Thus fell the holy city of Jerusalem, eighty-eight years after its conquest by Godfrey de Bouillon and the crusaders. Our excellent chronicler, Radolph, abbot of Coggleshale, who was redeemed from bondage by payment of the ten golden bezants, throws a pitying glance upon the misfortunes and miseries of the poor captives, but attributes the fall of Jerusalem, and all the calamities consequent thereon, to the sins and iniquities of the inhabitants. “They honoured God,” says he, “with their lips, but their hearts were far from him.” He speaks of the beautiful women who thronged Jerusalem, and of the general corruption of the city, and exclaims, in the words of the prophet, “The Lord hath said unto the heathen, Go ye up against her walls and destroy, take away her battlements, for they are not the Lord’s.”
Immediately after the surrender of the city (October 11, A. D. 1187) the Moslems rushed to the Temple (Templum Domini, ante
p. 12
) in thousands. “The imauns and the doctors and expounders of the wicked errors of Mahomet,” says Abbot Coggleshale, “first ascended to the Temple of the Lord, called by the infidels
Beit Allah
, (the house of God,) in which, as a place of prayer and religion, they place their great hope of salvation. With horrible bellowings they proclaimed the law of Mahomet, and vociferated, with polluted lips, Allah
acbar
– Allah
acbar
(God is victorious). They defiled all the places that are contained within the Temple; i. e. the place of the presentation, where the mother and glorious Virgin Mary delivered the Son of God into the hands of the just Simeon; and the place of the confession, looking towards the porch of Solomon, where the Lord judged the woman taken in adultery. They placed guards that no Christian might enter within the seven atria of the Temple; and as a disgrace to the Christians, with vast clamour, with laughter and with mockery, they hurled down the golden cross from the pinnacle of the building, and dragged it with ropes throughout the city, amid the exulting shouts of the infidels and the tears and lamentations of the followers of Christ.” When every Christian had been removed from the precincts of the Temple, Saladin proceeded with vast pomp to say his prayers in the
Beit Allah
, the holy house of God, or “Temple of the Lord,” erected by the Caliph Omar. He was preceded by five camels laden with rose-water, which he had procured from Damascus, and he entered the sacred courts to the sound of martial music, and with his banners streaming in the wind. The
Beit Allah
, “the Temple of the Lord,” was then again consecrated to the service of one God and his prophet Mahomet; the walls and pavements were washed and purified with rose-water; and a pulpit, the labour of Noureddin, was erected in the sanctuary.
74
74
Rad. Cogg.
col. 570-573. Contin. Hist. Bell. Sacr. col. 614, 615, 621.
Bohadin
, cap. xxxvi. and the Arab Extracts, apud
Schultens
, cap. xxvii. p. 42, 43.
The following account of these transactions was forwarded to Henry the Second, king of England. “To the beloved Lord Henry, by the grace of God, the illustrious king of the English, duke of Normandy and Guienne, and count of Anjou, Brother Terric, formerly Grand Preceptor of the house of the Temple at Jerusalem, sendeth greeting, – salvation through him who saveth kings. Know that Jerusalem, with the citadel of David, hath been surrendered to Saladin. The Syrian Christians, however, have the custody of the holy sepulchre up to the fourth day after Michaelmas, and Saladin himself hath permitted ten of the brethren of the Hospital to remain in the house of the hospital for the space of one year, to take care of the sick… Jerusalem, alas, hath fallen; Saladin hath caused the cross to be thrown down from the summit of the Temple of the Lord, and for two days to be publicly kicked and dragged in the dirt through the city. He then caused the Temple of the Lord to be washed within and without, upwards and downwards, with rose-water, and the law of Mahomet to be proclaimed throughout the four quarters of the Temple with wonderful clamour…”
75
75
Hoveden
, Rer. Angl. script. post Bedam, p. 645, 646.
