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

Baldwin III., who undertook to stop the career of Noureddin, displayed great valour in several battles. The most important and the most fortunate of his expeditions was the taking of Ascalon, in which the Mussulmans always kept up a formidable garrison. This city, which is situated in a fertile plain, and which the Mussulmans call the Spouse of Syria , was succoured by an Egyptian fleet, and for a long time resisted all the efforts of the Christians. Rivers of blood flowed before its walls during several months; both Mussulmans and Christians fighting with fury, and neither giving nor receiving quarter. During the siege the knights of the Temple particularly distinguished themselves by their valour; the thirst for booty, far more than the love of glory, making them brave the greatest perils. The garrison and the inhabitants, exhausted by fatigue and pinched by famine, at length opened the gates of the city. Baldwin granted them a capitulation, permitted them to retire into Egypt with their families, and caused a Te Deum to be sung in the great mosque, which he consecrated to St. Paul.

After this victory the king of Jerusalem marched to encounter Noureddin, and compelled him to raise the sieges of both Paneas and Sidon. Baldwin was engaged in assisting the principality of Antioch, always disturbed by factions, always threatened by the Mussulmans, when he was poisoned by a Syrian physician. As soon as he became sensible of his danger, he set out for Jerusalem, and died in the city of Berouth. His remains were transported to the holy city, the clergy coming out to meet the funeral train. The people descended from the mountains to join the procession, and through the country and in the cities nothing was heard but lamentations. Noureddin himself, if we are to believe a Christian historian, [294]was affected by the sorrow of the Franks. Some of his emirs advising him to take advantage of this melancholy occasion to enter Palestine, “God forbid,” replied he, “that I should disturb the proper grief of a people who are weeping for the loss of so good a king, or fix upon such an opportunity to attack a kingdom which I have no reason to fear.” Remarkable words, which at once denote two great men, and which further show what a serious loss the Christians had sustained.

As soon as the funeral ceremonies of Baldwin III. were over, warm debates arose upon the choice of a successor. The greater part of the barons and knights attached to the memory of Baldwin proposed to call to the throne his brother Amaury, count of Jaffa and Ascalon. This party was the most reasonable and the most conformable to the laws and interests of the kingdom; but the brother of Baldwin, by the haughtiness of his deportment, had made himself many enemies among the people, the clergy, and the army. He was reproached with an ambition and an avarice fatal to the interests of the Christians; and he was accused of not being restrained by honour, justice, or even the precepts of religion, [295]in the execution of his projects. His partisans extolled his active and enterprising character, his bravery so often proved, and his great skill in war. Among the nobles of the kingdom who opposed his succession, and attributed to him ambitious views much to be dreaded, were several who themselves nourished aspiring projects, and allowed themselves to be seduced by the hope of ascending the throne. The conflicting parties were on the point of taking up arms to sustain their pretensions or their hopes, when the grand master of the Hospitallers exhorted the barons and knights to preserve the peace and the laws of the kingdom by crowning young Amaury. “The crown,” said he to them, “which you refuse to place upon the head of a Christian prince will soon be upon that of Noureddin or of the caliph of Egypt. If this misfortune should happen, you will become the slaves of the infidels, and the world will accuse you of having opened the gates of the holy city to the Saracens, as the traitor Judas gave up the Saviour of the world into the hands of his enemies.” This speech, and the sight of the troops which Amaury had already collected to defend his rights, disarmed the factions which disturbed the kingdom. The brother of Baldwin was crowned in the Holy Sepulchre, and received the oaths of allegiance of those even who had openly declared themselves opposed to his claims.

As soon as Amaury had ascended the throne, he directed all his energies towards Egypt, now weakened by the victories of the Christians. The caliph of Cairo having refused to pay the tribute due to the conquerors of Ascalon, the new king of Jerusalem placed himself at the head of his army, traversed the desert, carried the terror of his arms to the banks of the Nile, and only returned to his kingdom when he had forced the Egyptians to purchase peace. The state in which Egypt was then placed was likely soon to recall the Christians thither; and happy would it have been for them if they had known how to profit by their advantages; and if their fruitless attempts had not served to favour the progress of a rival power.

Egypt was at that time the theatre of a civil war, occasioned by the ambition of two leaders who disputed the empire of it. For a length of time the caliphs of Cairo, like those of Bagdad, shut up in their seraglio, had borne no resemblance to the warrior from whom they derived their origin, who had said, whilst pointing to his soldiers and his sword, “ These are my family and my race .” Enervated by effeminacy and pleasures, they had abandoned the government to their slaves, who adored them on their knees, and imposed laws upon them. They no longer exercised any real authority but in the mosques, and only preserved the disgraceful privilege of confirming the usurped power of the viziers, who corrupted the armies, disturbed the provinces, and in the field of battle quarrelled with each other for the right of reigning over both people and prince.

Each of the viziers, to secure the triumph of his cause, called in by turns the arms of the neighbouring powers. On the arrival of these dangerous auxiliaries, all was in confusion on the banks of the Nile. Blood flowed in all the provinces, sometimes shed by the executioners, sometimes by the soldiers; Egypt was at once desolated by its enemies, its allies, and its inhabitants.

Chaver, who, amidst these revolutions, had raised himself from the humble condition of a slave to the post of vizier, had been conquered and displaced by Dargan, one of the principal officers of the Egyptian militia. Obliged to fly and abandon Egypt, where his rival reigned, he went to seek an asylum at Damascus, imploring the assistance of Noureddin, and promising a considerable tribute if that prince would furnish him with troops to protect his return into Egypt. The sultan of Damascus yielded to the prayers of Chaver. To command the army which he resolved to send into Egypt, he selected Chirkou, the most skilful of his emirs, who having always shown himself cruel and implacable in his military expeditions, was likely to be without pity for the vanquished, and to take all advantage of the miseries of a civil war, for the benefit of his master. The vizier Dargan was not long in being warned of the projects of Chaver and the preparations of Noureddin. To resist the storm about to burst upon him, he implored the aid of the Christians of Palestine, and promised to give up his treasures to them if they succeeded in preserving his power.

Whilst the king of Jerusalem, seduced by this promise, was collecting an army, Chaver, accompanied by the troops of Noureddin, crossed the desert, and approached the banks of the Nile. Dargan, who came out to meet him with the Egyptian army, was conquered by the Syrians, and lost his life in the battle. The city of Cairo soon opened its gates to the conqueror. Chaver, [296]whom the victory had delivered from his enemy, shed torrents of blood in the capital to insure his triumph, received amid the general consternation the congratulations of the caliph, and resumed the reins of government.