam ex iis qui infra sortem ejus habebant possessiones, et ei fide media erant obligati.

Understanding this, the queen, having commended Neapolis to certain of her faithful who should have its care, withdrew to Jerusalem. The king, meanwhile, having assembled as large a soldiery as he could, besieges the aforesaid Manasses in one of his castles, whose name is Mirabel; and, compelling him to surrender, he forced him to abjure the kingdom and all the cis-marine region: then, Neapolis having been occupied, pursuing his mother he sets out for Jerusalem. But certain of those who held possessions within her lot, and were bound to her by a bond of fealty, had withdrawn from the lady queen, forgetful of their oaths and fidelity.

Pauci vero ei adhaerentes, fidei servaverant integritatem: Amalricus videlicet comes Joppensis, filius ejus, valde adolescens; Philippus quoque Neapolitanus, et Rohardus senior, et pauci alii quorum nomina non tenemus. Audiens itaque regina, filium cum exercitu advenire, in arcem cum familiaribus suis et fidelibus se recepit, de praesidii munitione confidens. Dominus vero patriarcha Fulcherus, bonae memoriae, videns tempora periculosa, et dies tentationis imminere, volens partes suas interponere, et de iis quae ad pacem sunt rogare, assumptis sibi de clero, viris religiosis et Deum timentibus, domino regi obviam exiit, monens ut a pravo desistat proposito, et in finibus pactorum consistens, matrem quiete perfrui patiatur: apud quem postquam videt se non proficere, consilium ejus detestans, in urbem regressus est.

Pocos indeed adhering to her had preserved the integrity of loyalty: namely Amalric, Count of Jaffa, her son, very much an adolescent; Philip of Neapolis (Nablus) also, and Rohard the Elder, and a few others whose names we do not hold. Hearing therefore that her son was coming with the army, the queen withdrew into the citadel with her household and faithful ones, trusting in the fortification of the garrison. But Lord Patriarch Fulk, of good memory, seeing perilous times and the day of temptation impending, wishing to interpose his part and to ask concerning those things that tend to peace, taking to himself from the clergy religious and God-fearing men, went out to meet the lord king, warning that he desist from his depraved purpose and, abiding within the bounds of the agreements, allow his mother to enjoy quiet possession; but when he saw that he did not prevail with him, detesting his plan, he returned to the city.

Rex autem urgens propositum, ante urbem castra locat. Tandem vero civibus indignationem declinantibus regiam et portas aperientibus, intromissus est cum suis expeditionibus: ubi statim arcem, in quam mater se contulerat, aptatis ad eam expugnandam machinis, obsidione vallat; et more instans hostili, balistis, arcubus et jaculatoriis machinis continuas inferens molestias, obsessis requiem negat. Illi vero, omnino instanti omnino reluctantes, vim vi repellere nituntur, et quibus modis exteriores obsessos impugnare satagunt, eisdem injurias propulsare et in hostes aequa lance damna refundere, obsessi non verentur.

The king, however, urging on his purpose, pitches camp before the city. At length, the citizens, declining royal indignation and opening the gates, admitted him with his expeditions; where at once he girded the citadel, into which his mother had withdrawn, with a siege, the machines fitted for storming it having been prepared; and, pressing in hostile fashion, with ballistae, bows, and projectile‑hurling machines inflicting continual harassments, he denied the besieged any respite. They, however, utterly resisting the one who pressed them utterly, strive to repel force with force, and by the same methods with which those outside strive to assail the besieged, the besieged do not fear to ward off injuries and to refund losses upon the enemies with an even scale.

Tandem cum per dies aliquot, periculose nimis hinc inde decertatum esset, cum in arcem expugnando rex non multum proficeret, nec tamen a proposito vellet desistere, intercurrentibus quibusdam pacis et gratiae reformatoribus, urbe Neapolitana cum suis finibus contenta domina regina, regni caput domino regi resignat Hierosolymam, interpositis ex parte domini regis, et praestitis corporaliter juramentis, quod super ea possessione per eum perpetuo non deberet molestari; sicque eis in mutuam redeuntibus gratiam, quasi stella matutina in medio refulgens nebulae, regno et Ecclesiae restituta est tranquillitas.

At length, after for several days there had been fighting far too perilously on this side and that, since in storming the citadel the king was not making much progress, nor yet would he wish to desist from his purpose, with certain reformers of peace and favor intervening, the lady queen, content with the city of Neapolis with its boundaries, resigns to the lord king the head of the kingdom, Jerusalem, oaths having been interposed on the part of the lord king and physically sworn, that concerning that possession she should not be molested by him in perpetuity; and thus, as they returned into mutual favor, like the morning star shining in the midst of the cloud, tranquility was restored to the kingdom and to the Church.

CAPUT XV. Soldanus Iconiensis comitatum Edessanum rursum ingreditur; rex illuc cum omni celeritate properat.

CHAPTER 15. The Sultan of Iconium enters the County of Edessa again; the king hastens thither with all speed.

At vero nuntiatum est regi Hierosolymorum, et fama certiore compertum quod comes Edessanus sorte tam miserabili captus erat, et regio tota absque defensoris cura, hostium late patebat insidiis; quod omnis illa provincia, sicut et Antiochenorum partes, femineo relictae moderamini, suam exposcebant sollicitudinem; assumptis sibi Henfredo constabulario et Guidone Berytensi (nam de iis qui in portione dominae reginae erant, licet singillatim evocasset, neminem habere potuit) ad partes pervenit Tripolitanas; ubi et comitem cum suis militibus assumens, Antiochiam celer pervenit. Dicebatur enim publice, et vere sic erat, quod potentissimus Turcorum princeps soldanus Iconiensis, cum innumero equitatu ad partes illas descenderat, et fere omnem suis finibus conterminam occupaverat regionem. Non valentes enim locorum habitatores resistere et exercituum illius sustinere potentiam, urbes et municipia universa illi tradiderant, impetrantes ab eo salvum et liberum exitum cum uxoribus et liberis, et sine periculo conductum usque Turbessel; is enim locus caeteris munitior, plures habens habitatores, ubi et dominus comes jugem et manentem habebat habitationem, adhuc in tranquillo videbatur esse.

But indeed it was announced to the king of Jerusalem, and by a more certain report it was ascertained that the Count of Edessa had been taken in so miserable a lot, and that the whole region, without the care of a defender, lay wide open to the ambushes of the enemies; that all that province, as also the parts of the Antiochenes, left to feminine governance, were demanding his solicitude; taking to himself Humphrey the constable and Guy of Beirut (for of those who were in the portion of the lady queen, although he had summoned them one by one, he was able to have none) he came to the Tripolitan parts; where also, taking the count with his knights, he swiftly came to Antioch. For it was publicly said, and so in truth it was, that the most powerful prince of the Turks, the sultan of Iconium, had descended with innumerable cavalry into those parts, and had occupied nearly every region conterminous with his borders. For the inhabitants of the places, not being able to resist and to sustain the power of his armies, had handed over to him all the cities and municipalities, obtaining from him safe and free egress with wives and children, and an escort without danger as far as Turbessel; for that place, stronger than the rest, having more inhabitants, where also the lord count had a continual and abiding habitation, seemed still to be in calm.

Dumque sic exceptis paucis praesidiis, universam occupasset regionem, majoribus eum revocantibus curis, domum redire compulsus est; nihilominus tamen, provincialium aut labor est imminutus, aut remissior facta sollicitudo. Nam Noradinus molestissimus gentis nostrae persecutor et Turcorum princeps potentissimus, pene continuis incursionibus universam eatenus molestabat regionem, ut extra praesidia nemo penitus auderet comparere. Sic igitur inter duas molas, miser ille populus incessanter conterebatur; et a duobus maximis principibus supra vires angebatur, quorum alterius tantum vix posset potentiam tolerare.

And while thus, with a few garrisons excepted, he had occupied the whole region, greater cares recalling him, he was compelled to return home; nonetheless, neither was the labor of the provincials diminished, nor was their solicitude made more relaxed. For Noradin, the most vexatious persecutor of our race and a most powerful prince of the Turks, with almost continuous incursions was harassing the whole region to that point, so that outside the garrisons no one at all dared to appear. Thus, therefore, between two millstones, that wretched people was being incessantly ground down; and by two very great princes it was afflicted beyond its strength—of either one alone it could scarcely endure the power.

CAPUT XVI. Imperator Constantinopolitanus exercitum ad partes dirigit Antiochenas; comitatum Edessanum sibi resignari postulat; obtinet postulatum; Graecis castella resignantur; rex inde Latinos educit.

CHAPTER 16. The Constantinopolitan Emperor directs the army to the Antiochene parts; he demands that the Edessan County be resigned to himself; he obtains the demand; the castles are resigned to the Greeks; from there the king leads out the Latins.

Interea dominus Imperator Constantinopolitanus audiens illarum partium desolationem, unum de principibus suis, cum immensis sumptibus, et militia suorum non modica, ad praedictas partes direxerat, offerens comitissae liberisque ejus annuos certae quantitatis reditus, qui eis ad honestum sufficere possent victum in perpetuum, in recompensationem traditae sibi regionis, si praesidia quae adhuc penes se retinebat, ejus imperio vellet concedere. Spondebat enim confidenter, in immensitate divitiarum suarum spem habens, quod et illa a Turcorum incursionibus conservaret illibata, et alia quae amiserant, facile suo restitueret imperio, si ei provincia resignaretur. Adveniente igitur rege Antiochiam, causa cognita adventus imperialium nuntiorum, ipsis etiam injunctam sibi legationem aperientibus, facta est inter principes regionis illius dissensio; aliis dicentibus rem nondum in eum necessitatis articulum descendisse, ut id fieri oporteat; aliis econtra asserentibus necessarium id esse fieri, priusquam terra penitus in hostium manus tradatur.

Meanwhile the lord Emperor of Constantinople, hearing of the desolation of those regions, had dispatched one of his princes, with immense expenditures and no small militia of his men, to the aforesaid parts, offering to the countess and her children annual revenues of a fixed amount, which might suffice them for an honorable livelihood in perpetuity, in recompensation for the region delivered over to himself, if she would be willing to concede to his imperium the garrisons which she still retained in her possession. For he pledged confidently, having hope in the immensity of his riches, that he would preserve that land unviolated from the incursions of the Turks, and would easily restore to his empire the other things which they had lost, if the province were resigned to him. Therefore, when the king arrived at Antioch, the cause of the coming of the imperial envoys being learned, and they themselves also opening the legation enjoined upon them, there arose dissension among the princes of that region; some saying that the matter had not yet descended into such a strait of necessity that it ought to be done; others, on the contrary, asserting that it was necessary that it be done, before the land be utterly handed over into the enemy’s hands.

Inter has igitur deliberationis ambiguitates, cognoscens dominus rex, quod praedicta regio, in eo statu, in quo erat, diu perseverare non posset; ipsum enim ampliorem ibi moram facere, regni propria cura non patiebatur; nec ejus tot tantaeque erant vires, ut duas quindecim dierum itinere a se distantes provincias administrare posset commode, vidensque Antiochenam quae media erat provinciam, principis solatio jam per plures annos destitutam, in eam descendit sententiam, ut praemissis conditionibus, Graecis oppida quae supererant traderentur. Et licet non multum praesumeret, quod Graecorum viribus in eo statu conservari posset provincia, maluit tamen, ut eis possidentibus iste casus accideret, quam ei periclitantis populi et terrae deficientis imputaretur ruina. Pactis igitur hinc inde juxta praedictas conditiones, adhibito consensu dominae comitissae et liberorum ejus, ad placitam consonantiam redactis, praefigitur dies, quo dominus rex, cum omni militia sua in partes illas descendat, imperatoris homines in possessionem inducat, et eis universa resignet oppida.

Amid these ambiguities of deliberation, therefore, the lord king, recognizing that the aforesaid region, in the state in which it was, could not long persevere—for his making a longer stay there his proper care of his own kingdom did not permit; nor were his forces so great that he could conveniently administer two provinces at a distance of a journey of fifteen days from himself—and seeing that the Antiochene province, which was the middle one, had for many years now been deprived of the solace of a prince, came down to this decision: that, upon the conditions previously set forth, the towns that still remained should be handed over to the Greeks. And although he did not much presume that the province could be preserved in that state by the forces of the Greeks, he preferred nevertheless that, with them possessing it, this mishap should occur, rather than that the ruin of a people in peril and a land failing should be imputed to him. Therefore, the terms being agreed to on both sides according to the aforesaid conditions, with the consent of the lady countess and her children brought to pleasing consonance, a day is fixed on which the lord king, with all his military force, should descend into those parts, introduce the emperor’s men into possession, and resign to them all the towns.

Die igitur statuta rex ex condicto assumens sibi comitem Tripolitanum, et tam suos quam Antiochenarum partium magnates, in terram comitis Edessani, Graecos secum deducens, usque Turbessel pervenit; ubi assumpta sibi domina comitissa cum liberis suis et aliis omnibus, tam Latinis quam Armenis, sexus promiscui, exire volentibus, Graecis regionem assignat. Erant autem oppida quae a nostris adhuc possidebantur Turbessel, Hamtab, Rauendel, Ranculat, Bile, Samosatum, et fortasse alia quaedam. Quibus omnibus Graecorum potestati resignatis, ipse cum universo egredi volentium populo, cum jumentis et sarcinis eorum, quae erant multae nimis (nam unusquisque cum omni domo et familia, et supellectile universa exire proposuerat) ad iter accingitur; et cum omni hujusmodi imbellis populi multitudine, et impedimentorum quantitate numerosa egredi maturat, educere volens eos sine periculo.

