De Expugnatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum: DE EXPUGNATIONE TERRAE SANCTAE PER SALADINUM

Quantis pressuris et calamitatibus oppressa sit et contrite Orientalis ecclesia a paganis, sine dolore et effusione lacrymarum vestrae excellentiae quis intimare potest? Ingresso itaque viam universae carnis rege Baldewino puero, Latinorum rege septimo immo octavo convenerunt seniores Ierusalem simul, sed non in unum. Princeps scilicet sacerdotum et magister militiae Templi cum suis militibus, et Reginaldus princeps Montisregalis, cum amicis comitis et comitissae Jopensis, portas civitatis Ierusalem clauserunt, neminem exire vel intrare permittentes, absentibus principibus et baronibus terrae, comitissam Jopensem, Sibillam nomine, filiam regis Almarici, in reginam unxerunt, et dominum suum Guidonem de Lizenan, comitem Jopensem, regem fecerunt, alii clamantibus, "Voluntas Dei est" aliis e contra dicentibus Sepulchrum Domini et Ierusalem cum pertinentiis suis propter hoc destruendum.

Who can intimate to your Excellency, without pain and an effusion of tears, by how great pressures and calamities the Eastern Church has been oppressed and crushed by the pagans? Accordingly, when King Baldwin, a boy, had entered the way of all flesh—the seventh, nay the eighth, king of the Latins—the elders of Jerusalem assembled together, but not as one. Namely, the prince of the priests and the Master of the Militia of the Temple with their soldiers, and Reginald, prince of Montisregalis, with the friends of the count and the countess of Joppa, closed the gates of the city of Jerusalem, allowing no one to go out or to enter, and, the princes and barons of the land being absent, they anointed the Countess of Joppa, Sibylla by name, daughter of King Amalric, as queen, and they made their lord, Guy of Lusignan, Count of Joppa, king; some shouting, "It is the will of God," others on the contrary saying that the Lord’s Sepulchre and Jerusalem with its appurtenances must on this account be destroyed.

Orta est denique dissensio in terra tam magna, ut vix duo consentirent in unum. Pauci cum rege, multi vel pene omnes cum comite Tripolitano et cum sociis suis, parati erant invicem inter se inire certamen. Sedatis tandem controversiis sed non peractis, malitia in cordibus utrorumque perdurante, parumper siluerunt.

At length a dissension arose in the land so great that scarcely two would consent together as one. A few were with the king; many, indeed almost all, with the Count of Tripoli and his associates, were prepared to enter into contest with one another. The controversies at last being quieted but not completed, with malice perduring in the hearts of both parties, they were silent for a little while.

His igitur tempestatibus irruentibus, bitumine caritis deficiente, arca Domini disiuncta et dissoluta est, atque aquis irrumpentibus contradictionis, illi qui hereditatem Crucifixi male tractabant, illam et suam et seipsos perdiderunt.

Therefore, with these tempests rushing in, the bitumen of charity failing, the Ark of the Lord was disjoined and dissolved; and as the waters of contradiction burst in, those who were mismanaging the inheritance of the Crucified lost it, and their own, and themselves.

II. De invasione terrae Galileae

2. On the invasion of the land of Galilee

His ita male gestis, Saladinus cum suis satellitibus gavisus est valde, sciens quod omne regnum divisum desolabitur, exercitum copiosum congregavit, atque in omnibus terris eius dominatui subiacentibus misit legatos dicens, ut omnis quicumque aurum, argentum, possessiones, domos, captivos et captivas habere vellet, ad eum properaret. Convenerunt autem ex omni parte Turci, Cordini, Syri, Arabes, Alani, Cumanni, Caffechaki, Idumaei, Turcemanni, Beduini, Sarraceni, Aegypti, et illi qui habitabant in terra Lieman; et castrametati sunt in loco qui dicitur Rasseleme, quod interpretatur Caput aquae. Considerans autem Saladinus debilitatem Christianorum, misit septem millia virorum fortium, ut terram Galilaeae depraedarent, cogitans, quod si isti pauci terram illam despoliassent, et sine damno revertissent, ceteri animosiores essent ad pugnam, et isti acriores.

With these things thus ill-managed, Saladin rejoiced greatly with his satellites, knowing that every kingdom divided will be laid waste; he gathered a copious army, and sent legates throughout all the lands subject to his dominion, saying that whoever would wish to have gold, silver, possessions, houses, captives and female captives, should hasten to him. And from every side there assembled Turks, Cordini, Syrians, Arabs, Alans, Cumans, Caffechaki, Idumaeans, Turcomans, Bedouins, Saracens, Egyptians, and those who dwelt in the land of Lieman; and they encamped in a place called Rasseleme, which is interpreted Head of Water. But Saladin, considering the weakness of the Christians, sent seven thousand brave men to plunder the land of Galilee, thinking that if these few should despoil that land and return without loss, the rest would be more spirited for battle, and these more keen.

Igitur ministri iniquitatis sanguinem sanctorum sitientes, sicut canes rabidi ad cadaver currentes, rapidissimo cursu in loco qui dicitur Cavan pervenerunt, ibique usque ad vesperum quieverunt. Sole denique recedente transierunt flumen, et velut filii noctis et tenebrarum, intempestae noctis silentio terram Galilaeae usque Cafram percurrentes, pauperes Christi perimentes, homines et mulieres cum copiosa multitudine iumentorum secum in captivitatem trahentes, patrem illorum, 'scilicet diabolum' imitantes, qui quos in stratu carnis reperit quiescentes et in peccatis suis dormientes, iugulat, et secum in foveam damnationis trahit. Et quia aurora veritatis et sol iustitiae non luxit eis, praemissis captivis cum praeda non minima in ipso crepusculo, insidias suas usque at quatuor millia virorum in valle Saforiae posuerunt, ceteri vero per planitiem campi Cana Galilaeae substitere.

Therefore the ministers of iniquity, thirsting for the blood of the saints, like rabid dogs running to a cadaver, with most rapid course reached the place called Cavan, and there they rested until evening. With the sun withdrawing they crossed the river, and, as sons of night and of darkness, in the silence of the dead of night, running through the land of Galilee as far as Cafram, slaying the poor of Christ, dragging men and women with a copious multitude of beasts of burden with them into captivity, imitating their father, ‘to wit the devil,’ who, those whom he finds resting on the couch of the flesh and sleeping in their sins, he slaughters and drags with him into the pit of damnation. And because the aurora of truth and the sun of justice did not shine for them, the captives having been sent on ahead with no small prey at that very twilight, they set their ambush, as many as four thousand men, in the valley of Saforia, but the rest halted over the level plain of the field of Cana of Galilee.

Mane autem facto, speculatores civitatis Nazareth levantes oculos et videntes inimicos Crucis Christi per concava vallium huc illucque discurrentes, timore percussi, clamantes et vociferantes: "Ecce assunt Turci, ecce assunt" venerunt in civitatem. His auditis, conclamabant per civitatem sub voce praeconia: "Viri Nazareni, arripite arma et pro loco veri Nazaraei fortiter dimicate".

When morning had come, the lookouts of the city of Nazareth, lifting up their eyes and seeing the enemies of the Cross of Christ running hither and thither through the concavities of the valleys, struck with fear, crying out and vociferating: "Behold, the Turks are at hand, behold they are at hand," came into the city. These things having been heard, they cried aloud through the city with the herald’s voice: "Men of Nazareth, seize arms and fight bravely for the place of the true Nazarene."

III. De magistro militiae Templi, et magistro Hospitalis

3. On the master of the militia of the Temple, and the master of the Hospital

Contigit autem eadem nocte magistrum militiae Templi et magistrum Hospitalis illuc advenisse, missos a rege et patriarcha cum duobus episcopis, quatenus pacem et concordiam inter regem et Reimundum comitem Tripolitanum honorifice tractarent, qui comes tunc temporis apud Tyberiadem morabatur. Tumultuante autem civitate, isti sunt expergefacti et interrogaverunt quid hoc esset; dictumque est eis a narrantibus quod Turci viam per quam ituri essent Tyberiade praeoccupaverant. Tunc magister militiae Templi socios suos ita effatus est:

It happened, moreover, that on the same night the Master of the Militia of the Temple and the Master of the Hospital arrived there, sent by the king and the patriarch with two bishops, to treat honorably of peace and concord between the king and Raymond, Count of Tripoli, which count at that time was staying at Tiberias. But as the city was in tumult, these men were awakened and asked what this was; and it was told them by those reporting that the Turks had preoccupied the road by which they were going to go to Tiberias. Then the Master of the Militia of the Temple thus addressed his companions:

"Fratres dilectissimi et commilitones mei, vos semper istis vanis et caducis restitistis, vindictam ex eis exegistis, de ipsis semper victoriam habuistis. Accingite ergo vos et state in proelio Domini, et memores estote patrum vestrorum Machabaeorum, quorum vicem bellandi pro ecclesia, pro lege, pro hereditate Crucifixi, iam dudum subistis. Scitote vero patres vestros non tam multitudine, apparatu armato, quam fide et observatione mandatorum Dei, victores ubique fuisse, quia non est difficile vel in multis vel in paucis vincere, quando victoria e caelo est."

"Brethren most beloved and my fellow-soldiers, you have always resisted those vain and perishable things, you have exacted vengeance from them, you have always had victory over them. Therefore gird yourselves and stand in the battle of the Lord, and be mindful of your Maccabaean fathers, whose role of warring for the Church, for the Law, for the inheritance of the Crucified, you have long since undertaken. Know truly that your fathers were victors everywhere not so much by multitude, by armed apparatus, as by faith and the observance of the commandments of God; for it is not difficult either with many or with few to conquer, when the victory is from heaven."

Qui omnes uno ore dixerunt: "Nos quidem prompti et parati sumus pro Christo mortem subire, qui morte sua pretiosa nos redemit. Hoc scientes, sive vivimus sive morimur, in nomine Iesu semper esse victores."

And they all with one voice said: "We indeed are prompt and prepared to undergo death for Christ, who by his precious death redeemed us. Knowing this—that, whether we live or whether we die, we are always victors in the name of Jesus."

Interim magister Hospitalis, vir bonus et pius, fratres et populum benigne alloquitur:

Meanwhile the Master of the Hospital, a good and pious man, benignly addresses the brothers and the people:

"Fratres carissimi et semper amici, ne terreamini ab his canibus rugientibus, qui hodie florent, cras quoque in stagnum ignis et sulphuris mittentur. Vos autem estis genus electum, gens sancta, populus adquisitionis. Vos estis aeterni, quia cum Aeterno regnaturi.

"Dearest brothers and ever friends, do not be terrified by these roaring dogs, who today flourish, but tomorrow also will be cast into the lake of fire and sulphur. But you are a chosen race, a holy nation, a people for acquisition. You are eternal, because you are to reign with the Eternal

Ergo ne timeatis, neque paveatis, sed mementote Abraham, qui cum ccc vernaculis quatuor reges persecutos est atque percussit, et praedam excussit; cui revertenti a caede quatuor regum occurrit rex Salem Melchisedech, offerens panem et vinum, atque benedictionem dedit. Ecce et vobis, quatuor vitiis capitalibus in virtute Trinitatis superatis, occurret rex Salem, id est Rex Iustitiae, verus sacerdos Iesus Christus, offerens panem satietatis aeternae, et vinum redemptionis perpetuae. Insuper et benedictionem infundet, ut amodo voluptatibus carnis non serviatis."

Therefore do not fear, nor be terrified, but remember Abraham, who with 300 homeborn men pursued and struck the four kings, and recovered the plunder; and as he was returning from the slaughter of the four kings, the king of Salem Melchizedek met him, offering bread and wine, and he bestowed a benediction. Behold, for you also, the four capital vices having been overcome in the virtue of the Trinity, the king of Salem, that is, the King of Justice, the true priest Jesus Christ, will meet you, offering the bread of eternal satiety and the wine of perpetual redemption. Moreover, he will pour in a benediction, so that from now on you may not serve the pleasures of the flesh."

IV. De pugna inter Christianos et Sarracenos habita

4. On the battle held between Christians and Saracens

Hoc dicto, omnes alacri corde arma arripuerunt, direxerunt acies, licet parvas, et cum omne hilaritate contra hostes processerunt. Cum vero planitiem campi nostri Christiani attigerunt, barbari quasi timore perculsi fugam simulantes, milites nostros ultro persequentes longe a servientibus protraxerunt, quatenus milites a peditibus separatos sine timore sagittarum sagittis interficerent, et pedites absque pavore lancearum et gladii, sagittis et gladiis et maceis ferreis occiderent. Cum autem per longa spatia campi essent divisi, insidiae Sarracenorum de latibulis proruperunt, milites et pedites in duas partes diviserunt, ut nec isti illis, nec illi istis mutuo adiutorio adiuvarent.

With this said, all seized arms with alacrity of heart, set their battle-lines, though small, and with all cheerfulness advanced against the enemies. But when our Christians reached the level plain of the field, the barbarians, as if struck by fear, feigning flight, by pursuing of their own accord drew our knights far away from the sergeants, so that, the knights once separated from the foot, they might slay them with arrows without fear of arrows, and might kill the foot-soldiers, without dread of lance and sword, with arrows and swords and iron maces. But when over long stretches of the field they had been divided, the ambush-parties of the Saracens burst forth from their hiding-places, divided the knights and the foot into two parts, so that neither these to those nor those to these might render mutual aid.

Igitur commissum est proelium satis durum et inaequale, quia nostri non erant amplius quam milites cxxx et quadringenti vel trecenti pedites, et invicem miserabiliter separati. Tamen multitudo paganorum, nec copiosae pharetrae sagittarum terrebant nostros, quin fortiter latera Sarracenorum lanceis perfodiendo fulgurantibus gladiis verberando dimicassent. Igitur cadebant percussi, plangebant vulnerati, sanguinem fundebant semivivi, ad inferos descendebant mortui, stupebant corde et labiis circumcisi, tam paucos milites contra tam magnam turbam posse certamen subire.

Accordingly the battle was joined, quite hard and unequal, because ours were no more than 130 knights and four hundred or three hundred foot-soldiers, and pitiably separated from one another. Yet neither the multitude of the pagans nor the copious quivers of arrows terrified our men; rather they fought bravely, piercing the flanks of the Saracens with lances and smiting with flashing swords. And so the struck were falling, the wounded were lamenting, the half-alive were pouring out blood, the dead were descending to the infernal regions; the circumcised were astounded in heart and on their lips, that so few soldiers could undergo a contest against so great a throng.

Et quia congressus et concursus militum Turci non potuerunt suffere, servientibus interfectis, conglobati sunt in unum cuneum; dantes fremitum et ululatum, undique nostros circumsederunt, uno animo super Christianos impetum fecerunt. Milites denique Christi turba barbarorum constipati, ita sunt in unum collecti, ut nec cursibus equorum, nec ictibus lancearum, aditum exeundi vel evadendi poterant aperire. Crudele spectaculum et omnibus Christianis cum fletu plangendum!

And because the Turks could not endure the encounter and concourse of the soldiers, their sergeants having been slain, they massed into a single wedge; giving a roar and a ululation, they surrounded our men on every side, and with one mind made an assault upon the Christians. Finally the knights of Christ, cramped by the throng of barbarians, were so gathered into one that neither by the courses of their horses nor by the blows of their lances could they open an entry for going out or for escaping. A cruel spectacle, and to be lamented with weeping by all Christians!

Stabant sancti quasi agni sine balatu inter rabidissimos lupos, iam Deo ablaturi, quatenus sole calescente ignis divinus hostias pacificorum consumeret. Enimvero tempore veris erat, aestate iam appropinquante: flores vineae 'id est ecclesiae' odorem dederunt et hortus conclusus de fonte signato irrigatus rubicundas et suavissimas sponso iamdudum inter candorem liliorum quiescenti obtulit rosas. Adversarii autem sanctorum et Deo odibiles undique sanctos expugnantes, alios sagittis perforabant et vulnera vulneribus imprimebant, alios gladiis caedebant, alios maceis ferreis quassabant.

The saints stood like lambs without bleating among the most rabid wolves, now about to be carried off to God, so that, as the sun grew warm, the divine fire might consume the victims of the peaceable. Indeed, it was the time of spring, with summer now approaching: the flowers of the vine—‘that is, of the Church’—gave forth fragrance, and the enclosed garden, irrigated from the sealed fountain, offered rubicund and most sweet roses to the bridegroom long since resting among the whiteness of lilies. But the adversaries of the saints, hateful to God and assailing the saints on every side, were piercing some with arrows and imprinting wounds upon wounds, others they were hewing with swords, others they were battering with iron maces.

Inter haec magister militiae Templi, videns quod traditi essent ad mortem et nulla spes salutis superesset, quassatus maceis fugiendo vivus evasit.

Meanwhile, the Master of the Militia of the Temple, seeing that they had been delivered over to death and that no hope of salvation remained, battered by maces, escaped alive by fleeing.

V. De nece magistri Hospitalis

5. On the slaying of the master of the Hospital

Magister vero sanctae domus Hospitalis, vir pius et bonae misericordiae visceribus semper affluens, ne coronam praesentem perderet, nec aliquid de mercede aeternae retributionis minueret, instabat intrepidus; et quoniam perfecta caritas foris timorem mittit, athleta victoriosus millia populi se circumdantis non timuit, quia laboris sui remuneratorem mente et spiritu in caelo vidit. Perferatus igitur undique ictibus sagittarumacutissimis et proprio cruore perfusus, insuper data lancea per medium pectoris, martyr et victor capitis abscisione Deum glorificavit. Proh dolor!

But the Master of the holy house of the Hospital, a pious man and ever overflowing with the bowels of good mercy, lest he lose the present crown and diminish anything of the reward of eternal retribution, pressed on undaunted; and since perfect charity casts out fear, the victorious athlete did not fear the thousands of people surrounding him, because he saw in mind and spirit in heaven the Rewarder of his toil. Therefore, transfixed on all sides by the blows of the sharpest arrows and drenched with his own blood, moreover, with a lance delivered through the middle of his breast, as martyr and victor he glorified God by the cutting off of his head. Alas!

Patrem orphanorum, susceptorem et visitatorem infirmorum, eleemosynarum largitorem, suae carnis et vitiorum victorem, praecursoris Domini dispensatorem, Dei et sanctorum amicum, occiderunt. O pauperes et membra Christi super hoc plangite: quid facietis capite ablato? Filiae Galilaeae et Nazareth 'id est transmigrationis et munditiae' assumite planctum, quia amator castitatis et munditiae, ut vos Ierusalem 'id est visioni pacis' pacificaret, in Cana Galilaeae 'id est in caelo transmigrationis' migravit.

They have killed the father of orphans, the receiver and visitor of the infirm, the largitor of alms, the victor over his own flesh and vices, the steward of the Lord’s precursor, the friend of God and of the saints. O poor and members of Christ, lament over this: what will you do with the head removed? Daughters of Galilee and Nazareth—“that is, of transmigration and of cleanliness”—take up lamentation, because the lover of chastity and cleanliness, in order that he might make you Jerusalem—“that is, a vision of peace”—peaceful, has migrated into Cana of Galilee—“that is, into the heaven of transmigration.”

Vae tibi Tyberias, vae tibi Bethsaida, quia inter montes superbiae tuae humilis rector humilium occisus est. Interim flete, quoniam vos estis causa fletis et materia. Heu, heu!

Woe to you, Tyberias, woe to you, Bethsaida, because among the mountains of your pride the humble ruler of the humble has been slain. Meanwhile, weep, since you are the cause and matter of weeping. Alas, alas!

Quis potest dicere vel cogitare quantae tristitiae et anxietates tenuerint corda sanctorum, cum hinc alios vidissent stantes sanguine proprio perfusos, illinc alios mole morientium fratrum oppressos; hinc alios cruorem suum bibentes et sitis ariditate morientes, illinc alios de corporibus suis tela et vitam cum sagittis extrahentes?

Who can say or even think how great the sadnesses and anxieties that held the hearts of the saints, when here they saw some standing, drenched with their own blood, there others crushed by the mass of dying brothers; here others drinking their own gore and dying of thirst from aridity, there others pulling from their bodies the missiles—and with the arrows their very life?

VI. De mirabili pugna duorum militum

6. On the marvelous fight of two soldiers

Omnibus iam paene morte crudelissima consumptis, inter ceteros restabant duo, quorum auxilio ceteri stabant. Stabant isti et instabant, hostes viriliter impugnando, quorum alter nomine Jakelin de Mayli, marescallus militiae Templi, vir armis strenuus; alter vero Henricus frater Hospitalis, miles et proeliator fortissimus. Horum primus bellator nobilissimus, quasi leaena saeviens, raptis catulis, unguibus scindens et fodiens, atque quidquid obiectum fuerit ore crudeli dilacerans, sic signifier noster frendens spiritu quemcumque potest attingere, in ruinam mortis et praecipitium damnationis ruit.

When now almost all had been consumed by a most cruel death, there remained among the rest two, by whose aid the others stood their ground. These stood and pressed on, manfully assailing the enemies, of whom the one by name Jakelin de Mayli, marshal of the Militia of the Temple, a man strenuous in arms; the other indeed Henry, a brother of the Hospital, a knight and a most valiant warrior. The first of these, a most noble fighter, like a lioness raging, her cubs snatched away, tearing and digging with her claws, and whatever might be thrown in her way rending with her cruel mouth—thus our standard-bearer, gnashing in spirit, hurls whomever he can reach into the ruin of death and the precipice of damnation, as he rushes upon them.

Et sicut aper crudelis circumdatus canibus, dentibus suis quodcumque obvium habuerit discerpens atque dilanians, ita sequens gladiator noster ferocissimus scindendo et occidendo homicidas impiissimos mittit ad inferos. Stupent autem tonsi in fronte, progenies scilicet Ismael, et sine periculo mortis ad eos non credebant esse accessus. Igitur stabant procul filii Babylonis et Sodomorum, lanceas, tela, sagittas in martyribus Christi, ut eos morti traderent, undique mittentes: at illi gaudenter susceperunt ictus, ut mererentur accipere coronam vitae.