Bohadin, Saladin’s secretary, mentions as a remarkable and happy circumstance, that the holy city was surrendered to the sultan of most pious memory, and that God restored to the faithful their sanctuary on the 27th of the month Regeb, on the night of which very day their most glorious prophet Mahomet performed his wonderful nocturnal journey from the Temple of the Lord, through the seven heavens, to the throne of God. He also describes the sacred congregation of the Mussulmen gathered together in the Temple and the solemn prayer offered up to God; the shouting and the sounds of applause, and the voices lifted up to heaven, causing the holy buildings to resound with thanks and praises to the most bountiful Lord God. He glories in the casting down of the golden cross, and exults in the very splendid triumph of Islam. Saladin restored the sacred area of the Temple to its original condition under the first Mussulman conquerors of Jerusalem (ante,
p. 12
). The ancient christian church of the Virgin (the mosque
Al Acsa
, and “Temple of Solomon”) was washed with rose-water, and was once again dedicated to the religious services of the Moslems. On the western side of this venerable edifice the Templars had erected, according to the Arabian writers, an immense building in which they lodged, together with granaries of corn and various offices, which enclosed and concealed a great portion of the edifice. Most of these were pulled down by the sultan to make a clear and open area for the resort of the Mussulmen to prayer. Some new erections placed between the columns in the interior of the structure were taken away, and the floor was covered with the richest carpets. “Lamps innumerable,” says Ibn Alatsyr, “were suspended from the ceiling; verses of the Koran were again inscribed on the walls; the call to prayer was again heard; the bells were silenced; the exiled faith returned to its ancient sanctuary; the devout Mussulmen again bent the knee in adoration of the one only God, and the voice of the imaun was again heard from the pulpit, reminding the true believers of the resurrection and the last judgment.”
76
76
Bohadin
apud
Schultens
, cap. 36.
Abulfeda
, ib. cap. xxvii. p. 43.
Wilken
Comment. p. 148.
The Friday after the surrender of the city, the army of Saladin, and crowds of true believers, who had flocked to Jerusalem from all parts of the East, assembled in the Temple of the Lord to assist in the religious services of the Mussulman sabbath. Omad, Saladin’s secretary, who was present, gives the following interesting account of the ceremony, and of the sermon that was preached. “On Friday morning at daybreak,” says he, “everybody was asking whom the sultan had appointed to preach. The Temple was full; the congregation was impatient; all eyes were fixed on the pulpit; the ears were on the stretch; our hearts beat fast, and tears trickled down our faces. On all sides were to be heard rapturous exclamations of ‘What a glorious sight! What a congregation! Happy are those who have lived to see the resurrection of Islam.’ At length the sultan ordered the judge (doctor of the law)
Mohieddin Aboulmehali-Mohammed
to fulfil the sacred function of imaun. I immediately lent him the black vestment which I had received as a present from the caliph. He then mounted into the pulpit and spoke. All were hushed. His expressions were graceful and easy, and his discourse was eloquent and much admired. He displayed the virtue and sanctity of Jerusalem; he spoke of the purification of the Temple; he alluded to the silence of the bells, and to the flight of the infidel priests. In his prayer he named the caliph and the sultan, and terminated his discourse with that chapter of the Koran in which God orders justice and good works. He then descended from the pulpit, and prayed in the Mihrab. Immediately afterwards a sermon was preached before the congregation.”
This sermon was delivered by
Mohammed Ben Zeky
. “Praise be to God,” saith the preacher, “who by the power of his might hath raised up Islamism on the ruins of polytheism; who governs all things according to his will; who overthroweth the devices of the infidels, and causeth the TRUTH to triumph! I praise God, who hath succoured his elect, who hath rendered them victorious and crowned them with glory, who hath purified his holy house from the filthiness of idolatry… I bear witness that there is no God but that one great God who standeth
alone
and hath no PARTNER; sole, supreme, eternal; who begetteth not and is not begotten, and hath NO EQUAL. I bear witness that Mahomet is his servant, his envoy, and his prophet, who hath dissipated doubts, confounded polytheism, and put down LIES! O men, declare ye the blessings of God, who hath restored to you this holy city, after it has been left in the power of the infidels for a hundred years. This HOLY HOUSE of the Lord hath been built, and its foundations have been established, for the glory of God. This sacred spot is the dwelling-place of the prophets, the
kebla
(place of prayer) towards which you turn at the commencement of your religious duties, the birth-place of the saints, the scene of the revelation. It is thrice holy, for the angels of God spread their wings over it. This is that blessed land of which God hath spoken in his sacred book. In this house of prayer, Mahomet prayed with the angels who approach God. It is to this spot that all fingers are turned after the two holy places. This conquest, O men, hath opened unto you the gates of heaven; the angels rejoice, and the eyes of the prophets glisten with joy.” The preacher proceeds, in a high strain of enthusiasm, to enlarge upon the merits of the holy war. “The holy war, the holy war!” says he, “is better than religious worship; it is the noblest of your occupations. Aid God, and he will assist you; protect the Lord, and he will protect you; remember him, and he will have you in remembrance; do good to him, and he will do good to you. Cut off the branches of iniquity; purify the earth from unbelievers, and destroy the nations who have excited the wrath of God and his apostle, &c…”
77
77
Khotbeh, or sermon of
Mohammed Ben Zeky
. —
Michaud
, Extraits Arabes.