Therefore, on the appointed day, the king, according to the pact, taking with him the Count of Tripoli, and both his own men and the magnates of the Antiochene parts, into the land of the Count of Edessa, leading the Greeks along with him, came as far as Turbessel; where, having taken to himself the lady countess with her children and all the others, both Latins and Armenians, of both sexes, who wished to depart, he assigns the region to the Greeks. Now the towns which were still possessed by our people were Turbessel, Hamtab, Rauendel, Ranculat, Bile, Samosatum, and perhaps certain others. All of which having been resigned to the power of the Greeks, he himself, with the whole people who wished to go out, with their beasts of burden and baggage, which were exceedingly many (for each one had proposed to depart with his whole house and family, and all his furniture), girds himself for the journey; and with all this multitude of unwarlike people, and with a numerous quantity of impediments, he hastens to go forth, wishing to lead them out without danger.

CAPUT XVII. Noradinus regi occurrit; exitum impedire procurat. Rex, licet cum difficultate, Antiochiam redit.

CHAPTER 17. Noradin meets the king; he undertakes to impede the exit. The king, albeit with difficulty, returns to Antioch.

Noradinus, ejectis Graecis, universam occupat regionem.

Noradinus, the Greeks ejected, occupies the entire region.

Audiens itaque Noradinus quod rex ad educendum populum ingressus fuerat et quod de conservanda regione omnino desperantes, Graecis viris effeminatis et mollibus, oppida resignaverant, de nostra formidine factus animosior, congregata ex universis adjacentibus regionibus militia, ad easdem partes festinus descendit, volens regi et populo de viribus suis diffidenti et sarcinis multiplicibus impedito occurrere: ad lucrum sibi putans cedere, si tales sibi obviam habere posset. Factumque est, quod vix ad urbem Tulupam, quae a Turbessel vix quinque aut sex distabat milliaribus, illam impotentem multitudinem adduxerat, cum ecce Noradinus universam regionem suis repleverat legionibus. Erat autem castrum illis vicinum, Hamtab nomine, per quod iter eis erat futurum: illuc nostri properare volentes, videntes imminere periculum, acies instruunt, ordinant agmina, tanquam mox cum hostibus commissuri.

Hearing, therefore, that the king had entered to lead out the people, and that, utterly despairing of preserving the region, they had resigned the towns to the Greeks—effeminate and soft men—made more high-spirited by our fear, Noradin, having gathered a militia from all the adjoining regions, hastened down to the same parts, wishing to meet the king and the people, distrustful of their own powers and impeded by multiple baggage; thinking it would turn to profit for himself, if he could have such men meet him. And it came to pass that he had scarcely led that powerless multitude to the city Tulupa, which was scarcely five or six miles distant from Turbessel, when behold, Noradin had filled the whole region with his legions. There was, however, a castle near them, by name Hamtab, through which their route was going to run: thither our men, wishing to hasten, seeing danger imminent, draw up the battle-lines, arrange the columns, as though about to engage with the enemies forthwith.

Illi vero instructis catervis, nostrorum adventum, tanquam de victoria securi, avide nimis exspectabant. Accidit tamen, contra spem eorum, quod noster exercitus ad praedictum oppidum, praevia Domini misericordia, pervenit indemnis; ubi nocte tota fessis tam jumentis quam hominibus, ad requiem concessa, convocato procerum coetu, et de futuro in crastinum itinere deliberantes, fuerunt nonnulli de magnatibus, qui praedictum praesidium exposcerent sibi dari, arbitrantes opitulante Domino contra Turcorum incursiones viribus propriis locum posse conservare; quorum unus de regno erat Henfredus de Torono, vir magnificus regius constabularius; alter erat vir nobilis et potens, de principatu Antiocheno, Robertus videlicet de Surda valle. Sed videns dominus rex neutrius vires aut potentiam ad praedictum opus sufficere, spreto utriusque verbo tanquam inutili, pactis insistit perseverans; et tradito Graecis municipio, populum praecipit ad iter accingi.

But they, with their companies drawn up, awaited our men’s arrival too greedily, as if secure of victory. It happened, however, contrary to their hope, that our army, the mercy of the Lord going before, arrived unharmed at the aforesaid town; where, with the whole night granted to rest for the weary, both beasts of burden and men, an assembly of the nobles having been convened, and deliberating about the journey to be on the morrow, there were some among the magnates who demanded that the aforesaid garrison be given to them, thinking that, with the Lord helping, by their own forces they could preserve the place against the incursions of the Turks; of whom one, from the kingdom, was Henfredus of Toron, a magnificent man, the royal constable; the other was a noble and powerful man from the Principality of Antioch, namely Robertus of the Surd Valley. But the lord king, seeing that neither one’s forces nor power sufficed for the aforesaid work, spurning the word of each as useless, persisted, standing by the pacts; and, the municipality having been handed over to the Greeks, he orders the people to gird themselves for the journey.

Videre erat ibi viros nobiles, et inclytas cum ingenuis virginibus et parvis pueris matronas, natale solum, avita domicilia, cognatam regionem, singultibus et lacrymosis deserere suspiriis, et transmigrationem ad populum alterum cum fletibus et lamentis inire. Non erat pectus ita ferreum, cujus interiora non moverent fletus et lacrymae, et querulae voces populi transmigrantis. Luce igitur terris reddita, compositis sarcinis, rursum iter arripiunt: et ecce ex utroque latere hostium acies junctis agminibus, incedebant, in comitatum nostrorum parati ex omni parte irruere.

There one could see noble men, and illustrious matrons together with freeborn maidens and little boys, abandoning with sobs and tearful sighs their natal soil, ancestral dwellings, and kindred region, and entering upon a transmigration to another people with weeping and lamentation. There was no breast so iron that its inmost parts were not moved by the weeping and tears and the plaintive voices of the migrating people. Therefore, with the light given back to the lands, the baggage set in order, they again seize the road: and behold, on either flank the enemy’s battle lines, their columns joined, were advancing, ready to rush upon our column from every side.

Nostri ergo hostium videntes agmina et gravem multitudinem, de quingentis equitibus, quos habebant, instaurant acies et incedendi ordinem assignant instauratis. Dominum itaque regem praeire jubent, ut agmina praecedat et turbis pedestribus gradiendi modum assignet; comite Tripolitanum et Henfredum regium constabularium posteriores jubent tueri partes, et ut cum majoribus et fortioribus militum copiis hostium sustineant impetus, et eorum a plebe arceant violentiam; Antiochenos vero magnates a dextris et a sinistris collocant, ut positae in medio multitudini, undique per gyrum non deesset robur fortium, et armata militia. Sic igitur, et eodem ordine tota die nostris gradientibus usque ad solis occasum intolerabiles nostris non defuerunt molestiae, frequentes impetus, pugna jugis, congressiones continuae.

Our men therefore, seeing the enemy’s battle-columns and heavy multitude, out of the five hundred horsemen which they had, restore the battle lines and, the lines reinstated, assign the order of advancing. Accordingly they bid the lord king go before, that he might precede the columns and assign to the pedestrian crowds the manner of marching; they bid the Count of Tripoli and Henfredus the royal constable to guard the rear parts, and to sustain the enemy’s assaults with the greater and stronger companies of soldiers, and to ward their violence from the plebs; but they place the Antiochene magnates on the right and on the left, so that to the multitude set in the midst there might not be lacking, on every side all around, the strength of the brave and an armed militia. Thus therefore, and in the same order, with our men advancing the whole day until the setting of the sun, intolerable molestations were not lacking to our men: frequent onsets, unceasing battle, continual clashes.

Tanta autem erat immissarum in exercitu numerositas sagittarum, ut omnes sarcinae, ericii more, sagittis viderentur consitae; praeterea pulvis, calor quoque, qualem solet Augustus ministrare, sitis quoque aspera, plebem supra vires fatigabat; tandem sole jam ad occasum declinante, Turci secum non habentes victualium quidpiam, amissis de exercitu suo nonnullis nobilibus, dato ad reditum signo, nostros insequi desinunt, eorum stupentes incomparabilem instantiam et perseverantiam. Dumque Henfredus constabularius, arcu abeuntes persequitur, aliquantulum a comitatu remotior, accessit ad eum miles quidam de hostium numero, qui repositis armis et junctis alternatim ad latus manibus, signum exhibet reverentiae. Is porro cujusdam potentissimi Turcorum principis, qui eidem constabulario fraterno foedere junctus erat et in eo tenacissimus, domesticus erat et familiaris, ab eodem missus, ut eum verbis ejus salutaret, et de statu hostilis exercitus eum redderet doctiorem.

But so great was the multitude of arrows let loose into the army, that all the baggage, after the manner of a hedgehog, seemed bristling with arrows; moreover the dust, and the heat too, such as August is wont to furnish, and a harsh thirst, were wearing out the common folk beyond their strength. At length, with the sun now declining to its setting, the Turks, not having with them any victuals, and having lost from their army certain nobles, when the signal for return was given, cease to pursue our men, marveling at their incomparable instancy and perseverance. And while Henfred the constable, with his bow, was pursuing those who were withdrawing, being somewhat more remote from the company, there approached him a certain soldier of the enemy, who, his weapons laid aside and his hands joined alternately at his side, displayed a sign of reverence. He, in fact, was a domestic and familiar of a certain most powerful prince of the Turks, who was joined to that same constable by a fraternal covenant and was most tenacious therein, sent by that prince to salute him with his words, and to render him better informed about the state of the hostile army.

Refert autem Noradinum cum suis in proposito habere ea nocte ad propria maturare reditum; defecerat enim in castris ejus omnis penitus alimonia, unde eos diutius non poterant insectari. Sic igitur illo redeunte ad propria, constabularius in castra se recipit; et verbo quod audierat, domino regi communicato, instante jam nocte, in loco qui dicitur Joha, castrametatus est populus universus. In sequentibus diebus, populo sine molestia per silvam quae dicitur Marris, et usque ad loca nostrae ditioni subdita traducto, dominus rex in Antiochiam se recepit.

It is reported, moreover, that Noradin with his own had it in purpose that night to hasten a return to his own places; for in his camp every kind of sustenance had utterly failed, whence they were not able to pursue any longer. Thus then, with him returning to his own, the constable withdrew to the camp; and the word which he had heard having been communicated to the lord king, with night now pressing on, in the place which is called Joha the whole people encamped. In the following days, the people, without molestation, having been conducted through the forest which is called Marris, and even to the places subject to our dominion, the lord king withdrew himself into Antioch.

Videns igitur Noradinus terram comitis, Latinorum auxilio destitutam, de Graecorum mollitie, quibus commissa erat, praesumens, frequentibus irruptionibus, et quas Graeci non satis supportare noverant, eam coepit aggravare. Tandemque immissis exercitibus copiosis, obsidione vallans oppida, Graecis violenter exclusis, infra annum universam occupavit regionem. Sic igitur provincia opulentissima, rivis, silvis et pascuis laetissima, ubere gleba dives, et omnibus redundans commoditatibus, in qua quingenti equites sufficientia habebant beneficia, peccatis nostris exigentibus, in hostium manus devenit, et a nostra jurisdictione usque in praesentem diem facta est aliena.

Therefore Noradin, seeing the count’s land deprived of the Latins’ aid, presuming upon the softness of the Greeks to whom it had been committed, began to aggravate it by frequent irruptions—of a kind that the Greeks did not sufficiently know how to sustain. And at length, sending in numerous armies, girding the towns with siege and violently excluding the Greeks, within a year he occupied the whole region. Thus a most opulent province, most luxuriant in streams, forests, and pastures, rich with a fertile glebe and overflowing with all commodities, in which 500 knights had benefices sufficient, our sins demanding it, came into the hands of the enemy, and from our jurisdiction down to the present day has been made alien.

Decesserunt itaque Ecclesiae Antiochenae in partibus illis tres archiepiscopi, Edessanus, Hieropolitanus et Coricensis; quorum Ecclesias etiam nunc infidelitas detinet, et gentilis superstitio, licet invitas.

Thus there departed from the Church of Antioch in those parts three archbishops, the Edessan, the Hieropolitan, and the Coricensian; whose Churches even now infidelity holds, and gentile superstition, though unwilling.

CAPUT XVIII. Rex principissam monet, ut unum de principibus in maritum accipiat, qui regioni possit praeesse; sed non proficit. Rex inde Tripolim accedit, ad propria reversurus.

CHAPTER 18. The king admonishes the princess to take one of the princes for a husband, who might be able to preside over the region; but it does not profit. Thence the king goes to Tripoli, about to return to his own.

Interea dominus rex Hierosolymorum Balduinus, pro urbe Antiochena, et ejus adjacente dioecesi plurimum sollicitus, ne principis destituta solatio, sicut et terra comitis, de qua praediximus, in manus hostium, sorte descendat miserabili, et populo Christiano simul cum jactura intolerabili, amplius accedat confusio; vidensque sibi liberum non esse, revocante eum regni cura, moram ibi habere longiorem, dominam principissam saepius commonet ut unum de nobilibus sibi, cui nubat, eligat viris, cujus consilio et opera principatus regatur. Erant autem eo tempore inclyti et nobiles viri in eadem regione, domini regis castra sequentes, dominus videlicet Ivo de Neella, comes Suessionensis, vir magnificus, prudens et discretus, cujus in regno Francorum plurima erat auctoritas; Galtherus quoque de Falcunberga, castellanus Sancti Aldemari, qui postea fuit Tiberiadensis dominus, ipse quoque vir prudens, urbanitatis eximiae, providus in consiliis et in armis strenuus; dominus quoque Radulphus de Merlo, vir summe nobilis, et armorum usum habens, et prudentia multa conspicuus; quorum quilibet ad procurandam regionem, merito videbatur sufficiens. Illa autem vincula timens conjugalia, solutamque ac liberam vitam praeponens, non multum attendebat quid populo expediret, circa id plurimum sollicita, ut carnis curam perficeret in desideriis.