And just as a cruel boar, surrounded by dogs, tears and rends with its teeth whatever it meets, so the latter, our most ferocious gladiator, by cleaving and killing, sends the most impious murderers to the underworld. Meanwhile the forehead-tonsured, namely the progeny of Ishmael, stand astonished, and they did not believe that there could be approach to them without the peril of death. Therefore the sons of Babylon and of Sodom stood afar off, hurling spears, missiles, and arrows at the martyrs of Christ from every side, so that they might hand them over to death; but they gladly received the blows, that they might merit to receive the crown of life.

Bellatores igitur incliti et amici Dei pondere tanti laboris fatigati, atque multitudine armorum oppressi, martyrio Christum glorificantes, glorioso fine quieverunt. Demum heredes Canaam more canum latrantes et per totum campum polluto ore perstrepentes clamabant: "Victi sunt, victi sunt qui vicerunt."

Therefore the illustrious warriors and friends of God, wearied by the weight of so great a labor and oppressed by the multitude of arms, glorifying Christ by martyrdom, came to rest with a glorious end. At length the heirs of Canaan, barking in the manner of dogs and clamorously resounding with a polluted mouth throughout the whole field, cried out: "They are conquered, they are conquered—those who conquered."

Et quoniam viventes non audebant attendere, ad corpora in solo sine anima et spiritu iacentia accedebant et minutatim in frusta scindentes dispergebant per campum. Omnibus itaque morte vel captivitate consumptis, reversi sunt filii Edom per locum qui vocatur Til, ubi Iordanis influit in mare per ripam maris Galilaeae, in medio itinere Tyberiadis et Iaphep, iuxta mensam de qua non erant pransuri ubi scilicet Dominus Iesus de quinque panibus et duobus piscibus satiavit quinque millia hominum; ibique pernoctantes, spolia sanctorum cruentis manibus diviserunt. Et quia prima dies Maii erat, qua flores et rosae colligi solebant, viri Nazareni colligebant corpora Christianorum et sepelierunt ea in cimiterio Beatae Mariae in Nazareth, et fecerunt planctum magnum super interfectos, dicentes: "Heu, heu, quid contigit nobis?

And since they did not dare to venture upon the living, they went up to the bodies lying on the ground without soul and spirit, and cutting them into little pieces they scattered them over the field. With all, therefore, consumed by death or captivity, the sons of Edom returned by the place which is called Til, where the Jordan flows into the sea along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the middle of the road between Tiberias and Iaphep, next to the table at which they were not going to dine—where, namely, the Lord Jesus with five loaves and two fishes satisfied five thousand men; and there, passing the night, they divided the spoils of the saints with bloody hands. And because it was the first day of May, on which flowers and roses used to be gathered, the men of Nazareth were gathering the bodies of the Christians and buried them in the cemetery of Blessed Mary in Nazareth, and they made great lamentation over those slain, saying: "Alas, alas, what has happened to us?

Ergo filiae Nazareth et Galilaeae, multiplicate planctum, augete fletum, quia insanabilis est dolor vester. O Sion, specula summi Regis, annuntia in Ierusalem et in Iudaea quae vidisti, ut et ipsi sumant planctum, quoniam vastitas et desolatio imminet eis".

Therefore, daughters of Nazareth and of Galilee, multiply lamentation, augment weeping, for your pain is incurable. O Zion, watchtower of the Most High King, announce in Jerusalem and in Judea the things you have seen, that they too may take up lamentation, since devastation and desolation impend over them".

His itaque gestis comes Reimundus Tripolitanus super hoc contristatus est usque ad mortem, dicens: "Ne aliquis putet propter me vel me hoc factum esse, vadam et subiiciam me regi et reginae et senioribus Ierusalem; insuper et quidquid iusserint faciam."

With these things thus done, Count Raymond of Tripoli was grieved over this unto death, saying: "Let no one think that on account of me or by me this was done; I will go and submit myself to the king and queen and the seniors of Jerusalem; moreover I will do whatever they shall have ordered."

Igitur qui relicti fuerant, archiepiscopus scilicet Tyrensis et archiepiscopus Nazarensis et magister Templi miserunt nuntios in Ierusalem ad regem, dicentes: "Condoluit comes satis super interfectione magistri Hospitalis et ceterorum; ideoque venturus est nobiscum in Ierusalem, tibi subiiciendus omnibus querelis sopitis; et tu bene fac ad ipsius honorem nobis occurendo."

Therefore those who had been left—namely the archbishop of Tyre and the archbishop of Nazareth and the Master of the Temple—sent messengers into Jerusalem to the king, saying: "The count has grieved enough and beyond over the killing of the Master of the Hospital and of the others; and therefore he will come with us into Jerusalem, to be submitted to you, with all complaints laid to rest; and do you do well, for his honor, by coming out to meet us."

Hoc audito surrexit rex Guido Lisinensis cum multitudine militum et Turcopolorum et occurrit comiti. Obviaverunt autem sibi rex et comes in campo magno Dotaym iuxta Cisternam Ioseph. Ibi vero uterque descendens in terram, astantibus episcopis et militibus Templi et militibus Hospitalis et baronibus terrae cum universis populis et gaudentibus, amplexati sunt et deosculati; atque iunctis lateribus perrexerunt ambo pariter in Ierusalem, et illic fecit homagium regi et reginae, condonantibus invicem querelis.

On hearing this King Guy of Lusignan rose with a multitude of knights and Turcopoles and went to meet the count. The king and the count met one another in the great plain of Dotaym near the Cistern of Joseph. There indeed, each dismounting to the ground, with the bishops standing by, and the Knights of the Temple and the Knights of the Hospital and the barons of the land, with all the people rejoicing, they embraced and exchanged kisses; and, riding side by side, they both proceeded together to Jerusalem, and there he performed homage to the king and queen, their grievances being mutually condoned.

Omnibus ergo bene compositis, adorata vivifica Cruce, reversus est comes Tyberiadem; rex vero permansit in Ierusalem causa congregandi exercitum.

Therefore, with all things well settled, and the life-giving Cross having been adored, the count returned to Tiberias; but the king remained in Jerusalem for the sake of assembling the army.

VII. De adunatione duorum exercitum

7. On the adunation of the two armies

Anno millesimo centesimo octogesimo septimo ab Incarnatione Domini congregavit rex Syriae exercitum copiosum sicut arenam quae est in littore maris, ut debellaret terram Iuda, et venit usque Iaulan trans flumen ibique fixit tentorium. Rex autem terrae Ierusalem coadunavit et ipse exercitum ab omni Iudaea et Samaria. Et convenerunt omnes et castrametati sunt circa fontem Safforiae.

In the year 1187 from the Incarnation of the Lord the king of Syria assembled a copious army like the sand which is on the shore of the sea, to subdue the land of Judah, and he came as far as Jaulan across the river and there pitched his tent. But the king of the land of Jerusalem likewise mustered an army from all Judea and Samaria. And they all gathered and encamped around the spring of Safforia.

Templarii vero et Hospitalarii de omnibus castellis suis populum multum congregaverunt veneruntque in castra. Surrexit autem et comes Tripolis cum omni populo, quem de Tripoli et Galilaea congregaverat, et venit in castris. Sed et princeps Reginaldus Montisregalis cum gente sua: Balisanus Neapolensis cum sua; Reginaldus Sidoniensis cum sua; dominus Caesariae Palaestinae cum sua.

The Templars and the Hospitallers, indeed, gathered a great populace from all their castles and came into the camp. And the count of Tripoli also rose up with all the people whom he had gathered from Tripoli and Galilee, and came into the camp. But also Prince Reginald of Montis Regalis with his people: Balian of Neapolis with his; Reginald of Sidon with his; the lord of Caesarea of Palestine with his.

Non remansit homo in civitatibus vel vicis vel castellis, qui ad bella posset procedere, quia iussu regis urgeretur exire. Nec hoc quidem sufficiebat eis, sed aperuerunt aerarium regis Angliae, et dederunt stipendium omnibus qui areum vel lanceam poterant ad pugnam gestare. Habebant autem exercitum copiosum, milites mille cc, Turcopulos innumerabiles; pedites decem et octo millia, vel eo amplius.

No man remained in the cities or villages or castles who could go forth to the wars, because by the king’s order he was pressed to go out. Nor was this even sufficient for them, but they opened the treasury of the king of England and gave stipend to all who could bear a bow or a lance for the fight. Moreover, they had a copious army: 1,200 knights, innumerable Turcopoles; 18,000 foot-soldiers, or even more.

Et gloriati sunt in multitudine hominum et equorum hinnientium, in loricis quoque et galeis et lanceis et clypeis aureis, et non crediderunt in Deo, nec speraverunt in salutari Eius, qui est protector et salvator Israel, sed evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis et vani facti sunt.

And they gloried in the multitude of men and of neighing horses, and in cuirasses also and helmets and lances and golden shields; and they did not believe in God, nor did they hope in His salvation, who is the protector and savior of Israel; but they vanished in their own cogitations and were made vain.

VIII. De ligno Domini ad bellum allato

8. On the wood of the Lord brought to the war

Miserunt etiam in Ierusalem ad patriarcham, quatenus cum ligno Dominico pretioso ipsemet ad castra venire properasset: et quoniam lumen oculorum cordis iamdudum amiserat, sicut Ely Silonites, Ofhni et Finees, filios suos, scilicet episcopum Liddensis ecclesiae et episcopum Accon 'constituit', ut essent portitores Dominicae Crucis et custodes, sperans omnibus captis vel interfectis sibi aditum patere evadendi: sed voluntate Dei cecidit retro de sella, quam fortasse indignus possederat. Interea Syri transierunt Iordanem percurrentes et devastantes omnem regionem circa torrentem Cyson in Tyberiade ad Betthaniam, et montes Gelboe et Iesrae et usque Nazareth, et per circuitum montes Tabor. Et quoniam terram invenerunt ab hominibus destitutam, quia fugerant timore eorum, incenderunt areas et quidquid invenire poterant flammis tradiderunt.

They also sent to Jerusalem to the patriarch, that he himself might hasten to come to the camp with the precious Dominical Wood; and since he had long since lost the light of the eyes of his heart, like Eli the Shilonite, he ‘appointed’ Hophni and Phinehas, his sons—namely, the bishop of the church of Lydda and the bishop of Acre—to be bearers and custodians of the Lord’s Cross, hoping that, with all taken captive or slain, an avenue of escape would be open to himself; but by the will of God he fell backward from the seat which perhaps he had unworthily possessed. Meanwhile the Syrians crossed the Jordan, running through and devastating all the region around the torrent Kishon in Tiberias to Bethany, and the mountains Gelboe and Jezreel and as far as Nazareth, and, all around, Mount Tabor. And since they found the land forsaken by men, because they had fled in fear of them, they burned the threshing-floors and consigned whatever they could find to the flames.

Ardebat autem tota terra sicut globus unus ante faciem eorum. Nec tamen his satiati, insuper et montem sanctum ascenderunt, et locum sanctissimum – in quo Salvator noster assumptis discipulis Petro et Iacobo et Iohanne, apparentibus Moyse et Elia, gloriam futurae resurrectionis transfiguratione sua ostenditfoedaverunt. Quem locum princeps apostolorum, visa gloria aeternae claritatis, laudans, ibique cupiens habitare dixit: "Domine, bonum est nos hic esse," etc., futurum nesciens quod praesens cernebat.

But the whole land was blazing like a single globe before their face. Nor yet sated by these things, moreover they ascended the holy mountain, and the most holy place – in which our Savior, having taken the disciples Peter and James and John, with Moses and Elijah appearing, displayed the glory of the future resurrection by his Transfiguration – they defiled. Which place the prince of the apostles, the glory of eternal brightness having been seen, praising it and desiring to dwell there, said: "Lord, it is good for us to be here," etc., not knowing that what he beheld as present was future.

IX. De expugnatione Tyberiadis

9. On the capture of Tiberias

Istis ita percurentibus ac devastantibus, transivit Saladinus flumen cum omni exercitu suo et iussit applicari exercitum ad civitatem Tyberiadem, ut debellaret eam. Secunda die mensis Iulii, feria quinta, circumdata est civitas a sagittariis, et coeperunt pugnare. Et quoniam civitas non erat munita, comitissa et viri Galilaei miserunt nuntios ad comitem et ad regem dicentes: "Circumdederunt Turci civitatem et iam prope expugnaverunt, muris perforatis, ad nos intrantes.

As these were thus sweeping through and devastating, Saladin crossed the river with all his army and ordered the army to be brought up to the city of Tiberias, that he might war it down. On the second day of the month of July, Thursday, the city was surrounded by archers, and they began to fight. And since the city was not fortified, the countess and the men of Galilee sent messengers to the count and to the king, saying: "The Turks have surrounded the city and have now nearly stormed it, with the walls perforated, entering in upon us.

Succurrite ergo cras vel capti et captivi erimus."

"Therefore, come to the rescue tomorrow, or we shall be captured and captive."

Pugnaverunt igitur Syri et praevaluerunt. Ut autem cognoverunt viri Galilaei non posse sustinere, relictis propugnaculis et civitate, fugerunt in castellum a facie paganorum. Capta est autem civitas atque succensa.

Therefore the Syrians fought and prevailed. But when the men of Galilee realized that they could not hold out, leaving the bulwarks and the city, they fled into the castle before the face of the pagans. The city, moreover, was captured and set ablaze.

Et quoniam audierent rex Aegypti quod exercitus Christianorum veniret adversum se noluit oppugnare castellum, sed ait: "Sinite, captivi mei sunt."

And since the king of Egypt heard that the army of the Christians was coming against him, he did not wish to attack the fort, but said: "Let them be; they are my captives."

Haec est civitas tam frequenter in Evangeliis nominata, corporali frequentatione et illustratione miraculorum Domini nostri gloriosa. Hic autem ut verum hominem Se ostenderet in navicula Petri dormivit, et ut verus Deus ventis et mari imperavit. Hic denique ut verum Deum Se demonstraret, quarta vigilia noctis 'scilicet circa finem Mosaicae legis, aurora Evangelii et gratiae iam albescente' super liquidas undas maris operante divinitate ambulavit.

This is the city so frequently named in the Gospels, glorious by the bodily frequentation and the illustration of the miracles of our Lord. Here moreover, in order to show Himself a true man, He slept in Peter’s little boat, and, as true God, He commanded the winds and the sea. Here at last, that He might demonstrate Himself true God, at the fourth watch of the night—'namely around the end of the Mosaic law, with the dawn of the Gospel and of grace now whitening'—He walked, the divinity operating, upon the liquid waves of the sea.

Hic verum Petrum fide titubantem et mergentem extensa manu erexit; scilicet ecclesiam inter fluctus saeculi periclitantem gloria Resurrectionis et operatione miraculorum confirmavit. Hic autem ut verum corpus et veram carnem post resurrectionem Se habere insinuaret, coram discipulis suis partem piscis assi et favum mellis manducavit; et post trinam interrogationem an Petrus Illum diligeret et trinam responsionem Petri: "Domine, tu scis quia amo te" oves et agnos Petro conservandos commendavit atque celebrato glorioso convivio, et iam abire incipiente Petro se sequi 'scilicet passione crucis' praecepit.

Here He raised true Peter, wavering in faith and sinking, with outstretched hand; namely, He confirmed the Church, imperiled amid the billows of the age, by the glory of the Resurrection and the operation of miracles. Here moreover, in order to intimate that after the Resurrection He had a true body and true flesh, He ate before His disciples a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb; and after the triple questioning whether Peter loved Him and Peter’s triple response: “Lord, you know that I love you,” He entrusted to Peter the sheep and the lambs to be kept, and, the glorious banquet having been celebrated, and Peter now beginning to depart, He commanded him to follow Him—‘namely, by the passion of the cross’.

X. De consilio procerum et de consilio comitis Tripolitani

10. On the counsel of the nobles and on the counsel of the Count of Tripoli

Secunda die mensis Iulii, feria v. advesperascente, auditis litteris Galilaeorum, convocavit rex terrae Ierusalem omnes duces exercitus, ut darent consilium quid essent acturi. Qui omnes tales dedere consilium, quatenus cruce Dominica comitante, omnes armati et per acies distincti, contra hostes dimicaturi mane procederent atque civitati Tyberiadis succurrerent. Quod audiens comes Tripolitanus ait:

On the second day of the month of July, as Thursday was drawing toward evening, upon hearing the letters of the Galileans, the king of the land of Jerusalem convoked all the leaders of the army, that they might give counsel as to what they should do. All of them gave such counsel, namely that, with the Lord’s Cross accompanying, all armed and arranged in battle-lines, they should proceed in the morning to fight against the enemies and to succor the city of Tiberias. Hearing this, the Count of Tripoli said:

"Mea est civitas Tyberiadis, uxor mea ibi est, nullus vestrum tantum amisit quantum ego, nec aliquis vestrum tam diligenti studio, salva Christianitate, succurreret vel adiuvaret, quam ego. Tamen absit hoc a rege et a nobis, aquam et victum, et ea quae necessaria sunt, relinquere, et tantam mltitudinem populorum et iumentorum in solitudine, fame et siti et fervida aestate interficiendam deducere. Et quoniam populus multus est et fervida aetas, sine abundantia aquae, vos 'psi' scitis, per dimidiam horam diei populum non posse subsistere, nec inimici nostri sine magna penuria et interitu hominum et iumentorum ad nos possunt pertingere.

"Mine is the city of Tiberias, my wife is there; none of you has lost as much as I, nor would any of you, with as diligent a zeal, with Christianity kept safe, succor or aid as I would. Yet far be this from the king and from us: to leave water and victuals and the things that are necessary, and to lead so great a multitude of peoples and of beasts of burden into the wilderness to be slain by hunger and thirst and the burning summer. And since the people are many and the season is fervid, without an abundance of water, you 'yourselves' know that the people cannot hold out for even half an hour of the day, nor can our enemies reach us without great want and the death of men and beasts of burden.

State ergo super aquas vestras et alimenta vestra in medio terrae, quoniam certum est in tantam superbiam Sarracenos se erexisse, capta civitate, ut nec ad dexteram nec ad sinistram declinare, sed per vastam solitudinem recto itinere ad nos properare et ad bella provocare. Populus autem noster refectus et satiatus pane et aqua contra hostes pugnaturus de castris exhibit hilariter. Et nos quidem et equi nostri recentes, adiuvante nos et protegente cruce Dominica, gentem incredulam et in siccitate fatigatam, et refugium refocillationis non habentem, fortitor expugnabimus.

Therefore stay by your waters and your provisions in the midst of the land, since it is certain that the Saracens, the city having been taken, have raised themselves to such arrogance that they will turn neither to the right nor to the left, but through the vast solitude by a straight road hasten toward us and provoke to battles. But our people, refreshed and satisfied with bread and water, about to fight against the enemies, will go out from the camp cheerfully. And we indeed, and our horses, fresh, with the Lord’s Cross aiding and protecting us, will more stoutly subdue that unbelieving nation, wearied with drought and having no refuge of refocillation.

Sciatis vero inimicos crucis Christi antequam ad mare veniant, vel ad flumen possint redire, interfectos gladio, vel lancea, vel siti, vel captos manu, gratia nobiscum Iesu Christi perdurante. Nobis autem si aliquid contigerit mali, quod absit, habemus per circuitum munitiones si opus fuerit fugiendi, quod Deus avertat."

Know truly that the enemies of the cross of Christ, before they come to the sea or can return to the river, will be slain by the sword, or the lance, or by thirst, or seized by hand, the grace of Jesus Christ enduring with us. But if anything evil should befall us—which God forbid—we have fortifications all around, if there should be need of fleeing—which may God avert."

Et quoniam tradituri erant in manibus luporum, de lupo iniquo problema contra comitem vera dicentes protenderunt dicentes: Adhuc latet in pelle lupi. Impleto est ergo in eis quod per Sapientem dicitur: Vae terrae cuius rex iuvenis est et cives mane comedunt! Rex autem noster iuvenis iuvenile secutus consilium, et cives invidia et odio carnem proximorum comedentes, consilium suae salutis et ceterorum reliquerunt et in insipientia et fatuitate sua terram et populum et seipsos perdiderunt.

And since they were going to hand them over into the hands of wolves, about the iniquitous wolf they put forward a problem against the count, speaking truths, saying: “He still lies hidden in the wolf’s skin.” Therefore there was fulfilled in them what is said through the Wise Man: “Woe to the land whose king is a youth, and whose citizens eat in the morning!” But our king, a youth, following youthful counsel, and the citizens, devouring the flesh of their neighbors in envy and hatred, abandoned the counsel of their own salvation and of the rest, and in their insipience and fatuity destroyed the land and the people and themselves.

XI. De aciebus dispositis

11. On the battle lines disposed

Igitur feria sexta, die tertia mensis Iulii, relictis necessariis, per turmas suas processerunt. Comes Tripolis in prima fronte secundum dignitatem suam,ceteri autem dextra laevaque secundum institutionem terrae perrexerunt. Acies autem sanctae crucis et acies regis simul subsequentes; postremo Templarii causa exercitum custodiendi,secundum situm terrae.

Therefore on Friday, the third day of the month of July, the necessary things having been left behind, they advanced in their squadrons. The Count of Tripoli in the first front according to his dignity,others however went on to the right and to the left according to the disposition of the terrain. But the battle line of the Holy Cross and the king’s battle line followed together; lastly the Templars for the sake of guarding the army,according to the site of the land.

Protecti sunt autem de Safforia, ut irent Tyberiadem, sicut dictum est et pervenerunt usque casale quod dicitur Marescalciae in tertio milliario a civitate. Ibi veroita coangustati sunt incursione hostium et siti, ut ultra nequirent procedere. Et quoniam transituri erant per loca scopulosa et angusta ut ad mare Galilaeae pertingerent, quod uno milliario distabat ab eis, mandavit comes ad regem dicens: "Festina et transeamus locum istum, quatenus et nos et populus possimus nos ad aquas salvare; sin autem, periclitabimur sicca mansione." Qui respondit: "Cito transibimus."

