The Crusades 1095-1197

by Jonathan Phillips

  William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, ed. Emily Babcock, tr.

  August Krey, 2 vols, Columbia University Press, New York, 1943, vol. 2, pp. 131-2.

  DOCUMENT 19 THE CALL FOR THE THIRD CRUSADE, 1187

  The news of the loss of Jerusalem is said to have caused Pope Urban III to die of a heart attack. His successor, Pope Gregory VIII, issued this lengthy appeal to the people of the West, in the bull Audita tremendi, urging them to react to the fall of the holy city. He plainly blamed the settlers’ infighting, but also the sins of all Christians. He urged people to accept God’s challenge and to undertake a penitential exercise in the form of the crusade. Note, the text in italics represents quotes from the Bible, used by Gregory to give his arguments greater effect.

  On hearing with what severe and terrible judgement the land of Jerusalem has been smitten by the divine hand, we and our brothers have been confounded by such great horror and affected by such great sorrow that we could not easily decide what to do or say: over this situation the psalmist laments and says, Oh God, the heathens are come into thine inheritance. Taking advantage of the dissension which the malice of men at the suggestion of the devil has recently aroused in the land of the Lord, Saladin came on those regions with a host of armed men. There advanced against him the king, the bishops, the Templars, the Hospitallers and the barons with the knights and the people of the land and the relic of the Lord’s cross, which used to afford a sure safeguard and desired defence against the invasion of the pagans through remembrance and faith in the passion of Christ, who hung on it and redeemed the human race on it. They were attacked and, when our side had been overpowered, the Lord’s cross was taken, the bishops were slain, the king was captured and almost everyone else was either killed by the sword or seized by hostile hands, so that very few were said to have escaped in flight. The bishops, moreover, and the Templars and the Hospitallers were beheaded in Saladin’s sight. We do not think that we ought to describe the events in letters until somebody comes to us from those parts who can explain more fully what really happened: how, once the army had been overcome, the infidels invaded and ravaged everything so that it is said that there are very few places left which have not fallen into their hands. But, although we have to say with the prophet Who will give water to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep day and night for the slain of my people, we ought not to be so downhearted that we fall into want of faith and believe that God, angered by his people in such a way as to allow himself to become infuriated by the manifold actions of a host of common sinners, will not through his mercy be quickly placated by penance, that he will not console us and that after tears he will not bring rejoicing. For anyone of sane mind who does not weep at such a cause for weeping, if not in body, at least in his heart, would seem to have forgotten not only his Christian faith, which teaches that one ought to mourn with all those who mourn, but even his very humanity, since every sensible man can surmise the details which we have left out, from the very magnitude of the peril, with those savage barbarians thirsting after Christian blood and using all their force to profane the Holy Places and banish the worship of God from the land. First the prophets and then the apostles of God might be established in that land and flow out from it to all the regions of the world. Moreover — this is the greatest and most unutterable fact — God, through whom all things were made, desiring to be made flesh, wished in his ineffable wisdom and incomprehensible mercy to bring about our salvation there through the infirmity of the flesh, which is to say, hunger, thirst, the cross and death, and through his resurrection, according to the saying, he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth; he deigned to work this through himself, which the tongue cannot speak of nor the heart of man contemplate. The Holy Land has now endured what we read that it suffered under men of old. What a great cause for mourning this ought to be for us and the whole Christian people!