Meanwhile the lord king of Jerusalem, Baldwin, being very solicitous on behalf of the city of Antioch and its adjacent diocese, lest, deprived of the solace of a prince, as also the land of the count, of which we have spoken above, it should by a miserable lot descend into the hands of the enemies, and, together with an intolerable loss, further confusion should accrue to the Christian people; and seeing that it was not free for him, the care of the kingdom recalling him, to have a longer delay there, he often admonishes the lady princess that she choose for herself one of the noble men, to whom she might wed, by whose counsel and work the principality may be ruled. Now there were at that time renowned and noble men in the same region, following the lord king’s camp: to wit, the lord Ivo of Neella, count of Soissons, a magnificent man, prudent and discreet, who in the kingdom of the Franks had very great authority; also Walter of Falcunberga, castellan of Saint Aldemar, who afterwards was lord of Tiberias, he too a prudent man, of outstanding urbanity, provident in counsels and strenuous in arms; also the lord Radulf of Merlo, a man most noble, having the practice of arms, and conspicuous for much prudence; of whom each one, for administering the region, seemed by merit sufficient. But she, fearing the conjugal bonds, and preferring an unbound and free life, did not pay much heed to what would be expedient for the people, being chiefly solicitous about this, to perfect the care of the flesh in desires.

Rex autem ejus intelligens propositum, apud Tripolim principibus utriusque tam regni quam principatus, curiam indicit generalem. Ad quam tam dominum Antiochenum patriarcham cum suffraganeis suis, quam dominam principissam cum suis proceribus invitat; interfuit autem et mater ejus, domina regina Milisendis, et regni principes eam secuti. Ubi cum de publicis negotiis diligens habitus esset tractatus, ventum est ad negotium principissae; sed neque tunc vel rex, vel comes, ejus sanguinei; vel regina, vel comitissa Tripolitana, ambae ejus materterae, in hoc eam potuerunt inducere, ut sibi et regioni in hac parte vellet providere.

But the king, understanding her plan, convenes at Tripoli a general court for the princes of both the kingdom and the principality. To this he invites both the lord patriarch of Antioch with his suffragans, and the lady princess with her grandees; and his mother also was present, Lady Queen Melisende, with the princes of the kingdom following her. When a diligent discussion had been held there concerning public business, they came to the matter of the princess; but neither then could either the king or the count, her kinsmen, nor the queen or the Countess of Tripoli, both her maternal aunts, induce her in this, that she should be willing to provide for herself and the region in this regard.

Dicebatur autem et patriarchae niti consilio, qui tanquam vir argutus et versipellis, ut liberius interim tota terra dominaretur, cujus rei cupidus erat nimis, in hoc eam dicebatur errore fovere. Cum ergo nihil in eo proficerent, soluta curia, ad propria quisque reversus est.

It was said, moreover, that the patriarch was also pressing the counsel, who, as a shrewd and wily man, that he might meanwhile more freely dominate the whole land—of which thing he was excessively desirous—was said to foster her in this error. Therefore, since they were profiting nothing in that, the court being dissolved, each returned to his own.

CAPUT XIX. Rex et mater ejus apud Tripolim conveniunt, ut comitem uxori reconcilient; sed non proficiunt. Comes ab Assissinis in porta civitatis occiditur.

CHAPTER 19. The king and his mother meet at Tripoli to reconcile the count to his wife; but they do not succeed. The count is slain by the Assassins at the gate of the city.

Erat autem illis diebus, inter dominum comitem et ejus uxorem, dominae Milisendis reginae sororem, ex zelo maritali orta simultas; cujus sedandae gratia, et ut principissam neptem suam videret, domina Milisendis advenerat. In qua resarcienda gratia, cum ipsa iterum non multum profecisset, sororem, rediens, deducere secum decreverat, et in hoc procinctu ambae erant urbem Tripolitanam jam egressae. Comes autem proficiscenti principissae comitem se ad tempus dederat, a qua sumpta licentia, post modicum reversus est intervallum; qui, dum portam civitatis ingrederetur, nihilque omnino casus timeret sinistri, in introitu portae, inter murum et antemurale, Assissinorum gladiis confossus, miserabiliter interiit.

Now in those days there was, between the lord count and his wife, the sister of lady Milisendis the queen, a dissension arisen from conjugal zeal; for the sake of settling which, and that she might see the princess, her niece, lady Milisendis had come. In the business of mending this, when she herself had not made much progress again, she had resolved, on returning, to lead her sister away with her; and in this posture both had already gone out from the city of Tripoli. The count, moreover, had for a time made himself a companion to the princess as she set out, and, having taken leave of her, after a short interval he turned back; and while he was entering the gate of the city, and in no wise feared any sinister mishap, at the entrance of the gate, between the wall and the antemural, he was pierced through by the swords of the Assassins, and miserably perished.

Cecidit autem et cum eo inclytus et nobilis vir, cujus superius fecimus mentionem, dominus Radulphus de Merlo, cum quodam milite suo, quorum uterque domino comiti in ea profectione casu se dederat consortem. Rex autem in civitate securus aleam ludebat, recreationi dans operam, horum omnium ignarus. Commota est ergo universa civitas, nece comitis audita; et ad arma populus convolans, quemcunque alienum a lingua nostra, vel habitu reperit, putans sicarios qui hoc malum commiserant invenire, gladio percutit, et mortem omnibus irrogat indifferenter.

But there fell also with him the renowned and noble man, of whom we made mention above, Lord Radulf of Merlo, together with a certain knight of his, each of whom had, by chance, made himself a companion to the lord count in that setting-out. The king, however, secure in the city, was playing at dice, giving himself to recreation, unaware of all these things. Therefore the whole city was stirred, when the slaying of the count was heard; and the people, rushing to arms, struck with the sword whomever they found alien to our language or in dress, thinking thus to find the assassins who had committed this evil, and they inflicted death upon all without distinction.

Interea rex repentinis excitus clamoribus, morte comitis intellecta, tristis admodum, et mente plurimum consternatus, lacrymas et suspiria non valens cohibere, matrem et materteram mox praecipit revocari. Quibus reversis, post multa lamenta et fletus uberes, corpore cum debita exsequiarum magnificentia sepulturae tradito, praecipiente domino rege, cuncti proceres illarum partium, dominae comitissae et liberis ejus fidelitatem exhibuerunt. Erat autem domino comiti, filius ei aequivocus, nomine Raimundus, vix annorum duodecim; et filia nomine Milisendis, fratre natu posterior.

Meanwhile the king, roused by sudden outcries, the death of the count understood, very sad and greatly confounded in mind, not able to restrain tears and sighs, immediately orders that his mother and his maternal aunt be recalled. When they had returned, after many laments and copious weeping, the body having been consigned to sepulture with the due magnificence of obsequies, by command of the lord king all the nobles of those parts exhibited fealty to the lady countess and to her children. Now the lord count had a son, his namesake, by the name Raymond, scarcely twelve years of age; and a daughter named Melisende, later-born than her brother.

His ergo sic compositis, rex cum matre et principibus suis in regnum reversus est.

Therefore, with these things thus composed, the king returned to the kingdom with his mother and his princes.

CAPUT XX. Turcorum ingens multitudo Hierosolymam venit, ut eam occupet; sed egredientes nostri, eos in virtute magna prosternunt.

CHAPTER 20. A huge multitude of Turks comes to Jerusalem to seize it; but our men, going out, lay them low with great valor.

Non multo vero post interjecto temporis intervallo, quidam nobiles Turcorum satrapae, viri potentes, et apud suos egregii nominis, quibus cognomen est Hiaroquin; quorum sancta civitas, antequam a Christianis liberaretur, dicitur fuisse haereditas; hortante matre et eorum improperante ignaviam, quod tandiu ab haereditate avita se paterentur esse extorres, collecta infinita Turcorum multitudine Hierosolymam venire et eam quasi jure haereditario sibi debitam vindicare proponunt. Assumptis ergo sibi ingentibus militarium virorum copiis, matrem longaevam continuis exhortationibus id monentem secuti, iter arripiunt propositum, si Dominus ita permiserit, prosecuturi. Pervenientes igitur Damascum, ibi ad reparandos exercitus et vires recreandas moram facientes aliquam, volentibus Damascenis eorum insipiens revocare consilium, non acquieverunt; sed resumptis viaticis et compositis iterum sarcinis, quasi de proposito non diffidentes, versus Hierosolymam proficiscuntur.

Not long indeed after an interval of time had intervened, certain noble satraps of the Turks, powerful men and of distinguished name among their own people, whose cognomen is Hiaroquin—whose holy city, before it was freed by the Christians, is said to have been their inheritance—at their mother’s urging and her reproaching their sloth, that for so long they allowed themselves to be exiles from their ancestral inheritance, after gathering an innumerable multitude of Turks, propose to come to Jerusalem and to vindicate it as owed to them by hereditary right. Therefore, having taken to themselves huge forces of military men, following their long‑aged mother who with continual exhortations was advising this, they take up the purposed journey, intending to prosecute their plan, if the Lord should so permit. Therefore arriving at Damascus, making some delay there to repair their armies and to refresh their strength, although the Damascenes wished to call back their foolish counsel, they did not acquiesce; but with traveling provisions resumed and their packs again arranged, as though not diffident about their purpose, they set out toward Jerusalem.

Tandem transito Jordane cum universis cohortibus suis montana conscendentes, in quibus sita est praedicta civitas, in montem Oliveti, qui mons conterminus praedictae supereminet urbi, se contulerunt; ita ut inde loca omnia venerabilia, et maxime Templum Domini, quod in summa et praecipua habent reverentia, et universam urbem eis daretur liberis prospectibus intueri. Quod videntes qui in urbe erant residui; nam maxima totius regionis militiae pars apud Neapolim convenerat, timens, quia urbs sine moenibus erat, ne illuc advenientium hostium se conferret multitudo, invocato de coelis auxilio, arma corripiunt, et certatim egressi, in hostes properare et cum eis committere votis ardentibus accelerant. Est autem via, quae ab Hierosolymis descendit in Jericho, et inde ad Jordanem, inaequalis plurimum, locis saxosis et praecipitiis periculosa frequentibus; ita ut, nihil etiam timentibus et liberum habentibus transitum, molestum semper soleat ascendentibus vel descendentibus praestare accessum.

At length, the Jordan crossed with all their cohorts, ascending the highlands in which the aforesaid city is set, they betook themselves to the Mount of Olives, which, contiguous to the said city, overtops it; so that from there all the venerable places, and especially the Temple of the Lord, which they hold in highest and chief reverence, and the whole city might be viewed by them with unimpeded prospects. Which, seeing, those who were remaining in the city—for the greater part of the soldiery of the whole region had gathered at Neapolis—fearing, because the city was without walls, lest the multitude of the enemies arriving there should betake themselves thither, having invoked aid from heaven, seize arms, and, having poured out in emulous haste, they speed with burning desires to rush upon the enemies and to engage with them. Now the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and thence to the Jordan, is very uneven, dangerous with rocky places and frequent precipices; so that, even for those fearing nothing and having a free passage, it is always wont to afford a troublesome access to such as are ascending or descending.

In hanc ergo ingressi, dum nostrorum acies acrius instantes inordinate fugiunt, praecipitiis et locis angustis nullam ad fugiendum habilitatem concedentibus, multi sine gladio pereunt praecipitati. Qui vero loca planiora secuti, fugae tentabant insistere, nostrorum gladios incurrentes, saucii lethaliter in mortem nihilominus dabantur praecipites. Equi vero eorum itineris longitudine et laboris difficultate fatigati, viarum non ferentes asperitatem, sessoribus suis, omnino deficientes, negabant obsequium: unde facti pedites, armis onusti et usum laboris non habentes, nostrorum subsequentium gladiis tanquam pecudes deputantur.

Entering upon this, therefore, while our lines, pressing on more sharply, pursue them as they flee in disorder, with precipices and narrow places granting no suitability for fleeing, many, cast headlong, perish without the sword. But those who, having followed the flatter places, tried to persist in flight, running upon our men’s swords, although mortally wounded, nevertheless were hurled headlong to death. Their horses, wearied by the length of the journey and the difficulty of the labor, not bearing the roughness of the roads, wholly failing, denied obedience to their riders; whence, made foot-soldiers, laden with arms and having no practice of toil, they are consigned to the swords of our pursuers like cattle.

Fit ergo tanta tam equorum quam hominum strages, his praedictis casibus, quod prae multitudine peremptorum, ad insequendum qui praeibant impediretur transitus. At vero nostri tanto avidius insectantes, spretis spoliis, et manubias declinantes, caedi acrius instant, pro summo lucro reputantes, hostium sanguine cruentari. Qui vero apud Neapolim convenerant, scientes praedictos hostes ad nos ingressos, unanimiter egredientes, ad Jordanis fluenta hostibus occurrentes certatim convolant, ut vada occupent et impediant transire volentes: ubi eos qui insectantes effugerant, incautos reperiunt et confodiunt ex latere irruentes.