However, they set out from Safforia to go to Tiberias, as has been said, and they reached as far as the casale called Marescalcia, at the third milestone from the city. There indeed they were so straitened by the incursion of the enemy and by thirst that they could not proceed further. And since they were going to pass through rocky and narrow places to reach the Sea of Galilee, which was one mile distant from them, the count sent word to the king, saying: "Make haste, and let us cross this place, so that both we and the people may be able to save ourselves to the waters; but if not, we shall be imperiled by a dry sojourn." He replied: "We shall cross swiftly."

Interea Turci invaserunt extremos exercitus, ita ut Templarii et ceteri qui in extrema parte erant minime possent sustinere. Neci denique tradituris iussit rex ex improviso, exigentibus peccatis, figere tentoria. Cumque comes respexisset et vidisset tentoria ait: "Heu!

Meanwhile the Turks assailed the rearmost ranks of the army, such that the Templars and the others who were in the hindmost part were by no means able to withstand. Destined at length to be handed over to slaughter, the king, unexpectedly—sins exacting it—ordered the tents to be pitched. And when the count looked back and saw the tents he said: "Alas!"

heu! Domine Deus, finita est guerra, traditi sumus ad mortem et terra destructa est."

alas! Lord God, the war is finished, we have been handed over to death, and the land is destroyed."

Castrametati sunt ergo cum dolore et angustia et siti in sicca mansione, ubi magis effusus sanguis nocte illa quam aqua. Si nox solitaria nec laude digna, in qua Christiani aiditate sitis amiserunt fortitudinem, nec computetur in noctibus anni, nec numeretur in mensibus, in qua lux Christinorum obcaecata est. O quam amara habitatio in qua non erat mortis declinatio.

They therefore encamped with grief and anguish and thirst in a dry lodging, where more blood was poured out that night than water. Let that night be solitary and not worthy of praise, in which the Christians, by the aridity of thirst, lost their fortitude; nor let it be counted among the nights of the year, nor numbered among the months, in which the light of the Christians was blinded. O how bitter a habitation, in which there was no turning aside from death.

Haec est mansio declinationis et sitis, ubi duces Israel pro desiderio aquae declinaverunt. Igitur filii Esau circumdantes populum Dei, et incendentes desertum circa eum, atque tota nocte calore ignis, fumo, sagittis, vexatos fame et siti vexabant. O quam miserabilis requies per tam longam viam solitudinis.

This is the station of declination and of thirst, where the leaders of Israel, for desire of water, turned aside. Therefore the sons of Esau, surrounding the people of God and setting the desert around them ablaze, and through the whole night with the heat of fire, with smoke, with arrows, kept vexing those already vexed by hunger and thirst. O how miserable a rest along so long a way of solitude.

Forte non sunt recordati manus Dei qua redemit Israel de potestate tribulantis. Certe stabat redemptio captivorum in medio populi; arbor scilicet salutifera, in qua suspensus est serpens aeneus, ut a morsibus venenati serpentis respicientes liberaret. Forsitan non respiciebant, sed neque considerabant, quoniam obscura nox infidelitatis eorum captivaverat fidem, et caecitas invidae obduraverat mentem.

Perhaps they did not remember the hand of God by which He redeemed Israel from the power of the oppressor. Surely the redemption of the captives stood in the midst of the people—the health-giving tree, namely, on which the brazen serpent was hung, so that those looking upon it might be freed from the bites of the venomous serpent. Perhaps they did not look, nor even consider, since the dark night of their infidelity had taken their faith captive, and the blindness of envy had hardened the mind.

Dissipati sunt nec compuncti; clamaverunt, nec erat qui salvos faceret, quoniam filii alieni mentiti sunt Domino, et claudicaverunt a semitis Eius; ideo clamantes non exaudivit, quia non est speciosa laus in ore peccatoris. Enimvero cibavit eos Deus nocte illa pane lacrymarum, et vino compunctionis sine mensura potavit: pallio quoque maeroris et angustiae cooperuit, atque castigatione dura flagellavit, et renuerunt disciplinam.

They were dissipated and felt no compunction; they cried out, and there was no one to make them safe, because the sons of strangers lied to the Lord, and they limped away from His paths; therefore, though crying out, He did not hearken, because seemly praise is not in the mouth of the sinner. Indeed God fed them that night with the bread of tears, and with the wine of compunction He gave them to drink without measure: with the mantle of sorrow and anguish He also covered them, and with hard castigation He scourged them, and they refused discipline.

XII. De peditibus occisis

12. On the slain foot-soldiers

Humilitatis tandem in loco afflictionis, et opertis umbra mortis, illuxit dies, dies tribulationis et miseriae, dies captivitatis et angustiae, dies planctus et perditionis. Mane autem facto, ascendit rex Syriae, relinquens civitatem Tyberiadem cum omni exercitu suo ad planitiem campi, ut proeliaretur adversum Christianos, atque praeparavit se ut occurreret nostris. Nostri igitur direxerunt acies suas, et festinaverunt ut transirent supradictum locum, quatenus aquis recuperatis refrigerati, hostes impugnando acrius invaderent.

At length—in the place of humiliation, in affliction, and covered by the shadow of death—the day dawned, a day of tribulation and misery, a day of captivity and anguish, a day of lamentation and perdition. But when morning had come, the king of Syria advanced, leaving the city of Tiberias with all his army to the level plain, in order to do battle against the Christians, and he prepared himself to meet our men. Our men therefore arrayed their battle-lines, and hastened to cross the aforesaid place, so that, having regained water and, being refreshed, they might more sharply assault the enemies in attacking.

Processit denique comes ut obtineret locum quem Turci iam incoeperant appropinquare. Cum autem ordinati essent et per acies distincti, praeceperunt peditibus ut sagittando munirent exercitum, quatenus milites levius hostibus obstarent, ut milites muniti per pedites a sagittariis hostibus, et pedites per lanceas militum ab incursu hostium essent adiuti; et ita utrique mutuo adiutorio defensi salutem obtinerent. Sed iam appropinquantibus Sarracenis, conglobati sunt pedites in unum cuneum, atque veloci cursu cacumen excelsi montis, relinquentes exercitum, malo suo ascenderunt.

Finally the count advanced to secure the position which the Turks had already begun to approach. But when they had been arrayed and set out by battle lines, they instructed the infantry that by archery they should fortify the army, so that the knights might more lightly withstand the enemies: the knights being protected by the footmen against the enemies’ archers, and the footmen being aided by the lances of the knights against the onrush of the foes; and thus both, defended by mutual assistance, might obtain safety. But as the Saracens were now drawing near, the foot were massed into a single wedge, and at a swift run, abandoning the army, they ascended, to their own harm, the summit of a lofty mountain.

Rex igitur et episcopi et ceteri miserunt ad eos rogantes ut venirent, lignum Dominicum, et hereditatem Crucifixi, et seipsos, et exercitum Domini defendere. At illi respondentes dixerunt: "Non venimus, quoniam siti extincti sumus, et nequimus proeliare."

Therefore the king and the bishops and the others sent to them, beseeching that they come to defend the Lord’s Wood, and the inheritance of the Crucified, and themselves, and the army of the Lord. But they, responding, said: "We are not coming, since we have been extinguished by thirst, and we cannot do battle."

Mandaverunt iterum; at illi omnino reditum negantes perstiterunt. Pugnaverunt interim Templarii et Hospitalarii fortiter et Turcopoli in extrema parte exercitus, et non potuerunt praevalere, quoniam undique absque numero inimici creverunt, sagittando et vulnerando Christianos. Cum autem paululum processissent, clamaverunt ad regem postulando auxilium, dicentes se tanti ponderis bellum non posse sustinere.

They sent again; but those men, utterly denying a return, persisted. Meanwhile the Templars and Hospitallers fought bravely, and the Turcopoles, in the outermost part of the army, and they could not prevail, since on all sides the enemies multiplied without number, shooting and wounding the Christians. But when they had advanced a little, they cried out to the king, asking for aid, saying that they could not sustain a war of such weight.

Rex autem et ceteri, ut viderunt quod pedites renuerunt redire, et quod ipsi sine servientibus contra sagittas Turcorum non possent subsistere, gratia Dominicae crucis iusserunt interim figere tentoria, quatenus cursus Sarracenorum impedirent et levius ferrent. Igitur diffusae sunt acies, et descenderunt circa sanctam crucem confusi et intermixti huc atque illuc. Hi denique qui fuerunt cum comitis Tripolis in prima fronte, videntes quod rex et Hospitalarii et Templarii et universi ita essent simul confusi, atque cum Turcis commixti, et multitudinem barbarorum inter eos et regem; ipsis autem non patere aditum ad lignum Dominicum revertendi, exclamaverunt: "Qui potest transire transeat, quoniam non est nobis proelium.

The king, however, and the others, when they saw that the foot-soldiers refused to return, and that they themselves without their sergeants could not stand firm against the arrows of the Turks, for the sake of the Lord’s cross ordered in the meantime that the tents be pitched, so that they might impede the course of the Saracens and bear it more lightly. Therefore the battle-lines were spread out, and they came down around the holy cross, confused and intermingled here and there. Those, finally, who were with the Count of Tripoli in the foremost front, seeing that the king and the Hospitallers and the Templars and all alike were thus together thrown into confusion and mixed with the Turks, and that a multitude of barbarians stood between them and the king, while for themselves no access lay open to return to the Lord’s Wood, cried out: “Whoever can cross over, let him cross; for there is no battle for us.”

Sed et fuga quidem iam periit a nobis."

"But even flight, indeed, is now lost to us."

Inter haec Syri irruerunt per millenos et millenos super Christianos, sagittando et interficiendo eos.

Meanwhile the Syrians rushed upon the Christians by thousands and thousands, shooting arrows and killing them.

XIII. De occisione episcopi Achonensis

13. On the killing of the bishop of Acre

Interim episcopus Accon, baiulator crucis Domnicae, vulneratus est ad mortem atque episcopo Liddensi crucem gestaro reliquit. Irruerunt autem multitudo paganorum super pedites atque per praecipitium praerupti montis, in cuius cacumine iamdudum fugerant, praecipitaverunt, et alios occidendo, alias captivando vastaverunt. Et i quidem digne talem mortem sustinerunt, qui relicta cruce humilitatis Christi, in superbia mentis excelsa petierunt.

Meanwhile the bishop of Acre, bearer of the Lord’s Cross, was wounded unto death and left the carrying of the Cross to the bishop of Lydda. But a multitude of pagans rushed upon the foot-soldiers and hurled them headlong over the precipice of a steep mountain, on whose summit they had already fled; and by killing some and taking others captive, they ravaged them. And these indeed deservedly endured such a death, who, having abandoned the Cross of the humility of Christ, sought exalted heights in pride of mind.

Comes denique et sui, et Balisanus Neapolitanus et Reginaldus Sidoniensis et ceteri Pullani, qui adhuc erant equitantes, videntes hoc dedere terga, atque supradictum locum angustum vi equorum conculcando Christianos et pontem faciendo, quasi per planum iter: ita per angusta loca et scopulosa super suos et Turcos et crucem fugiendo transierunt. Atque sic quoquomodo cum vita tantum evaserunt.

Finally the Count and his men, and Balian the Neapolitan and Reginald of Sidon and the other Pullani, who were still riding, seeing this, turned their backs, and at the aforesaid narrow place, by the force of their horses trampling Christians and making a bridge, as if over a level road: thus through narrow and craggy places, over their own men and the Turks and the Cross, fleeing, they passed across. And so somehow they escaped with life only.

XIV. De captione Sanctae Crucis et regis Guidonis et ceterorum

14. On the capture of the Holy Cross and of King Guy and of the others

Igitur Sarraceni congregati sunt circa lignum Dominicum et regem et ceteros, devastantes ecclesiam. Quid multa? Praevaluerunt Sarraceni contra Christianos et fecerunt in eos quaecumque voluerunt.

Therefore the Saracens gathered around the Lord’s Wood and the king and the others, devastating the church. In short, the Saracens prevailed against the Christians and did to them whatever they wished.

Heu mihi! Quid dicam? Libet magis plorare et plangere quam aliquid dicere.

Alas for me! What shall I say? I would rather weep and lament than say anything.

Heu mihi! Dicam pollutis labiis qualiter pretiosum lignum Dominicum nostrae redemptionis tactum sit damnatis manibus damnatorum? Vae mihi misero, quod in diebus miserae vitae meae talia cogor videre.

Alas for me! Shall I, with polluted lips, tell how the precious Lord’s wood of our redemption has been touched by the damned hands of the condemned? Woe is me, wretched, that in the days of my miserable life I am compelled to see such things.

Vae autem et genti peccatrici, populo gravi iniquitate, per quem omnium Christianorum fides blasphematur, et pro quibus Christus iterum cogitur flagellari et crucifigi. O dulce lignum et suave, sanguine Fili Dei roratum atque lavatum! O crux alma, in qua salus nostra pependit, per quam et chyrographum mortis deletum est, et vita in protoplasto perdita recuperata est!

But woe also to the sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, through whom the faith of all Christians is blasphemed, and on whose account Christ is compelled again to be scourged and crucified. O sweet and pleasant wood, bedewed and washed with the blood of the Son of God! O kindly Cross, on which our salvation hung, through which both the chirograph of death was blotted out, and the life lost in the protoplast was recovered!

Quo mihi adhuc est vivere, ligno vitae sublato? Et vere credo sublatum esse, quoniam fides Filii crucis evanuit, quin impossibile est sine fide placere Deo. Vae nobis miseris, qui armaturam nostram, peccatis exigentibus, amisimus!

To what end is it for me still to live, with the wood of life taken away? And truly I believe it has been taken away, since faith in the Son of the Cross has vanished—indeed, it is impossible without faith to please God. Woe to us miserable ones, who, our sins demanding it, have lost our armor!

Sublatum igitur lignum est nostrae salutis, dignum ab indignis, indigne heu! heu! asportatum.

Therefore the wood of our salvation has been taken away, the worthy by the unworthy, unworthily alas! alas! carried off.

Nec mirum si corporalem sanctae crucis substantiam fortitudine visibilium inimicorum amiserunt, quam iamdudum spiritualiter bonis operibus iustitiae deficientibus, mente et spiritu perdiderant. Plangite super hoc omnes adoratores crucis, et plorate, atque veram crucem in cordibus vestris recta fide et inconcussa pingite, et confortamini in spe, quoniam crux non deserit sperantes in se, nisi prius ipsa deseratur. Quid plura?

No wonder if they have lost the bodily substance of the holy cross to the might of visible enemies, which long since—good works of justice failing—they had lost spiritually, in mind and in spirit. Lament over this, all you adorers of the cross, and weep, and paint the true cross in your hearts with right and unshaken faith, and be strengthened in hope, since the cross does not desert those hoping in it, unless it is first itself deserted. What more?

Capta est crux et rex et magister militiae Templi et episcopus Liddensis et frater regis et Templarii et Hospitalarii et marchio de Monte Ferrat, atque omnes vel mortui vel capti sunt. Contritus est autem exercitus Christianorum occisione, captivitate, fuga miserabili, inimicis vero suis spolia eorum detrahentibus et dividentibus. Humiliavit ergo Deus populum suum, inclinando calicem de manu sua, et propinando vinum amaritudinis usque ad faecem.

The Cross was taken, and the king, and the Master of the Militia of the Temple, and the Bishop of Lydda, and the king’s brother, and Templars and Hospitallers, and the marquis of Montferrat, and all were either dead or captured. Moreover the army of the Christians was crushed by slaughter, captivity, and miserable flight, while their enemies were stripping off and dividing their spoils. Therefore God humbled his people, inclining the cup from his hand and proffering the wine of bitterness unto the dregs.

Verumtamen faex eius non est exinanita . Bibunt adhuc Sarraceni ex eodem calice faecem damnationis usque ad fundum. Super hoc condolit propheta David dicens:

Nevertheless, its dregs are not emptied . The Saracens still drink from the same chalice the dregs of damnation down to the bottom. Over this the prophet David grieves, saying:

"Populum tuum, Domine, humiliaverunt, et hereditatem tuam vexaverunt, viduam et advenam interfecerunt, et pupillos occiderunt. Usque, Domine, haec facient? Donec fodiatur peccatori fovea, et iustitia convertatur in iudicium.

"They have humbled your people, O Lord, and have vexed your inheritance; they have slain the widow and the sojourner, and have killed the orphans. How long, O Lord, will they do these things? Until a pit be dug for the sinner, and justice be converted into judgment.

Tunc quidem reddet illis iniquitatem ipsorum, et in malitia eorum disperdet eos" scilicet Sarracenos.

"Then indeed he will repay to them their iniquity, and in their malice he will destroy them" namely the Saracens.

O propheta, nobis quid dicis? Vos qui plantati estis in domo Domini et in atriis Eius floretis.

O prophet, what do you say to us? You who have been planted in the house of the Lord and flourish in His courts.

"Venite exultemus Domino, etc., quoniam Deus magnus Dominus, quia non repellet plebem suam, et hereditatem suam non derelinqueret."

"Come, let us exult to the Lord, etc., for a great God is the Lord, because he will not repel his people, and he will not abandon his inheritance."

Altera autem die occiso principe Reginaldo Montis regalis Templarii quoque et Hospitalariis sub pretio emptionis ab aliis Turcis comparatis atque occisis, mandavit Saladinus ad comitissam et ad viros qui erant in arce Tyberiadis, ut castellum relinquerent atque accepta securitate vitae quo vellent irent in pace. Qui et ita fecerunt relicta civitate. Inde transiens Saladinus,munito castello, profectus est Saphorie, atque in loco quo exercitus Christianorum solebat habitare, iussit rex Syriae tigere tentoria sua et sicut campum debellatis Christianis obtinuerat, sic quoque et locum tabernaculorum.

On the other day, with Prince Reginald of Mont Royal slain, the Templars and the Hospitallers also—purchased for a price from other Turks—were gathered up and killed; Saladin sent word to the countess and to the men who were in the citadel of Tiberias, that they should leave the castle and, having received security for their lives, should go in peace wherever they wished. And they did so, leaving the city. Thence passing on, Saladin, the castle having been fortified, set out for Sephorie, and in the place where the army of the Christians was accustomed to lodge, the king of Syria ordered his tents to be pitched; and just as he had obtained the field with the Christians vanquished, so also the place of their tents.

Ibi autem per aliquos dies demoratus est, celebrans guadium victoriae et dividens non heredibus hereditatem Crucifixi, sed ducibus et amiralibus suis nefandis, unicuique propriam partem designans. Interim de Saladino et factis eius taceamus, qualiter scilicet perambulavit regionem Fenicis usque ad flumen Canis et debellavit eam: atque quomodo frater eius Sephidin et ceteri regionem Geraris et Philistinorum invaserant dicamus.

There, however, he delayed for some days, celebrating the joy of victory and dividing, not to the heirs, the inheritance of the Crucified, but to his nefarious dukes and amirals, assigning to each his proper share. Meanwhile let us be silent about Saladin and his deeds—how, namely, he perambulated the region of Phoenicia as far as the River of the Dog and debellated it—and let us tell how his brother Sephidin and the others had invaded the region of Gerar and of the Philistines.

XV. De invasione Saphadini

15. On the invasion of Saphadin

Audiens autem Sephidin frater Saladini quod Christiani essent devicti 'qui Sephidin iamdudum cum exercitu suo, quem de Aegypto conduxerat, ab reliquis Ierusalem et habitatoribus regionis Geraris et Philistiim fugatus fuerat', reversus est, et ascendit cum multitudine gravi, quam de Alexandria et Babylone et Campo Tafneos collegerat, super omnem regionem a Darone et Gazaris usque Ierusalem, et per circuitum usque Caesaream Palestinam, omnes civitates et castella omnia confringendo et interficiendo habitatores et captivando, et loca omnium possidendo, atque suis amiralibus partes terrarum largiter tribuendo. Et quoniam Ascalonem civitatem Palestinae regionis nobilissimam, muris fortissimis et altis turribus munitam, non poterat expugnare, sed neque castellum Gazaris militiae Templi, transivit per castellum Ybelim et debellavit atque flammis tradidit.

But hearing that the Christians had been defeated—'who Sephidin, some time before, with his army which he had led from Egypt, had been routed by the remaining people of Jerusalem and by the inhabitants of the region of Gerar and of the Philistines'—Sephidin, brother of Saladin, returned, and went up with a heavy multitude, which he had gathered from Alexandria and Babylon and the Camp of Tafneos, upon all the region from Darum and Gaza as far as Jerusalem, and in a circuit as far as Caesarea of Palestine, breaking all the cities and all the forts and killing the inhabitants and taking them captive, and taking possession of all places, and lavishly granting to his amirs shares of the lands. And since he could not storm Ascalon, the most noble city of the region of Palestine, fortified with very strong walls and lofty towers, nor the castle of Gaza of the militia of the Temple, he advanced against the castle of Ibelin and overcame it and consigned it to the flames.

XVI. De captione Ioppen

16. On the capture of Joppa

Inde applicuit ad civitatem Ioppem, sed quia non erat munita, nec hominibus nec muris, praesertim cum fortes et valentes per mare ad civitatem Tyrum confugerant, debellavit eam et cepit cum multitudine hominum et feminaruam a quibus fuga perierat, et pretium nauli defecerat. Fit igitur strages magna et miserabilis per totam regionem, foetorque intolerabilis cadaverum Christianorum, quoniam non erat locus in tota terra in quo non iacerent corpora putrida et tumida, quia non erat qui sepeliret. Ceteri autem qui gladium et arma prophanorum non senserunt, relictis omnibus, ut corpora ad tempus salvarent, fugerunt in Ierusalem.

