Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/144

130 forced their way into the camp of Bohemond, where they massacred the old, the women, and the helpless.

At this juncture the stout heart of Robert of Normandy saved his companions from the disgrace of utter defeat. Spurring his horse among the flying troops, he uncovered his head, and through the din and confusion of the fray Bounded his battle-cry of "Normandy!"

"Bohemond!" he shouted, "whither fly you? Your Apulia is afar! Where go you, Tancred? Otranto is not near you! Turn upon the enemy! God wills it! God wills it!" And with these words he rallied the troops, drove back the Turks, and maintained a firm line of defence. The battle raged during many hours with great slaughter on both sides, and the Christian troops were gradually giving way before overwhelming numbers, when the Red Cross banner appeared upon the hills, and the army of Godfrey of Bouillon advanced to change the fortune of the day. The Payuim host were compelled to fly in disorder, and their camp, containing great booty of food and provisions, fell into the hands of the Crusaders.

In the subsequent march through Phrygia, the Christians had to pass over a large tract of country which had been completely ravaged by the enemy. Their provisions soon became exhausted, and under the burning rays of a southern sun they found themselves without water. The accounts given by the chroniclers of the sufferings of the troops are too dreadful to be repeated here in detail. Men, women, and horses fell by thousands on the way, and perished by a lingering and painful death.

At length water was found, and the host of the Crusade reached the city of Antiochetta. Here, surrounded by a fertile district, the main body of the troops rested for a while from their fatigues, while detachments under the command of Tancred and Baldwin, brother of Godfrey Bouillon, made incursions through the country, and became possessed of the towns of Tarsus and Mamistra. Subsequently Baldwin crossed the Euphrates, and was elected King of Edessa in which city he remained until the conquest of the Holy Land was completed.

The great army of the Crusade continued its march through uninhabited wilds and barren mountains, and having taken possession of Artesia, advanced towards Antioch. Situated on the hills above the river Orontes, the town of Antioch was so strongly fortified by nature as well as by art, that all efforts to take it by assault proved fruitless, and the movable towers, mangonels, battering-rams, and other engines, which were brought to bear by the besieging army, were used without effect. (October 21, 1097.)

Meanwhile famine and disease spread their ravages in the camp without the walls, and the storms of winter proved more fatal to the troops than the arrows of the enemy. Rendered reckless by their sufferings, the soldiers cast aside all the obligations of morality; crimes of the worst description became common, and even the ties of nature were forgotten. We are told by William of Malmesbury, that such was the extremity to which the Crusaders were reduced, that many of them fed upon the dead bodies of their companions. Some of the inferior leaders deserted the army, and among these was Peter the Hermit, whose impulsive enthusiasm gave way before continued misfortunes. He, however, was brought back by Tancred, and was compelled to take a vow that he would not again abandon the enterprise until the army had reached Jerusalem.

After various encounters had taken place before the walls, during which the knights of the Crusade performed extraordinary feats of valour, the town of Antioch was surprised, in the night, and the Turkish inhabitants were slaughtered indiscriminately. The victors, however, found their condition but little improved by the conquest. The city was rich in booty of various kinds, but contained only a scanty store of provisions, of which the Crusaders stood most in need.

Reduced to a state of famine within the walls, the Christians found themselves attacked from without by the forces of the Persian Sultan, who had advanced to rid the country of the invaders. The army of Godfrey had the choice between giving battle to their assailants, or of perishing miserably in the city. Various means having been resorted to of arousing the superstitious feelings of the soldiers, the Christian host marched out from the gates and began the attack. The ghastly faces of men worn down by famine and misery were lighted once more by the flame of fanaticism, and the wild multitude threw themselves with desperate vigour upon the splendidly appointed host of the Moslem.

In the midst of the contest the Crusaders saw, or thought they saw, some figures clothed in white raiment and mounted upon white horses, advancing to their aid over the mountains. A cry was raised that the saints were coming to fight on their side; and so powerful was the effect of the enthusiasm thus produced, so terrible was the charge of the Christians upon their enemies, that the Persian host was utterly routed, and dispersed over the hills. Nearly 70,000 Turks are said to have died in the battle of Antioch, while the loss on the part of their opponents did not exceed 10,000. The Crusaders re-entered the city laden with the rich booty of the Turkish camp, in which were found provisions of all kinds, with stores of gold and arms.

While the Christian army was reposing in the midst of plenty, Hugh of Vermandois and Baldwin of Mons were dispatched to Constantinople on a mission to the Emperor Alexius. Baldwin fell into a Turkish ambuscade, and his fate is not known; but Hugh of Vermandois arrived safely at the Byzantine Court. Alexius, careless of his plighted faith, refused to send the reinforcements which were demanded, and suffered events to take their course. The Count of Vermandois having tasted once more the pleasures of ease and luxury, and wearied with the fatigues and privations of the Crusade, abandoned the cause which he had sworn to maintain, and leaving his companions in arms to their fate, ho returned to his estates in France.

Meanwhile a pestilence broke out in Antioch, and compelled the chiefs to separate and distribute their men in cantonments over the country. A desultory but successful warfare continued to be waged against the Turks, and many towns and fortresses fell into the hands of the Crusaders. At length, after further sufferings and much hard fighting, the remnant of the army of the cross arrived before Jerusalem. Of those immense armies, the flower of European chivalry, which had passed in splendid array under the walls of Constantinople, only about fifty thousand men were left to reach the Holy City.

An attack was commenced June 7, 1099, headed by Godfrey of Bouillon, Tancred, Robert of Normandy, and Robert of Flanders. The barbacans were carried, and a portion of the wall was thrown down; but such was the