Therefore so great a carnage, of horses as well as of men, comes to pass by these aforesaid mishaps, that, because of the multitude of the slain, the passage for pursuing those who were going before was impeded. But our men, pursuing so much the more avidly, despising the spoils and declining booty, press on more keenly to the slaughter, accounting it the highest profit to be made bloody with the enemy’s blood. And those who had gathered at Neapolis, knowing that the aforesaid enemies had entered against us, going out with one accord, rush in rivalry to meet the enemy at the streams of the Jordan, in order to seize the fords and hinder those wishing to cross: where they find those who had escaped the pursuers off guard and, rushing in from the flank, stab them through.

Facta est ergo illa die manus Domini super eos, ita ut, sicut scriptum est: Residuum locustae comederet bruchus (Joel. I, 4). Nam qui equorum velocitate, aut aliqua industria insectantes videbantur declinasse, occurrentium ex latere gladiis caedebantur. Si qui vero agmina praeeuntes, Jordanem ingressi fuerant, vadorum ignari, undis rapiebantur tumentibus, flumine suffocati.

Therefore on that day the hand of the Lord was upon them, so that, as it is written: What the locust left the grub ate (Joel 1, 4). For those who seemed to have avoided the pursuers by the speed of their horses, or by some contrivance, were cut down by the swords of those coming up on the flank. But if any, going before the columns, had entered the Jordan, ignorant of the fords, they were swept away by the swelling waves, suffocated by the river.

Sic igitur qui in multis millibus ascenderant, in spiritu vehementi, in equitatu suo spem habentes, ad modicum redacti numerum, confusione induti et reverentia, ad propria sunt reversi. Dicuntur illa die ex eis caesa esse ad quinque millia. Factum est autem hoc anno ab Incarnatione Domini 1152, IX Kalend.

Thus therefore those who had gone up in many thousands, in a vehement spirit, placing their hope in their cavalry, reduced to a small number, clothed with confusion and reverence, returned to their own places. They are said that day to have had of them about five thousand cut down. Moreover, this happened in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1152, 9 Kalends.

Decembris, regni vero domini Balduini regis quarti, anno nono. Nostri ergo hostium onusti spoliis, et uberes de tropaeo manubias agentes, solemnes Domino laudis hostias immolaturi, Hierosolymam reversi sunt.

of December, but of the reign of Lord Baldwin, King the Fourth, in the ninth year. Our men therefore, laden with the spoils of the enemy, and bearing abundant manubiae from the trophy, about to immolate solemn victims of praise to the Lord, returned to Jerusalem.

CAPUT XXI. Rex regnique principes Ascalonam properant, ut pomeria circa urbem depopulentur: sed promoto ad amplius proposito, urbem obsident.

CHAPTER 21. The king and the princes of the kingdom hasten to Ascalon, to depopulate the orchard-lands around the city; but, the purpose being pushed further, they besiege the city.

Collata igitur nostris divinitus praedicta victoria, erecti in spem bonam, Domino corda eorum dirigente, apponunt unanimiter, communicato tam majorum quam minorum consilio, hostes eorum qui in vicino constituti erant, quique nostris saepius gravia inferebant pericula, Ascalonitas videlicet, aliquo modo laedere. Idque visum est pro tempore expedientius, ut pomeria civitati adjacentia, unde civibus multa erat commoditas, in manu forti exstirpare niterentur, et in parte saltem hostes protervos damnificare. Juxta quod propositum, collectae unanimiter in manu valida ante urbem praedictam universae regni copiae, arbitrati sufficiens esse, si effectui possent mancipare propositum.

Therefore, the aforesaid victory having been bestowed divinely upon our men, raised into good hope, the Lord directing their hearts, they set themselves unanimously, counsel having been shared of both the greater and the lesser, to harm in some way their enemies who were situated nearby, and who very often brought grievous dangers upon our men, namely the Ascalonites. And it seemed for the time more expedient, that they should strive with a strong hand to extirpate the orchards adjacent to the city, whence there was much convenience for the citizens, and at least in part to damage the insolent enemies. According to which plan, all the forces of the kingdom, gathered unanimously in a strong hand before the aforesaid city, judged it to be sufficient, if they could deliver the plan into effect.

Sed praesentibus nostris ante urbem, adfuit mirabiliter divina clementia, quae eos ad majora coepit ex insperato accendere. Nam, postquam ante urbem nostrae constiterunt acies, tantus cives pavor invasit, quod infra urbem omnes se receperunt certatim; nec inventus est vel unus, qui extra moenia nostris se daret obviam. Unde sumpta occasione ex eo quod ita deterriti videbantur, dirigente eos divina gratia, adjiciunt urbem obsidione vallare.

But when our men were present before the city, divine clemency wondrously was at hand, which began, unexpectedly, to inflame them to greater undertakings. For after our battle-lines had taken their stand before the city, so great a panic seized the citizens that all of them, in emulous haste, withdrew within the city; nor was even one found who would come forth outside the walls to meet our men. Whence, taking occasion from the fact that they seemed thus deterred, with divine grace directing them, they proceed to gird the city with a siege.

Missisque nuntiis per universos regni fines, praecipiunt evocari eos qui domi remanserant, ut omnes unanimiter die praefixa adesse non differant, propositum quale Deus eis inspiraverit, aperientes. Qui ergo vocati fuerant, gratulabundi et sine mora convenientes, ad eos qui se praecesserant, adjuncti sunt, castra cum aliis circa urbem locantes. Et ut firmum esset quod aggrediebantur, et de perseverantia in proposito nulli dubitare liceret, juramentis exhibitis corporaliter se invicem obligant, quod ante urbem captam ab obsidione non desistant.

With messengers sent through all the confines of the kingdom, they command that those who had remained at home be called out, so that all unanimously on the preappointed day do not delay to be present, opening the plan such as God had inspired to them. Therefore those who had been called, rejoicing and assembling without delay, were adjoined to those who had gone before them, pitching camp with the others around the city. And that what they were undertaking might be firm, and that none might be permitted to doubt concerning perseverance in the purpose, with oaths exhibited bodily they bind one another, that they will not desist from the siege before the city is captured.

Convocatis igitur universi regni viribus et populo unanimiter conveniente, dominus rex dominusque patriarcha, cum aliis tam saecularibus quam ecclesiasticis regni principibus, signum Dominicae crucis vivificum et venerabile secum habentes, ante urbem praedictam felicibus auspiciis, VIII Kalendas Februarii, castrametati sunt. Interfuerunt autem de Ecclesiarum praelatis, dominus Hierosolymorum patriarcha Fulcherus, dominus Petrus Tyrensis archiepiscopus, dominus Balduinus Caesariensis archiepiscopus, dominus Robertus Nazaraenus archiepiscopus, dominus Fredericus Acconensis episcopus, dominus Geraldus Bethlehemita episcopus: abbates etiam nonnulli: Bernhardus etiam de Tremelai magister militiae Templi et Raimundus magister domus Hospitalis. De principibus autem laicis: Hugo de Ibelim, Philippus Neapolitanus, Henfredus de Torono, Simon Tiberiadensis, Gerardus Sidoniensis, Guido Berithensis, Mauritius de monte Regali, Rainaldus de Castellione, Gauderus de Sancto Aldemaro, qui duo apud dominum regem stipendia merebant.

Therefore, the forces of the whole kingdom having been convoked and the people assembling unanimously, the lord king and the lord patriarch, with other princes of the kingdom both secular and ecclesiastical, having with them the life-giving and venerable sign of the Lord’s cross, under happy auspices before the aforesaid city, on the 8th day before the Kalends of February, encamped. But present from among the prelates of the Churches were: lord Fulcher, patriarch of Jerusalem, lord Peter, archbishop of Tyre, lord Baldwin, archbishop of Caesarea, lord Robert, archbishop of Nazareth, lord Frederick, bishop of Acre, lord Gerald, bishop of Bethlehem: also certain abbots: likewise Bernhard of Tremelay, master of the militia of the Temple, and Raymond, master of the house of the Hospital. But of the lay princes: Hugh of Ibelin, Philip the Neapolitan, Henfredus of Toron, Simon of Tiberias, Gerard of Sidon, Guido of Beirut, Mauritius of Mont Royal, Rainaldus of Castellion, Gauderus of Saint Aldemar, the two of whom were earning stipends with the lord king.

Ordinatis itaque compositisque per gyrum tentoriis et principibus certis congruisque mansionibus dispositis, coepto fideliter insistunt operi, tanto labori debitam devote et prudenter impendentes sollicitudinem.

Accordingly, the tents having been arranged and set in order all around, and the princes assigned definite and fitting lodgings, they faithfully press on with the work begun, devoutly and prudently expending the solicitude due to so great a labor.

CAPUT XXII. Describitur situs civitatis, et commoditas aperitur

CHAPTER 22. The situation of the city is described, and its advantages are revealed

Est autem Ascalona una de quinque Philisthiim urbibus, in littore maris sita, formam habens se micirculi, cujus chorda sive diameter, secus littus maris jacet; circumferentia vero, sive arcus, super terram ad orientem respiciens. Jacet autem tota civitas quasi in fovea, tota declivis ad mare, aggeribus undique cincta manufactis, supra quos moenia, sunt, cum turribus frequentibus, opere solido, duritiem lapidis vincente coemento nexorum; muris debita spissitudine latis et congrua proportione sublimibus; verum etiam et antemuralibus, eadem soliditate fabrefactis, cincta est per gyrum, et communita diligentius. Fontes autem neque infra murorum ambitum, neque sibi vicinos habent aliquos, sed puteis tum extra, tum inferius, aquas sapidas et ad potum habiles ministrantibus abundat: cisternas quoque aquarum pluvialium receptivas, ad majorem cautelam, cives interius construxerant nonnullas.

Now Ascalon is one of the five cities of the Philistines, situated on the sea-shore, having the form of a semicircle, whose chord or diameter lies along the sea-shore; but the circumference, or arc, looks over the land toward the east. Moreover, the whole city lies as it were in a pit, wholly sloping down to the sea, girt on all sides with man-made ramparts, above which are the walls, with frequent towers, of solid workmanship, the joints bound with mortar conquering the hardness of stone; the walls broad with due thickness and lofty in suitable proportion; nay moreover, it is encircled all around with fore-walls (antemurals) fabricated with the same solidity, and more carefully fortified. As for springs, they have none either within the circuit of the walls, or any near to them; but it abounds in wells, both outside and lower down, furnishing waters sapid and suitable for drink: the citizens also, for greater caution, had constructed within not a few cisterns receptive of rain-waters.

Erant autem et in murorum ambitu portae quatuor, turribus excelsis et solidis diligentissime communitae; quarum prima quae ad orientem respicit, dicitur Porta major, cognomento Hierosolymitana, eo quod urbem sanctam respiciat, habens circa se duas turres altissimas, quae quasi robur et praesidium subjectae videntur praeesse civitati; haec ante se tres aut quatuor in antemuralibus portas habet minores, quibus ad eam per quosdam anfractus pervenitur. Secunda est quae ad occidentem respicit, et dicitur Porta maris, eo quod per eam ad mare civibus pateat egressus. Tertia ad austrum, Gazam urbem, de qua superius fecimus mentionem, respicit, unde et ab ea cognomen ducit.

There were also within the circuit of the walls four gates, most carefully fortified with lofty and solid towers; of which the first, which looks toward the east, is called the Greater Gate, by-surname the Jerusalemitic, for the reason that it looks toward the Holy City, having around it two very lofty towers, which seem, as a kind of strength and protection, to preside over the city lying beneath; this has before it three or four lesser gates in the antemurals (outworks), by which one reaches it through certain windings. The second is that which looks toward the west, and is called the Sea Gate, because through it an egress to the sea lies open to the citizens. The third looks toward the south, toward the city Gaza, of which above we have made mention, whence also it takes its surname from it.

Quarta ad septentrionem respiciens, ab urbe finitima, in eodem sita littore, Joppensis dicitur. Haec autem civitas, situ maris nullam praebente aptitudinem, portum, vel aliquam tutam navibus non habet vel habuit stationem; sed littus tantum arenosum, et circa id mare, ventis intumescentibus, fretosum valde, et accedentibus, nisi multa fuerit in mari tranquillitas, nimis suspectum. Solum autem exterius urbi adjacens arena est obsitum, agriculturae nesciens, vinetis tamen et fructiferis arboribus accommodum; exceptis valliculis in parte septentrionali paucis, quae injecto fecundatae laetamine et aquis irrigatae putealibus, herbarum et fructuum aliquam civibus praestant commoditatem.

The fourth, looking toward the north, is called the Joppan, from the neighboring city situated on the same shore. But this city, the site of the sea affording no aptness, has not, nor has it had, a port, nor any safe station for ships; but only a sandy shore, and around it the sea, when the winds swell, very fretted with breakers, and for those approaching, unless there be much tranquillity on the sea, exceedingly suspect. The soil, moreover, lying outside adjacent to the city, is covered with sand, ignorant of agriculture, yet suitable for vineyards and fruit-bearing trees; save for a few little valleys in the northern part, which, made fecund by manure cast in and irrigated with well-waters, afford the citizens some convenience of herbs and fruits.

Erat autem in ea civitate populus multus, quorum ei qui minimus erat, et ut vulgo dicebatur, etiam recens nato, de thesauris Aegyptii caliphae dabantur stipendia. Multam enim et maximam, tam praedictus dominus, quam ejus principes, pro eadem urbe gerebant sollicitudinem; arbitrantes quod, si illa deficeret, in nostrorum veniens ditionem, nihil restaret aliud quam ut libero et sine difficultate accessu nostri principes in Aegyptum descenderent, regnum violenter occupaturi. Utebantur ergo ea pro muro, et profusa liberalitate quater in anno, tam per mare quam per terras civibus ministrabant subsidia; ut ea superstite, et nostris circa eam studium consumentibus et operam, ipsi optata interim tranquillitate fruerentur.