Thence he made landfall at the city of Joppa; but because it was not fortified, neither with men nor with walls—especially since the strong and able had fled by sea to the city of Tyre—he warred it down and took it, together with a multitude of men and women for whom escape had failed, and the price of passage had run out. Accordingly a great and miserable slaughter is made throughout the whole region, and an intolerable fetor of the cadavers of Christians, since there was not a place in all the land in which there did not lie putrid and swollen bodies, because there was no one to bury them. But the rest who did not feel the sword and arms of the profane, leaving all things, so that they might save their bodies for the time being, fled into Jerusalem.

Et isti quidem fugientes arma ferrea Babyloniorum, irruerunt in arcum aereum peccatorum suorum, secum scilicet portantes, quae utinam in campestribus cum Babyloniis reliquissent. Percurrens denique Sephidin totam regionem illam, pervenit ad castellum quod vocatur Mirabel, atque obsidionem posuit, direxit machinas, et per aliquot dies sibi resistentes acerrime debellavit. Cumque viri qui erant in munitione viderunt se non posse resistere, pietate parvulorum et uxorum commoti, dextras postulabant.

And these, indeed, fleeing the iron arms of the Babylonians, rushed headlong into the brazen bow of their own sins, carrying them with them, to wit those things which would that they had left on the plains with the Babylonians. Running through Sephidin, finally, the whole region, he came to the castle which is called Mirabel, and laid a siege, set up the engines, and for several days fought down with utmost fierceness those resisting him. And when the men who were in the fortification saw that they could not resist, moved by pity for their little ones and their wives, they asked for right hands.

Data autem securitate, eiecit eos inde, et ne ab aliis Sarracenis interficerentur in itinere, dedit duces usque cccc. Turcos fortissimos, quatenus usque ad coenobium S. Samuelis, quod situm est in monte Sylo, milliario secundo ab Ierusalem, deducerent salvos. Deduxerent autem illos usque ad Montem Gaudii Ierusalem, sed fugati sunt et percussi a Templariis et a viris Ierusalem, cecideruntque vulnerati multi per descensum montis Modin, et ita confusi redierunt.

But security having been granted, he drove them out from there; and lest they be killed by other Saracens on the journey, he gave as escorts up to 400 very stalwart Turks, to conduct them safe as far as the monastery of St. Samuel, which is situated on Mount Silo, at the second milestone from Jerusalem. However, they led them as far as the Mount of Joy of Jerusalem; but they were put to flight and struck by the Templars and by the men of Jerusalem, and many fell wounded along the descent of Mount Modin, and so they returned in confusion.

Perseverans autem Sephidin in maligna elatione mentis suae contra ecclesiam Christi, omnia montana Belleem a meridie et occidente Ierusalem nefandissimis ministris in desolationem vastationis mittere praecepit. Et quoniam per diversas partes terram Ierusalem Sarraceni, qui cum Saladino erant, invaserunt, dignum quidem nobis videtur sicut vidimus et audivimus brevi et impolito sermone summatim perstringere, atque illis qui nesciunt vel non viderunt, sicut gestum est ostendere. Debellatis ergo Christianis, dimisit Saladinus exercitum suum, quatenus unusquisque cum suis proficisceretur, atque partem illam, quam datam sibi cognoverat, expugnando habitatores obtineret.

However, Sephidin, persevering in the malignant elation of his mind against the church of Christ, commanded that all the hill-country of Bethlehem, to the south and west of Jerusalem, be delivered over by most unspeakable minions into the desolation of devastation. And since in diverse parts the Saracens who were with Saladin invaded the land of Jerusalem, it seems indeed fitting to us, as we have seen and heard, to sketch it summarily and in unpolished speech, and to show to those who do not know or did not see how it was done. Therefore, the Christians having been vanquished, Saladin dismissed his army, so that each man might depart with his own, and might secure that portion which he understood had been assigned to him, by storming the inhabitants.

Profecti sunt autem veloci cursu, atque totam terram ita subito praeoccupaverunt, ut nullus sibi vel alii posset adiutorium impendere. Dispersi igitur sunt cooperiendo superficiem terrae sicut locustae. Ante omnes tamen et prae omnibus avari Turcomanni et Beduini bona Christianorum cupientes, campestria Saronis invaserunt, et ubi omnia animalia terrae simul collecta confugerant, ibi quoque avidus cupiditate rapiendi cucurrerent, atque habitatores impugnando acrius et perimentes eos ut bona eorum diriperent.

They set out at a swift course, and so suddenly pre‑occupied the whole land that no one could furnish aid to himself or to another. Therefore they were dispersed, covering the surface of the land like locusts. Yet before all and beyond all, the greedy Turcomans and Bedouins, desiring the goods of the Christians, invaded the plains of Sharon; and where all the animals of the land, gathered together, had taken refuge, there too, avid with the cupidity of seizing, they ran, and by assailing the inhabitants more fiercely and slaying them, so that they might despoil their goods.

Et isti quidem castellis et domibus non utuntur, sed tantum rapinam diligentes, de rapinis inter ceteros vivunt. Istis itaque percurrentibus et omnia campestria castella devastantibus, a monte Carmeli, qui et Caifas vocatur, in cuius cacumine sita est ecclesia S. Elyae prophetae super alta rupe quae respicit Tholomaidam contra mare, signum scilicet opportunum navigantibus, usque Assur transeuntes et Ioppe et Lidda et civitatem Rama, occidendo servos Christi et bona eorum diripiendo .

And these men indeed do not use castles and houses, but, loving only rapine, they live by plunder among the rest. As therefore these were coursing through and devastating all the castles of the plain, from Mount Carmel, which is also called Caifas, on whose summit is situated the church of St. Elijah the prophet upon a high cliff which looks toward Ptolemais over against the sea—a sign, namely, suitable for sailors—passing as far as Assur and Joppa and Lydda and the city Rama, killing the servants of Christ and plundering their goods.

XVII. De captione Nazareth

17. On the capture of Nazareth

Alii quidem per civitatem Nazareth 'quae interpretatur flos sive munditia' ascenderunt et ecclesiam B. Virginis Mariae effundendo sanguinem Christianorum, qui inibi confugerant causa munitionis, cruentaverunt ecclesiam, inquam, sanctam, et ob dulcedinem divini Verbi incarnati per totum mundum nominatam et a fidelibus honoratam. Hic Verbum Patris, sicut Evangelium testatur, incarnatum est, assumens quod non erat, manens quod erat. Hunc locum coepit inhabitare quem locus non comprehendit; et Nazarenus vocari, cuius Nomen ineffabile ab omnibus creaturis in caelo et in terra medicina salutis nominatur.

Others indeed went up through the city of Nazareth, “which is interpreted ‘flower’ or ‘cleanliness,’” and, by pouring out the blood of the Christians who had taken refuge there for the sake of fortification, they bloodied the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary—the holy church, I say—named throughout the whole world on account of the sweetness of the divine Incarnate Word and honored by the faithful. Here the Word of the Father, as the Gospel attests, was incarnate, assuming what it was not, remaining what it was. He began to inhabit this place whom no place contains; and to be called Nazarene, whose Ineffable Name is called by all creatures in heaven and on earth the medicine of salvation.

O Domina, cuius nomen suave, lucem et securitatem et spem veniae infundens peccatoribus,locum in quo illud Ave Gabrielis ab ore suscepisti,per quod Eva mutatur in melius, per quod et redemptus est mundus, et in quo loco tantum beneficium accepisti, ut mater Dei vocareris et esses, quare dimisisti, et ab increduls coinquinari et explanari permisisti? Certe non dimisit, sed lavit atque purgavit et mundavit a malis cultoribus per infideles ministros, donec cultores idonei eligantur, et secundum voluntatem et dispositionem gloriosae Virginis introducantur. Destructa civitate, locisque sacris foedatis, arripuerunt filii Sodomorum iter suum per abrupta montis, qui vocatur Saltus Domini sicut in Evangelio legitur, quod indignati Pharisaei de verbis Iesu eiecerunt Illum extra civitatem et duxerunt Illum ad supercilium montis super quem civitas illorum erat aedificata, ut praecipitarent illum.

O Lady, whose name is sweet, pouring light and security and hope of pardon into sinners,the place in which you received from the mouth that Ave of Gabriel, through which Eve is changed for the better, through which also the world has been redeemed, and in which place you received so great a benefaction that you might be called and be the Mother of God, why did you abandon it, and allow it to be defiled and laid bare by unbelievers? Surely she did not abandon it, but she washed and purged and cleansed it from evil worshipers by faithless ministers, until suitable worshipers are chosen and, according to the will and disposition of the glorious Virgin, are introduced. With the city destroyed, and the sacred places befouled, the sons of the Sodomites seized their route through the precipices of the mountain, which is called the Lord’s Leap, as is read in the Gospel: that the indignant Pharisees at the words of Jesus cast Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the mountain upon which their city had been built, that they might precipitate Him.

Inde transeuntes per latissimum campum, qui est inter montem Tabor et Legionem, dispersi sunt per campestria, omnia depraedantes et percurrentes a monte Caim et castello militiae Templi, quod vocatur Faba, usque Legionem et Gesrael. Nemine autem eis resistente transierunt per angusta itinere montium et per ecclesiam Beati Iob 'qui interpretatur Dolens' verum Iob nescientes, qui peccata nostra dolens portavit; qui etiam testa humanitatis suae saniem peccatorum nostrorum radebat, atque vermes vitiorum, quos Adam per inobedientiam comparaverat, per suae carnis hostiam vivam Patri obediens offerando extersit. Inde ascenderunt campum magnum Dotaym, cisternam quoque Ioseph admirantes, venditionemque tractantes, et qualiter Aegyptum fame irruente providentia liberavit, nostrum Ioseph de supernis montibus a patre ad fratres 'scilicet ad Iudaeos' in campestria nostrae mortalitatis missum non attendentes, cuius venditio, emptio, mors, et resurrectio mundum a fame divini Verbi periclitantem sanavit.

Thence, passing through the very broad plain which is between Mount Tabor and Legion, they were scattered across the level lands, plundering everything and coursing from Mount Caim and the castle of the militia of the Temple, which is called Faba, as far as Legion and Jezreel. And with no one resisting them they went through the narrows by the road of the mountains and by the church of Blessed Job 'which is interpreted Suffering,' not knowing the true Job, who, grieving, carried our sins; who also with the potsherd of his humanity was scraping away the sanious discharge of our sins, and wiped out the worms of vices, which Adam had acquired through disobedience, by offering, obedient to the Father, the living sacrifice of his flesh. Thence they ascended the great plain of Dothan, admiring also Joseph’s cistern, and discussing the sale, and how, with famine rushing on, he by providence freed Egypt, yet not attending to our Joseph, sent from the supernal mountains by the Father to the brothers 'that is, to the Jews' into the plains of our mortality, whose selling, buying, death, and resurrection healed the world that was in peril from a famine of the divine Word.

XVIII. De Samaria et Neapoli

18. On Samaria and Neapolis

Terram autem ita devastando pervenerunt usque ad montem Someron, quondam Samaria, civitas regalis in Israel, a quo monte omnis illa regio nomen accepit Soreod. Unde Dominus per prophetam, Plantavi, inquit, vineam Soreod. Et ne ab aliquo dubitaretur de qua vinea diceret, exponit dicens: Vinea enim Domini Sabaoth domus Israel est.

But while devastating the land in this way they came as far as Mount Someron, formerly Samaria, the royal city in Israel, from which mountain that whole region received the name Soreod. Whence the Lord through the prophet says, “I planted,” he says, “the vineyard Soreod.” And lest it be doubted by anyone of which vineyard he was speaking, he explains, saying: For the vineyard of the Lord Sabaoth is the house of Israel.

Nunc quoque Sebasten vocatur´ubi conditae sunt reliquiae S. Iohannis Baptistae, Zachariae et Elizabeth parentum eius, sed et aliorum prophetarum multorum. Episcopum autem loci illius reperientes, hominem satis humanum et honestum, quem, ut thesauros ecclesiae et margaritas porcis ostenderet, contumeliis multis afficientes, ad ultimum optata adipiscentes, nudum et diris verberibus flagellatum, data securitate vitae, miserunt Accaron. Properabant autem filii Babylonis, ut Neapolim destruerent; sed quoniam viri Neapolitani omnes confugerant in Ierusalem, relinquentes omnia sua in civitate, neminem invenerunt, nisi paucos in castello, qui causa custodiendi suppellectilem burgensium, quam inibi comportaverant, reliquerant; illis quidem eiectis, possederunt castellum cum civitate.

Even now it is called Sebaste, where the relics of St. John the Baptist, of Zachariah and Elizabeth his parents, and also of many other prophets, have been laid. But finding the bishop of that place—a man quite humane and honorable—they, that he might show the treasures of the church and cast pearls before swine, afflicting him with many insults, at last, obtaining their desired ends, sent him to Accaron, naked and scourged with dire blows, a guarantee of life having been given. Meanwhile the sons of Babylon were hastening to destroy Neapolis; but since all the men of Neapolis had fled into Jerusalem, leaving all their possessions in the city, they found no one, except a few in the castle, who had remained for the sake of guarding the household goods of the burghers, which they had carried in there; these having indeed been cast out, they possessed the castle together with the city.

Nec quidem tantis malis perpetratis satiati, sed praedam sitientes et montana Ierusalem videre cupientes, celeri cursu transierunt per ecclesiam in nomine Salvatoris ad radicem montis Garizim supra puteum Iacob aedificatam, iuxta praediolum quod dedit Iacob Ioseph filio suo, super quo Domnus fatigatus ex itinere sedens cum muliere Samaritana loquebatur, dicens ei omnia quaecumque fecit. Inde ascenderunt montana, omniaque castella et villulas Francorum ex illa parte confringentes, et usque Ierusalem diu noctuque quicquid vivum inveniri poterat interficiendo, vel depraedando, percurrentes vastaverunt. Alii autem ex altera parte montis Tabor, per Endor et Naun, et per medium magni campi, qui est inter montem Tabor et Belver, usque Belsan iter suum arripuerunt, atque per crepidinem Iordanis alvei usque Ierico properantes, et locum in quo Salvator noster xl. diebus et xl. noctibus, ut nos tentamenta diaboli et vitia carnis per ieiunium vincere benigne doceret, ieiunavit, debellatis habitatoribus atque eiectis, destruxerunt.

Nor, even after such great evils had been perpetrated, were they sated; but thirsting for prey and desiring to see the highlands of Jerusalem, at a swift run they passed by the church in the name of the Savior built at the foot of Mount Garizim above Jacob’s well, next to the little farm which Jacob gave to Joseph his son, above which the Lord, wearied from the journey, sitting, spoke with the Samaritan woman, telling her all the things whatsoever she had done. Thence they ascended the mountains, breaking all the forts and little villages of the Franks on that side, and, as far as Jerusalem, running through by day and by night, killing or plundering whatever living thing could be found, they laid waste. Others, however, on the other side of Mount Tabor, through Endor and Naun, and through the middle of the great plain which is between Mount Tabor and Belver, to Belsan took up their route; and, hastening along the edge of the Jordan’s channel as far as Jericho, they destroyed the place in which our Savior for 40. days and 40. nights fasted, so that he might kindly teach us to conquer the temptations of the devil and the vices of the flesh by fasting, after the inhabitants had been subdued and cast out.

Inde ascenderunt montana et castellum militum Templi, quod situm est in loco qui vocatur Maledoim 'Latine autem Ascensus ruforum sive rubentium, propter sanguinem qui illic crebro a latronibus funditur, appellari potest' vel sicut nos dicimus, Rubra Cisterna, nemine invento, possederunt. Istis igitur ita inter se montana Ierusalem per circuitum devastantibus, neminem sine mortis periculo sinebat exire vel intrare civitatem. Sic sicque Ierosolymitae undique coangustati et sine obsidione obsessi, longa expectatione belli et timore venturae famis in seipsos lacrimabiliter tabescebant.

Thence they ascended the highlands and took possession of the castle of the soldiers of the Temple, which is situated in the place called Maledoim — “in Latin, however, it can be called the Ascent of the red or ruddy, on account of the blood that is there frequently poured out by brigands” — or, as we say, the Red Cistern, finding no one there. Therefore, with these men thus among themselves devastating the mountains around Jerusalem in a circuit, it allowed no one to go out of or enter the city without peril of death. Thus and so the Jerusalemites, hemmed in on every side and besieged without a siege, by the long expectation of war and the fear of coming famine were piteously wasting away within themselves.

XIX. De captione Achom

19. On the capture of Achom

His ita proelibatis, ad caput tantae iniquitatis stilum vertamus. Peracta denique tanta Christianorum caede, cor Saladini crepidoinis: base, z´ocalo, malec´on elevatum est, credens se siderum altitudinem damnata vertice, prae nimia superbia elationis, tangere, duces et satrapas exercitus sui ad se iussit convocare. Quos ita ore superbo alloquitur:

With these preliminaries thus fought out, let us turn the stylus to the head of so great an iniquity. At last, after so great a slaughter of Christians had been accomplished, the heart of Saladin was lifted up—on the crepidoma, the base, the zócalo, the malecón—believing, because of the excessive pride of elation, that with his accursed head he touched the altitude of the stars; he ordered the leaders and satraps of his army to be convoked to himself. Whom he thus addresses with a proud mouth:

"Fortitudinem et spem Christianorum, scilicet Crucem, regem, duces et equites, sagittarios et pedites, Deus magnus et Mahumet, cui servio et legem observo, meis tradidit manibus. Et ecce tota terra plena divitiis absque principe et defensore in conspectu vestro est. Surgite ergo viri fortes, bellatores mei, atque terram cum munitionibus meo subiicite imperio."

"The fortitude and hope of the Christians—namely the Cross, the king, the leaders and knights, the archers and foot-soldiers—the great God and Muhammad, whom I serve and whose law I observe, has delivered into my hands. And behold, the whole land, full of riches, without prince and defender, is before your eyes. Rise up, therefore, brave men, my warriors, and subject the land with its fortifications to my dominion."

In illa igitur hora praecepit rex Damasci movere castra sua contra Accaron, ut si quid de populo Christianae religionis reliquum fuisset, aut cervicem Mahumeth numini nefando inclinasset, aut gladio feriretur. Interim audito regali praecepto, ululantibus prae gaudio Persis, commotus est exercitus barbarorum, atque contra Accaron coepit proficisci. Cum autem exercitus civitati appropinquasset, Accaronitae qui relicti fuerant pauci de multis exierunt obviam Saladino de civitate, vociferantes et dextras sibi dare postulantes. Demum perpendens rex Syriae simplicitatem illorum, animasque in manibus portantes, homines scilicet inermes, fidem et securitatem vitae tuitionemque promisit, dicens:

In that hour, therefore, the king of Damascus commanded his camp to move against Accaron, that, if anything of the people of the Christian religion had remained, either it should bow its neck to the nefarious numen of Mahomet, or be smitten by the sword. Meanwhile, the royal command having been heard, with the Persians ululating for joy, the army of the barbarians was set in motion and began to march against Accaron. But when the army had approached the city, the Accaronites, who had been few left out of many, went out from the city to meet Saladin, crying aloud and asking that right hands be given to them. At last, the king of Syria, weighing their simplicity—men, namely, unarmed, carrying their lives in their hands—promised faith and security of life and protection, saying:

"Sciant omnes ad quos dominatio mea protendit, Accaronitas clementiam pietatis meae invenisse, ita scilicet ut quicumque Sarracenorum alicui Christianorum de persona aut de rebus ad ipsos pertinantibus iniuriam aut damnum intulerit, periculum dirae mortis sciat se, meo imperio despecto, incurrisse."

"Let all to whom my domination extends know that the Accaronites have found the clemency of my piety, namely, that whoever of the Saracens has inflicted injury or damage upon any of the Christians, either upon the person or upon goods pertaining to them, let him know that, my command being despised, he has incurred the peril of dire death."

Capta igitur civitate talem Christianis dedit libertatem, ut quicumque in terra marique cum suis vellet abscedere, abscederet; qui autem sub praesidium eius remanere, tuti et secure remanerent; qui vero Filium Dei et Crucem victoriae Eius, diabolo instigante, vellet, proh dolor! polluto ore negare, cabanum sericum et sarbuissinum auro ornatum, equum et arma, amputato pelliculo membri verendi, ab ipso Saladino acciperet. Madens autem caede et adhuc sitiens sanguinem Christianorum Saladinus rex Babylonis unum de filiis suis causa custodiendi civitatis reliquit.

Therefore, the city having been captured, he granted such liberty to the Christians that whoever wished to withdraw with their own on land and sea might withdraw; but those who chose to remain under his protection would remain safe and secure; whereas whoever, the devil instigating, should wish—alas!—to deny with a polluted mouth the Son of God and the Cross of His victory, would receive from Saladin himself a silk caban and a sarbuissin adorned with gold, a horse and arms, with the prepuce of the shameful member cut off. And Saladin, king of Babylon, reeking with slaughter and still thirsting for the blood of Christians, left one of his sons for the purpose of guarding the city.

Ipse vero in elatione pessimae mentis suae profectus est terram Foenicis regionis cum suis civitatibus suo subiugare dominio, sperans sibi et errori suo magnum commodum acquisisse, si nomen Crucifixi cum habitatoribus terrae posset delere.

But he himself, in the elation of his most wicked mind, set out to subjugate to his dominion the land of the Phoenician region with its cities, hoping that he had acquired great advantage for himself and for his error, if he could erase the name of the Crucified together with the inhabitants of the land.