  We ought not to believe, however, that these things have happened through the injustice of a violent judge, but rather through the iniquity of a delinquent people, since we read that when the people turned to the Lord one pursued after a thousand, and two chased ten thousand and when the people itself was at peace the army of Sennacherib was consumed by an angelic hand. But on the other hand that land devoured its inhabitants, nor could it remain in a quiet state for long, nor could it keep in check transgressors against the divine law. And these instances served as lessons and examples to those who were making their way to the heavenly Jerusalem and those who may not reach it except by the exercise of good works and through many temptations. But these things could first have been feared when Edessa and other land passed into the power of the pagans and it would have been prudent if the people who were left returned to penance and pleased the Lord by turning to him whom they had offended by transgression. For his anger does not come suddenly, but he puts off revenge and gives men time to do penance; in the end truly he, who does not fail to give judgement in his mercy, exacts his punishment to penalise the transgressors and to warn those who are to be saved. Faced by such great distress concerning that land, moreover, we ought to consider not only the sins of its inhabitants but also our own and those of the whole Christian people, and we ought to fear lest what is left of that land will be lost and the power of the infidels rage in other regions, since we hear from all parts of the world about quarrels between kings and princes, cities against cities, and about scandals. We can weep with the prophet and say, There is no truth and there is no knowledge of God in the land. Theft and lying and killing and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood. It is, therefore, incumbent upon all of us to consider and to choose to amend our sins by voluntary chastisement and to turn to the Lord our God with penance and works of piety; and we should first amend in ourselves what we have done wrong and then turn our attention to the treachery and malice of the enemy. And let us in no way hesitate to do for God what the infidels do not fear to attempt against the Lord.

  And so consider, my sons, how you came into this world and how you are going to leave it, how all things are passing and how too your life is transitory, and accept with an act of thanksgiving the opportunity for repentance and doing good, as much as it pertains to you, and give yourselves not to destruction but to the service of him from whom you have received both your existence and all the things you have; because you cannot exist of yourselves or possess anything by yourselves, you who cannot create one single gnat upon the earth. We are not saying, ‘Forgo what you possess’, but ‘Send it ahead into the heavenly barn and deposit in his house where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through or steal’, labouring for the recovery of that land in which for salvation truth arose from the earth and did not despise to suffer for us the gibbet of the cross. And do not make your way there for money or for worldly glory, but according to the will of God who taught by his own action that one ought to lay down one’s life for one’s brothers; and commend to his care your riches, which whether you like it or not you will leave in the end to heirs you will not know. It is nothing new for this land to be struck by divine judgement, nor is it unusual for it, once whipped and chastised, to seek mercy. The Lord, indeed, could save it by his will alone, but it is not for us to ask why he has acted thus. For perhaps the Lord has wished to find out and bring to the notice of others whether there is anyone who has knowledge of him or is seeking after him and might joyfully embrace the chance of penitence offered to him and, in laying down his life for his brothers, may be killed in a brief moment and gain eternal life. Hear how the Maccabees, on fire with zeal for the divine law, exposed themselves to every danger to liberate their brothers and taught that not only riches but also persons ought to be laid down for the salvation of their brethren, encouraging each other and saying, Gird yourselves and be valiant men, for it is better for us to die in battle than to see the evils of our nation and of the holies. And may you, led to the light of truth through the incarnation of Our Lord
Jesus Christ and instructed by the examples of many saints, perform without any fear what the Maccabees, set only under the law [of Moses], did; and do not fear to surrender earthly and few things that will last a short time in exchange for those good things which have been promised and reserved for you, that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard: neither have they entered into the heart of man; about which Saint Paul says that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us.

  But to those who with contrite hearts and humbled spirits undertake the journey and die in penitence for their sins and with right faith we promise full indulgence of their faults and eternal life; whether surviving or dying they shall know that, through the mercy of almighty God and the authority of the apostles Peter and Paul, and our authority, they will have relaxation of the reparation imposed for all their sins, of which they have made proper confession. And their goods and families shall stand under the protection of the Holy Roman Church and also of the archbishops and bishops and other prelates of the Church of God from the time when they take the cross. And no legal suit will be brought concerning those things they hold peacefully up to the time of their taking the cross until there is absolutely certain knowledge of their return or death; their goods are to remain in the meantime undiminished and unmolested. Also they are not to be forced to pay usurious interest if they are bound to anyone, but let them remain absolved from it and unmolested. Nor are they to go in rich clothes and with dogs or birds or other things which might seem to serve rather for delight and luxury than for necessary use; but they should go with modest provision and dress, in which they may appear rather to do penance than to affect empty pomp.