There was moreover in that city a great populace, to the least of whom, and, as was commonly said, even to the newborn, stipends were given from the treasuries of the Egyptian caliph. For both the aforesaid lord and his princes bore much and very great solicitude for that same city; thinking that, if it should fail and come into our dominion, nothing would remain but that, with free and unimpeded access, our princes would descend into Egypt, about to occupy the kingdom by force. They therefore used it as a wall, and with profuse liberality, four times in the year, both by sea and by land they supplied subsidies to the citizens; so that, it surviving, and our men consuming zeal and effort around it, they themselves might meanwhile enjoy the desired tranquility.

Multis ergo propterea urbi necessaria ministrabant expensis, arma, victum et recentem militiam, certis temporibus dirigentes, ut nostris circa eos occupatis, minor eos de nostrorum suspectis viribus premeret sollicitudo.

Therefore, with many expenses, they ministered to the city what was necessary, dispatching arms, victuals, and fresh soldiery at fixed times, so that, with our men occupied around them, less anxiety might press upon them concerning the suspected strength of our forces.

CAPUT XXIII. Ordinatur obsidio, et praeficiuntur qui classi praesint, et qui legiones per terram moderentur

CHAPTER 23. The siege is ordained, and those are appointed to preside over the fleet, and those to govern the legions by land

Hanc igitur urbem, per annos quinquaginta et amplius, postquam Dominus terrae promissionis partes reliquas populo Christiano tradiderat, adhuc resistentem et nostris conatibus aemulam, tandem obsidere conati sunt, rem aggressi arduam et pene impossibilem. Nam, praeter id quod muris et antemuralibus, turribus et aggere, armis et victualibus erat supra omnem opinionem instructa, populum habebat usum et experientiam armorum habentem, in tanta quantitate ut, a prima obsidionis die usque ad novissimum, numerus obsidentium a multitudine obsessorum in duplo vinceretur. Dominus igitur rex, dominus quoque patriarcha; dominus etiam Petrus, praedecessor noster, Tyrensis archiepiscopus, alii quoque regni magnates, tam principes quam Ecclesiarum praelati, unaque cum eis cives urbium singularum, segregatim tabernacula figentes, urbem per terras obsederant; dominum vero Girardum Sidoniensem, unum de magnis regni proceribus, quindecim navium rostratarum et ad cursum expeditarum classi praefecerant, ut per mare volentibus accedere, aditum impediret; volentibus egredi nihilominus inhiberet egressum.

This city, therefore, for fifty years and more after the Lord had delivered the remaining parts of the land of promise to the Christian people, still resisting and emulous against our endeavors, at last they tried to besiege, undertaking a task arduous and almost impossible. For, besides the fact that with walls and fore-walls, towers and rampart, arms and victuals it was equipped beyond all opinion, it had a populace possessing the use and experience of arms, in such quantity that, from the first day of the siege to the last, the number of the besiegers was surpassed twofold by the multitude of the besieged. Therefore the lord king, and the lord patriarch as well; and Lord Peter too, our predecessor, archbishop of Tyre, and other magnates of the realm, both princes and prelates of the Churches, and together with them the citizens of the several cities, pitching tents separately, had besieged the city by land; but Lord Girard of Sidon, one of the great nobles of the kingdom, they had set over a fleet of fifteen beaked ships, swift and readied for the run, so that he might impede access for those wishing to approach by sea; and for those wishing to go out he should nonetheless inhibit egress.

Porro nostri pene diebus omnibus, nunc equites, nunc pedites, in urbem frequentes dabant assultus; illi vero occurrentes animosius, resistebant viriliter, pro uxoribus et liberis, et quod praecipuum est, pro libertate contendentes. Quibus congressionibus nunc hi, nunc illi, sicut in hujusmodi solet accidere, fiebant superiores; nostri tamen frequentius meliorem calculum reportabant. Dicebatur autem et in castris tanta esse, cum rerum venalium omnimoda commoditate, securitas, ut ita se haberet populus in tentoriis et tabernaculis quibuslibet, sicut domi in muratis urbibus se consueverat habere.

Moreover, our men almost every day, now cavalry, now infantry, were giving frequent assaults upon the city; but they, coming out to meet them more spiritedly, were resisting manfully, contending for their wives and children, and, which is chief, for liberty. In which engagements now these, now those, as is wont to happen in matters of this sort, became the superiors; our men, however, more frequently brought back the better tally. It was said moreover that in the camp there was such security, together with an all-around convenience of things for sale, that the people were so situated in tents and in tabernacles of whatever sort as they were accustomed to be at home in walled cities.

Urbani autem, cura praecipua locum de nocte custodientes, deputatis alternatim vigilibus, et ipsi majores vicissim nihilominus custodientes vigilias, moenia perlustrantes, noctes ex parte plurima trahebant insomnes. Erant autem et in circuitu murorum et turrium in propugnaculis locatae vitreae lampades opercula habentes vitrea, ignem qui oleo fovebatur infuso conservantes, ex quibus moenia circuire volentibus, lumen tanquam de die ministrabatur. Nostris quoque qui in castris erant, pro tempore turmatim deputabantur vigiliae, et jugis non deerat custodia, timentibus ne urbani nocturnas irruptiones in castra facerent; aut Aegyptii in eorum subsidium properantes, subitis et improvisis incursionibus laederent exercitum; quamvis et circa Gazam in locis pluribus non deerant exploratores, qui hostium adventum citissime possent praenuntiare.

The townsmen, moreover, guarding the place by night with especial care, with watches appointed by turns, and the greater men themselves likewise in their turn keeping the watches, traversing the walls, spent the nights for the most part sleepless. And there were also, around the circuit of the walls and towers, on the battlements, glass lamps set up, having glass covers, preserving the fire which was warmed by oil poured in, from which, for those wishing to go around the walls, light was furnished as if it were daytime. For our men too who were in the camp, according to the time, the watches were assigned by troops, and continual guard was not lacking, as they feared lest the townsmen make nocturnal irruptions into the camp, or lest the Egyptians, hastening to their succor, harm the army with sudden and unforeseen incursions; although also around Gaza, in many places, there was no lack of scouts, who could most swiftly pre‑announce the advent of the enemy.

CAPUT XXIV. Secundo obsidionis mense, adest peregrinorum transitus, multas deferens ad opus obsidionis commoditates.

CHAPTER 24. In the second month of the siege, the transit of the pilgrims is at hand, bearing many commodities for the work of the siege.

Sic igitur duobus mensibus eodem tenore continuata obsidione, accidit ut more solito circa Pascha adesset transitus, et peregrinorum adveniret frequentia. Communicato ergo consilio diriguntur de exercitu, qui auctoritate regia tam nautis quam peregrinis redire volentibus, interdicant reditum, et omnes ad obsidionem et laborem Deo tam acceptum promissis invitent stipendiis, et naves tam majores quam minores illuc deducant. Factumque est ut subito et intra paucos dies, secundo actae flatu naves omnes, quotquot illo transitu advenerant, ante urbem adessent; peregrinorum quoque tam equitum quam peditum ingentes copiae nostris expeditionibus se adjungerent, et diebus singulis exercitus augeretur.

Thus therefore, the siege having been continued for two months in the same tenor, it happened that, as was the custom, around Easter the passage was at hand, and a throng of pilgrims arrived. Counsel therefore having been shared, men are dispatched from the army to forbid, by royal authority, the return to both sailors and pilgrims wishing to go back, and to invite all to the siege and to the labor so acceptable to God with promised stipends, and to conduct thither ships both greater and smaller. And it came to pass that suddenly and within a few days, driven by a favorable breeze, all the ships, as many as had arrived by that passage, were present before the city; and that huge forces of pilgrims, both horse and foot, joined themselves to our expeditions, and day by day the army was increased.

Erat ergo in castris laetitia et spes fruendi victoria; apud hostes autem moeror invalescebat et anxietas; et de viribus diffidentes rarius egrediebantur ad conflictus, licet saepius lacessiti. Frequentibus etiam nuntiis calipham Aegyptium sollicitant quatenus mature procuret subsidium: alioquin in proximo se defecturos significant. Ille vero impiger per principes suos, operi hujusmodi praepositos, classem instruit, militiam comparat, armis, victualibus et machinis naves excelsas onerat, praefectos ordinat, expensas tribuit, moras arguit et imperat celeritatem.

Therefore there was joy in the camp and a hope of enjoying victory; but among the enemies mourning was growing strong and anxiety; and, distrustful of their strength, they went out more rarely to clashes, though more often provoked. With frequent messengers they also solicit the Egyptian caliph to the end that he may promptly procure succor: otherwise they signify that they will shortly fall away. But he, indefatigable, through his princes set over a work of this kind, equips a fleet, musters the soldiery, loads the lofty ships with arms, victuals, and machines, appoints prefects, dispenses expenses, censures delays, and commands celerity.

At nostri interea emptis multo pretio navibus sumptisque ex eis malis, vocatis artificibus, castrum ligneum ingentis erigunt celsitudinis; intusque et deforis cratibus et coriis contra incendia et fortuitos casus diligenter communiunt, ut iis quibus ex eo urbem impugnare mandabatur, tutum posset conferre praesidium. Ex reliqua autem lignorum navalium materia, machinas instruunt jaculatorias, quas congruis ad infringenda moenia locant stationibus. Scrophas quoque ex eadem contexunt materia, quibus impune ad complanandos aggeres accedebatur.

But our men meanwhile, having bought ships at great price and having taken from them the masts, with craftsmen summoned, erect a wooden castle of enormous loftiness; and within and without they diligently fortify it with lattices and hides against fires and chance mishaps, so that it might be able to confer safe protection upon those to whom it was enjoined to assault the city from it. And from the remaining material of the naval timbers they equip projectile-throwing engines, which they place in stations suitable for breaking down the walls. They also weave “sows” from the same material, by which one could approach with impunity to level the ramparts.

His ergo rite compositis, considerata quoque ea muri parte, cui castellum nostrum posset applicari facilius, complanato ex multa parte per praedicta instrumenta prius aggere, magnis clamoribus castrum muro applicant, unde totam eminus erat urbem conspicere, et cum iis qui in vicinis erant turribus, cominus experiri. Laborabant porro cives et instabant protervius, cum ex muris tum ex aggere, arcubus et balistis; sed incassum operam consumentes, eos qui intus latebant, quorum studio promovebatur machina, laedere non poterant. Fiebat ergo civium concursus ad eam muri partem, quae castello erat opposita; et qui inter eos erant animosiores, ibi praecipiebantur vires experiri, continuum habentes et juge certamen cum iis, qui de castello eos impugnabant.

Therefore, with these things duly arranged, and with that part of the wall also considered to which our castle could more easily be applied, the rampart having first been leveled for the most part by the aforesaid instruments, with great shouts they apply the castle to the wall, whence it was possible to behold the whole city from afar, and to try conclusions at close quarters with those who were in the neighboring towers. Moreover, the citizens toiled and pressed more boldly, both from the walls and from the agger, with bows and ballistae; but spending their effort in vain, they were not able to wound those who were lurking within, by whose zeal the machine was being advanced. Therefore there was a concourse of the citizens to that part of the wall which was opposite the castle; and those who were the more high-spirited among them were there enjoined to try their strength, having a continuous and constant contest with those who from the castle were assaulting them.

Sed et in aliis ejusdem muri partibus, per loca varia non deerat conflictus et pugna pertinax, ita ut vix absque strage dies praeteriret ulla, exceptis sauciis, quorum utrinque turba erat plurima. Audivimus et quorumdam in illa obsidione, tam nostrorum quam hostium virtutem egregiam, facta memorabilia. Sed nos generalia prosequentes, hujusmodi specialibus non multam damus operam.

But also in other parts of the same wall, in various places there was no lack of conflict and a pertinacious fight, so that scarcely any day passed without slaughter—leaving aside the wounded, of whom on both sides there was a very great throng. We have also heard, in that siege, of the distinguished valor of certain men, both of our own and of the enemy—memorable deeds. But we, pursuing the generalities, do not give much effort to particulars of this sort.

CAPUT XXV. Quinto mense, classis Aegyptiorum ad urbem accessit, multam obsessis civibus afferens consolationem.

CHAPTER 25. In the fifth month, the fleet of the Egyptians approached the city, bringing much consolation to the besieged citizens.

Cum igitur per quinque menses continuos nostri principes in obsidione perseverassent, hostiumque vires attritae viderentur aliquatenus, nostros autem spes solito amplior obtinendi civitatem foveret, ecce subito Aegyptiorum classis flatibus acta prosperis, comparuit. Quam videntes Ascalonitae, voces cum manibus tendunt ad sidera et magnis intonant clamoribus, recedendum nostris esse, aut in proximo pereundum. Girardus vero Sidoniensis, qui nostrae classi praeerat, videns hostium exercitum ad urbem accedere, cum paucis quas habebat galeis, tentans occurrere et impedire accessum, multitudinem veritus, terga vertit, fuga vitae consulens et saluti.

Accordingly, when for five continuous months our princes had persevered in the siege, and the enemies’ forces seemed in some measure worn down, while for our men a hope, larger than usual, of obtaining the city was being fostered, behold, suddenly the Egyptian fleet, driven by prosperous blasts, appeared. Seeing this, the Ascalonites stretch voices and hands to the stars and thunder with great shouts that our men must withdraw, or else perish shortly. But Gerard of Sidon, who presided over our fleet, seeing the enemy’s army approach the city, with the few galleys he had, attempting to meet them and impede the access, fearing the multitude, turned his back, in flight consulting for life and safety.

