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

The Crusaders were drawing together their troops, which had so long been dispersed, to march together towards Jerusalem, when they were attacked by the emir of Tripoli. A prompt and bloody defeat was the reward of the temerity of the Mussulman prince. After having lost a great number of his soldiers, he was obliged to purchase peace and the safety of his capital by the payment of a considerable tribute to the Crusaders. He furnished them with provisions in abundance, sent back three hundred Christian prisoners to the camp, and, to leave no pretext for future hostilities, he engaged to surrender the places he possessed when their standards should float over the walls of Jerusalem.

The Crusaders, satisfied with this promise extracted from fear, had no more enemies to combat, and now only thought of that one conquest which was to assure them all others. Raymond alone did not partake of the new ardour of the Christian army; he was fixed in his determination to remain before Archas, and only gave up the siege when his soldiers had a second time threatened to abandon his colours.

The Crusaders commenced their march towards Palestine at the end of the month of May. [150]The inhabitants of Phœnicia had finished their harvest. The Christians found provisions everywhere, and admired on their passage the rich productions of Asia, which they already looked upon as the reward of their labours. On their left rose the mountains of Libanus, so often celebrated by the prophets; between the mountains and the sea, the fields they traversed were covered with olive-trees, which grew to the height of elms and oaks; in the plains and on the hills were oranges, pomegranates, and many other sorts of trees unknown in the West. Among these new productions one plant, the juice of which was sweeter than honey, above all attracted the attention of the pilgrims: this plant was the sugar-cane. It was cultivated in several of the provinces of Syria, and particularly in the territory of Tripoli, where they had found means of extracting from it the substance which the inhabitants called zucra [151]According to Albert d’Aix, this plant had afforded great assistance to the Christians when assailed by famine at the sieges of Maarah and Archas. This plant, now become of such importance in commerce, had been till this time unknown in the West. The pilgrims made it known in Europe, and towards the end of the crusades it was transported into Italy and Sicily, whilst the Saracens introduced it into the kingdom of Grenada, whence the Spaniards afterwards conveyed it to Madeira and the American colonies. [152]

When the pilgrims were all united to continue their march to Palestine, they must doubtless have been struck with terror as they contemplated the losses they had experienced. More than two hundred thousand Crusaders had been cut off by battles, famine, misery, and disease. A great number of them, unable to support the fatigues of the holy pilgrimage, and losing all hope of seeing Palestine, had returned to the West. Many had taken up their abode in Antioch, Edessa, and other cities from which they had driven the inhabitants, and which they were obliged to defend against the infidels. With all these deductions, the army which was to achieve the conquest of the Holy Land scarcely numbered fifty thousand fighting men under the banners.

The leaders, however, did not hesitate to pursue their enterprise. They who did remain in the ranks had borne every trial; they did not drag in their train a useless, embarrassing multitude; and it was much more easy to supply them with provisions and establish order and discipline amongst them. Strengthened in some sort by their losses, they were perhaps more formidable than they were at the siege of Nice. The remembrance of their exploits increased their confidence and courage, and the terror which their arms inspired might well make the Saracens believe that their army was still innumerable.

Most of the princes whom the war had ruined were in the pay of the count of Thoulouse. This species of degradation was doubtless painful to their pride; but as they approached the holy city it might be said that they lost some of their indomitable arrogance, and that they forgot both their pretensions and their quarrels. The most perfect union now prevailed among the Crusaders. In their impatience to see Jerusalem, neither mountains, defiles, rivers, nor any other impediments at all damped their ardour; the soldiers would not even consent to take repose, and often, contrary to the wishes of their leaders, marched during the night.

The Christian army followed the coasts of the sea, where they might be provisioned by the Pisan, Genoese, and Flemish fleets. A crowd of Christians and pious solitaries who inhabited the neighbouring mountains, hastened to meet their brethren of the West, brought them fresh provisions, and guided them on their way. After a painful march over rocks and along the declivities of precipices, they descended into the plain of Berytus, and traversed the territory of Sidon and Tyre.

Whilst they remained three days on the banks of the river Eleuctera, they were assailed by serpents called tarenta , whose bite produced death, attended by violent pain and unquenchable thirst. The sight of these reptiles, which they attempted to frighten away by striking stones one against another, or by the clashing of their bucklers, filled the pilgrims with fear and surprise; but that which must have much more astonished them was the strange remedy for their bite which the inhabitants pointed out to them, and which without doubt must have seemed to them far more a subject of scandal than a means of cure. [153]

The Christians, having still continued to march along the coast, arrived before the walls of Accon, the ancient Ptolemaïs, at the present day St. Jean d’Acre. The emir who commanded in this city for the caliph of Egypt sent them provisions, and promised to surrender as soon as they should become masters of Jerusalem. The Crusaders, who had no idea of attacking Ptolemaïs, received with joy the submission and promises of the Egyptian emir; but chance soon made them aware that he had no other intention but that of getting them out of his territories, and raising up enemies against them in the countries they were about to pass through. The Christian army, after having quitted the country of Ptolemaïs, had advanced between the sea and Mount Carmel, and were encamped near the port of Cæsarea, when a dove, which had escaped from the talons of a bird of prey, fell lifeless among the soldiers. The bishop of Apt, who chanced to pick up this bird, found under its wing a letter written by the emir of Ptolemaïs to the emir of Cæsarea. “The cursed race of the Christians,” wrote the emir, “have just passed through my territories, and will soon cross yours; let the chiefs of all the Mussulman cities be warned of their march, and let them take measures to crush our enemies.” This letter was read in the council of the princes, and before all the army. The Crusaders, according to the account of Raymond d’Agiles, an eye-witness, broke out into loud expressions of surprise and joy, no longer doubting that God protected their enterprise, since he sent the birds of heaven to reveal to them the secrets of the infidels. Filled with new enthusiasm, they continued their route, drawing away from the sea, and leaving Antipatride and Jaffa on their right. They saluted in the east the heights of Ephraim, and took possession of Lydda ’the ancient Diospolis), celebrated by the martyrdom of St. George, and of Ramla, famous for the birth and tomb of Samuel.

When arrived at this last-named city, the Christians had only a march of sixteen miles to be before Jerusalem. The leaders held a council, in which some of them proposed to go and attack the infidels in Egypt, instead of undertaking the siege of the holy city. [154]“When,” said they, “we shall have conquered the sultan of Egypt, the cities of Alexandria and Cairo, with Palestine and most of the kingdoms of the East, will fall under our power. If we go straight to Jerusalem, we shall want both water and provisions, and we shall be obliged to raise the siege, without having the power to undertake anything else.” Such of the leaders as did not agree with this opinion, answered, “That the Christian army amounted to no more than fifty thousand combatants, and that it would be madness to begin a march to distant, and, to them, unknown regions, and where they could look for no assistance. On all sides they must expect dangers and obstacles; nowhere should they be free from the dread of want of provisions; but the route to Jerusalem was much more easy than that to Alexandria or Cairo. The Crusaders could pursue no wiser plan than to continue their march, and prosecute the enterprise they had begun, leaving it to Providence to provide for their wants, and protect them from thirst and famine.”