  Louise and Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: Idea and Reality, 1095-1274,

  Edward Arnold, London, 1981, pp. 64-7.

  DOCUMENT 20 SALADIN’S GENEROSITY, C. 1189-90

  Beha ad-Din was a close associate and admirer of Saladin and acted as the qadi al-’askar (judge of the army) from 1188 to 1193. He was, therefore, an eye-witness to many events at the time of the Third Crusade and was personally close to the sultan. The precise date of composition is difficult to ascertain hut was probably before 1216. The extract here is one of the many stories concerning Saladin’s generosity of a sort related by both Frankish and Muslim writers.

  The Muslims had thieves who would enter the enemy’s tents, steal from them, even taking individuals, and then make their way back. It came about that one night they took an unweaned infant three months old. They brought it to the sultan’s tent and offered it to him. Everything they took they used to offer him and he would reward and recompense them. When the mother missed the child she spent the whole duration of the night pleading for help with loud lamentations. Her case came to the notice of their [the Franks’] princes, who said to her, ‘He [Saladin] has a merciful heart. We give you permission to go to him. Go and ask him for the child and he will restore it to you.’ So she went to ask the Muslim advance guard for assistance, telling them of her troubles through a dragoman who translated for her. They did not detain her but sent her to the sultan. She came to him when he was riding on Tell al-Kharruba with me and with a great crowd attending upon him. She wept copious tears and besmirched her face with soil. After he had asked about her case and it had been explained, he had compassion for her, and with tears in his eyes, he ordered the infant to be brought to him. People went and found that it had been sold in the market. The sultan ordered the purchase price to be paid to the purchaser and the child taken from him. He himself stayed where he had halted until the infant was produced and then handed it over to the woman who took it, wept mightily, and hugged it to her bosom, while people watched her and wept also. I was standing there among the gathering. She suckled the child for a while and then, on the orders of the sultan, she was taken on horseback and restored to their camp with the infant.

  Consider this compassion which encompasses all humanity. O God, You created him merciful, show him Your ample mercy, O mighty and generous One! Consider, too, the testimony of the enemy to his gentleness, generosity, mercy and compassion.

  Beha ad-Din Ibn Shaddad, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, tr. Donald Richards, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2001, pp. 147-8.

  DOCUMENT 21 THE THIRD CRUSADE TURNS BACK FROM JERUSALEM

  As the Third Crusade approached Jerusalem the realisation that the holy city could not be held dawned upon the mass of crusaders. Having set out from the West determined to regain Jerusalem, this was a bitter blow to the army and caused morale to plummet. The text is a combination of the work of an anonymous English participant in the crusade and the thirteenth-century writer, Richard de Templo, an Augustinian based in London.

  So in the year of Our Lord 1192, not many days after the Lord’s Epiphany [6 January], a council was convened. The wiser people decided that they and the more discerning inhabitants of the country must have another discussion as to whether it would be more advantageous to advance and attack the city of Jerusalem or to turn elsewhere. . . . The Templars, Hospitallers and Poulains [the settlers] made a very strong case with various supporting arguments for completely abandoning the advance and instead pressing on with rebuilding the city of Ascalon. From there they could look out for Turks coming from Babylonia [Egypt] to Jerusalem, carrying foodstuffs. The leaders in general eventually gave their approval to this advice, believing at that time the most advantageous course of action was to rescue Ascalon from the Turks, rebuild it and keep watch so that the Turks would no longer have unhindered passage there.