At vero classis hostium ad urbem accessit intrepida, civibus optatam deferens consolationem. Erant porro in eadem classe, galeae, ut dicitur, septuaginta et aliae naves viris, armis et victualibus usque ad summum oneratae, mirae et ingentis magnitudinis, quas omnes in subsidium urbi praedictae princeps miserat Aegyptius. Hi denuo tanquam reparatis viribus et de subsidio praesumentes, nostris rediviva coeperunt hostes inferre certamina, solito protervius et frequentius conflictus appetentes; cives tamen cautius, quibus nostrorum nota erant negotia; rudes vero, et qui recenter venerant, gloriae cupidi, ut vires ostentarent et audaciam, dum incaute negotiantur, occumbunt frequentius, quousque et ipsi nostrorum experti constantiam, didicerunt parcius irruere et modestius irruentium impetus sustinere.

But indeed the enemy’s fleet approached the city intrepid, bearing to the citizens the desired consolation. Moreover, in that same fleet there were, as it is said, seventy galleys and other ships laden to the brim with men, arms, and victuals, of wondrous and vast magnitude, which all the Egyptian prince had sent as succor to the aforesaid city. These men, as if their forces were restored and presuming upon the relief, began anew to bring revived contests against our men, seeking encounters more insolently and more frequently than usual; the citizens, however, more cautiously, to whom the affairs of our people were known; but the raw troops, and those who had come recently, desirous of glory, that they might display strength and audacity, while they deal incautiously, fall more often, until they too, having experienced the steadfastness of our men, learned to rush in more sparingly and to sustain more modestly the onsets of those rushing in.

CAPUT XXVI. Constantia Antiochenorum principissa Rainaldo de Castellione nubit. Noradinus quoque regnum Damascenorum occupat violenter.

CHAPTER 26. Constantia, princess of the Antiochenes, marries Rainald of Castellion. Noradinus likewise violently seizes the kingdom of the Damascenes.

Almaricus Sidoniensi praeficitur Ecclesiae.

Almaric is put in charge of the Sidonian Church.

Dumque haec circa Ascalonam in castris geruntur, domina Constantia, domini Raimundi Antiocheni principis vidua, licet multos inclytos et nobiles viros, ejus matrimonium appetentes, more femineo repulisset, Rainaldum de Castellione, quemdam stipendiarium militem, sibi occulte in maritum elegit; noluit autem verbum publicari, quoadusque domini regis (cujus erat consobrina, et sub cujus protectione principatus videbatur consistere) interveniret auctoritas et consensus. Festinavit igitur praedictus Rainaldus ad exercitum et verbum domino regi communicans, sumpta ejus conniventia, Antiochiam rediens, praedictam duxit in uxorem principissam, non sine multorum admiratione, quod tam praeclara, potens et illustris femina et tam excellentis uxor viri, militi quasi gregario, nubere dignaretur. Interea Noradinus, vir prudens et circumspectus, audiens quia mortuus erat Ainardus socer ejus, Damascenorum princeps militiae et regis procurator negotiorum, qui suis conatibus plurimum semper restiterat; vidensque dominum regem Hierosolymorum, omnemque regni ejusdem militiam, circa Ascalonam jamdudum occupatos; arbitransque quod non facile obsidionem desererent, ut Damascenis contra se auxilium postulantibus ministrarent, sumpta ex tempore occasione, ad partes cum ingenti militia accessit Damascenas, quasi regnum violenter occupaturus.

And while these things were being done around Ascalon in the camp, Lady Constance, widow of Lord Raymond, prince of Antioch, although in womanly fashion she had repulsed many illustrious and noble men seeking her marriage, chose for herself in secret as a husband Rainald of Castellion, a certain stipendiary soldier; but she did not wish the matter to be made public until the authority and consent of the lord king should intervene (of whom she was the cousin, and under whose protection the principality seemed to stand). Therefore the aforesaid Rainald hastened to the army and, communicating the matter to the lord king, having received his connivance, returning to Antioch, took the aforesaid princess to wife, not without the admiration of many, that so renowned, powerful, and illustrious a woman, and the wife of so excellent a man, should have deigned to marry a soldier, as it were a common ranker. Meanwhile Nur al-Din, a prudent and circumspect man, hearing that Ainardus his father-in-law was dead, the Damascenes’ commander of the militia and the king’s procurator of affairs, who had always very greatly resisted his attempts; and seeing the lord king of Jerusalem and all the soldiery of that realm long since occupied around Ascalon; and thinking that they would not easily abandon the siege in order to furnish aid to the Damascenes requesting help against him, seizing the occasion of the moment, advanced with a vast soldiery into the Damascene parts, as if about to seize the kingdom by force.

Ubi faventibus et ultro manus dantibus Damascenis, regem eorum hominem dissolutum et inutilem, regno privat; et vagum et profugum super terram, fugere compulit in orientem. In quo facto, nostra nihilominus deterior facta est conditio; nam pro viro impotente, et qui pro sua debilitate nostris erat obnoxius, eatenus, ut tanquam subjectus, annua tributa persolveret, durior nobis oppositus est adversarius. Nam sicut regnum in se ipsum divisum, juxta verbum Salvatoris, desolatur (Matth.

Where, with the Damascenes favoring and even giving their hands, he deprived their king—a dissolute and useless man—of the kingdom; and, a wanderer and fugitive upon the earth, he compelled him to flee into the east. In which deed, nevertheless, our condition was made worse; for instead of a powerless man, who by his debility was answerable to us, to such an extent that, as though a subject, he paid annual tributes, a harsher adversary was set in opposition to us. For just as a kingdom divided against itself, according to the word of the Savior, is laid waste (Matt.

XII, 25), sic unita plurima sibi robur ex mutuo solent assumere, et in hostes consurgere fortiora. Capta itaque Damasco, et subacta regione universa, volens Ascalonitis opem, qualem poterat de remoto conferre, urbem Paneadensem, in novissimis regni finibus sitam, de nostrorum praesumens occupationibus, obsidet, ut in obsessorum auxilium revocati, obsidionem circa Ascalonam desererent et infecto negotio, redire compellerentur. Sed praevia Domini misericordia, a spe tanta decidens, neutrum obtinuit; nam ipse circa obsessam civitatem non profecit; et nostri opitulante Domino ad deditionem compulerunt.

12, 25), so likewise things united are accustomed to assume much strength to themselves from mutual support, and to rise up stronger against enemies. Therefore, Damascus having been taken and the whole region subdued, wishing to bring the Ascalonites help, such as he could, from afar, he besieges the Paneadean city, situated in the farthest borders of the kingdom, presuming upon the occupations of our men, so that, recalled to the aid of the besieged, they might abandon the siege around Ascalon and be compelled to return with the business unfinished. But, the mercy of the Lord going before, falling from so great a hope, he obtained neither; for he himself made no progress around the besieged city; and our men, with the Lord helping, compelled it to surrender.

Per idem quoque tempus mortuo domino Bernardo, bonae memoriae Sidoniensi episcopo, substitutus est ei Amalricus, piae in Domino recordationis, abbas canonicorum Regularium, ordinis Praemonstratensis, in eo loco qui dicitur Sancti Habacuc, sive Sancti Joseph, qui cognominatus est ab Arimathia; vir simplex ac timens Deum, et egregiae conversationis; qui in Ecclesia Liddensi, per manum domini Petri felicis memoriae, Tyrensis archiepiscopi, munus consecrationis dicitur recepisse; quoniam ab urbe obsessa, nulli longius abscedere dabatur licentia.

At the same time also, upon the death of lord Bernard, of good memory, the bishop of Sidon, Amalric was appointed in his place, of pious remembrance in the Lord, abbot of the Canons Regular, of the Premonstratensian order, at that place which is called of Saint Habakkuk, or of Saint Joseph, who is surnamed of Arimathea; a simple man and one who feared God, and of distinguished conduct; who in the Church of Lydda is said to have received the gift of consecration by the hand of lord Peter, of happy memory, archbishop of Tyre; since, the city being besieged, license was given to no one to withdraw farther away.

CAPUT XXVII. Qui in obsidione sunt, urbem instanter impugnant. Cives machinam exteriorem nituntur exurere.

CHAPTER 27. Those at the siege urgently assail the city. The citizens strive to burn the outer machine.

Murus civitatis ex parte corruit, nostri, volentes ingredi, ex parte pereunt: noster desperat exercitus.

The wall of the city collapses in part; our men, wishing to enter, in part perish: our army despairs.

Interea qui in expeditione erant, coepto cum multa diligentia instantes operi, non cessant assidue urbem obsessam impugnare, et circa eam portam, quae Major dicitur, congressiones innovare civibus valde periculosas; tormentis nihilominus jaculatoriis turres ac moenia debilitare; et infra urbem, non sine strage multa, funditus dissolvere, immissis magnis molaribus, domicilia. Qui vero in castello, ad ejus custodiam deputati erant, tantas civibus, non solum iis qui in turribus et in muris resistebant, verum iis etiam, qui per urbem necessitatibus tracti, discurrere cogebantur, arcubus et sagittis inferebant molestias, ut earum respectu, quidquid alibi civibus inferebatur, leve judicaretur, et, quamvis durum esset, tolerabile. Unde, communicato inter se consilio, eorum maxime expetentes opem, quibus major in ejusmodi videbatur experientia, proponunt ut quocunque periculo, quocunque civium discrimine, interjectis inter murum et castellum lignis aridis, aptam ignibus materiem et fomitem praestare valentibus, procurato occulte incendio, concremetur: alioquin nec spes salutis, nec resistendi fiducia, sic oppressis et usque ad summum afflictis, videbatur.

Meanwhile those who were on expedition, pressing the begun work with much diligence, do not cease continually to assail the besieged city, and around that gate which is called Major to renew encounters very perilous to the citizens; likewise with engines for hurling (projectiles) to weaken the towers and the walls; and within the city, not without great slaughter, to dissolve utterly the dwellings, great millstones having been hurled. But those who were in the castle, deputed to its guard, were bringing such molestations upon the citizens—not only upon those who resisted in the towers and on the walls, but even upon those who, driven by necessities, were compelled to run about through the city—with bows and arrows, that in comparison with these, whatever elsewhere was inflicted on the citizens was judged light, and, although hard, tolerable. Whence, counsel having been shared among themselves, seeking especially the aid of those who seemed to have greater experience in matters of this kind, they propose that, at whatever peril, at whatever risk to the citizens, by interposing between the wall and the castle dry timbers able to furnish material and tinder apt for fires, a blaze being secretly procured, it should be burned up; otherwise, neither hope of safety nor confidence of resisting seemed to those thus oppressed and afflicted to the utmost.

Surgentes igitur eorum exhortationibus quidam viri fortes, viribus et animo praestantiores, civium suae praeferentes salutem, objectant se periculis, ligna ad eam partem muri, quae castello erat vicinior, comportantes, et in locum qui medius videbatur inter murum et machinam projicientes exterius. Composita porro lignorum strue maxima, et quae videbatur ad incendium castelli sufficere, picem desuper infundunt, oleum quoque et liquamen et caetera hujusmodi incendiorum irritamenta, quae solent ignibus praestare fomitem. Igne igitur immisso, adfuit nobis manifeste divina clementia; nam statim invalescente incendio, suscitatus est ventus ab oriente vehemens, qui totas incendii vires, in murum civitatis flatu vehementi contorsit.

Accordingly, at their exhortations certain brave men, more outstanding in strength and spirit, preferring the safety of their fellow-citizens to their own, expose themselves to dangers, carrying wood to that part of the wall which was nearer to the castle, and casting it outward into the place which seemed to be between the wall and the engine. Then, a very great pile of wood having been arranged, and one which seemed sufficient for the burning of the castle, they pour pitch over it from above, oil also and liquamen and the other incendiary irritants of this kind, which are accustomed to furnish fuel to fires. Therefore, the fire having been set, divine clemency was manifestly present to us; for immediately, as the conflagration grew strong, a vehement wind was aroused from the east, which with a vehement blast whirled all the forces of the fire against the wall of the city.

Ventus igitur, vehementia sua, flammas in murum incendiumque impellens, tota nocte illa pervigil et flatus continuans, murum usque in favillam decoxit: ita ut mane facto, circa diei crepusculum, ab una turri, usque ad conterminam, totus corruerit funditus, ita quod ruinae sonitus universum commovit exercitum; decidens autem tanto pondere castello illisus est, ut cui non nocuerant incendia, muri casus de principalibus membris quaedam confringeret, et eos qui in ejus soliis et projectis excubias procurabant, paulo minus ad terram dejiceret. Excitus igitur ad hunc ruinae sonitum universus exercitus, arma corripiunt; ad partes illas convolant quasi patefacto divinitus aditu, protinus intraturi. At magister militiae Templi, Bernardus de Tremelai, cum fratribus suis, alios ante multo praevenientes, aditum occupaverant, neminem nisi de suis intrare permittentes; eos autem hac intentione dicebantur arcere, quatenus primi ingredientes, spolia majora et manubias obtinerent uberiores; nam in violenter effractis urbibus, id hactenus apud nos pro lege obtinuit consuetudo, ut quod quisque ingrediens sibi rapit, id sibi et haeredibus suis perpetuo jure possideat.