XX. De Tiro et Sidone

20. On Tyre and Sidon

Profectus est ergo cum magna festinatione in partes Tyri civitatis, muris fortissimis et altis turribus, atque maris procinctu satis munitae, quam quia ira et dolor Christianitatis consilio et virtute armaverat, virum quoque nobilem, armis fortem et bellicosum marchisium, animo et dicto et facto virilem, quem nec prece, nec pretio, nec minis, nec blandis sermonibus poterat seducere, sed omnibus modis probatum et paratum invenit, transivit, quatenus finitimas civitates, Sareptam scilicet, ubi Elias quondam officio viduae tempore famis quantitate parvae farinulae et modici olei sustentatus est. Sidonem quoque et Brito atque Biblem sua ferocitate debellavit, atque eiectis habitatoribus et in captivitate redactis, suis hominibus munivit et concito gradu reversus est. Residente igitur per aliquot dies Accaron, exercitum suum, qui dispersus fuerat per terram Galilaeae et Samariae, praecepit coadunare, quatenus fratri suo Sephidino, qui erat in campestria Geraris circa Ascalonem adiuvaret.

Therefore he set out with great haste into the parts of the city of Tyre, very strongly walled and with high towers, and sufficiently fortified by the encirclement of the sea; but since the wrath and grief of Christendom had armed it with counsel and valor, and also with a noble man—a marquess, strong in arms and warlike, manly in mind and in word and in deed—whom he could seduce neither by entreaty, nor by price, nor by threats, nor by flattering speeches, but found in every way proven and prepared, he passed by, so that he might subdue the neighboring cities, namely Sarepta, where Elijah once, by the service of the widow in a time of famine, was sustained by the quantity of a little flour and a small measure of oil. Sidon too, and Berytus and Byblos he subdued by his ferocity, and, the inhabitants cast out and reduced into captivity, he garrisoned them with his own men and returned at a quick pace. Therefore, after remaining for several days at Accaron, he ordered his army, which had been scattered through the land of Galilee and Samaria, to assemble, so that it might aid his brother Sephidin, who was on the plains of Gerar around Ascalon.

Profectique sunt de Accaron et cooperuerunt superficiem terrae sicut locustae a mari magno usque Ierusalem, quia tanta erat multitudo Sarracenorum quasi arena quae est in littore maris, quam nemo dinumerare potest.

And they set out from Accaron and covered the surface of the land like locusts, from the Great Sea as far as Jerusalem; for so great was the multitude of the Saracens as the sand which is on the shore of the sea, which no one can enumerate.

XXI. Expugnatio Ascalonis

21. The Storming of Ascalon

Denique rex Aegypti obsidionem civitate Ascalonae posuit, erexitque machinas, et coeperunt acerrimo animo pugnare. At vero Ascalonitae licet pauci, tamen prompti animo, fortitudine quoque murorum confisi, per quindecim dies viriliter defendentes se defendebant. Considerans autem Saladinus animositatem Christianorum, erexit decem ballistas ad lapides iacendos, quatenus de longe et sine damno suorum murum civitatis die noctuque conquassaret et ad terram praecipitaret.

At length the king of Egypt laid a siege to the city of Ascalon, set up engines, and began to fight with the fiercest spirit. But the Ascalonites, though few, yet ready in mind and trusting also in the strength of the walls, for fifteen days manfully defended themselves. Saladin, considering the boldness of the Christians, set up ten ballistae for hurling stones, so that from afar and without loss of his own men he might batter the city wall day and night and cast it down to the ground.

Lapidabant igitur muros et turres civitatis sine cessatione, atque usque ad fundamenta se praecipitaverunt. Interea misit rex Babylonis legatos ad Templarios, qui erant in castello Gazaris, ubi quendam Samson fortissimus, ut de inimicis suis simul congregatis moriendo triumpharet, palatium Gazaris resumptis viribus praecipitans, atque mole ipsius ruinae oppressus cum ipsis hostibus victor occubuit, dicens:

They were therefore stoning the walls and towers of the city without cessation, and they crashed down to the very foundations. Meanwhile the king of Babylon sent envoys to the Templars, who were in the castle of Gazaris, where a certain Samson, most mighty, in order that by dying he might triumph over his enemies assembled together, having resumed his strength toppled the palace of Gazaris, and, overwhelmed by the mass of its very ruin, as victor he fell together with those very foes, saying:

"Videte et diligenter considerate quid acturi sitis, atque de vita et salute vestra diligenti animo tractate. Nam oculis vestris prospicitis quod Deus tradidit terram in manibus meis. Tamen faciam vobiscum misericordiam quatenus sani et incolumes, accepta itae vestrae et vestrorum securitate, exeuntes relinquatis castellum."

"See and consider diligently what you are going to do, and with a diligent mind treat about your life and your safety. For with your own eyes you behold that God has delivered the land into my hands. Yet I will show mercy to you, to the extent that, safe and unharmed, upon receiving security for your life and for those who are yours, departing you may leave the castle."

At illi fiduciam in fortitudine Ascalonis habentes responderunt: "Tali exhibimus conditione quali et Ascalonitae."

But they, having confidence in the strength of Ascalon, answered: "We submit on such a condition as the Ascalonites [do]."

Interim muri civitatis conquassati et iam paene usque ad fundamenta praecipitati sunt, ita ut Sarraceni si vellent vel auderent per planum poterant ad Christianos intrare. Timens igitur Saladinus, ne mora generaret sibi divortium, coepit per regem quem ibi tenebat in vinculis, et per fratrem regis, et per alios, aures Christianorum appellare, quatenus conditione facta, illi qui auxilium vel adiutorium aliorum Christianorum terrae marique minime poterant habere, relicta civitate cum omnibus suis in pace abscederent. Congregati sunt ergo Ascalonitae, consilium suae salutis et aliorumqui erant in vinculis, invicem tractantes, perpendentesque civitatem suis viribus non posse defendere, tale dedere consilium:

Meanwhile the walls of the city were battered and now almost cast down to the foundations, so that the Saracens, if they wished or dared, could on level ground enter to the Christians. Fearing, therefore, Saladin, lest delay generate for him a rupture, began, through the king whom he held there in chains, and through the king’s brother, and through others, to address the ears of the Christians, to the end that, a condition having been made, those who by no means could have the help or aid of other Christians by land and sea, leaving the city, might depart in peace with all that was theirs. Therefore the Ascalonites gathered, mutually discussing a plan for their own safety and for the others who were in chains, and weighing that the city could not be defended by their own forces, they gave such counsel:

"Nos quidem fortitudinem et potentiam tuam, Deo permittente, in terrae scimus esse permaximam; nobis vero Christianis morte vel tribulatione pro Christi nomine occupatis aditum e regni caelestis aperire. Tamen placet infirmis adhuc in fide, et aliis non paucis, quorum compassioni propter fraternae dilectionis amorem compati oportet, ita dexteram foederationis a vobis accipere, quatenus regem et episcopum S. Georgii, et fratrem regis, xii quoque de melioribus captivis, quos catenae tuae ferocitatis sub dira custodia tenent, nobis solutos restitutas. Nobis vero xl dies, in quibus nostra vendere et providere indulgeas, atque centum familias, quibus sub tua defensione in civitate placet remanere, ad tempus dimittas, ceterosque cum suis omnibus salvos usque Tripolim deducere facias."

"Indeed we know your fortitude and power, with God permitting, to be the very greatest upon the earth; but to us Christians, occupied with death or tribulation for the name of Christ, you open an access to the heavenly kingdom. Yet it pleases those still infirm in the faith, and many others, whose compassion one ought to share for love of fraternal charity, thus to receive from you the right hand of treaty, namely: that you restore to us, released, the king and the bishop of St. George, and the king’s brother, and also 12 of the better captives, whom the chains of your ferocity hold under dire custody. And that you grant to us 40 days, in which you permit us to sell our goods and make provision; and that you allow for a time 100 families, who choose to remain in the city under your defense, to do so; and that you cause the rest, with all that is theirs, to be led safe as far as Tripoli."

Placuit ergo sermo iste in oculis Saladini, atque petitioni Ascalonitarum libenter iussit annuere. Anno MCLXXXVII, mense Septembri, iiii die mensis, feria vi., hora nona, obscuratus est sol, atque sub ipsa obscuritate exeuntes maiores natu Ascalonitarum venerunt in castra Aegyptiorum, atque ibi coram Sarracenis super hanc conventionem Christiani et principes Damascenorum sacramentum stabilitatis huius rei fecerunt. Mane autem facto, tradiderunt Ascalonitae claves civitatis Sarracenis, atque in introitu portarum residentibus Turcis, ordinavit Saladinus sicut placuit illi de civitate.

Therefore this speech pleased in the eyes of Saladin, and he gladly ordered that assent be given to the petition of the Ascalonites. In the year 1187, in the month of September, on the 4th day of the month, on Friday, at the ninth hour, the sun was darkened; and under that very obscuration the elders of the Ascalonites, going out, came into the camp of the Egyptians, and there, before the Saracens, concerning this convention the Christians and the princes of the Damascenes made an oath of the stability of this matter. But when morning had come, the Ascalonites handed over the keys of the city to the Saracens; and with Turks seated at the entrances of the gates, Saladin ordained concerning the city as it pleased him.

Et quoniam civitas ista quasi munimen et firmamentum erat terrae Ierusalem, audita fama captionis Ascalonis Ierosolymitae, tam munitae civitatis, elanguit omnis virtus eorum, atque lamentabili dolore, viribusque destituti, lamentabantur, acientes quod sicut fecerat Ascaloni, faceret vel peius et Ierusalem.

And since that city was, as it were, a muniment and firmament of the land of Jerusalem, the Jerusalemites, on hearing the report of the capture of Ascalon—so fortified a city—had all their virtue languish, and, bereft of strength, they lamented with lamentable grief, saying that just as he had done to Ascalon, so he would do, or even worse, to Jerusalem.

XXII. De destructione Bethlehem et de obsidione Ierusalem

22. On the destruction of Bethlehem and on the siege of Jerusalem

Collectis denique Saladinus in num viribus, ordinata civitate, praecepit ducibus et amiralibus suis ordinare exercitum, atque cum fortitudine et magni terroris impetu montana Ierusalem ascendere. Motus est ergo exercitus, atque per campestria profectus usque Besigebelim, id est Bersabe, puteus scilicet septimus propter septem agnas ab Abraham ibi immolatas sic appellatus; vel puteus iuramenti, eo quod Abraham et Abimelec rex Geraris ibi inierunt foedus iurationis. Figuraturque in hoc foedus quod inierunt fideles supra fontem septimum, id est baptismi, qui in virtute septiformis Spiritus Sancti coniuratur, benedicitur et consecratur.

At length, Saladin, having gathered his forces into one and the city being set in order, commanded his dukes and amirs to array the army, and with fortitude and with an onset of great terror to ascend the mountains of Jerusalem. The army was therefore set in motion, and, proceeding through the plains, came as far as Besigebelim, that is, Beersheba—called thus “the seventh well” on account of the seven ewe-lambs immolated there by Abraham; or “the well of the oath,” because Abraham and Abimelech, king of Gerar, there entered into a foedus of oath (a covenant). And the foedus is figured in this which the faithful enter upon the seventh font, that is, of baptism, which, in the virtue of the sevenfold Holy Spirit, is adjured, blessed, and consecrated.

Misit autem Saladinus nuntios ad Hospitales qui erant in munitione Bellebem, ut seipsos et castellum voluntati eius traderent, atque cum ceteris transmigratis in pace migrarent. At illi respondentes dixerunt: "Talem sortem expectamus, qualem et Ierusalem."

Moreover, Saladin sent envoys to the Hospitallers who were in the fortification of Bellebem, that they should hand over themselves and the castle to his will, and depart in peace together with the other transmigrated. But they, answering, said: “We await such a fate as Jerusalem.”

Arripientes demum iter suum filii Babylonis per montana usque Ierusalem, nomen Christi et Crucem nostrae redemptionis inter se polluto ore garriendo blasphemantes. Denique ista sunt loca sancta territorii sanctae civitatis Ierusalem, quae a prophanis desolata atque destructa sunt, Belleem scilicet, civitas David, nobile triclinium ubi mater gloriosa, Virgo in partu, Virgo post partum, sine dolore et corruptione suum et omnium Creatorem, Filium Dei, operante Spiritu Sancto, exsultantibus angelis cum gaudio genuit, atque pannis involutum in illud praesaepe, sedem scilicet Dei, secundam post Caelum, pabulum vitae bovi et asino, scilicet Iudaeo et Gentili, castis manibus Virgo porrigendo collocavit. Alii quidem ad montem sanctum Sylo properantes, ubi quondam filii Israel illud mirabile tabernaculum cum utensilibus suis tetenderunt.

At last taking up their journey, the sons of Babylon through the mountains as far as Jerusalem, chattering among themselves with a defiled mouth, blaspheming the name of Christ and the Cross of our redemption. In fine, these are the holy places of the territory of the holy city Jerusalem, which by the profane have been desolated and destroyed, Bethlehem, namely, the city of David, the noble triclinium where the glorious mother, a Virgin in birth, a Virgin after birth, without pain and without corruption, by the working of the Holy Spirit, with the angels exulting with joy, bore her own and everyone’s Creator, the Son of God, and, wrapped in cloths, in that manger—the seat, namely, of God, second after Heaven—the Virgin, by extending with chaste hands, placed as the food of life for the ox and the ass, that is, for the Jew and the Gentile. Others indeed hastening to the holy mount Shiloh, where once the sons of Israel pitched that wondrous tabernacle with its utensils.

In quo loco S. Samuel, mitissimus et sanctissimus omnium prophetarum, Deo de caelo clamante.

In which place St. Samuel, the most mild and most holy of all the prophets, with God crying out from heaven.

"Samuel, Samuel,"
ore innocente mundo ab omni labe contagionis respondit,
"Loquere, Domine, quia audit servus tuus;"

"Samuel, Samuel,"
with an innocent mouth, clean from every stain of contagion, he answered,
"Speak, Lord, for your servant hears;"

ubi nunc constructum est coenobium canonicorum Praemonstratensium in honore S. Samuelis, cuius preces cum precibus Moysi et Aaron apud Deum fusae nostrorum veniam impetrent peccatorum. De hac quidem destructione propheta David gemens in Psalmo aiebat:

where now a monastery of the Premonstratensian canons has been built in honor of St. Samuel, whose prayers, together with the prayers of Moses and Aaron, poured out before God, may obtain pardon for our sins. Concerning this very destruction the prophet David, lamenting, was saying in a Psalm:

"Repulit Deus tabernaculum Sylo, etc."

"God rejected the tabernacle of Shiloh, etc."

Hic est denique verax propheta, cuius verba non ceciderunt in terra, quia quicquid prophetabat, rebus gestis demonstrabatur. Hic quoque filios Israel iudicavit in Masphat. Et ut sciamus quali iudicio eos iudicasset, tradunt Hebraei quod aqua erat in Masphat, in qua coram Domino maledicta congesta sunt, ita scilicet ut quicumque idolatra hausisset, et coram Domino et propheta Samuele gustasset, labia eius ita sibi adhaererent, ut nequaquam ea ab invicem separare posset.

This, then, is the truthful prophet, whose words did not fall to the earth, because whatever he prophesied was shown by accomplished deeds. This man also judged the sons of Israel at Masphat. And that we may know by what judgment he judged them, the Hebrews hand down that there was water at Masphat, in which, before the Lord, curses were heaped up—namely, such that if any idolater should draw it and, before the Lord and the prophet Samuel, should taste it, his lips would so adhere to each other that by no means could he separate them one from the other.

Sic quoque idolatra comprehensus ab omni populo iussu prophetae secundum legem lapidatus est, ne alii exemplo illius seducti, pro Deo idola vana coluissent. Alii vero Bethaniam, quae domus obedientiae interpretatur, destruentes, ubi Dominus Lazarum quatriduanum mortuum precibus Mariae et Marthae sororum eius humiliter deprecatus, fremensque in seipso mortalitatem nostram et mseriam deplorans, magna voce vocavit de monumento: ubi Dominus a Phariseo ad convivium invitatus, a Maria nardi pistici unguento, osculando pedes et lacrymis rigando, humiliter est perunctus. In quo castello aliis describitur Dominum intrasse, atqueMartham circa multa in ministrando occupatam Eum in domo suscepisse; Mariam vero sororem eius ad pedes Domini verba oris Eius audiendos edisse atque unum quod necessarium est, Domino attestante elegisse.

Thus also the idolater, apprehended by all the people at the prophet’s command, was stoned according to the Law, lest others, seduced by his example, should have worshiped vain idols in place of God. Others, however, say that Bethany, which is interpreted “house of obedience,” was destroyed—where the Lord, the four-days-dead Lazarus having been humbly besought by the prayers of Mary and Martha his sisters, and groaning within Himself, lamenting our mortality and misery, called him with a great voice from the tomb; where the Lord, invited by a Pharisee to a banquet, was humbly anointed by Mary with unguent of pistic nard, kissing His feet and watering them with her tears. In that little town others describe that the Lord entered, and that Martha, occupied about many things in ministering, received Him in the house; but Mary her sister sat at the Lord’s feet to hear the words of His mouth, and, the Lord attesting, chose the one thing which is necessary.

Alii quidem montem sanctissimum Oliveti devastantes, ubi Dominus, sicut in Evangelio legitur, saepe orare, opera misericordiae docere, sedereque cum discipulis suis consuevit. In quo fabricata est ecclesia ubi Dominus noster Iesus Christus xl. die resurrectionis suae, videntibus apostolis, assumptus est in caelum. In cuius medio opus mirae rotunditatis et decoris erectum est, ubi steterunt pedes Domini; quem locum fideles Christiani vestigio Salvatoris pressum recognoscentes, cum magna veneratione deosculantur.

Others indeed, devastating the most holy Mount of Olives, where the Lord, as is read in the Gospel, often was accustomed to pray, to teach works of mercy, and to sit with his disciples. On which a church was constructed where our Lord Jesus Christ, on the 40th day after his resurrection, the apostles looking on, was taken up into heaven. In the midst of which a work of wondrous rotundity and beauty has been erected, where the feet of the Lord stood; which place the faithful Christians, recognizing as pressed by the footprint of the Savior, kiss with great veneration.

Inter haec autem ecclesiam Assumptionis B. Mariae Virginis Iosaphat prophani profanatis manibus contaminaverunt, atquelocum gloriosum, omnibus Christianis debita laude venerandum, sepulturae gloriosae Virginis et matris Christi multis spurcitiis foedantes destruxerunt. Supra cuius sepulchrum constructum erat opus quadratum, auro, argento et caelaturis, uti decebat, mira pulchritudinis varietate decoratum. Hic est ille locus qui vocatur Gessemani; trans torrentem Cedron, ubi erat hortus, in quem introivit Iesus cum discipulis suis, cena novi sacramenti iam celebrata.

Meanwhile, the profane contaminated with profane hands the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of Josaphat, and they defiled with many foulnesses and destroyed the glorious place—venerable with due praise to all Christians—the burial of the glorious Virgin and mother of Christ. Above whose sepulchre a square work had been constructed, adorned, as was fitting, with gold, silver, and chased carvings, with a variety of wondrous beauty. This is that place which is called Gethsemane; across the torrent Cedron, where there was a garden, into which Jesus entered with his disciples, the supper of the new sacrament now having been celebrated.

Ibi vero discipulis suis orare ne inciderent in tentationem admonuit. In quo loco constructa est ecclesia in nomine Salvatoris, eo quod Salvator et Redemptor mundi pro salute generis humani Deum Patrem ibi supplicavit.

There, indeed, he admonished his disciples to pray, lest they fall into temptation. In that place a church was constructed in the name of the Savior, for the reason that the Savior and Redeemer of the world there supplicated God the Father for the salvation of the human race.

XXIII. De ineffabili angustia Hierosolymitanorum

23. On the ineffable anguish of the Jerusalemites

Vicesima igitur die mensis Septembris sancta civitas Ierusalem obsessa est, atque undique ab incredulis cum magno clangore tubarum, terrore armorum, strepitu et ululatu vociferantium, "Hai, Hai," undique vexillis ventilantibus circumdata. Commota est ergo civitas a fremitu et tumultu barbarorum, atque per horarum momenta conclamabant: "Vera Crux sancta et Sepulchrum Resurrectionis Iesu Christi, protege civitatem Ierusalem cum habitatoribus suis."

Accordingly, on the twentieth day of the month of September, the holy city Jerusalem was besieged, and on all sides by the unbelievers, with a great blare of trumpets, the terror of arms, the din and ululation of those shouting, "Hai, Hai," and everywhere surrounded with banners waving. Therefore the city was shaken by the roar and tumult of the barbarians, and for stretches of hours they kept crying out: "O True and Holy Cross and the Sepulcher of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, protect the city Jerusalem with its inhabitants."

Commissum est ergo bellum, et coeperunt ex utraque parte audacter pugnare. Et quoniam dolore et maerore tantae miseriae confecti, omnes congressus et concursus Turcorum, quibus Christianos per xv Dies fatigabant, nequimus numerare, sicut cetera quae gesta sunt, quae tardium absque utilitate scribenti et audienti generant, omittamus. Quis vero pro tam magni doloris pietate omnibus praetermissis non erumpat in fletibus, cum monachos hinc et canonicos, sacerdotes et levitas, eremitas et anachoritas senio affectos, pro sanctis sanctorum et hereditate Crucifixi armatos incedere, armaque videret gestare?

Therefore the battle was joined, and they began on both sides to fight boldly. And since, worn out by the pain and sorrow of so great a misery, we cannot number all the congresses and concourses of the Turks, by which they wearied the Christians for 15 days, let us omit them, as also the other things which were done, which produce tedium without utility for the writer and the hearer. But who, out of piety for so great a grief, with all else passed over, would not burst into tears, when he saw monks here and canons, priests and levites, hermits and anchorites stricken with old age, going armed for the holy of holies and the inheritance of the Crucified, and bearing arms?

Illinc viduas, orphanos, pulcrosque brachiis ad Dominum extensis per ecclesias et plateas catervatim et squalenti vulti iacedere, oreque innocenti lacrymabiliter conclamare, divinamque clementiam, sanctorumque patrocinia incessanter implorare? Quae lingua autem valet narrare quanti Sarraceni lanceis et sagittis perforati vitalem flatum amiserunt et mortem perpetuam invenerunt? Quis vero potest dicere qualiter ille nepos Saladini, fastu superbia deceptus, sericis vestibus nobiliter usque ad ungulam equi indutus, atque speculis mulierum auro insertus, prae nimia animi sui superbia phaleratus, a quodam serviente ante portam S. Stephani percussus, miserabili morte interiit interfectus?

