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The Historians' History of the World 08 [Parthians, Sassanids and Arabs; The Crusades and the Papacy]
- Автор: Gutenberg
- Год: 1905
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: История
Электронная книга - «The Historians' History of the World 08 [Parthians, Sassanids and Arabs; The Crusades and the Papacy]». Краткое содержание книги:
THE SIEGE OF ACRE OR PTOLEMAIS (1189-1191 A.D.)
[1189-1191 A.D.]
While the kings of England and France were marshalling their hosts for a foreign war, the Christians in the Holy Land slowly recovered from their panic, and joined Lusignan. Greeks, Latins, Syrians, Templars, and Hospitallers, emerged from their places of secrecy, burning for revenge on the infidel spoliators. Acre had opened its gates to the conqueror a few days after the battle of Tiberias, and that city, by reason of its situation and magnitude, was worthy the bravest efforts of its former lords. The sea washed its fortifications on the north and west; a noble pier defended the port from the storms and the enemy; and the city on the land side was fortified by double walls, ditches, and towers.b
GEOFFREY DE VINSAUF’S ACCOUNT OF ACRE
If a ten-years’ war made Troy celebrated; if the triumph of the Christians made Antioch more illustrious, Acre will certainly obtain eternal fame, as a city for which the whole world contended. In the form of a triangle, it is narrow on the western side, while it extends in a wider range towards the east, and full a third part of it is washed by the ocean on the south and west. The port, which is not so convenient as it should be, often deceives and proves fatal to the vessels which winter there; for the rock which lies over against the shore, to which it runs parallel, is too short to protect them from the fury of the storm. And because this rock appeared a suitable place for washing away the entrails, the ancients used it as a place for offering up sacrifices, and on account of the flies which followed the sacrificial flesh, the tower which stands above it was called the Tower of Flies.
There is also a tower called the Cursed, situated on the wall which surrounds the city; and if we are to credit common report, it received its name because it is said that the pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed his Lord, were made there. The city, then named Ptolemais, was formerly situate upon Mount Turon, which is close to the city, whence, by an error of antiquity, some call Acre Ptolemais. There is a hill called the Mosque, near Mount Turon, where the ancients say is the sepulchre of Memnon; but by whose kind offices he was brought thither, we have learned neither by writing nor by hearsay. The river which flows by the city is named Belus, and although its bed is narrow, and not deep, Solinus has rendered it celebrated by numbering it amongst the wonders of the world as being enriched with glassy sand. For there was a certain sandy foss, the sand of which supplied materials for making glass; these, if taken out, were altogether useless; but, if let in, from the secret virtue of the place assumed a glassy nature.
Not far from the river is pointed out a low rock near the city, at which it is said that the three divisions of the world, Asia, Europe, and Africa meet; and though it contains separately the other parts of the world, the place itself, dependent on none, is distinct from and independent of all three. Mount Carmel rises aloft on the southern side of the city, where Elijah the Tishbite is known to have had a habitation of modest cost, as his cave still testifies; but although we are often wont in a description to wander away to the pleasant parts of the circuit, we must at present overlook the attractions of the surrounding places, while we turn our attention to the course of the war.g
When Richard and Philip Augustus reached the Holy Land, the siege of Acre had lasted twenty-two months. The most patient attention would be exhausted by a minute detail of the operations of that period, and a liberal curiosity will be satisfied by a notice of the chief and characteristic circumstances.
So perfect was the self-security of Saladin, that he did not attempt to overwhelm the foe; and when he at length found the necessity of personally attempting the relief of his city, the force of the king of Jerusalem was appallingly numerous. The people of France and England could not wait the tardy march of their organised armies; they answered with impatience the signals of distress which Palestine hung out; indeed every country of Europe poured forth its population with disorderly rapidity, and Lusignan was at one time the commander of one hundred thousand soldiers. The Christians were encamped on the plain to the south of Acre, and the general station of Saladin was near the town and mountain of Kharuba, still further to the south. Among the bravest of the Christian lords were the count of Champagne, the duke of Gelderland, the landgraf of Thuringia, and James d’Avesnes. Many of the clergy wore the casque and the cuirass; the archbishops of Pisa and Ravenna, the bishops of Salisbury, Beauvais, Cambray, Acre, and Bethlehem, deserved the honour of ecclesiastical knighthood; and on one occasion the valour of Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, saved the camp. The Christians plied the battering-rams and mangonels against the walls, and they only ceased from their labour when Saladin called them to battle on the plain.
The engagements were as sanguinary and obstinate as any which had marked the holy wars. If the Latins at any time prevailed, they speedily lost their advantages, by abandoning themselves to plunder, and allowing the vigilant enemy to collect his broken battalions. When the Saracens conquered, the Christians kept within the shelter of their fortified camp,[59] and did not again take the field till pressed to action by some new bands of crusaders. The conflicts between the Moslems and Christians were by sea as well as by land; but the naval forces were so equally balanced, that the Latins could not finally prevent the Egyptians from succouring Acre, and Europe kept up its communications with the camp. In the last year of the siege the deaths by famine and pestilence exceeded the destruction which former battles had occasioned. Both armies were wasted by a swift decay, for the presence of such numbers had exhausted the Mussulman as well as the Christian neighbourhood. At the siege of Acre, as well as at the old siege of Antioch, the morals of the holy warriors were as depraved as their condition was miserable. Yet an appearance of holiness pervaded the camp. Religious exercises were performed, and vice was reprehended. The crusaders were seemingly devout, but in reality were dissolute,[60] and compromised for personal excesses by pharisaical scrupulosity and uncharitableness.
Conrad, marquis of Tyre, had joined, and afterwards left his friends, and to his departure all the miseries of the Christians from famine were attributed. But his own principality was his most important charge, and he could not furnish provisions for his people and for the whole of the army at the same time. Disease reached and destroyed princes as well as plebeians; and when Queen Sybilla and her two young children died, Guy de Lusignan lost his principal political support. New competitors appeared for the visionary kingdom. Isabel, the sister of Sybilla, had been married at the early age of eight years to Humphry lord of Thoron; but when the warm passions of youth succeeded the indifference of infancy, the gallantry and knightly accomplishments of Conrad, marquis of Tyre, gained her affections. In the Middle Ages consanguinity or some canonical impediment was always discovered, when disgust or ambition urged the dissolution of the marriage contract; and when the will is resolved the mind is not scrupulous in its choice of arguments of justification. The church terminated the union of Humphry and Isabel, and the day after the proclamation of the divorce the bishop of Beauvais married the amorous fair one to the marquis of Tyre. As husband of the princess, Conrad claimed the honours of respect which were due to the king of Jerusalem; Humphry was too prudent to contend for an empty distinction, but Lusignan, who had once enjoyed the crown would not forego the hope of recovering it. The Christian cause was scandalised and injured by these divisions among the chiefs, but the candidates for the pageant sceptre were obliged to submit to the general opinion of the army, and reserve the decision of their claims for the judgment of the French and English monarchs.