Part 104

In the winter of 637, the Arabs, then masters of the greater part of Syria, laid siege to Jerusalem. After four months of vigorous attack and defense, the Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem held a parley from the walls with the Arab general, Abu Obeidah. "'Do you not know,' said he, 'that this city is holy, and that whoever offers violence to it draws upon his head the vengeance of heaven?' 'We know it,' replied Abu Obeidah, 'to be the house of the prophets, where their bodies lie interred; we know it to be the place whence our prophet Mahomet made his nocturnal ascent to heaven; and we know that we are more worthy of possessing it than you are, nor will we raise the siege until Allah has delivered it into our hands, as he has done many other places.' Seeing there was no further hope, the patriarch consented to give up the city, on condition that the Caliph would come in person to take possession and sign the articles of surrender." This proposal being communicated to Omar, the Caliph, he consented to make the long journey from Medina to Jerusalem, and, in due time, he entered the Holy City, not like a conqueror, but on foot, with his staff in his hand and wearing his simple, much-patched Arab garb. "The articles of surrender were drawn up in writing by Omar, and served afterwards as a model for the Moslem leaders in other conquests. The Christians were to build no new churches in the surrendered territory. The church doors were to be set open to travellers, and free ingress permitted to Mahometans by day and night. The bells should only toll, and not ring, and no crosses should be erected on the churches, nor shown publicly in the streets. The Christians should not teach the Koran to their children; nor speak openly of their religion; nor attempt to make proselytes; nor hinder their kinsfolk from embracing Islam. They should not assume the Moslem dress, either caps, slippers, or turbans, nor part their hair like Moslems, but should always be distinguished by girdles. They should not use the Arabian language in inscriptions on their signets, nor salute after the Moslem manner, nor be called by Moslem surnames. They should rise on the entrance of a Moslem, and remain standing until he should be seated. They should entertain every Moslem traveller three days gratis. They should sell no wine, bear no arms, and use no saddle in riding; neither should they have any domestic who had been in Moslem service. … The Christians having agreed to surrender on these terms, the Caliph gave them, under his own hand, an assurance of protection in their lives and fortunes, the use of their churches, and the exercise of their religion."

_W. Irving, Mahomet and His Successors, volume 2, chapter 18._

See, also, MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-639.

JERUSALEM: A. D. 908-1171. In the Moslem civil wars.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST and EMPIRE: A. D. 908-1171.

JERUSALEM: A. D. 1064-1076. Great revival of pilgrimages from western Europe.

See CRUSADES: CAUSES, &c.

JERUSALEM: A. D. 1076. Taken by the Seljuk Turks.

See CRUSADES: CAUSES, &c.

JERUSALEM: A. D. 1094. Visit of Peter the Hermit.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1094-1095.

JERUSALEM: A. D. 1099. The Blood "Deliverance" of the Holy City by the Crusaders.