From there, widows, orphans, and fair ones, with arms stretched to the Lord, through churches and squares in troops lay with a squalid countenance, and with an innocent mouth lamentably cried aloud, and incessantly implored divine clemency and the patronages of the saints? What tongue, moreover, is able to narrate how many Saracens, pierced with lances and arrows, lost the vital breath and found perpetual death? Who indeed can say how that grandson of Saladin, deceived by the vainglory of pride, nobly clothed in silken garments even down to the horse’s hoof, and adorned with women’s mirrors inset with gold, bedizened with trappings from the excessive pride of his spirit, having been struck by a certain sergeant before the gate of St. Stephen, perished, slain, by a miserable death?

Vel quis potest narrare quanti Christiani telis adversariorum vulnerati temporalem vitam pro Christo amittentes, vitam meruerunt aeternam? In illis itaque diebus in quibus Deus videbatur regere civitatem, quis valet dicere qualiter ille percussus obiit, ille vulneratus evasit? Cadebant sagittae sicut stillae pluviarum, ita ut nemo digitum ad propugnacula sine laesione poterat ostendere.

Or who can narrate how many Christians, wounded by the missiles of the adversaries, losing temporal life for Christ, merited eternal life? In those days, therefore, in which God seemed to govern the city, who is able to say how this one, struck down, died, that one, wounded, escaped? The arrows were falling like drops of rain, so that no one could show a finger toward the battlements without injury.

Erat vero tanta multitudo vulneratorum, ut vix omnes medici civitatis vel hospitalis tela corporibus infixa valebant extrahere. Nam et facies haec referentis sagitta per medium nasum infixa vulnerata est, atque extracto ligno ferrum usque hodie permansit. Certabant autem Ierosolymitae per unam hebdomadam satis viriliter, sedente exercitu contra turrim David.

Ere, indeed, there was such a multitude of wounded that scarcely even all the physicians of the city or of the hospital were able to extract the missiles fixed in their bodies. For even the face of this reporter was wounded, an arrow fixed through the middle of the nose, and after the wood was drawn out, the iron has remained until this day. However, the Jerusalemites fought for one week quite manfully, with the army encamped against the Tower of David.

Videns denique Saladinus quod nihil proficeret, nec sic quidem posse damnare civitatem, coepit cum suis circuire et infirma civitatis perscrutari, quaerendo locum ubi machinas suas sine timore Christianorum posset erigere, et civitatem levius oppugnare. Et quoniam filius illius erat, qui in execrabili mentis suae superbia solium suum in latere aquilonis disponebat ponere, ut non sub Deo, sed contra Deum regnaret, et sic quoque similis esset Altissimo, angulum civitatis versus aquilonem infirmum et aptum ad sua scelera perficienda invenit. Quadam autem die aurora apparente iussit rex 'id est Saladinus' Aegypti sine strepitu et tumultu movere castra, atque in valle Iosaphat et per montem Oliveti et per montem Gaudii, et per omnia montana ex illa parte figere tentoria.

At last, seeing that he was achieving nothing, and that not even thus could he doom the city, Saladin began to go about with his men and to scrutinize the weak points of the city, seeking a place where he might set up his engines without fear of the Christians, and assail the city more lightly. And since he was the son of him who, in the execrable pride of his mind, was setting his throne on the side of the north, that he might reign not under God but against God, and thus likewise be similar to the Most High, he found a corner of the city toward the north, weak and apt for bringing his crimes to completion. Then on a certain day, with the dawn appearing, the king of Egypt—‘that is, Saladin’—ordered the camp to move without noise and tumult, and to pitch tents in the Valley of Jehoshaphat and on the Mount of Olives and on Mount Joy, and through all the mountains on that side.

Mane autem facto, viri Ierusalem levantes oculos et videntes recedente nebularum caligine, quod Sarraceni levabant tentoria, tamquam incipientes abire, gavisi sunt gaudio magno et dicebant: Fugit quidem rex Syriae, eo quod non potest sicut cogitaverat destruere civitatem. Sed haec laetitis citius in luctum et lamentationem conversa est, cognita rei veritate. Nam tyrannus iussit ibidem statim construere machinas et erigere ballistas, ramos olivarum et aliarum arborum simul contrahere, et inter civitatem et machinas fortiter collocare; atque in ipso crepusculo iussit exercitum arma arripere, ruptores murorum cum ferramentis procedere, quatenus anequam Christiani operam darent de hoc, usque ad fundamenta murorum omnes essent parati.

But when morning had come, the men of Jerusalem, lifting up their eyes and seeing, with the murk of the mists receding, that the Saracens were lifting (striking) their tents, as if beginning to depart, rejoiced with great joy and were saying: “The king of Syria indeed flees, because he cannot, as he had thought, destroy the city.” But this joy was quickly turned into mourning and lamentation, once the truth of the matter was known. For the tyrant ordered right there at once to construct engines and to erect ballistae, to gather together branches of olive-trees and of other trees at the same time, and to place them firmly between the city and the engines; and in the very twilight he ordered the army to seize arms, the breakers of the walls to advance with their iron tools, so that before the Christians could give attention to this, all might be ready down to the foundations of the walls.

Constituit autem crudelissimus tyrannus usque ad decem millia equites armatos in equis cum lanceis et arcubus, ut si viri civitatis vellent exire, obstarent eis. Alia vero decem millia, vel eo amplius, bene armatos usque ad talum constituit, sub scutis et tarciis cum arcubus ad sagittandum; ceteros quoque cum seipso et cum ducibus circa machinas retinuit. Sic itaque ordinati, summo mane coeperunt rumpere turrim angulare, et muros per circuitum incidere, sagittarii sagittare, illi qui circa machinas vehementer lapidare.

Moreover the most cruel tyrant stationed up to 10,000 armed horsemen on horses with lances and bows, so that, if the men of the city should wish to go out, they might obstruct them. Another 10,000, or even more, he stationed well-armed down to the ankle, under shields and targes, with bows for shooting; he also kept the rest with himself and with the leaders around the machines. Thus, therefore, arranged, at first light they began to break the corner tower, and to cut into the walls all around—the archers to shoot, and those who were around the machines to hurl stones vehemently.

At vero viri civitatis nihil tale aestimantes, civitatem et muros sine custodia dimittentes, fatigati et taedio affecti, dormierunt usque mane, quia nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilit qui custodit eam. Orto denique iam sole, illi qui in turribus dormierant strepitu barbarorum expergefacti, videntes haec, prae timore exterriti et exstupefacti velut amentes conclamabant per civitatem:

But indeed the men of the city, supposing nothing of the sort, leaving the city and the walls without guard, wearied and afflicted with tedium, slept until morning, because unless the Lord guards the city, in vain keeps watch the one who guards it. When at last the sun had already risen, those who had slept on the towers, awakened by the din of the barbarians, seeing these things, from fear terrified and stupefied, like madmen were crying out through the city:

"Viri Ierosolymitae, accurrite, succurrite, adiuvate; iam iamque muris perforatis alieni intrant."

"Men of Jerusalem, come running, bring succor, help; now, even now, with the walls breached, foreigners are entering."

Commoti autem per civitatem accurrerunt fortitudine qua poterant, nec valuerunt ultra Damascenos neque telis, neque lanceis, neque sagittis, neque lapidibus, nec igne et plumbo liquefactis a muris amovere. Lapidabant vero Turci sine cessatione vehementer ad propugnacula, et inter murum et antemurale, iaciendo lapides et ignem quem Graecum vocant, ligna et lapides et quidquid attigerit consumentem. Sagittarii autem sine cessatione et mensura ex omni parte mittebant sagittas; ceteri vero audacter fregere muros.

Stirred, moreover, they ran throughout the city with whatever fortitude they could muster, yet they were not able to prevail against the Damascenes so as to remove them from the walls, neither with missiles, nor with lances, nor with arrows, nor with stones, nor with fire and liquefied lead. The Turks, indeed, were pelting without cessation, vehemently, at the battlements and in the space between the wall and the antemural, casting stones and the fire which they call Greek—consuming wood and stones and whatever it touches. The archers, moreover, without cessation and without measure, from every quarter were sending arrows; but the others boldly broke down the walls.

Interim viri Ierusalem nire consilium, ut omnes quotquot habere equos et arma possent, de civitate egredientes, constanter per portam quae ducit Iosaphat exirent, quatenus sic, Deo concedente, adversarios a muris aliquantulum expellerent. Sed vetiti sunt a Turcis qui in equis erant, et lacrymabiliter repulsi, cunctos per murorum clamantibus, "Sancta Maria, sancta Maria, adiuva nos," nec ultra quidem aditus exeundi patebat Christianis. Fit igitur planctus, fletus et tumultus flentium, et vestimenta prae angustia et dolore per ecclesias et plateas scindentium.

Meanwhile the men of Jerusalem entered upon a plan: that all, whoever could have horses and arms, going out from the city, should steadfastly go out through the gate which leads to Josaphat, so that thus, God granting it, they might drive the adversaries somewhat away from the walls. But they were forbidden by the Turks who were mounted, and were piteously repulsed, while all along the walls were crying out, “Holy Mary, Holy Mary, help us,” and no further passage for going out lay open to the Christians. Therefore there arises lamentation, weeping, and a tumult of the weeping ones, and of those who, because of anguish and pain, were rending their garments through the churches and the squares.

Nam alii quidem plangebant sanctam civitatem et sepulchrum Domini, montemque sanctissimum Calvariae, ubi sanguis propitiationis pro salute generis humani effusus est; alii autem plangebant fratres et amicos iam interfectos, velmorti proximos; alii filios iam iamque telis barbarorum ablaturos; ceteri omnes communem dolorem mortis vel captivitatis sibi et ceteris iam imminere. Pugnabant igitur Chaldei certamine per aliquot dies et praevaluerunt. Iam vero Christiani ita defecti erant, ut vix viginti vel triginta ad defensiones murorum civitatis apparebant; nec inveniebatur homo tam audax in omni civitate, qui pro pretio centum bisantiorum auderet una nocte ad defensionem vigilare.

For some indeed were lamenting the holy city and the Sepulcher of the Lord, and the most holy Mount of Calvary, where the blood of propitiation was poured out for the salvation of the human race; others, however, were lamenting brothers and friends already slain, or very near to death; others, sons who at any moment were about to be carried off by the barbarians’ missiles; and all the rest, that the common grief of death or captivity was now impending for themselves and for the others. The Chaldeans therefore fought in contest for several days and prevailed. By now, however, the Christians were so exhausted that scarcely twenty or thirty appeared for the defenses of the city walls; nor was there found a man so bold in the whole city as to dare, for the price of a hundred bezants, to keep watch for one night for the defense.

Ego siquidem auribus meis audivi sub voce praeconia ex parte domini patriarchae et ceterorum magnorum civitatis inter murum et antemurale conclamare, ut si quinquaginta servientes fortes et audaces inventi fuissent, qui angulum iam dirutum armis ad eorum voluntatem acceptis illa nocte tantum custodierent, quinque millia bisantiorum accepissent; nec fuerunt inventi. Erat autem iam paene una voluntas, scilicet in simplicitate sua, et in sancta civitate in confessione Christi mori, atque sic unusquisque portionem suam Terrae Promissionis, in quantum cadaver suum a gentibus pro Christo conculcatum iacuisset, obtineret. Vae mihi misero, omnibusque peccatoribus deteriori, quod portionem meam Terrae Sancta tali funiculo mensurationis non accepi!

I indeed with my own ears heard, under the voice of proclamation, on the part of the lord patriarch and the other great men of the city, crying out between the wall and the antemural, that if fifty sergeants, strong and bold, had been found who would only for that night guard the corner already broken down, having taken arms at their discretion, they would have received five thousand bezants; and they were not found. But now there was almost one will, namely, in their simplicity, to die in the holy city in the confession of Christ, and thus that each one might obtain his portion of the Land of Promise, inasmuch as his corpse, trampled by the nations for Christ, should have lain. Woe to me, wretched, and more wretched than all sinners, that I did not receive my portion of the Holy Land by such a measuring cord!

Inter haec homines Ierusalem inhabitantes, humum suam peccatis plenam plus quam Christum diligentes, pulchrarummulierum, filiorum et filiarum, mammonae quoque cui serviebat recordatione commoti, consiliati sunt quatenus cum his omnibus, sancta civitate locisque sacris relictis, evaderent.

Meanwhile the people inhabiting Jerusalem, loving their own soil, full of sins, more than Christ, stirred by the recollection of fair women, sons and daughters, and also of Mammon whom they served, took counsel that, with all these things, the holy city and the sacred places left behind, they might escape.

XXIV. De tributo Ieorsolimitanis imposito

24. On the tribute imposed upon the Jerusalemites

Interim miserunt legatos ad regem Syriae, supplicantes quatenus indignationem animi sui circa eos tempareret, atque sicut ceteras gentes eos etiam haberet foederatos. At ille renuente, tale fertur dedisse responsum:

Meanwhile they sent legates to the king of Syria, supplicating that he would temper the indignation of his mind toward them, and that, just as the other nations, he would also hold them as federates. But he, refusing, is said to have given such a response:

"Ego vero a sapientibus nostris Alphachinis frequenter audivi Ierusalem non posse mundari nisi sanguine Christianorum lavetur, atque super hoc eorum volo habere consilium."

"I indeed have frequently heard from our wise men, the Alphachins, that Jerusalem cannot be cleansed unless it be washed with the blood of Christians; and concerning this I wish to have their counsel."

Et sic incerti redierunt.Miserunt et alios, Balisanum et Rainerium Neapolenses et Thomam Patricium, centum millia bisantinorum offerentes; nec voluit eos recipere, et spe frustrati reversi sunt. Remiserunt itaque eos iterum cum aliis flagitantes quatenus ipse Saladinus conventionem quam vellet diceret; et si fieri posset, fieret; sin autem, ad interitum sui remaneret. Accepto itaque consilio, tale tributum Ierosolymitis instituit, quatenus unusquisque masculus decem bisantios persolveret, femina quinque, puer septem annorum et infra unum; et sic a servitute liberati, quo vellent, cum suorum securitates securi abirent.

And thus, uncertain, they returned.They also sent others, Balisanus and Rainerius, Neapolitans, and Thomas the Patrician, offering one hundred thousand bezants; but he was not willing to receive them, and, their hope frustrated, they returned. Therefore they sent them back again with others, urgently begging that Saladin himself should state what convention he wished; and if it could be done, let it be done; but if not, let it remain to his own destruction. Therefore, counsel having been taken, he instituted such a tribute for the Jerusalemites, that each male should pay ten bezants, a female five, a boy of seven years and under one; and thus, freed from servitude, wherever they wished, with safe-conducts for their own, they might depart safely.

Si vero talis foederatio Ierosolymitis non placeret, vel qui decem bisantia non haberent, praeda hostibus in ore gladii devorantis existerent. Placuit ergo sermo iste domino patriarchae et ceteris qui pecunias habebant. Mirabile factum!

But if such a federation should not be pleasing to the Jerusalemites, or for those who did not have ten bezants, they would be prey to the enemies in the mouth of the devouring sword. Therefore this proposal pleased the lord patriarch and the others who had money. A marvelous thing!

Quis unquam audivit talia? Heres dedit pretium ut ab hereditate fieret alienus. Quis unquam dato pretio reliquit hereditatem?

Who ever heard such things? The heir gave a price in order to be made alien from the inheritance. Who ever, with a price given, relinquished an inheritance?

Alii quidem pugnando morti se opponunt, ne ignavia suae pigritiae degeneres parentum fiant, hereditamque cum sui confusione et opprobrio improbitatis amittant. Isti vero ne heredes fiant, hereditamque amittant, pretio cum opprobrio perversitatis comparant. Plangit autem inter istos Ieremias propheta, lamentando et revocando ab errore, si possibile esset, dicens: "Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo?" etc.

Others indeed, by fighting, set themselves against death, lest by the cowardice of their sloth they become degenerate from their parents, and lose the inheritance together with their own confusion and the opprobrium of wickedness. But these, in order that they may not be heirs and may lose the inheritance, purchase this at a price together with the opprobrium of perversity. Jeremiah the prophet, however, laments among these, lamenting and calling them back from error, if it were possible, saying: "How does the city sit solitary that was full of people?" etc.

Quinque hic commemorantur, scilicet sessio, sola, plena, vidua, domina. Sedet autem civitas iudicans iudicia iniusta. Sedet in cinere, et in sui sceleris pollutione.

Five are here mentioned, namely: sessio, sola, plena, vidua, domina. But the city sits, judging unjust judgments. It sits in ash, and in the pollution of its own crime.

Nam si staret in virtute aequitatis, pugnaret utique contra ostes iniquitatis. Sola autem dicitur sine auxilio et protectione Dei, sine veris Christi cultoribus. Sola a dilectione Dei et proximi, unde Salomon:

For if it stood in the virtue of equity, it would assuredly fight against the enemies of iniquity. But it is called alone, without the help and protection of God, without the true worshipers of Christ. Alone, away from the love of God and of neighbor, whence Solomon:

"Vae soli, quia si ceciderit, non habet sublevantem."

"Woe to the solitary, because if he should fall, he has no one to lift him up."

Plena populo, populo iniquo et tumultuante et non poenitente, populo gravi iniquitate, de quo Isaias:

Full of people, a people iniquitous and tumultuating and not penitent, a people of grave iniquity, of whom Isaiah:

"Populus hic labiis me honorat, cor autem eorum longe est ab me."

"This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."

Vidua vero commemoratur a pontificali dignitate et regali potestate; vidua, annulo fidei amisso; vidua, quoniam chyrographum sponi sui Christi intrantibus Sarracenis amisit. Et tamen domina dicitur, quia omnes tribus terrae sub eius parte redigentur. Feria igitur vi., die secundo Octobris, recitata est haec conventio per plateas Ierusalem, quatenus unusquisque per spatia xl dierum sibi provideret, taleque tributum quale praedictum est pro sui liberatione Saladino persolvisset.

A widow indeed she is commemorated by pontifical dignity and regal power; a widow, the ring of faith having been lost; a widow, since she lost the chirograph of her spouse Christ when the Saracens entered. And yet she is called lady, because all the tribes of the earth will be brought under her rule. Therefore, on Friday, the second day of October, this convention was recited through the streets of Jerusalem, to the end that each person within the span of 40 days might provide for himself, and pay to Saladin such a tribute as has been aforesaid for his own liberation.

His autem auditis, vulgus per civitatem lamentabili voce lugebat dicens:

But when these things had been heard, the populace throughout the city was mourning with a lamentable voice, saying:

"Vae, vae, nobis miseris, quid faciemus qui aureos non habemus? Maluimus et melius esset nobis pro Christo in sancta civitate, quam sub dira servitute Turcis et Sarracenis pollutis et immundis, relicta sancta terra promissionis, servire."

"Alas, alas, for us wretches, what shall we do who do not have gold coins? We would have preferred, and it would be better for us, to die for Christ in the holy city, rather than to serve under dire servitude to the Turks and Saracens, polluted and unclean, with the holy land of promise left behind."

Quis unquam poterat cogitare tale nefas a Christianis perpetrari? Sepulchrum resurrectionis Christi et nobile Templum et sanctissimum montem Syon, et cetera loca sanctae civitatis, sponte in manibus gentium tradere? Proh dolor!

Who could ever have thought such a nefarious deed would be perpetrated by Christians? To hand over, of their own accord, the Sepulcher of Christ’s Resurrection and the noble Temple and the most holy Mount Sion, and the other places of the holy city, into the hands of the nations? Alas, what grief!

Non est dolor similis dolori isti. Nusquam legimus Iudaeos sancta sanctorum absque effusione sanguinis et duro certamine deseruisse, nec tamen sponte tradidisse. Pereant isti mercatores pessimi, qui secundo Christum et sanctam civitatem vendiderunt, sicut ille mercator malignus, qui suspensus crepuit medius, et quod peius est, diffusa sunt omnia viscera malignitatis eius in istis, scilicet et in illis, qui pro impositione manuum et ecclesiasticis sacramentis munera exigunt.

There is no pain like this pain. Nowhere do we read that the Jews deserted the Holy of Holies without the effusion of blood and a hard contest, nor yet that they handed it over of their own accord. Let these most wicked merchants perish, who for the second time sold Christ and the holy city, like that malign merchant who, being hanged, burst asunder in the middle; and, what is worse, all the viscera of his malignity have been poured out into these men—namely, also into those who exact gifts for the imposition of hands and for ecclesiastical sacraments.

De istis iterum Ieremias:

About these, Jeremiah again:

"Sed et lamiae nudaverunt mammas,"

"But even the lamiae bared their breasts,"

id est, quales intus extiterant in mente, foras demonstraverunt in opere.

that is, what sort they had been inwardly in mind, they displayed outwardly in deed.

"Et lactaverunt catulos suos,"

"And they suckled their cubs,"

malam scilicet conscientiam et concupiscentiam avaritiae suae, ita scilicet in aliena regione, sicut in illa, falsis ponderibus et variis sacramentis decipere proximos meditantes. Lamia siquidem effigiem hominis ostendit in vultu, sed corpus et sensum bellinum trahit. Fiant ergo filii eorum orphani, et uxores eorum viduae in terra aliena, qui hereditatem Crucifixi et suam moribus et ita honesta et exemplo praecedentium noluerunt vendicare.

namely their evil conscience and the concupiscence of their avarice—thus, in a foreign region just as in their own—plotting to deceive their neighbors with false weights and various oaths. For a Lamia displays the effigy of a human in the face, but drags along a beast-like body and sense. Let their sons therefore become orphans, and their wives widows in a foreign land, they who were unwilling to vindicate the inheritance of the Crucified—and their own—by honorable morals and by the example of those who went before.