The wind therefore, with its vehemence driving the flames and the conflagration against the wall, all that night kept watch and continued its blast, and baked the wall down to cinders: so that, when morning had come, around daybreak, from one tower to the adjoining one, the whole collapsed utterly to the foundations, with the noise of the ruin stirring the entire army; and in falling, dashed with such weight against the castle that, where the fires had not harmed it, the fall of the wall broke some of its principal members, and very nearly threw to the ground those who on its stories and projections were keeping watch. Roused therefore by this sound of collapse, the whole army snatched up arms; they flocked to those parts as though an entrance had been opened by divine agency, ready straightway to enter. But the Master of the militia of the Temple, Bernard of Tremelay, with his brothers, far outstripping the others, had seized the approach, allowing no one to enter except their own; and they were said to keep others off with this intention, that by entering first they might obtain greater spoils and more abundant booty; for in cities violently broken open, this custom has hitherto prevailed among us as a law: that whatever each man, upon entering, snatches for himself, that he and his heirs possess by perpetual right.

Poterant autem omnibus indifferenter ingredientibus, et mancipari civitas, et victoribus spolia sufficere. Sed de vitiata radice et perversa intentione opus prodiens, rarum est ut bono fine claudatur quia: Non habet eventus sordida praeda bonos. Dum ergo cupiditate rapti, ad praedae participium renuunt habere consortes, in mortis periculo, merito reperti sunt soli. Ingressos igitur ex eis circiter quadraginta, caeteris subsequi non valentibus, cives prius de vita solliciti et extrema omnia sustinere sine contradictione parati, videntes eos paucos, resumptis viribus et recepto animo, eos gladiis excipiunt et interceptos obtruncant.

Moreover, if all had entered indiscriminately, both could the city have been made over, and the spoils have sufficed for the victors. But a work proceeding from a vitiated root and a perverse intention is rarely closed with a good end, because: Sordid booty does not have good outcomes. Therefore, while, carried away by cupidity, they refuse to have consorts in the participation of the plunder, they were deservedly found alone in peril of death. Accordingly, about forty of them having gone in, the rest being unable to follow, the citizens, previously anxious for their lives and prepared to endure all extremities without contradiction, seeing them few, with strength resumed and spirit recovered, meet them with swords and, having intercepted them, hew them down.

Junctis igitur iterum agminibus, quasi viribus renatis, et armis quae quasi victi deposuerant, resumptis, ad eam partem unanimiter convolant, qua murus deciderat. Trabes itaque immensae magnitudinis et ligna ingentia, quorum illis ex navibus multa erat copia, contexentes, hiatum replent, obturant aditum et locum certatim faciunt impermeabilem. Communitis etiam turribus, quae ex utroque latere vicinae fuerant incendio, quas incendiorum importunitatem ferre non valentes, dereliquerant, bella renovant, ad congressus iterum accinguntur; nostros ultro provocant ad praelia, tanquam nihil omnino adversitatis perpessi.

Accordingly, their columns being joined again, as if their forces were reborn, and the arms which, as though vanquished, they had laid down being resumed, they with one accord fly to that part where the wall had fallen. Beams of immense magnitude and huge timbers, of which they had much supply from the ships, interweaving, they fill the gap, they stop up the entrance, and, vying with one another, make the place impermeable. The towers also being fortified, which on either side had been near to the conflagration, and which, unable to bear the importunity of the fires, they had abandoned, they renew the wars, they gird themselves again for encounters; they of their own accord provoke our men to battles, as though they had suffered no adversity at all.

Qui autem in castello erant, scientes se bases habere minus solidas, et quod ab inferiore parte laesa erat in spondis solidioribus machina, minus proterve instabant, non multum de ejus soliditate praesumentes. Illi autem interemptorum corpora in nostram confusionem, super murum in propugnaculis funibus suspendentes, nostris insultabant, laetitiam quam mente conceperant, verbis et nutibus exprimentes. Sed hujus gaudii extrema luctus occupat; et quae sequuntur manifeste indicant, quam vere dicatur, ante ruinam exaltabitur cor (Prov.

But those who were in the castle, knowing that they had less solid foundations, and that the engine had been damaged from the lower part in its stronger supports, pressed on less rashly, not presuming much upon its solidity. They, however, hanging the bodies of the slain with ropes upon the battlements above the wall, to our confusion, mocked our men, expressing by words and by gestures the joy which they had conceived in mind. But the end of this joy grief seizes; and what follows clearly indicates how truly it is said, before ruin the heart will be exalted (Prov.

XVI, 18). Nostri vero e converso, mente consternati et animo, moerore confecti, et cordis amaritudine, de victoria diffidunt, pusillanimes effecti.

16, 18). But our men, on the contrary, dismayed in mind and spirit, consumed with grief and with the bitterness of heart, lose confidence of victory, made pusillanimous.

CAPUT XXVIII. Iterum confortantur nostri, et ad continuandam obsidionem animantur, insistentes animosius.

CHAPTER 28. Again our men are strengthened, and are animated to continue the siege, persisting more spiritedly.

Interea dominus rex, casus acerbitate perterritus, principes convocat, et coram posita vivifica cruce (nam in ejus tabernaculo convenerant) praesentibus domino patriarcha, domino quoque Tyrensi archiepiscopo et aliis Ecclesiarum praelatis, quid in tanta rerum varietate sit opus, quaerit sollicitus. Illis vero sub Dei timore constitutis, et cum multa anxietate deliberantibus, facta est votorum dissonantia, et deliberantium quasi bipertitum desiderium. Alii namque, de obtinenda urbe diffidentes, longo se tempore operam ibi inutiliter consumpsisse asserebant, militiam ex parte cecidisse, principes saucios, aut peremptos, expensas deficere, civitatem inexpugnabilem esse, cives ejus bonis omnibus abundare, eorum vires reparari saepius, nostras vero deficere, praetendentes, reditum persuadebant.

Meanwhile the lord king, terrified by the bitterness of the disaster, convenes the princes, and, with the life-giving cross set before them (for in his tabernacle they had assembled), with the lord patriarch present, and the lord archbishop of Tyre also, and other prelates of the Churches, anxiously asks what is needed in so great a variety of circumstances. But when they, set under the fear of God and deliberating with much anxiety, took counsel, there arose a dissonance of votes, and, as it were, a bipartite desire among the deliberators. For some, being diffident about obtaining the city, asserted that for a long time they had uselessly consumed their effort there, that the soldiery had in part fallen, that the princes were wounded or slain, that the funds were failing, that the city was unassailable, that its citizens abounded in all goods, that their forces were often repaired, while ours indeed were failing; putting these things forward, they urged a return.

Alii vero quibus mens erat sanior, perseverandum esse adhuc in proposito, et de Domini misericordia sperandum, qui non soleat relinquere sperantes in se pia longanimitate, hortabantur: proponentes parum esse, negotia quaelibet bonum habere principium, nisi et simili fine claudantur. Dicunt etiam multum temporis et expensarum plurimum impendisse, sed spe fructus uberioris, quem Dominus, etsi differre, non tamen auferre videbatur; cecidisse suos aiunt, sed tamen spes erat, ut meliorem invenirent resurrectionem: fidelibus esse promissum: Tristitia vestra vertetur in gaudium (Joan. XVI, 20); et: Quodcunque petieritis, fiet vobis (Matth.

Others, however, whose mind was sounder, urged that one must still persevere in the purpose, and hope in the Lord’s mercy, who by pious longanimity is not wont to abandon those hoping in Him: setting forth that it is of little avail for any undertakings to have a good beginning, unless they also be closed with a like end. They say too that much time and very many expenses have been expended, but in hope of a more abundant fruit, which the Lord, even if He seemed to defer, did not, however, to take away; they say that their own have fallen, yet there was hope that they might find a better resurrection: that it has been promised to the faithful: Your sorrow shall be turned into joy (John 16, 20); and: Whatever you shall ask, it will be done for you (Matt.

VII, 8), asserebant. Haec et similia allegantes, reditum dissuadebant; et ut in proposito tanquam viri fortes perseverarent, monere nitebantur. Priorem sententiam pene omnes laici principes fovebant; rex quoque taedio casuum adversorum in eam proclivior videbatur.

(Matt. 7, 8), they asserted. Alleging these and similar things, they dissuaded a return; and they strove to admonish that they should persevere in the purpose like brave men. Almost all the lay princes favored the former opinion; the king also, through the tedium of adverse misfortunes, seemed more inclined to it.

In opposita sententia dominus patriarcha, dominus quoque Tyrensis erant cum clero, consortem habentes dominum Raimundum magistrum hospitalis, cum fratribus suis. Sic igitur eis ab invicem dissentientibus, et varia pro utraque parte allegantibus, adfuit praesens divina clementia, quae domini patriarchae sententiam, quae majoribus juvabatur meritis, et ampliore nitebatur honestate, omnibus fecit complacere. Proponunt igitur unanimiter, recurrendum esse ad Dominum, et implorato de coelis auxilio, in eo quod coeperant perseverandum, quoad usque visitet eos Oriens ex alto (Luc.

In the opposing opinion the lord patriarch, and the lord of Tyre as well, were with the clergy, having as a consort lord Raymond, master of the Hospital, with his brothers. Thus therefore, with them dissenting from one another, and various things being alleged for either side, there was present divine clemency, which made the opinion of the lord patriarch—supported by greater merits and leaning on ampler honesty—be pleasing to all. They therefore propose unanimously that there must be recourse to the Lord, and, aid having been implored from the heavens, to persevere in that which they had begun, until the Orient from on high visits them (Luc.

I), et labores eorum clementer respiciat. Redeuntes itaque in id ipsum, unanimiter arma corripiunt, perstrepunt tubis; lituis et voce praeconia ad pugnam populum excitant universum. Illi vero peremptorum fratrum ulcisci affectantes injurias, solito ardentius ante urbem conveniunt, et hostes ad praelia avidissime provocant.

1), and may graciously regard their labors. Returning therefore to that same purpose, they unanimously seize their arms; they make a din with trumpets; with lituuses and by a herald’s voice they proclaim, rousing the whole people to battle. But they, seeking to avenge the injuries of their slain brothers, gather before the city with more than their accustomed ardor, and most eagerly provoke the enemies to combat.

Intueri erat nostras acies, tanquam nihil damni pertulissent, aut recentibus uterentur viribus, exterminato furore, in hostes irruere et impetus inferre solito vehementiores, ita ut mirarentur hostium cunei; et in nostris virium augmentum insuperabile, et instandi stuperent perseverantiam; cumque et ipsi pari tentarent resistere conatu, frustra nitentes, non poterant nostrorum tolerare instantiam aut gladios declinare. Certatum est ergo illa die, viribus longe disparibus; sed tamen tam equitum quam peditum copiae, de hostibus ubique triumphantes, palmam undique reportabant. Facta est itaque strages hostium maxima, et recompensata est mensura supereffluente, quam nostri nudiustertius passi erant, injuria.

It could be seen that our battle-lines, as though they had suffered no loss, or were employing fresh forces, with rage exterminated, rushed upon the enemies and delivered assaults more vehement than usual, so that the wedges of the enemy marveled; and they wondered at an unconquerable augmentation of strength in our men, and were stupefied at their perseverance in pressing on; and although they too tried to resist with an equal endeavor, striving in vain, they could not endure our men’s urgency nor evade the swords. Therefore on that day the contest was waged with forces far unequal; yet nevertheless both the troops of horsemen and of footmen, triumphing over the enemy everywhere, were carrying back the palm on every side. Thus a very great slaughter of the enemy was made, and the injury which our men had suffered the day before yesterday was recompensed with an overflowing measure.

Non erat in civitate familia, quam luctus domesticus et familiaris non premeret anxietas. Induta est ergo confusione civitas, et comparatione praesentis periculi levia videntur praeterita. A prima enim obsidionis die usque in praesentem, nunquam paria damna receperant, nec similis illis acciderat jactura.

There was not in the city a household upon which domestic mourning and familial anxiety did not weigh. Therefore the city was clothed with confusion, and, by comparison with the present peril, the past things seem light. For from the first day of the siege up to the present, they had never received equal losses, nor had a similar loss befallen them.

Consumpto enim militiae robore et urbis moderatoribus interemptis, defecerat consilium, virtus elanguerat et omnis spes evanuerat resistendi. Factumque est quod de publico consilio missi sunt quidam de primoribus populi, pacis interpretes, et inducias a domino rege postulantes ad tempus ut, datis nostrorum receptisque suorum defunctorum corporibus, liceat utrisque, pro more suo, debitas funeribus exhibere exsequias et supremum honorem impendere. Placuit itaque nostris postulata conditio; receptaque suorum corpora, cum exsequiarum solemnibus, commendant sepulturae.

For the strength of the soldiery having been consumed and the governors of the city slain, counsel had failed, valor had grown languid, and all hope of resisting had vanished. And it came to pass that, by public council, certain of the foremost of the people were sent as interpreters of peace, asking a truce from the lord king for a time, to the end that, the bodies of our dead being given and their own being received, it might be permitted to both parties, according to their custom, to exhibit the dues of funerals, to perform the exequies, and to expend the last honor. Our side therefore approved the requested condition; and, the bodies of their own having been received, with the solemnities of the exequies, they commend them to sepulture.

CAPUT XXIX. Ascalonitae desperant, et de communi consilio ad deditionem inclinantur.

CHAPTER 29. The Ascalonites despair, and by common counsel incline toward surrender.