The armies of the First Crusade (see CRUSADES: A. D. 1096-1099)—the surviving remnant of them—reached Jerusalem in June, A. D. 1099. They numbered, it is believed, but 20,000 fighting men, and an equal number of camp followers,—women, children, non-militant priests, and the like. "Immediately before the arrival of the Crusaders, the Mohammedans deliberated whether they should slaughter all the Christians in cold blood, or only fine them and expel them from the city. It was decided to adopt the latter plan; and the Crusaders were greeted on their arrival not only by the flying squadrons of the enemy's cavalry, but also by exiled Christians telling their piteous tales. Their houses had been pillaged, their wives kept as hostages; immense sums were required for their ransom; the churches were desecrated; and, even worse still, the Infidels were contemplating the entire destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This last charge, at least, was not true. But it added fuel to a fire which was already beyond any control, and the chiefs gave a ready permission to their men to carry the town, if they could, by assault." They were repulsed with heavy loss, and driven to the operations of a regular siege, for which their resources were limited in the extreme. But overcoming all difficulties, and enduring much suffering from lack of water, at the end of little more than a month they drove the Moslems from the walls and entered the city—on Friday, the 15th of July, A. D. 1099. "The city was taken, and the massacre of its defenders began. The Christians ran through the streets slaughtering as they went. At first they spared none, neither man, woman, nor child, putting all alike to the sword; but when resistance had ceased, and rage was partly appeased, they began to bethink them of pillage, and tortured those who remained alive to make them discover their gold. As for the Jews within the city, they had fled to their synagogue, which the Christians set on fire, and so burned them all. The chroniclers relate, with savage joy, how the streets were encumbered with heads and mangled bodies, and how in the Haram Area, the sacred enclosure of the Temple, the knights rode in blood up to the knees of their horses. Here upwards of ten thousand were slaughtered, while the whole number of killed amounted, according to various estimates, to forty, seventy, and even a hundred thousand. … {1883} Evening fell, and the clamour ceased, for there were no more enemies to kill, save a few whose lives had been promised by Tancred. Then from their hiding-places in the city came out the Christians who still remained in it. They had but one thought, to seek out and welcome Peter the Hermit, whom they proclaimed as their liberator. At the sight of these Christians, a sudden revulsion of feeling seized the soldiers. They remembered that the city they had taken was the city of the Lord, and this impulsive soldiery, sheathing swords reeking with blood, followed Godfrey to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where they passed the night in tears and prayers and services. In the morning the carnage began again. Those who had escaped the first fury were the women and children. It was now resolved to spare none. Even the three hundred to whom Tancred had promised life were slaughtered in spite of him. Raymond alone managed to save the lives of those who capitulated to him from the tower of David. It took a week to kill the Saracens, and to take away their dead bodies. Every Crusader had a right to the first house he took possession of, and the city found itself absolutely cleared of its old inhabitants, and in the hands of a new population. The true Cross, which had been hidden by the Christians during the siege, was brought forth again, and carried in joyful procession round the city, and for ten days the soldiers gave themselves up to murder, plunder—and prayers! And the first Crusade was finished."

_W. Besant and E. H. Palmer, Jerusalem, chapter 6._

ALSO IN: _C. Mills, History of the Crusades, volume 1, chapter 6._

_J. F. Michaud, History of the Crusades, book 4._

JERUSALEM: A. D. 1099-1144. The Founding of the Latin kingdom.

Eight days after their bloody conquest of the Holy City had been achieved, "the Latin chiefs proceeded to the election of a king, to guard and govern their conquests in Palestine. Hugh the Great [count of Vermandois] and Stephen of Chartres had retired with some loss of reputation, which they strove to regain by a second crusade and an honourable death. Baldwin was established at Edessa, and Bohemond at Antioch; and two Roberts—the Duke of Normandy and the Count of Flanders— preferred their fair inheritance in the West to a doubtful competition or a barren sceptre. The jealousy and ambition of Raymond [of Toulouse] were condemned by his own followers; and the free, the just, the unanimous voice of the army proclaimed Godfrey of Bouillon the first and most worthy of the champions of Christendom. His magnanimity accepted a trust as full of danger as of glory; but in the city where his Saviour had been crowned with thorns the devout pilgrim rejected the name and ensigns of royalty, and the founder of the kingdom of Jerusalem contented himself with the modest title of Defender and Baron of the Holy Sepulchre. His government of a single year, too short for the public happiness, was interrupted in the first fortnight by a summons to the field by the approach of the vizir or sultan of Egypt, who had been too slow to prevent, but who was impatient to avenge, the loss of Jerusalem. His total overthrow in the battle of Ascalon sealed the establishment of the Latins in Syria, and signalized the valour of the French princes, who in this action bade a long farewell to the holy wars. … After suspending before the Holy sepulchre the sword and standard of the sultan, the new king (he deserves the title) embraced his departing companions, and could retain only, with the gallant Tancred, 300 knights and 2,000 foot soldiers, for the defence of Palestine."