XXV. Quomodo Hierusalem tradita est Saladino

25. How Jerusalem was handed over to Saladin

Anno igitur MCLXXXVII ab Incarnatione Domni nostri Iesu Christi, mense Octobris, tertia die mensis, unde quidam: "Terdecimis demptis ab annis mille ducentis Tertia lux luxit Octobris, et urbs sacra luxit, Quinto idus Octobris D. Littera Dominicalis, Deleta est civitas die Sabbati, et deriserunt Increduli Sabbata cordium Christianorum."

Therefore in the year 1187 from the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the month of October, on the third day of the month, whence someone said: "With thirteen subtracted from one thousand two hundred years, the third light of October shone, and the sacred city mourned; on the fifth day before the Ides of October, the Dominical Letter D, the city was destroyed on the Sabbath day, and the Unbelievers mocked the sabbaths of the hearts of the Christians."

Traditaque est Ierusalem, pro dolor! in manibus nefandorum a nefandis Christianis, et clausae sunt ianuae, positis custodibus. Igitur Alphachini et Cassini, ministri scilicet nefandi erroris, episcopi et presbyteri, secundum opinionem Sarracenorum, primum Templum Domini, quod Beithhalla vocant, et quo magnam salvationis habent fiduciam, quasi causa orationis et religionis, ascenderunt, mundare aestimantes quod spurcitiis et mugitibus horribilibus, legem Mahumeti pollutis labiis vociferando "Halla haucaber, Halla haucaber," polluerunt.

And Jerusalem was delivered, alas! into the hands of the nefarious by nefarious Christians, and the gates were shut, guards having been posted. Therefore the Alphachini and Cassini, ministers, to wit, of nefarious error—bishops and presbyters, according to the opinion of the Saracens—first ascended to the Temple of the Lord, which they call Beithhalla, and in which they have great confidence of salvation, as if for the sake of prayer and religion, thinking to cleanse what they had defiled with filths and horrible bellowings, shouting with polluted lips the law of Muhammad, “Halla haucaber, Halla haucaber.”

Coinquinaverunt omnia loca quae in Templo continentur; locum scilicet praesentationis, ubi mater et Virgo gloriosa Maria Filium Dei, ut Eum secundum legem Moysi Domino sisteret, in manibus iusti Symeonis tradidit. Et locum 'scilicet confessionis' respicientem contra porticum Salomonis, ubi Dominus mulierem in adulterio deprehensam et dura lege et lapidea, et a lapidatione Iudaeorum, iudicium mutans in misericordiam et legem in gratiam, digito scribente in terra,

They defiled all the places that are contained in the Temple; namely the place of the Presentation, where the mother and glorious Virgin Mary handed over the Son of God into the hands of just Symeon, that she might present Him to the Lord according to the law of Moses. And the place, namely ‘of confession,’ facing toward the Portico of Solomon, where the Lord, the woman caught in adultery, both from the hard and stony law and from the lapidation of the Jews, changing judgment into mercy and the law into grace, with His finger writing on the earth,

"Qui sine peccato est, primus in illam lapidum mittat,"

"He who is without sin, let him be the first to throw stones at her,"

liberavit. Locum etiam contra Orientem, ubi Iudaei Iacobum iustum, fratrem Domini propter similitudinem vultus dictum, de pinna templi propter verbum et testimonium Iesu Christi praecipitaverunt, atque vecte fullonis percussum occiderunt.

he set her free. Also the place facing the East, where the Jews precipitated James the Just, the brother of the Lord—so called on account of the similitude of countenance—from the pinnacle of the temple for the word and testimony of Jesus Christ, and killed him, struck with the fuller’s club.

XXVI. De praecipitatione aureae cruces

26. On the casting down of the golden crosses

Auream quoque crucem, sicut et eteras per omnem civitatem, funibus innexis, de pinna Templi, ad opprobrium Christianorum, cum magnis clamoribus, subsannando et deridendo adoratores crucis, flentibus Christianis, crines et vestes rumpentibus, pectora et capita tundentibus, prae dolore et tristitia et nimia cordis anxietate iam paene deficientibus, praecipitaverunt. Posuerunt etiam custodes, ne quis Christianorum septa atrii Templi intraret, unde Ieremias:

They likewise hurled down the golden cross, just as also the others throughout the whole city, with ropes fastened on, from the pinnacle of the Temple, to the opprobrium of the Christians, with great shouts, sneering at and deriding the worshipers of the cross, while the Christians wept, tearing their hair and garments, beating their breasts and heads, now almost fainting from pain and sadness and excessive anguish of heart. They also set guards, lest any of the Christians enter the enclosures of the court of the Temple, whence Jeremiah:

"Repulit Dominus altare suum, maledixit sanctificationi suae."

"The Lord has cast off his altar, he has cursed his sanctuary."

Et iterum:

And again:

"Propter peccata sacerdotum et iniquitates populorum, alieni in domo Domini vocem dederunt, sicut in die solemni."

"Because of the sins of the priests and the iniquities of the peoples, aliens have given voice in the house of the Lord, as on a solemn day."

Ascendit autem ex altera parte Sephidin montem sanctum Sion, atque ecclesiam, novi sacramenti celebratione, frequentatione et orationibus apostolorum et gloriosae Virginis Mariae post Ascensionem Domini, adventu Spiritus Sancti super apostolos in die Pentecostes, dormitione B. Mariae, salutatione Domini post resurrectionem, dicentis discipulis "Pax vobis," sanctificatam, sui et suorum inhabitantium immunditiis, comessatione, potatione, luxuria, sancta loca et se et suos polluere non metuit. Interim sepulchrum Domini denudatum et omni ornatu exspoliatum est, patulumque omnibus Christianis et Sarracenis commixtim intrantibus; et etiam locus ubi vestigia crucis nostrae redemptionis in monte sancto apparent; dextra parte habentia fissuram magnam in ipso lapide ubi sanguis et aqua de latere Salvatoris in Cruce pendentis in terra profluxerunt, denudatus et exspoliatus est.

But from the other side Sephidin ascended the holy Mount Sion, and the church—sanctified by the celebration of the new sacrament, by the frequentation and orations of the apostles and of the glorious Virgin Mary after the Lord’s Ascension, by the advent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, by the Dormition of Blessed Mary, by the salutation of the Lord after the resurrection, saying to the disciples, "Peace be to you,"—he did not fear to pollute, by the uncleannesses of himself and his inhabitants, by feasting, drinking, and luxury, both the holy places and himself and his own. Meanwhile the Lord’s sepulcher was laid bare and stripped of every adornment, and stood open to all, Christians and Saracens entering mingled together; and likewise the place where the traces of the cross of our redemption appear on the holy mount—on the right side having a great fissure in the very stone where blood and water from the side of the Savior hanging on the Cross flowed forth onto the earth—was laid bare and stripped.

XXVII. Quomodo Saladinus totam terram Iudeae fere obtinuit

27. How Saladin obtained almost the whole land of Judea

Civitatem Ierusalem circiter octoginta novem annis gens nostra tenuerat, ex quo ipsam pariter cum Antiochia victoriosa Christianorum recuperavit potentia, cum eam, gentiles prius per annos xl possedissent. Infra breve tempus Saladinus toto regno Ierosolymitano fere potitus, legem Mahumeti magnificentius extulit, et eam Christianae religione praecellere rerum gestarum eventu pro posse probabat. Talia dum agerentur, archiepiscopus Tyri, navi conscensa, tantae cladis nuntium orbi Christiano detulit, ad lacrymas innumeros concitans, et plures ad vindictam accendens.

Our people had held the city of Jerusalem for about eighty-nine years, from the time when the victorious power of the Christians recovered it together with Antioch, whereas the Gentiles had previously possessed it for 40 years. Within a brief time Saladin, having almost gotten possession of the whole kingdom of Jerusalem, exalted more magnificently the law of Mahomet, and was proving, so far as he could, by the event of deeds done, that it excelled the Christian religion. While such things were being done, the archbishop of Tyre, having boarded a ship, brought to the Christian world the news of so great a disaster, arousing countless to tears and inflaming many to vengeance.

Primus omnium magnanimus Pictaviae comes Ricardus, ob ulciscendam Crucis iniuriam cruce insignitur, et omnes praecedit facto, quas invitat exemplo. Similiter pater eius rex Henricus iam vergens in senium, cum rege Philippo et fere universi proceres utriusque regni apud Gisortium crucizantur. Ad tam insigne certamen omnium fervebat studium, et etiam de claustris, abiectis cucullis, migrabant ad castra.

First of all, the magnanimous count of Poitou, Richard, to avenge the injury to the Cross, is marked with the cross, and he precedes all by deed those whom he invites by his example. Likewise his father, King Henry, now verging into senility, together with King Philip and nearly all the nobles of both realms, at Gisors are signed with the cross. For so illustrious a contest the zeal of all burned hot, and even from the cloisters, with cowls cast aside, they migrated to the camps.

Fredericus vero imperator cum suis crucem suspiciens, in comitatu suo habuit septem antistites, cum uno archipraesule, duos duces, comites decem et novem, tres marchiones, tria millia militum, reliquorum circiter octoginta millia, per Hungariam et Constantinopolim transiens. Eius exercitus graves impugnationes pertulit a Soldano Iconii, antequam Iconium armata manu caperet. Deinde in Armeniam veniens imperator, in flumine Seletii submergitur, eiusque filius dux Suaviae super exercitum erigitur.

Emperor Frederick, for his part, with his men embracing the Cross, had in his retinue 7 bishops, with 1 archbishop, 2 dukes, 19 counts, 3 margraves, 3,000 knights, and of the rest about 80,000, passing through Hungary and Constantinople. His army endured heavy assaults from the Sultan of Iconium, before he took Iconium by force of arms. Then, coming into Armenia, the emperor was drowned in the river Seletius, and his son, the duke of Swabia, was elevated over the army.

Rumor vero de submersione imperatoris Turcos in Achon a Christianos obsessos valde laetificavit, atque Christicolas cum magna penuria obsidentes, fere usque ad desperationem contristavit. Rex autem Guido cum apud Damascum per annum fere tentus fuisset in vinculis, Saladinus illum absolvit, facta quadam pactione, et abiurato regno, mare quam citius exul transiret. Cumque rex veniret Tyrum a marchisio non recipitur, unde Achon petit cum Pisanis et exercitu non modico, urbemque terra marique obsident.

However, the rumor about the emperor’s drowning greatly gladdened the Turks in Acre, who were besieged by the Christians, and it saddened the Christ-followers besieging with great penury, almost to the point of desperation. But King Guy, after he had been held in bonds at Damascus for almost a year, was released by Saladin, a certain pact having been made, and with the kingdom abjured, that, as an exile, he should cross the sea as swiftly as possible. And when the king came to Tyre, he was not received by the marquis; whence he makes for Acre with the Pisans and with no small army, and they besiege the city by land and by sea.

Ad hanc obsidionem primo venit classis borealium virorum numero xii millium. Postea applicuit Iacobus de Avennes figens tentoria ex adverso turris maledictae, et paulo ulterius Templarii tendunt. Sane de regno Francorum et Anglorum iam plurimi veniebant, regibus suis non expectatis.

To this siege there first came a fleet of northern men to the number of 12,000. Afterwards James of Avesnes put in and pitched tents opposite the accursed tower, and a little further on the Templars pitch. Indeed, from the realm of the Franks and of the English already very many were coming, without waiting for their kings.

Inter alios venit episcopus Belvacensis cum Roberto fratre suo comite. Venit comes Brenensis et comes de Baro, et Flandrenses plurimi. De Germania venit quidam Landegrave cum Alemannis, qui marchionem a rege Guidon dissentientem Achon venire persuasit.

Among others came the Bishop of Beauvais with his brother Robert, a count. The Count of Brienne came, and the Count of Bar, and very many Flemings. From Germany there came a certain Landgrave with Germans, who persuaded the marquis, dissenting from King Guy, to come to Acre.

Christiani castra gentilium vicina insiliunt: sed ab oppidanis infestantur, et utrimque multi caeduntur, inter quos et Gerardus de Bedefordia, magister Templi, occubuit. Dum quidam Alemannus cum sociis suis equum fugientem insequeretur, subito exorsus est clamor quod oppidani obsessi exierant ad diripiendas sarcinas. Exinde bellorum ordo confunditur, disperguntur cunei, nullus signorum respectus, ipsi duces ad fugam praecipites fiunt.

The Christians leap upon the neighboring camp of the gentiles; but they are assailed by the townsmen, and on both sides many are cut down, among whom also Gerard of Bedford, Master of the Temple, fell. While a certain German with his companions was pursuing a fleeing horse, suddenly there arose a clamor that the besieged townsmen had come out to plunder the baggage. Thereupon the order of war is thrown into confusion, the wedges are dispersed, there is no regard for the standards, the leaders themselves become headlong to flight.

Ex hac turbatione Turci audaciam resumentes de nostris quamplurimos prosternunt. Sed Christiani de die in diem crescentes, dum fossatis circa urbem faciendis intendunt, graviter saepius a Turcis laeduntur. Turci infra Achon dum famem paterentur et deditionem urbis obsidentibus offerrent, subvenit Saladinus L galeis missis, viris, victualibus et armis onustis, quibus galeae nostrae captae sunt et fugatae et quamdam navem nostram victualibus onustam secum violenter in urbem abduxerunt, suspenderuntque omnes in navi repertos in circuitu murorum in die festo Omnium Sanctorum.

From this turmoil the Turks, taking back their audacity, cut down very many of our men. But the Christians, increasing from day to day, while they set themselves to making trenches around the city, are grievously and often harmed by the Turks. The Turks within Acre, while they were suffering famine and were offering the surrender of the city to the besiegers, were succored by Saladin, who sent 50 galleys, laden with men, victuals, and arms; by these our galleys were captured and put to flight, and they violently carried off with them into the city a certain ship of ours laden with victuals, and they hanged all found in the ship around the circuit of the walls on the feast of All Saints.

Cum iam Pascha instaret marchisus, qui classis reparandae causa Tyrum secesserat, a Tyro cum ingenti apparatu et copia virorum et armorum et victualium revertitur. Sed obsessi ereptam sibi libertatem aequoris gravius sustinentes, cum galeis suis obviam venientibus procedunt, navali proelio pugnaturi. Sed, Deo volente, victoria cessit Christianis.

When now Easter was drawing near, the marquis, who had withdrawn to Tyre for the sake of repairing the fleet, returns from Tyre with enormous apparatus and an abundance of men, arms, and victuals. But the besieged, more bitterly bearing that the freedom of the open sea had been snatched from them, put out with their galleys to meet them as they were coming, intending to fight a naval battle. But, by God’s will, victory fell to the Christians.

Interim Turci qui exterius Christicolas obsidebant, fossata nostra terra implebant, nostrisque intra positis feroces faciebant insultus. Unde nunquam securitas, nunquam requies dabatur. Augebantur undique, nunc se observantes ab obsessis in urbe, nunc ab exteriori exercitu Saladini continue eorum cervicibus imminenti, nunc a parte maris galeis eorum sedentibus in insidiis.

Meanwhile the Turks who from without were besieging the Christ‑followers were filling our fosses with earth, and were making fierce assaults upon our men stationed within. Whence no security, no rest was granted. Our men were hard‑pressed on every side—now keeping themselves on guard from the besieged in the city, now from Saladin’s external army, continually imminent over their necks, now on the sea‑side, with their galleys sitting in ambush.

Tres turres ligneas nostri fecerant, quibus dum urbem acrius impugnarent, oppidan deditionem offerunt; ita tamen ut ipsis abscedendi libertas et res suas asportandi non denegetur facultas. Nostris vero renuentibus, ecce exercitus Turcorum exterior irruens in fossata, a tergo nostros impugnant; cumque se ab irruentibus defenderent, ignis hostilis machinas nostras succendit, qui nulla diligentia potuit extingui, sicque infelici casu triumphandi spes excidit. Dum oppidani fame affligerentur, eques suos et alterius generis bestias consumunt, contra ritum Mahumeticae legis.

Our men had made three wooden towers, and while they were more keenly assaulting the city, the townsmen offer surrender; provided, however, that freedom to withdraw and the ability to carry off their goods be not denied to them. But when our men refused, behold, the outer army of the Turks, rushing into the ditches, attack our men from the rear; and while they were defending themselves from the assailants, hostile fire set our engines ablaze, which by no diligence could be extinguished, and thus by an unlucky chance the hope of triumph fell away. While the townsmen were afflicted by famine, they consumed their horses and beasts of other kinds, against the rite of the Mahometan law.

Seniores etiam Christianos captivos foras muros exanimes iaculabantur. Sic angustatis advenerunt tres naves onerariae et se subito in urbem praecipitaverunt, ita ut nautae paterentur naufragium. Saladinus universum exercitum omnium regnorumsuorum congregavit, nostrosque per dies octo acrius impugnavit in Pentecosten; Christicolae vero dum utramque incursionem viriliter sustinerent, plurimi Turcorum in fines patriae redeunt.

They were even hurling the elder Christian captives, lifeless, outside the walls. Thus, with our people constrained, three cargo-ships arrived and suddenly hurled themselves into the city, such that the sailors suffered shipwreck. Saladin gathered together the entire army of all his realms, and for eight days, at Pentecost, attacked our men more sharply; but the Christ-worshipers, while they manfully sustained both incursions, saw very many of the Turks return to the borders of their fatherland.

Ibidem occubuit unus filiorum Saladini ictu ballistae, cuius obitus et coeptus insultus cohibuit, et exercitum hostilem exterruit. Item dum oppidani fame affligerentur, succurrit eis soldanus, mittens eis xxv rates frugiferas; sed duae maiores inter turrim muscarum illisae sunt et rupem quamdam. Cum exercitus noster otii languore torpesceret, vulgus tumultuans sine consilio principum et contra patriarchae interdictum, die S. Iacobi ad castra hostilia audacter prorumpit, sine duce, sine ductore, sine signis certis, magis spoliis indulgens quam proeliis.

In the same place one of Saladin’s sons fell by a ballista-stroke, whose death checked the assault that had begun and terrified the hostile army. Likewise, while the townsmen were afflicted by famine, the sultan succored them, sending them 25 grain-bearing ships; but the two larger were dashed between the Tower of Flies and a certain rock. When our army was growing torpid with the languor of idleness, the tumultuating rabble, without the counsel of the princes and against the patriarch’s interdict, on St. James’s day boldly burst forth to the hostile camp—without a leader, without a guide, without certain standards—indulging more in spoils than in battles.

Gentiles, visis prodeuntium turmis, de industria paulisper cedunt, sarcinis non asportatis nec tentoriis. Turci vero cum nepote soldani Thecahadino de latibulis irruentes, plebem incaute dispersam et stupidam facili triumpho prosternunt, scilicet circiter v millia quingentos. Huic agmini fere dissipato multum subvenit magister Radulfus de Altaripa, archidiaconus Colecestriae, qui postmodum cum plurima gessisse insignia, in eadem obsidione fine felici diem clausit extremum.

The Gentiles, seeing the bands of those advancing, deliberately give way for a little while, without carrying off their baggage or their tents. But the Turks, together with the Soldan’s nephew Thecahadin, rushing out from their lurking-places, lay low with an easy triumph the common-folk incautiously scattered and stupefied, namely about 5,500. To this column, almost dispersed, much succor was brought by Master Ralph of Altaripa, Archdeacon of Colchester, who afterwards, having performed many distinguished exploits, in that same siege closed his last day with a happy end.

Nostris diuturna tribulatione decoctis, adduxit Domnus ab extremis finibus terrae fortes auxiliarios, viros insignes, potentes in proelio, scilicet archiepiscopos, episcopos, duces, comites, marchiones, barones, milites, et aliam multitudinem de diversis finibus terrarum; quorum summa non cadit in numerum. Comes Henricus de Campania exercitui nostro praeficitur ante adventum regis Philippi et regis Ricardi, quorum nepos erat, qui etiam postmodum in regem sublimatus est. Dux Suaviae filius Frederici cum Alemannis instinctu marchisii Achon veniens, seminarium fuit dissensionis, cuius auxilio marchius de Monteferrato aspiravit ad regnum, eo quod coniugem Emfridi rapuerat, cui iure successionis devolvebatur hereditas terrae illius.

With our men reduced by long tribulation, the Lord brought from the farthest borders of the earth strong auxiliaries, distinguished men, potent in battle—namely archbishops, bishops, dukes, counts, marquises, barons, knights, and another multitude from diverse bounds of lands—whose total does not fall within number. Count Henry of Champagne is set over our army before the arrival of Kings Philip and Richard, whose nephew he was, who also afterwards was elevated to be king. The Duke of Swabia, son of Frederick, coming to Acre with the Germans at the instigation of the marquis, was a seed‑bed of dissension, by whose aid the Marquis of Montferrat aspired to the kingship, for the reason that he had seized the wife of Humphrey, to whom by right of succession the inheritance of that land devolved.

Miraculosa quaedam tempore obsidionis Achon contingebant. Petraria quaedam oppidanorum ex violentia sui omnes machinas nostras comminuit, et hominem ex nostris quem percusserat non laesit. Telum ab interius in quemdam ex nostris emissum omnem armaturam eius penetravit, sed scedulam nomen Dei continentem et in pectore eius dependentem penetrare non potuit.

Certain miraculous things were occurring at the time of the siege of Acon. A certain petrary of the townsmen, by the force of its own violence, shattered all our engines, and did not harm the man of ours whom it had struck. A missile shot from within at one of ours penetrated all his armature, but it could not penetrate the little slip of parchment containing the name of God and hanging on his chest.

Miles inermis, requisitis naturae vix peractis, Turcum armatum se lancea impetentem lapide prostravit. Ivo de Veteriponte decem sociis comitatus versus Tyrum cum tribus nautis in parva navi navigans octoginta piratas occidit bipenni. Cuiusdam admiralii genitalia igne Graeco combusta sunt, quo machinas nostras incendi proposuerat.