Omad informs us that the marble altar and chapel which had been erected over the sacred rock in the Temple of the Lord, or Mosque of Omar, was removed by Saladin, together with the stalls for the priests, the marble statues, and all the abominations which had been placed in the venerated building by the Christians. The Mussulmen discovered with horror that some pieces of the holy stone or rock had been cut off by the Franks, and sent to Europe. Saladin caused it to be immediately surrounded by a grate of iron. He washed it with rose-water, and Malek-Afdel covered it with magnificent carpets. Saladin, in his famous letter to the caliph, giving an account of the conquest of Jerusalem, exclaims – “God hath at length turned towards the supporters of the true faith; he hath let loose his wrath against the infidels, and hath driven them from his sanctuary… The infidels have erected churches in the holy city, and the great houses of the Templars and Hospitallers. In these structures are rich marbles and many precious things. Thy servant hath restored the Mosque Al-Acsa (the Temple of the Knights Templars, ante
p. 12
) to its ancient destination. He hath appointed imauns to celebrate divine service, and on the 14th chaaban they preached, the
khotbeh
(sermon). The heavens are rent with joy and the stars dance with delight. The word of God hath been exalted, and the tombs of the prophets, which the infidel hath defiled, have been purified.”
78
78
Michaud
, Pieces justificatives, No. ix. 485.
Saladin restored the fortifications of Jerusalem; he founded several schools, and converted the great house of the Hospitallers into a college. He then quitted the Holy City to pursue his military operations in the field.
The Templars still maintained themselves in some of the strongest castles of Palestine, and the maritime city of Tyre continued to resist all the attacks of the Moslems. This important sea-port was preserved to the Christians by the valour and military talents of the young Conrad, marquis of Montferrat, who digged a ditch across the isthmus which connects Tyre with the main land, repaired the fortifications and planted catapults and balistæ in boats, so as to command the only approach to the town. Saladin proceeded in person to Tyre, to conduct the operations against this important place. He was on horseback from morn till night, and was assisted by his sons, his brother, and his nephew, all of whom commanded in the field under the eye of the sultan, and animated the troops by their example. The following account of the state of affairs in Palestine is contained in a letter from Brother Terric, Grand Preceptor of the Temple, and Treasurer General of the order, to Henry the Second, king of England. “The brothers of the hospital of Belvoir as yet bravely resist the Saracens; they have captured two convoys, and have valiantly possessed themselves of the munitions of war and provisions which were being conveyed by the Saracens from the fortress of La Feue. As yet, also, Carach, in the neighbourhood of Mount Royal, Mount Royal itself, the Temple of Saphet, the hospital of Carach, Margat, and Castellum Blancum, and the territory of Tripoli, and the territory of Antioch, resist Saladin… From the feast of Saint Martin, up to that of the circumcision of the Lord, Saladin hath besieged Tyre incessantly, by night and by day, throwing into it immense stones from thirteen military engines. On the vigils of St. Silvester, the Lord Conrad, the marquis of Montferrat, distributed knights and foot soldiers along the wall of the city, and having armed seventeen galleys and ten small vessels, with the assistance of the house of the Hospital and the brethren of the Temple, he engaged the galleys of Saladin, and vanquishing them he captured eleven, and took prisoners the great admiral of Alexandria and eight other admirals, a multitude of the infidels being slain. The rest of the Mussulman galleys, escaping the hands of the Christians, fled to the army of Saladin, and being run aground by his command, were set on fire and burnt to ashes. Saladin himself, overwhelmed with grief, having
cut off the ears and the tail of his horse
, rode that same horse through his whole army in the sight of all. Farewell!”