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 58._

Godfrey lived not quite a year after his election, and was succeeded on the throne of Jerusalem by his brother Baldwin, the prince of Edessa, who resigned that Mesopotamian lordship to his cousin, Baldwin du Bourg, and made haste to secure the more tempting sovereignty. Godfrey, during his short reign, had permitted himself to be made almost a vassal and subordinate of the patriarch of Jerusalem—one Daimbert, a domineering prelate from Italy. But Baldwin matched the priest in his own grasping qualities and soon established the kingship on a more substantial footing. He reigned eighteen years, and when he died, in 1118, the fortunate cousin, Baldwin du Bourg, received his crown, surrendering the principality of Edessa to another. This Baldwin II. died in 1131, and was succeeded by Fulk or Foulque, count of Anjou, who had lately arrived in Palestine and married Baldwin's daughter. "The Latin dominions in the East attained their greatest extent in the reign of King Baldwin II. … The entire sea-coast from Tarsus in Cilicia to El-Arish on the confines of Egypt was, with the exception of Ascalon and Gaza, in the possession of the Franks. In the north their dominions extended inland to Edessa beyond the Euphrates; the mountains of Lebanon and their kindred ranges bounded them on the east as they ran southwards; and then the Jordan and the desert formed their eastern limits. They were divided into four states, namely, the kingdom of Jerusalem, the county of Tripolis, the principality of Antioch, and the county of Edessa; the rulers of the three last held as vassals under the king." King Fulk died in 1143 or 1144, and was succeeded by his son, Baldwin III. Edessa was lost in the following year.

_T. Keightley, The Crusaders chapter 2._

See, also, CRUSADES: A. D. 1104-1111.

JERUSALEM: A. D. 1099-1291. The constitution of the kingdom.

"Godfrey was an elected king; and we have seen that his two immediate successors owed their crowns rather to personal merit and intrigue than to principles of hereditary succession. But after the death of Baldwin du Bourg, the foundation of the constitution appears to have been settled; and the Latin state of Jerusalem may be regarded as a feudal hereditary monarchy. There were two chief lords of the kingdom, namely, the patriarch and the king, whose cognizance extended over spiritual and temporal affairs. … The great officers of the crown were the seneschal, the constable, the marshal, and the chamberlain. … There were four chief baronies of the kingdom, and many other lordships which had the privileges of administering justice, coining money, and, in short, most of those powers and prerogatives which the great and independent nobility of Europe possessed. The first great barony comprised the counties of Jaffa and Ascalon, and the lordships of Ramula, Mirabel, and Ibelin. The second was the principality of Galilee. The third included the lordships of Sajetta, Cesarea, and Nazareth; and the fourth was the county of Tripoli. … {1884} But the dignity of these four great barons is shewn by the number of knights which they were obliged to furnish, compared with the contributions of other nobles. Each of the three first barons was compelled to aid the king with five hundred knights. The service of Tripoli was performed by two hundred knights; that of the other baronies by one hundred and eighty-three Knights. Six hundred and sixty-six knights was the total number furnished by the cities of Jerusalem, Naplousa, Acre, and Tyre. The churches and the commercial communities of every part of the kingdom provided five thousand and seventy-five serjeants or serving men."

_C. Mills, History of the Crusades, volume 1, chapter 8._

ALSO IN: E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 58.

See, also, ASSIZE OF JERUSALEM.

JERUSALEM: A. D. 1147-1149. The note of alarm and the Second Crusade.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1147-1149.

JERUSALEM: A. D. 1149-1187. Decline and fall of the kingdom. The Rise of Saladin and his conquest of the Holy City.

