Joseph François Michaud - The History of the Crusades (Vol.1-3)

As the fleet of the Pisans and Genoese had brought with them a great number of labourers and engineers, they were employed in directing and carrying on the works of the siege. Machines of war were constructed, and the city of Antioch was pressed more vigorously, and threatened on all sides. Whilst despair supplied the place of courage among the Saracens, the zeal and emulation of the Crusaders were redoubled. Many whom misery or fear had driven from the Christian army rejoined their standards, and sought by their exertions to obliterate the remembrance of their desertion. The besiegers allowed themselves no repose, and only seemed to live to fight. The women seconded the valour of the warriors. Some mingled with them in the ranks, whilst others bore them food and ammunition to the battle-field. Children even formed themselves into troops, exercised themselves in military evolutions, and took up arms against the Saracens. The inhabitants of Antioch opposed their children to those of the Christians, and several times these young combatants came to blows in the presence of the besiegers and the besieged, who animated them with voice and gesture, and joined the combat even to support such of their party as seemed to yield.

There was formed at the same time another military force still more formidable to the Saracens. [110]The mendicants and vagabonds who followed the Christian army were employed in the labours of the siege, and worked under the orders of a captain, who took the title of “ Roi truant ,” or king of the beggars. They received pay from the general treasury of the Crusaders, and as soon as they were in a condition to purchase arms and clothes, the king renounced them as his subjects, and forced them to enter into one of the troops of the army. This measure, whilst forcing the vagabonds to abandon a life of dangerous idleness, changed them into useful auxiliaries. As they were accused of violating tombs and feeding on human flesh, [111]they inspired great terror among the infidels, and the sight of them alone put to flight the defenders of Antioch, who trembled at the thoughts of falling into their hands.

Antioch was so closely pressed, and the garrison had so little means of defence left, that the Crusaders expected every day to become masters of it. Accien demanded a truce of them, and promised to surrender if he were not soon relieved. The Crusaders, ever full of blind confidence, had the imprudence to accept the proposals of the governor. As soon as they had concluded a truce with the Saracens, the leaders of the army, who scarcely ever agreed, except upon the field of battle, and whom the presence of danger did not always unite, were upon the point of declaring war against one another.

Baldwin, prince of Edessa, had sent magnificent presents to Godfrey, the two Roberts, the count de Vermandois, and the counts of Blois and of Chartres, but in the distribution of his favours had, designedly, omitted Bohemond and his soldiers. Nothing more was necessary to create division. Whilst the rest of the army were celebrating the liberality of Baldwin, the prince of Tarentum and his warriors breathed nothing but complaints and murmurs.

At this time a richly-ornamented tent, which an Armenian prince destined for Godfrey, and which, falling into the hands of Pancracius, was sent to Bohemond, became a fresh subject of trouble and discord. Godfrey haughtily claimed the present which had been intended for him, and Bohemond refused to give it up. On each side they proceeded to injurious terms and threats; they were even ready to have recourse to arms, and the blood of the Christians was about to flow for a miserable quarrel; but at length the prince of Tarentum, abandoned by the greater part of the army, and overcome by the prayers of his friends, gave up the tent to his rival, consoling himself in his vexation, with the hope that war would soon put him in possession of a richer booty.

William of Tyre, who has transmitted to us this account, is astonished to see the wise Godfrey claim such a frivolous object with so much heat, and in his surprise he compares the weakness of the hero to the slumbers of the good Homer. His thought would have been more just if he had compared the discords and quarrels of the leaders of the crusade to those which troubled the camp of the Greeks, and so long retarded the taking of Troy. Whilst these quarrels engaged the attention of the whole Christian army, the inhabitants of Antioch were introducing reinforcements into the city, and preparing for a fresh resistance. When they had received the succours and provisions necessary to defend themselves and prolong the siege, they broke the truce, and again began the war, with all the advantages that a peace too easily granted them had procured.

Antioch, after a siege of seven months, would have escaped from the hands of the Christians, if stratagem, policy, and ambition had not effected for them that which patience and bravery had been unable to achieve. Bohemond, whose sole motive for undertaking the crusade had been a desire to improve his fortunes, was constantly on the watch for an opportunity of realizing his projects. Baldwin’s great success had awakened his jealousy, and haunted him even in his sleep. He dared to direct his views to the possession of Antioch, and was so far favoured by circumstances, as to meet with a man who might be able to place this city in his power. This man, whose name was Phirous, was, whatever some historians who give him a noble origin may say, the son of an Armenian, who was by trade a maker of cuirasses. [112]Of a restless and busy character, he was constantly anxious to change and improve his condition. He had abjured the Christian religion from a spirit of inconstancy, and in the hope of advancing his fortune; he was endowed with admirable self-possession, and with audacity proof against any accident; and was at all times ready to perform that for money which could only have been expected from the most ardent fanaticism. Nothing appeared unjust or impossible to him that promised to gratify his ambition or his avarice. Being active, adroit, and insinuating, he had wormed himself into the confidence of Accien, and was admitted into his council. The prince of Antioch had intrusted him with the command of three of the principal towers of the place. He defended them at first with zeal, but without any advantage to his fortune, and he grew weary of a barren fidelity the moment his busy brain suggested that treason might be more profitable. In the intervals of the various conflicts he had had many opportunities of seeing the prince of Tarentum. These two men divined each other’s character at the first glance, and it was not long before this sympathy produced mutual confidence. In their first meetings Phirous complained of the outrages he had experienced from the Mussulmans; he deeply regretted having abandoned the religion of Christ, and wept over the persecutions the Christians had suffered in Antioch. No more than this was required to place the prince of Tarentum in possession of the secret thoughts of Phirous. He commended both his remorse and his good feeling, and made him the most magnificent promises. Then the renegado opened his heart to him. They swore an inviolable friendship to each other, and planned an active correspondence. They met several times afterwards, but always with the greatest secrecy. At every interview Bohemond told Phirous that the fate of the Christians was in his hands, and that it only rested with himself to merit their gratitude, and receive from them vast recompenses. On his side, Phirous protested that he was anxious to serve the Christians, whom he considered as his brothers, and, in order to assure the prince of Tarentum of his fidelity, or else to excuse his treason, he said that Jesus Christ had appeared to him, and had advised him to give up Antioch to the Christians. [113]Bohemond required no such protestation. He had no difficulty in believing what he so ardently desired, and as soon as he had agreed with Phirous upon the means of executing the projects they had so long meditated, he called an assembly of the principal leaders of the Christian army. He began by laying before them with much earnestness both the evils with which the Crusaders had hitherto been afflicted, and the still greater evils with which they were threatened. He added, that a powerful army was advancing to the assistance of Antioch; that a retreat could not be effected without disgrace and danger; and that there remained no safety for the Christians but in the capture of the city. It was true, the place was defended by impregnable ramparts; but they should recollect that all victories were not obtained by force of arms or in the field of battle; and that such as were won by address were neither the least important nor the least glorious. They, then, who could not be conquered must be deceived, and the enemy must be overcome by a great but skilful enterprise. Among the inhabitants of Antioch, so diverse in their manners and religions, so opposed in their interests, there must be some to be found who would be accessible to the bait of gold, or the allurements of brilliant promises. The question of a service so important to the Christian army, was of such magnitude that it was right to promote every kind of undertaking. The possession of Antioch itself did not appear to him to be too high a reward for the zeal of him who should be sufficiently adroit, or sufficiently fortunate, as to throw open the gates of the city to the Crusaders.