79
79
Hoveden
, p. 646. Contin. Hist. col. 623.
Ibn-Alatsyr
, p. 474-477.
Tyre continued to be valiantly defended until the winter had set in, and then the disappointed sultan, despairing of taking the place, burnt his military engines and retired to Damascus.
The king of Jerusalem, and the Grand Master of the Temple, who had, as before mentioned, been residing at Naplous, under the surveillance of Saladin’s officers, were now set at full liberty, pursuant to the treaty of Ascalon, on the understanding that they would immediately proceed to Tyre and embark for Europe. Queen Sibylla, who was in Jerusalem at the time of its surrender to Saladin, had been permitted to join her royal husband at Naplous, and the king, the queen, and the Grand Master of the Temple, consequently proceeded together to Tyre. On their arrival at that place, they found the gates shut against them. The young Conrad declared, that as the city had been preserved solely by the swords of himself and his followers, it justly belonged to him, and that neither the king nor the queen of Jerusalem any longer possessed authority within it. Cruelly repelled from Tyre, the king and queen, with their infant children, the Grand Master of the Temple, and the patriarch Heraclius, proceeded to Antioch.
As soon as the winter rains had subsided, Saladin took the field, and attempted to reduce various strong castles of the Templars and Hospitallers. The most formidable of these were the castles of Saphet and Kowkab (the star); the one belonging to the order of the Temple, and the other to the order of the Hospital of Saint John. Saphet is one of the four holy cities of the Talmud, and is held in peculiar veneration by the Jews. The castle of the Templars crowned the summit of a lofty mountain, along the sides of which extended the houses and churches of the town. It was the strongest fortress possessed by the order in Palestine. From the ramparts the eye ranged over a rich prospect of luxuriant vineyards and smiling villages, and embraced a grand panoramic view of lofty mountains. Through the valley below rolled the Jordan; to the southward extended the vast blue expanse of the lake of Tiberias; and in the north-east the snowy summits of Anti-Lebanon might be seen piercing the skies. This important fortress commanded the greater part of Galilee; it had always been a great check upon the incursions of the infidels, and was considered one of the bulwarks of the Latin kingdom. Saladin’s exertions, consequently, for the capture of the place were strenuous and incessant. He planted a large body of troops around it, under the command of his brother Saifeddin; but the season was not far enough advanced for their operations to be carried on with any chance of success. The tents of the besiegers were blown off the mountain by the furious whirlwinds, and the operation of the military engines was impeded by heavy rains. The Templars made continued sallies upon the works, burnt the military engines, butchered the soldiers in their sleep, and harassed them with incessant alarms in the dead of night. The siege was consequently turned into a blockade, and Saladin drew off the greater part of his forces to attack the Christian possessions in the principality of Antioch. He divided his army into several detachments, which were sent in different directions, with orders to ravage all the neighbouring country, drive away the oxen, sheep, and cattle, and collect the booty together in the plain of the Orontes, along the banks of the lake of Kades. He crossed the vast mountain ranges which extend between the Orontes and the sea-coast, and appeared in arms before the gates of Tripoli. Strenuous preparations had been made to receive him, and the sultan contented himself with reconnoitering the place and examining its defences; having done which, he directed his march upon Tortosa. The Grand Master of the Temple, who was anxiously watching Saladin’s movements, immediately threw himself into the strong castle of the Templars at that place, and prepared to defend the town; but the fortifications were weak, the inhabitants were panic-stricken, and the Templars, after a short struggle, were compelled to abandon the city, and retire behind their fortifications. There they maintained a fierce and bloody contest with the Moslems, and during the various assaults and sallies the town was set on fire and burnt to the ground. Bohadin gives a fearful account of the destruction by fire of the great cathedral church, and of the roaring and crackling of the flames as they burst through the huge cedar beams and timbers of the roof. He says that thousands of faithful Mussulmen gathered around the vast and venerable pile, and raised exulting shouts as they witnessed the progress of the fire, lifting up their voices to heaven, and returning thanks to the most bountiful Lord God!