King Fulk was succeeded in 1144 by his son, a boy of thirteen, who took the title of Baldwin III. and with whom his mother associated herself on the throne. It was early in this reign of the boy-king that Edessa was taken by Zenghi, sultan of Aleppo, and an appeal made to Europe which called out the miserably abortive Second Crusade. The crusade "did nothing towards the maintenance of the waning ascendency of the Latins. Even victories brought with them no solid result, and in not a few instances victory was misused with a folly closely allied to madness. … The interminable series of wars, or rather of forays and reprisals, went on; and amidst such contests the life of Baldwin closed [A. D. 1162] in early manhood. … He died childless, and although some opposition was made to his choice, his brother Almeric [or Amaury] was elected to fill his place. Almost at the beginning of his reign the affairs of the Latin kingdom became complicated with those of Egypt; and the Christians are seen fighting by the side of one Mahomedan race, tribe, or faction against another." The Fatimite caliphs of Egypt had become mere puppets in the hands of their viziers, and when one grand vizier, Shawer, deposed by a rival, Dargham, appealed to the sultan of Aleppo (Noureddin, son of Zenghi), the latter embraced eagerly the opportunity to stretch his strong hand towards the Fatimite throne. Among his generals was Shiracouh, a valiant Koord, and he sent Shiracouh to Egypt to restore Shawer to power. With Shiracouh went a young nephew of the Koordish soldier, named Salah-ud-deen—better known in history as Saladin. Shawer, restored to authority, quickly quarrelled with his protectors, and endeavored to get rid of them—which proved not easy. He sought and obtained help from the Latin king of Jerusalem, in whose mind, too, there was the ambition to pluck this rotten-ripe plum on the Nile. After a war of five years duration, in which king Almeric was encouraged and but slightly helped by the Byzantine emperor, while Noureddin was approved and supported by the caliph of Bagdad, Noureddin's Koord general, Shiracouh, secured the prize. Grand vizier Shawer was put to death, and the wretched Fatimite caliph made young Saladin his vizier, fancying he had chosen a young man too fond of pleasure to be dangerously ambitious. He was speedily undeceived. Saladin needed only three years to make himself master of Egypt, and the caliph, then dying, was stripped of his title and his sovereignty. The bold Koord took the throne in the name of the Abbasside Caliph, at Bagdad, summarily ending the Fatimite schism. He was still nominally the servant of the sultan of Aleppo; but when Noureddin died, A. D. 1178, leaving his dominions to a young son, Saladin was able, with little resistance, to displace the latter and to become undisputed sovereign of Mahometan Syria, Egypt, and a large part of Mesopotamia. He now resolved to expel the Latins from Palestine and to restore the authority of the prophet once more in the holy places of Jerusalem. King Almeric had died in 1173, leaving his crown to a son, Baldwin IV., who was an unfortunate leper. The leper prince died in 1185, and the only makeshift for a king that Jerusalem found in this time of serious peril was one Guy of Lusignan, a vile and despised creature, who had married the last Baldwin's sister. The Holy Land, the Holy City and the Holy Sepulchre had this pitiful kinglet for their defender when the potent Saladin led his Moslems against them. The decisive battle was fought in July, A. D. 1187, near the city of Tiberias, and is known generally in Christian history as the Battle of Tiberias, but was called by Mahometan annalists the Battle of Hittin. The Christians were defeated with great slaughter; the miserable King Guy was taken prisoner—but soon released, to make trouble; the "true cross," most precious of all Christian relics, fell into Saladin's irreverent hands. Tiberias, Acre, Cæsarea, Jaffa, Berytos, Ascalon, submitted to the victor. Jerusalem was at his mercy; but he offered its defenders and inhabitants permission to depart peacefully from the place, having no wish, he said, to defile its hallowed soil with blood. When his offer was rejected, he made a vow to enter the city with his sword and to do as the Christians had done when they waded to their knees in blood through its streets. But when, after a short siege of fourteen days, Jerusalem was surrendered to him, he forgot his angry oath, and forgot the vengeance which might not have seemed strange in that age and that place. The sword of the victor was sheathed. The inhabitants were ransomed at a stipulated rate, and those for whom no ransom was paid were held as slaves. The sick and the helpless were permitted to remain in the city for a year, with the Knights of the Hospital—conspicuous among the enemies of Saladin and his faith—to attend upon them. The Crescent shone Christian-like as it rose over Jerusalem again. The Cross—the Crusaders' Cross—was shamed. The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem was now nearly extinct; Tyre alone held out against Saladin and constituted the most of the kingdom of King Guy of Lusignan.

_G. W. Cox, The Crusades, chapter 6._

ALSO IN: _W. Besant and E. H. Palmer, Jerusalem, chapters 12-16._

_J. F. Michaud, History of the Crusades, book 7._

_Mrs. W. Busk, Mediæval Popes, Emperors, Kings and Crusaders, book 2, chapters 10-11 (volume 2)._

See, also, SALADIN, THE EMPIRE OF.

JERUSALEM: A. D. 1188-1192. Attempted recovery. The Third Crusade.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1188-1192.

{1885}

JERUSALEM: A. D. 1192-1229. The succession of nominal kings.