  However, when the army was actually informed about the decision to retreat, the common people pined away with indescribable grief. All sighed and groaned because their heartfelt hope of visiting the Lord’s Sepulchre had suddenly been ended. Sadness hung over them, completely swallowing up their previous joy over the advance. Despair at what they now heard wiped out the earlier hope. In distress they called down evil on those who had published this decree, cursing the delay in carrying out their vow and those who caused things to go against them.

  Yet of these people had been more fully informed about the poor state of those [Muslims] who were in Jerusalem, they would have been less troubled by anxiety and taken some comfort from their enemies’ adversities. The Turks who had shut themselves in Jerusalem were indeed in the direst straits. . . . Without doubt, the long-desired city of Jerusalem could have been easily captured. Yet it could not have been held by our people for long, because when the pilgrimage was completed the people would have gone home and there would not have been anyone left who could defend it.

  Chronicle of the Third Crusade (Itinerarium peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi), tr. Helen Nicholson, Ashgate, Aldershot, 1997, pp. 283-4. See also pp. 335-6.

  Who’s Who

  Adhemar of Le Puy (d. 1098) Papal legate on the First Crusade and a key figure in preserving the strength and morale of the crusading army until the siege of Antioch. Died of illness just after the capture of the city.

  Alexius Comnenus, Byzantine emperor (1081-1118) His appeal sent to Pope Urban II at Piacenza in March 1095 helped to prompt the First Crusade, but he was deeply unsettled by the arrival of huge western armies at Constantinople. A subsequent dispute concerning the overlordship of Antioch soured relations between the settlers and Byzantium for decades to come.

  Alice, princess of Antioch After the death of her husband, Prince Bohemond II, in 1130, Alice tried hard to rule Antioch in her own right. She incited opposition to intervention from Jerusalem and intermittently held power until the arrival of Raymond of Poitiers in 1136. Her machinations enraged William of Tyre who called her a ‘malicious and scheming woman’.

  Amalric, king of Jerusalem (1163-74) Described as a strong, sober, legally-minded and clever man, always curious to learn; however, he was also fat (he had breasts that hung down to his waist), taciturn, greedy for money and, before he was king, a serial philanderer. An energetic and powerful ruler, he dominated his nobles, led five campaigns into
Egypt and journeyed to Constantinople in person to swear homage to Manuel Comnenus. He died just before another invasion of Egypt, aged only 38.

  Baldwin I, king of Jerusalem (1100-18) The count of Boulogne took part in the First Crusade and founded the county of Edessa in 1098. When his brother Godfrey of Bouillon died in 1100 he became king of Jerusalem. He repelled Egyptian attacks in his early years and then extended the boundaries of the kingdom into Transjordan (1115) and led the capture of several cities on the coast. A tall man and a great warrior, he was said to have struggled against the sins of the flesh; he nonetheless died childless.

  Baldwin II, king of Jerusalem (1118-31) Succeeded his cousin Baldwin I as count of Edessa and then as king in 1118. He was a tall man with a thin blond beard to his waist, a formidable warrior and an extremely pious individual with callouses on his knees from constant kneeling. The rival candidacy of Baldwin I’s European-based brother Eustace meant a difficult start to his reign, compounded by holding the regency of Antioch and imprisonment by the Muslims in 1122-23. On his release Baldwin led numerous campaigns against Aleppo, Damascus and Egypt and he launched a crusade appeal in 1127 to attack Damascus. He married his eldest daughter Melisende to Count Fulk V of Anjou to ensure the succession of his line.

  Baldwin III, king of Jerusalem (1143-63) Son of King Fulk, and a minor when he came to the throne. His mother Melisende acted as regent, but she refused to hand over power until 1152, causing near civil war in the kingdom. Described as a tall, dignified and well-educated man, he was also pious, generous and abstemious. He was said to be too keen on dice and games of chance for a king. Baldwin led the move towards more positive relations with the Byzantine Empire (1150 onwards) and captured Ascalon in 1153. These successes were offset by the failure of the Second Crusade (1148) and Nur ad-Din’s takeover of Damascus (1154).