Having failed in all his attempts to take the castle of the Templars, Saladin drew off his forces, leaving the once populous and flourishing town of Tortosa a dreary desert. He then besieged and took the city of Gabala, and then approached in warlike array the far-famed Laodicea. The panic-stricken inhabitants refused to defend the town, and abandoned the fortifications, but some Templars and other knights, throwing themselves into the citadel with their followers, boldly resisted the attacks of the infidels. After a desperate defence a capitulation was signed, the garrison marched out with all the honours of war, and the banners of Islam were then planted upon the towers and battlements. Both Ibn Alatsyr and Bohadin give an enthusiastic description of the town and its environs. They speak of its noble harbour, its beautiful houses, elegant villas, rich marbles, luxuriant gardens, and shady groves. All these became the prey of the fierce Mussulman soldiery, who committed great excesses. They broke to pieces the choice specimens of ancient sculpture, considering them hated evidences of idolatry; they stripped all the churches of their ornaments, and sold the sacred vestments of the priests. From Laodicea, Saladin marched to Sohioun or Sekyun, a fortress of prodigious strength, situate amongst the mountains midway between Gabala and the Orontes. It was almost entirely surrounded by a deep precipitous ravine, the sides of which were in many places perpendicular. After a siege of five days, a part of the Mussulman soldiers clambered over some rocks which were thought to be inaccessible, climbed the outer wall of the town, and opened the gates to their companions; the second and third walls were then carried by assault, and the citadel surrendered after a short siege. Many other important cities and castles speedily fell into the hands of the victorious Saladin. Among these were the city of Bakas, or Bacas, on the banks of the Orontes, and the castle of Al Shokhr, which was connected with the town by a bridge over the river; the castle of Al Jahmàhûnîn, near Gabala; Blatanous, near Antioch; Sarminiah, or Sarmaniya, a fortress, a day’s journey N. E. of Aleppo; and many other places of note. All the towns and castles between Sarminiah and Gabala surrendered to the Moslems. “Glory be to God,” says Ibn Alatsyr, “who hath made easy that which appeared to be difficult.”
Saladin then recrossed the Orontes, and laid siege to Berzyeh, or Borzya, a fortress which commanded the high road from Antioch to Emesa, or Hems, and was, therefore, a place of very great importance. During a very hot day, when the garrison had been fighting from sunrise till noon, Saladin suddenly called up his reserve, placed himself at their head, scaled the fortifications, and entered the town sword in hand. The houses were set on fire, the streets were drenched with blood, and all the inhabitants who escaped the general massacre, were made slaves. From Berzyeh, Saladin marched down the vast and fertile plain of the Orontes, to the famous iron bridge over that river, about six or seven miles from Antioch, with a view of besieging the strong castle of the Knights Templars, called Derbazâc, or Darbêsak. On the 8th Regeb, having collected his forces together, and procured a vast number of powerful military engines, he moved forward and invested the place. The walls were surrounded with wooden towers, filled with expert archers, who swept the battlements with their arrows. Under cover of these towers, battering-rams were placed in position, and a vast breach was made in the walls. Saladin’s body-guard moved forward to the assault, supported by crowds of archers on either flank, but the Templars filled up the breach with their bodies, and after a bloody contest the Mussulmen were driven back, leaving the ground covered with their dead. The Templars repaired the breach, and the sultan shifted his ground of attack. Hurdles covered with raw hides were advanced against the walls, and an expert party of miners were employed, under cover of these hurdles, to undermine a huge tower, which was considered to be the key of the fortifications. The tower was so well and strongly built, that it resisted for a length of time all the efforts of the miners; they dug away a great part of the foundations, and the tower appeared, says Ibn Alatsyr, to be suspended in the air. At last, however, it fell with a tremendous crash, carrying along with it into the ditch a vast portion of the walls on either side, so that a large yawning gap was opened in the fortifications. Again the Mussulmen rushed to the assault with loud shouts, and again they were hurled back by the stout arms of the Templars, leaving the heaps of stone, and the vast masses of shattered walls around them, crimsoned with the blood of their best men. Bohadin, who witnessed the assault, declares that he never saw such an obstinate defence. As soon as any one of the Templars fell, another, he tells us, would immediately take his place, and thus they remained upon the breach immoveable as a rock. At last, it was agreed that if the fortress was not succoured by the prince of Antioch, within a given period, the Templars should surrender it, and march out with their arms in their hands. No succour arrived by the appointed time, and the place was consequently given up to the Mussulmen.