Ascalonitis vero, postquam praesentem suorum stragem conspexerunt, et manum magnam, quam exercuerat in eos Dominus, renovatus est dolor, anxiatus spiritus, et prae doloris immanitate, eorum interius liquefactae sunt animae. Et ut nihil eis ad cumulum deesset malorum, accidit eadem die ut quadraginta fortibus ex eis, trabem ingentis magnitudinis, ad locum ubi necessaria videbatur, deferentibus, lapis ingens de nostra emissus jaculatoria machina, casu super trabem decideret, et quotquot oneri suberant deportando, omnes simul cum ea trabe contereret. His ergo pressi molestiarum ponderibus, et in amaritudine positi, eos qui residui erant ex Patribus, plebs convocat cum lacrymis et gemitu in unum collecta, ita ut nec matres deessent, parvulos tenentes ad ubera, nec senes valetudinarii, quibus vix supremus in praecordiis haerebat spiritus.

But as for the Ascalonites, after they beheld the present slaughter of their own, and the mighty hand which the Lord had exercised against them, grief was renewed, their spirit was anguished, and, by reason of the enormity of the grief, their souls within were melted. And so that nothing might be lacking to complete their heap of evils, it happened on the same day that, as forty stout men of theirs were carrying a beam of enormous size to the place where it seemed necessary, a huge stone, launched from our projectile machine, by chance fell down upon the beam and crushed, all at once, as many as were beneath the load in transporting it, together with the beam itself. Therefore, pressed by these burdens of troubles and set in bitterness, the populace, gathered into one with tears and groaning, summons those who were left from among the Fathers—so that neither were the mothers absent, holding infants at the breast, nor the ailing old men, in whose mid-breast the last breath scarcely clung.

Ubi per disertos et prudentes viros de communi omnium consilio habitus est ad populum universum hujusmodi sermo: Viri Ascalonitae, qui habitatis intra portas istas, nostis, et nemo vobis melius, quam periculosam et difficilem cum populo isto ferreo, et in proposito nimium pertinaci, jam per annos quinquaginta luctam habuimus: experimentis quoque compertum habetis, quoties in acie patres nostros fuderint; et quoties loco parentum filii contra eos bella reparaverint recidiva, injurias propulsare, et locum hunc, unde originem traximus, cum uxoribus et liberis, et quod majus est, libertatem conservare cupientes. Quinquagesimus quartus hodie agitur annus, ex quo populus iste nobis tam molestus, ab extremis Occidentis partibus ad nos ascendens, a Tarso Ciliciae usque in Aegyptum universam regionem manu forti violenter occupavit; sola haec civitas decessorum nostrorum meritis et virtute, in medio tantorum usque in praesentem diem indeficiens subsistit adversariorum; quae tamen hactenus passa est, respectu imminentium, minima aut nulla judicari possunt. Et nunc quidem resistendi animus nobis in nullo remissior est; sed attritus exercitus, consumptae copiae, laboris pondus intolerabile, hostium pervigil et nimium pertinax multitudo, continuae tam animorum quam corporum molestiae vires negant, et protrahendi negotium invident facultatem.

When, through eloquent and prudent men, by the common counsel of all, a discourse of this kind was delivered to the whole people: Men of Ascalon, you who dwell within these gates, you know—and none better than you—how perilous and difficult a wrestle we have had for now fifty years with this iron people, excessive in pertinacity of purpose; and by experiments you have ascertained how often they have routed our fathers in the battle-line, and how often, in the place of the parents, the sons have renewed recidivous wars against them, desiring to repel injuries and to preserve this place whence we drew our origin, with our wives and children, and—what is greater—our liberty. Today the fifty-fourth year is being kept, since which this people, so troublesome to us, coming up from the farthest parts of the West, from Tarsus of Cilicia as far as Egypt, has with a strong hand violently occupied the whole region; this city alone, by the merits and virtue of our predecessors, stands unfailing to the present day in the midst of so many adversaries; yet the things which it has suffered hitherto, in respect of the imminent ones, can be judged minimal or none. And now indeed our spirit of resisting is in no way more remiss; but a worn-down army, consumed supplies, the intolerable weight of toil, the ever-watchful and too-pertinacious multitude of the enemy, the continual molestations of both spirits and bodies, deny us strength and begrudge the ability of prolonging the business.

Unde Patribus videtur, si et vobis ita visum fuerit, instanti tempore et praesentibus miseriis expedire, ut missis nuntiis pro universo populo ad potentem istum regem, qui nos obsidet, tentemus exitum liberum cum uxoribus et liberis, servis et ancillis, et omnimoda supellectile, conditionibus interpositis impetrare; et ei, quod gementes dicimus, urbem resignare, ut tantis malis finem imponamus.

Whence it seems to the Fathers, if it has likewise seemed so to you, that in the present pressing time and miseries it is expedient that, messengers having been sent on behalf of the whole people to that potent king who besieges us, we should attempt to obtain a free exit with wives and children, servants and handmaids, and with all manner of furnishings, terms being interposed; and to surrender to him—what we say with groaning—the city, that we may impose an end to such great evils.

CAPUT XXX. Missis de majoribus civitatis, apud regem, obtinent liberum cum uxoribus et liberis et omni substantia exitum, et urbem resignant.

CHAPTER 30. With some of the greater men of the city sent, before the king they obtain a free exit with their wives and children and with all substance, and they resign the city.

Visus autem sermo hic in oculis omnium bonus, et cum magnis et consonis clamoribus, sicut in hujusmodi fieri solet, esse approbatus, electi sunt de omni populo viri prudentes et discreti, reverendae senectutis argumenta portantes, qui praeordinatas ad dominum regem et principes ejus deferant conditiones; quibus extra portam egressis, sumptis prius induciis et accedendi licentia, dominum regem adeunt. Factaque eis universorum principum (sicut expetierant) copia, verbum proponunt, placitas exponentes ex ordine conditiones. Quibus jussis ad tempus egredi rex, cum principibus habito consilio, quid singulis videatur diligenter exigit; illi autem prae gaudio erumpentes in lacrymas, oculos cum manibus tollentes ad sidera, uberes Creatori referunt gratias, quod indignis tantam dignatus est conferre sui muneris largitatem.

This discourse, however, seemed good in the eyes of all, and, with great and consonant shouts, as is wont to be done in matters of this sort, was approved; whereupon from the whole people there were chosen prudent and discreet men, bearing the tokens of venerable old age, to carry the preordained conditions to the lord king and his princes; and when these had gone out beyond the gate, a truce having first been obtained and license to approach, they approach the lord king. And access to all the princes (as they had sought) having been afforded them, they propose their case, setting forth in order the agreed conditions. These being ordered to withdraw for a time, the king, a council having been held with the princes, diligently exacts what seems good to each individual; but they, bursting for joy into tears, lifting their eyes with their hands to the stars, render abundant thanks to the Creator, that to the unworthy he has deigned to confer so great a largess of his gift.

Revocatis igitur nuntiis, datum est illis de communi responsum: Placere conditiones interpositas, si tamen infra triduum subsequens, universam expedirent civitatem. Quod illi approbantes, ut robur pactis magis accedat, juramenta sibi exigunt praestari; quibus per manum domini regis et electorum principum corporaliter, et cum solemnitate praestitis, quod bona fide, sine dolo malo factorum tenor praedictorum conservetur; datis prius obsidibus eis, quos nominatim rex expetierat, ad propria laeti sunt reversi, secum deducentes quosdam de nostris milites, qui vexilla regis super eminentiores civitatis turres in signum victoriae collocarent. Postquam autem exercitus noster cum summo desiderio id exspectans, vexilla regia in turribus sublimioribus conspexit, factus est exsultantis populi clamor ingens cum lacrymis, usque ad sidera voce consona laudantium et dicentium: Benedictus Deus patrum nostrorum, qui non deserit sperantes in se; et benedictum nomen majestatis ejus, quod est sanctum, quia vidimus mirabilia hodie. Factum est autem ut, cum per totum triduum continuum ex compacto haberent inducias, nostrorum formidantes praesentiam, infra biduum compositis sarcinis, cum uxoribus et liberis, servis et ancillis, et supellectile omnimoda accincti ad iter, egressi sunt. Quibus dominus rex duces itineris concedens, usque Laris, civitatem antiquam, sitam in solitudine, juxta pactorum tenorem, dimisit [eos] in pace.

The messengers therefore being recalled, a common answer was given them: That the interposed conditions were pleasing, provided, however, that within the following three days they should clear out the whole city. Approving this, that more strength might be added to the pacts, they demand that oaths be rendered to them; which, by the hand of the lord king and of the chosen princes, corporally and with solemnity having been rendered, that in good faith, without evil guile, the tenor of the aforesaid acts be preserved; hostages first being given to them, whom by name the king had required, they returned to their own rejoicing, leading along with them certain of our soldiers, who might place the king’s banners upon the more eminent towers of the city as a sign of victory. But after our army, awaiting this with the highest desire, beheld the royal banners on the loftier towers, there arose an immense shout of an exulting people with tears, up to the stars with a consonant voice of those praising and saying: Blessed be the God of our fathers, who does not desert those hoping in himself; and blessed be the name of his majesty, which is holy, because we have seen wonders today. And it came to pass that, although by agreement they had truces for a whole continuous three days, fearing the presence of our men, within two days, their packs made ready, with wives and children, male and female slaves, and every kind of household furniture girded for the journey, they went out. To whom the lord king, granting guides for the journey, as far as Laris, an ancient city situated in the wilderness, according to the tenor of the pacts, dismissed [them] in peace.

Dominus autem rex, dominus quoque patriarcha, cum caeteris regni principibus et Ecclesiarum praelatis, una cum universo clero et populo, praevio ligno Dominicae crucis, cum hymnis et canticis spiritualibus urbem ingressi, in praecipuo eorum et eximii decoris oratorio, quod postmodum in honorem apostoli Pauli consecratum est, crucem Dominicam intulerunt. Ubi celebratis solemniter divinis, post gratiarum actiones, in hospitia sibi deputata se recipientes, laetum et saeculis memorabilem egerunt diem. Intra paucos autem dies, dominus patriarcha ordinans Ecclesiam, certum numerum Canonicorum ibi, et eis certa dispendia (quae praebendas vocant) instituit; episcopum quoque quemdam Absalonem, Ecclesiae Dominici Sepulcri canonicum regularem, reclamante multum, et id fieri interdicente Geraldo Bethlehemita episcopo, ordinavit.

But the lord king, and the lord patriarch as well, with the other princes of the realm and the prelates of the Churches, together with the whole clergy and people, the wood of the Lord’s Cross going before, with hymns and spiritual songs entered the city, and into their chief oratory, of distinguished adornment, which afterwards was consecrated in honor of the apostle Paul, they brought the Lord’s Cross. There, the divine offices solemnly celebrated, after thanksgivings, retiring to the lodgings assigned to them, they spent a joyful day, memorable for ages. Within a few days, moreover, the lord patriarch, ordering the Church, established there a fixed number of Canons, and for them fixed stipends (which they call prebends); and he also ordained as bishop a certain Absalon, a regular canon of the Church of the Lord’s Sepulchre, Gerald, the Bethlehemite bishop, protesting much and forbidding that it be done.

Postmodum vero per appellationem causa ad Romani pontificis audientiam delata, obtinuit praedictus Bethlehemita episcopus, eo excluso quem dominus patriarcha ibi consecraverat, Ascalonitanam Ecclesiam, cum possessionibus suis, sibi et Ecclesiae Bethlehemiticae jure perpetuo possidendam. Rex autem, tam in urbe quam in suburbanis, matris consilio, benemeritis, et quibusdam etiam pretii interventu, possessionibus et agris in funiculo distributis, civitatem fratri suo adolescenti, domino Amalrico, Joppensi comiti, liberaliter concessit. Capta est ergo praedicta civitas, anno ab Incarnatione Domini 1154; regni vero domini Balduini regis quarti, anno decimo, mense Augusto, die mensis duodecima.

Afterwards indeed, the case having been brought by appeal to the hearing of the Roman pontiff, the aforesaid Bethlehemite bishop prevailed, and, with the one whom the lord patriarch had consecrated there excluded, he obtained the Ascalonitan Church, with its possessions, to be possessed by himself and by the Bethlehemite Church by right in perpetuity. The king, moreover, both in the city and in the suburbs, by his mother’s counsel, to the well-deserving, and even to certain persons through the intervention of a price, the possessions and fields having been distributed by measuring-cord, liberally granted the city to his young brother, Lord Amalric, Count of Joppa. Therefore the aforesaid city was taken in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1154; but of the reign of Lord King Baldwin the 4th, in the 10th year, in the month of August, on the 12th day of the month.

Accidit autem miseris Ascalonitis proficiscentibus et descendentibus in Aegyptum casus miserabilis. Nam discedentibus ab eis regis hominibus, qui dati erant euntibus duces itineris, et ut nemo eos molestaret, ad tutelam, Nocquinus quidam, Turcus genere, armis strenuus, sed perversus moribus et infidelis, qui apud eos laborum particeps, stipendia merens, diu militaverat, fingens se profectionis eorum et descensionis in Aegyptum consortem, ubi videt eos ducibus destitutos, spreta fide, humanitate contempta, irruit super eos; et ablatis spoliis discedens, errabundos dimisit in solitudine.

It befell, moreover, the wretched Ascalonites, as they were setting out and going down into Egypt, a pitiable mishap. For when the king’s men withdrew from them—those who had been given as guides of the journey to the travelers, and for protection, that no one should molest them—one Nocquinus, a Turk by race, valiant in arms but perverse in morals and faithless, who had long soldiered among them as a sharer of labors, earning pay, feigning himself a companion of their setting out and descent into Egypt, when he sees them bereft of guides, with faith spurned and humanity scorned, rushed upon them; and, carrying off the spoils and departing, left them wandering in the solitude.