80
80
Ipse meis vidi oculis, uno eorum cadente, alter mox eundem locum occuparet, immotique, perstarent ad instar muri.
Bohadin
apud
Schultens
, p. 85.
Michaud
, Extraits, p. 487, 488.
Immediately after the surrender of Darbêsak, Saladin marched upon Bagras, a town situate at the foot of Mount Al Locam, and pushed on his advanced guard to the environs of the vast and populous city of Antioch, but he contented himself with the mere sight of the place, and declined to undertake the siege of it. He remained for some time in observation before the city, and sent out detachments in different directions to lay waste the surrounding country, and collect spoil. The population of Antioch was estimated at 150,000 souls: nearly all the surviving Templars of the principality were collected together within the walls, under the command of their valiant Grand Master, and the Prince Bohemond was at the head of a numerous and well-organized force, fully prepared for a desperate struggle in defence of his rich and princely city. Saladin consequently preferred entering into a truce to continuing the war, and concluded a treaty with Bohemond, whereby a suspension of arms was agreed upon for the term of eight months, to commence from the first of the approaching month of November, and it was stipulated that all the Moslem prisoners detained in Antioch should be set at liberty. Saladin then returned by the valley of the Orontes to Damascus, and his troops became very impatient to be dismissed to their homes for the winter, but he reminded them of the brevity and uncertainty of human life, told them that there was plenty of work before them, and that they ought not to leave for to-morrow that which could be done to-day. He accordingly set out from Damascus at the head of a large body of forces, and proceeded to lay siege to Saphet, the strong and important castle of the Knights Templars. Bohadin accompanied the sultan, and gives an interesting account of his incessant exertions for the capture of the place. During a windy and tempestuous night, he superintended the planting of five besieging engines. To every soldier he allotted a specific task, and turning to his secretary he said, “Let us not go to bed to-night, until these five engines are completed.” Every now and then messengers came in to narrate the progress of the work, and Saladin spent the intermediate time in cheerful converse with his friend. The night was dark and long, the weather miserably wet and cold, and the ground covered with mud. Bohadin ventured to address some observations to his royal master, upon the imprudence of exposing himself to the inclemency of the season, and to so much watching and fatigue, but the pious sultan reminded him of the words of the prophet, “The fire of hell shall not prevail against the eye that wakes and watches in the service of God, and the eye that weeps through fear of God.”
The Templars manfully defended themselves, and their brethren in Tyre made an attempt to send them succour. Two hundred valiant and determined soldiers set out from that city, and marched through the country by night, sheltering themselves in the day-time in caverns and solitary places amongst the mountains. They reached Saphet, and attempted to conceal themselves in the neighbourhood of the castle, until they could find an opportunity of communicating with their beleaguered brethren. Unfortunately one of their number strayed from his place of concealment, and was seen by a Mussulman emir, who immediately called out a strong guard, searched the neighbourhood, and took the whole party prisoners. They were brought into Saladin’s presence and condemned to death; but before the sentence was carried into execution negotiations were entered into for the surrender of Saphet. The Templars in the fortress were ill provided with provisions; they had now lost all hope of succour, and they agreed to surrender, on condition that they should be permitted to march out with their arms to Tyre, in company with the prisoners whom Saladin had just taken. These terms were acceded to, and the fortifications of the strong castle of Saphet were speedily demolished by the infidels.
81
81
Ibn Alatsyr
, ut sup. p. 479-484, 492.
Bohadin
, cap. 41-44, 48, 49.
In the mean time all Europe had been thrown into consternation by the dismal intelligence of the fall of Jerusalem. Public prayers were put up in the churches, and fasts were ordered, as in times of great nation