An unarmed soldier, the necessities of nature scarcely performed, with a stone prostrated an armed Turk who was attacking him with a lance. Ivo de Veteriponte, accompanied by ten companions, sailing toward Tyre with three sailors in a small ship, slew eighty pirates with a bipennis (double-axe). The genitals of a certain admiral were burned by Greek fire, with which he had proposed to set our machines on fire.

Quidam Turcus igneum Graecum natando deferens, a nostris rete capitur. Turcus telo in inguine percussus interiit, qui crucem Dominicam commingere disposuit. Inter Turcos et nostros fit navale proelium, et dum nostri turribus et machinis affixis galeis turrem muscarum comprehendere nituntur, machinae nostrae succenduntur.

A certain Turk, carrying Greek fire by swimming, is captured by our men with a net. A Turk, struck by a weapon in the groin—he who had resolved to urinate upon the Lord’s Cross—perished. A naval battle takes place between the Turks and our men, and while our men, with towers and engines fastened to the galleys, strive to seize the Tower of Flies, our machines are set alight.

Oppidani igne Graeco, cum missione tamen suorum, arietem archiepiscopi de Besenzun succendunt. Classis xv navium ex Alexandria oppidanis mittitur in auxilium, sed multi pereunt. Nostris disponentibus congredi cum Saladino, archiepiscopo Baldewino Cantuariensi ducente, Saladinus cum suis fugit ad montana.

the townspeople with Greek fire—yet with a sortie of their own men—set alight the battering-ram of the archbishop of Besançon. A fleet of 15 ships from Alexandria is sent to the townspeople in aid, but many perish. As our men were arranging to engage with Saladin, with Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury leading, Saladin with his men fled to the mountains.

Cum quidam nostrorum versus Caiphas pro victualibus irent et redirent, a Turcis graviter infestantur, sed infestando succumbunt, irruente in eos Gaufrido de Liziniaco, fratre regis Guidonis, cum quinque militibus electis super pontem quem praeoccupaverat. Marchisus ut regno potiretur, heredem regni 'uxorem scilicet Remfridi adhuc viventis' dolose desponsavit. Cumque voti esset compos, cum coniuge sua Tyrum regreditur, promittens sub iureiurando se victualium copiam exercitui exhibiturum.

While certain of our men were going toward Caiphas for victuals and returning, they are grievously harried by the Turks; but, in the very act of harrying, they succumb, Geoffrey of Lusignan, brother of King Guy, rushing upon them with five chosen knights on the bridge which he had pre‑occupied. The Marquess, in order to obtain the kingdom, deceitfully betrothed the heir of the kingdom—‘namely, the wife of Renfred, still living.’ And when he had gained his desire, he returns to Tyre with his consort, promising under oath that he would furnish a supply of victuals to the army.

Sed pactionis immemor, nulla exercitui fame periclitanti alimenta transmittere voluit. Baldewinus archiepiscopus videns et audiens exercitum omnino dissolutum tabernis et scortis et ludis talorum insistere, anxiatus est spiritus eius usque ad taedium vitae, aestuque febrili fatiscens, ibidem obdormivit in Domino. Interea dirae famis inedia exercitus noster continue cruciabatur.

Yet, unmindful of the pact, he was unwilling to transmit any provisions to the army perilously endangered by hunger. Archbishop Baldwin, seeing and hearing that the army, utterly dissolute, was intent upon taverns and harlots and the games of dice, his spirit was distressed even to a loathing of life, and, flagging with feverish heat, there fell asleep in the Lord. Meanwhile our army was continually tormented by the starvation of dire famine.

Nam modii tritici mensura, quam quis facile portaret sub ascella, centum aureis vendebatur, gallina quoque solidis duodecim, ovum sex denariis. Quidam fame pereuntes cadavera equorum cum intestinis devorabant. Intestina equi vendebantur solidis x, caput cum intestinis vorabant.

For a modius-measure of wheat, which one could easily carry under the armpit, was sold for 100 aurei, a hen likewise for 12 solidi, an egg for 6 denarii. Certain men, perishing with hunger, were devouring the carcasses of horses along with the intestines. A horse’s intestines were sold for 10 solidi; they gobbled the head with the entrails.

Equus pluris vendebatur mortuus quam vivus. Famelici ossa a canibus corrosa rodebant, et immunda quaeque comedebant. Plerumque circa furnum fiebant irae, rixae, contentiones, nonnumquam pugnae.

A horse was sold for more dead than alive. The famished were gnawing bones already gnawed by dogs, and they ate all manner of unclean things. For the most part around the oven there arose angers, quarrels, contentions, sometimes fights.

Alii concurrebant ad clibanum, clamantes: "Ecce moneta, ecce quantum vis panis pretium, dummodo panis copia detur."

Others were running together to the oven, shouting: "Behold money, behold whatever price of bread you wish, provided that a supply of bread be given."

Occulte etiam comedebat qui aliquam escam habuit. Deliciosi etiam herbas pro deliciis edebant. Nobiles viri cum non haberent unde viverent, furabantur; unde multi pro acerbitate famis apostabant.

Whoever had any food ate it secretly. The luxury-loving even ate herbs as delicacies. Noble men, when they had nothing from which to live, stole; whence many, on account of the bitterness of famine, apostatized.

Duo socii xiii fabas denario emunt. Famelici in Quadragesima carnes comedebant. Numquam dormitavit marchisi maledictio, qui tantae egestatis fuerat occasio.

Two companions buy 13 beans for a denarius. The famished ate meat in Lent. The marquis’s curse never slumbered, he who had been the occasion of so great destitution.

Praeterea ex nimia inundatione imbrium, quaedam vehemens excrevit in hominibus infirmitas, ut more lymphatico toto corpore distenderentur; unde imbribus et fame populus deperiebat. Exhortatione tandem episcopi Saresberiensis et aliorum, divites collectam fecerunt, per quam pauperes saturarentur. Post unius naviculae adventum hodie emebatur iiii aureis quod heri pro centum.

Moreover, from the excessive inundation of the rains, a certain vehement infirmity arose among people, such that, in a dropsical manner, they were distended in the whole body; whence by the rains and by famine the populace was perishing. At length, at the exhortation of the Bishop of Salisbury and others, the rich made a collection, through which the poor were satiated. After the arrival of a single little ship, today what yesterday was bought for a hundred was being purchased for 4 gold pieces.

Quidam Pisanus venditor, annonae volens reservare annonam in posterum, ut carius venderet, contigit ut domum cum annona ignis succenderet. Omnes ex tunc certatim escas largiuntur egentibus. Post Pascha anno ab Incarnatione Domini MC nonagesimo primo rex Franciae Philippus applicuit apud Achon, et non multe post, scilicet circa Pentecosten, venit rex Anglorum Richardus: quorum seriem itineris et quae in itinere gesserint, seu qualiter Achon ceperint, et quanta proelia in terra illa contra Saladinum commiserint, seu ex quas occasione rex Philippus repatriavit, si quis plenius nosse desiderat, legat librum quem dominus prior Sanctae Trinitatis Londoniis ex Gallica lingua in Latinum tam eleganti quam veraci stilo transferri fecit.

A certain Pisan vendor, wishing to reserve the grain-supply for the future so that he might sell it at a dearer price, it befell that fire set his house ablaze along with the grain-supply. From that time on all vied to lavish food upon the needy. After Easter, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1191, Philip, king of France, made landfall at Acre, and not long after, namely about Pentecost, came Richard, king of the English. If anyone desires to know more fully the sequence of their journey and what they did on the way, how they took Acre, how great battles in that land they engaged against Saladin, and for what reason King Philip returned home, let him read the book which the lord prior of the Holy Trinity in London had caused to be translated from the Gallic tongue into Latin, in a style as elegant as it is truthful.

XXVIII. Epistola Frederici Imperatoris ad Saladinum

28. Epistle of Frederick the Emperor to Saladin

Fredericus Dei gratia Romanorum Imperator et semper Augustus, et hostium imperii magnificus triumphator, Saladino praesidi Sarracenorum quondam illustri, exemplo Pharaoris fugere Israelem. Devotionis tuae litteras multis retro temporibus ad nos destinatas, super arduis negotiis tibi quidem, si fides verbis subfuisset, profuturis, prout maiestatis nostrae decuit magnificentiam, succepimus, et epistolarum alloquiis magnitudini tuae consulere dignum duximus. Nunc vero quia terram sanctam profanasti, cui aeterni Regis imperamus imperio, in praeside Iudaeae, Samariae, Palestinorum, in tanti sceleris praesumptuosam et plectibilem audaciam, debita animadversione decernere imperialis officii sollicitudo nos admonet.

Frederick, by the grace of God Emperor of the Romans and ever Augustus, and a magnificent triumphator of the enemies of the empire, to Saladin, praeses of the Saracens, once illustrious, after the example of Pharaoh to flee Israel. We received the letters of your devotion, sent to us many times ago, concerning arduous affairs which indeed would have profited you, if faith had underlain the words; and, as befitted the magnificence of our majesty, we took them up, and judged it worthy to provide counsel to your greatness by the addresses of letters. Now indeed, because you have profaned the Holy Land, over which we rule by the imperium of the Eternal King, as praeses of Judea, Samaria, and of the Palestinians, concerning the presumptuous and punishable audacity of so great a crime, the solicitude of the imperial office admonishes us to decree due censure.

Quamobrem nisi occupatam terram, et omnia restituas, adiuncta satisfactione, sacris constitutionibus pro tam nefariis excessibus taxata, ne minime legitimum videamur quaerere bellum, a capite calendarum Novembrium evoluto anni spatio terminum tibi praefigimus, ad experiendam belli fortunam in campo Tahtneos in virtute mirificae Crucis, et in nomine veri Ioseph. Vix enim credere possumus hoc te latere, quod ex scriptis veterum et in historiis antiquis nostri temporis redolet. Numquid scire dissimulas ambas Aethiopas, Mauritaniam, Persiam, Syriam, Parthiam, ubi a Parthis Crassi nostri dictatoris fata sunt praematurata, Iudaeam, Samariam, Maritimam Arabiam, Chaldaeam, ipsam quoque Aegyptum, ubi proh dolor!

Wherefore, unless you restore the occupied land and everything besides, with satisfaction added, assessed by the sacred constitutions for such nefarious excesses, so that we may by no means seem to be seeking an illegitimate war, we set a deadline for you, at the end of a year elapsed from the Kalends of November, to try the fortune of war in the field Tahtneos, in the virtue of the wondrous Cross, and in the name of the true Joseph. For we can scarcely believe that this is hidden from you, which is redolent from the writings of the ancients and in the ancient histories of our time. Do you feign ignorance of both Ethiopias, Mauretania, Persia, Syria, Parthia—where by the Parthians the fates of our dictator Crassus were made premature—Judea, Samaria, Maritime Arabia, Chaldea, and even Egypt herself, where—alas!

civis Romanus Antonius vir insignis, virtute praeditus, citra nitorem temperantiae et secus quam deceret militem, a tanto culmine rerum emissum, minus sobriis Cleopatrae inservierat amoribus? Numquid etiam scire dissimulas Armeniam et innumerabiles alias terras nostrae ditioni subiectas? Norunt haec reges, qui cruore gladii Romam sunt crebrius inebriati.

Was it not that the Roman citizen Antony, a distinguished man, endowed with virtue, yet without the polish of temperance and otherwise than would befit a soldier, cast down from so great a summit of affairs, had served Cleopatra’s less sober loves? Do you also pretend not to know Armenia and innumerable other lands subject to our dominion? Kings know these things, who have more often inebriated Rome with the gore of the sword.

Et tu quidem in ipsa rerum experientia, Deo auctore, intelliges, quid nostrae victrices aquilae, quid cohortes diversarum nationum, quid furor Teutonicus, etiam in pace arma capescens, quid caput indomitum Rheni, quid iuventus quae numquam novit fugam; quid procerus Bavarus; quid Suevus astutus; quid Franconia circumspecta; quid in gladio ludens Saxonia; quid Thuringia; quid Westfalia; quid agilis Brebantia; quid nescia pacis Letharingia; quid inquieta Burgundia; quid Alpini salices; quid Spisania in armento praevolans; quid Bohemia ultro mori gaudens; quid Bolenia suis fetis ferior; quid Austria; quid Stiria; quid Bugrensa; quid partes Illiricae; quid Leonardia; quid Tuscia; quid Ancarictana Marcia; quid Venetus proretha; quid Spisanus nauclerus; denique qualiter dextera nostra, quam senio arguis effoetam, gladios vibrare didicerit. Die illa plena laetitia et iocunditatis et reverentiae triumpho Christi praefixa te docebit. Huic mandato imperatoris responsoriam etia Saladini epistolam libello nostro duximus inserendam.

And you indeed, in the very experience of events, with God as author, will understand what our victorious eagles are, what the cohorts of diverse nations, what the Teutonic fury, taking up arms even in peace, what the indomitable head of the Rhine, what the youth that never knew flight; what the tall Bavarian; what the crafty Swabian; what circumspect Franconia; what Saxony playing with the sword; what Thuringia; what Westphalia; what agile Brebantia; what Letharingia, unacquainted with peace; what restless Burgundy; what the Alpine willows; what Spisania flying foremost in the herd; what Bohemia rejoicing to die unprovoked; what Bolenia, more feral with her own whelps; what Austria; what Styria; what Bugrensa; what the Illyrian parts; what Leonardia; what Tuscia; what the Ancarictan March; what the Venetian prow-man; what the Pisan shipmaster; finally, in what manner our right hand, which you charge as exhausted with old age, has learned to brandish swords. That day, full of joy and gladness and reverence, marked with the triumph of Christ, will teach you this. We have judged that even Saladin’s answering letter to this mandate of the emperor should be inserted in our little book.

Nam superbia tyranni fiducia, quam ad resistendum conceperat, ex ipsius tenore clarescit. Eam quidem in ipsa simplicitate verborum in qua fuerat conscripta recitando proponimus, nihil penitus immutantes.

For the pride of the tyrant—the confidence which he had conceived for resisting—shines clear from its very tenor. Indeed, we set it forth by reciting it in the very simplicity of the words in which it had been written, altering nothing at all.

XXIX. Epistola Saladini ad Fredericum Imperatorem

29. Letter of Saladin to Frederick the Emperor

Illi regni sincero amico, magno, excelso, Frederico regi Alemanniae, in nomine Dei miserentis, per gratiam Dei unius, potentis, exsuperantis, victoris, perennis, cuius regni non est finia. Grates ei agimus perennes, cuius gratia super totum mundum. Deprecamur eum ut infundat orationem suam super prophetas suos, et maxime super instructorem nostrum, nuntium suum, Mahumetum prophetam, quem misit pro rectae legis correctione, quam faciet apparere super cunctas leges.

To the sincere friend of the kingdom, the great, the exalted, Frederick, king of Germany, in the name of God the merciful, by the grace of the one God, mighty, surpassing, victorious, perennial, whose kingdom has no end. We render perpetual thanks to Him, whose grace is over the whole world. We beseech Him to pour His prayer upon His prophets, and most of all upon our instructor, His messenger, Mahomet the prophet, whom He sent for the correction of the right law, which He will cause to appear over all laws.

Attamen notum regi sincero, potenti, magno, amico, amicabili regi Alemanniae, quod quidam homo, Henricus nomine, venit ad nos, dicens se nuntium vestrum esse, et detulit nobis quamdam cartam, quam dixit esse vestram. Nos fecimus legi cartam, et audivimus eum, viva voce loquentem, et verbis quae ore dixit, verbis respondimus: sed hoc est responsum cartae. Quod si computatis eos qui vobiscum concordant veniendi super nos, et eos nominatis et dictis: rex talis terrae, et rex alterius terrae, et comes talis, et comes talis, et tales archiepiscopi, et marchiones et milites; et si nos vellemus enunciare eos, qui sunt in nostro servitio, et qui sunt intendentes nostro praecepto, et prompti nostro sermoni, et qui dimicarent coram manibus nostris; non posse hoc in scriptis redigi.

Nevertheless let it be known to the sincere, potent, great, friendly, amicable king of Germany, that a certain man, Henry by name, came to us, saying that he was your envoy, and he brought us a certain letter, which he said was yours. We caused the letter to be read, and we heard him, speaking viva voce, and to the words which he uttered by mouth we replied with words; but this is the response to the letter. Now if you compute those who agree with you in coming against us, and you name and declare them: the king of such-and-such a land, and the king of another land, and such-and-such a count, and such-and-such a count, and such archbishops, and margraves and knights; and if we were willing to enunciate those who are in our service, and who are intent upon our precept, and prompt to our word, and who would fight before our hands, this could not be committed to writing.

Et si Christianorum computatis nomina, Sarracenorum sunt plura, et plura abundantius quam Christianorum. Et si inter nos et eos quos nominatis Christianos mare est; inter Sarracenos, qui non possunt aestimari, non est mare inter eos et nos, nec ullum impedimentum veniendi ad nos; et nobiscum sunt Bedewini, quos si opponeremus inimicis nostris sufficerent; et Turkemanni, quos si effundamus super inimicos nostros, destruerent eos; et rustici nostri, qui dimicarent strenue si iuberemus contra gentes quae venturae super terram nostram, et ditarentur de eis, et exterminarent eas. Et quomodo?

And if you count the names of the Christians, the Saracens are more, and more abundant by far than the Christians. And if there is a sea between us and those Christians whom you name; among the Saracens, who cannot be reckoned, there is no sea between them and us, nor any impediment to coming to us; and with us are the Bedouins, whom, if we should set against our enemies, would suffice; and the Turcomans, whom, if we pour out upon our enemies, would destroy them; and our rustics, who would fight strenuously, if we should order, against the nations that would be coming upon our land, and they would be enriched from them, and they would exterminate them. And how?

Nos habemus nobiscum soldanos bellicosos, per quos terram apertam habemus et acquisitam, et expugnatos inimicos; et hi et omnes reges paganismi non tardabunt, cum eos summonuerimus, nec morabuntur, cum eos vocaverimus. Et vos eum congregati fueritis, sicut carta vestra dicit, et ducetis infinitam multitudinem, sicut nuntius vester narrat, obviabimus vobis per potentiam Dei, nec sufficit vobis terra ista quae est in maritima, sed transibimus voluntate Dei, et obtinebimus terras vestras universas fortitudine Dei. Nam si veneritis, cum toto posse vestro venietis, et praesentes eritis cum omni gente vestra, et scimus quod in terra vestra nullus remanebit, qui se defendere possit, nec terram tueri.

We have with us warlike soldans, through whom we have the land open and acquired, and the enemies taken by storm; and these and all the kings of paganism will not delay when we summon them, nor will they tarry when we call them. And when you have assembled, as your charter says, and you will lead an infinite multitude, as your messenger relates, we will go to meet you by the power of God; nor will this land which is in the maritime region suffice for you, but we will cross over by the will of God, and we will obtain all your lands by the fortitude of God. For if you come, you will come with your whole power, and you will be present with all your people; and we know that in your land no one will remain who can defend himself, nor guard the land.

Et quando Deus victoriam nobis sua fortitudine de vobis donaverit, nihil amplius erit, quam ut terras vestras libere capiamus fortitudine sua et voluntate. Adunatio enim legis Christianorum bis venit super nos in Babylone, una vice apud Damatiam, et altera apud Alexandriam, et erat in maritima terrae Ierusalem, et n manu Christianorum. In terra Damasci et in terra Sarracenorum in singulis castellis singuli erant domini sibi proficientes.

And when God, by His strength, shall have granted us victory over you, nothing further will remain except that we may freely seize your lands by His strength and will. For the adunation of the law of the Christians came upon us twice in Babylon, once at Damietta, and the other time at Alexandria, and it was in the maritime district of the land of Jerusalem, and in the hand of the Christians. In the land of Damascus and in the land of the Saracens, in each castle there were individual lords, advancing themselves.

Nostis qualiter Christiani utraque vice redierunt, et ad qualem exitum venerunt, et hae nostrae gentes refertae sunt cum regionibus suis, et Deus adunavit nobis regiones affluentius, et coadunavit eas longe lateque in potestate nostra, et Babyloniam cum pertinentiis suis et Terram Damasci, et maritimam Ierusalem, et terram Gesyrae, et castella sua, et terram Rossiae cum pertinentiis suis, et regionem Indiae cum pertinentiis suis, et per gratiam Dei hoc totum in manibus nostris est, et residuum regnum Sarracenorum nostro paret imperio. Nam si mandaremus excellentissimis regibus Sarracenorum, non retraherent se a nobis; et si summoneremus Calepham de Baldach, quem Deus salvet, veniendi ad nos, de sede excelsi imperii sui assurgeret, et veniret in auxilium excellentiae nostrae. Et nos obtinuimus per virtutem Dei et potentiam Ierusalem et terram eius; et remanent in manibus Christianorum Tyrus, Tripolis, et Antiochia, et de his non est aliud nisi ut occupentur.

You know how the Christians on both occasions returned, and to what outcome they came, and these our peoples are replete together with their regions, and God has united to us regions more abundantly, and has co-united them far and wide into our power—both Babylonia with its appurtenances and the Land of Damascus, and the maritime region of Jerusalem, and the land of Gesyra, and its castles, and the land of Russia with its appurtenances, and the region of India with its appurtenances—and by the grace of God this whole thing is in our hands, and the remaining kingdom of the Saracens obeys our empire. For if we were to command the most excellent kings of the Saracens, they would not hold back from us; and if we were to summon the Caliph of Baldach, whom may God save, to come to us, he would rise from the seat of his exalted empire and would come to the aid of our Excellency. And we have obtained by the virtue and power of God Jerusalem and its land; and there remain in the hands of the Christians Tyre, Tripoli, and Antioch, and as to these there is nothing else but that they be occupied.

Attamen se bellum vultis, et si Deus voluerit, ut sit per voluntatem suam quod totam terram Christianorum acquiramus, obviabimus per virtutem Dei, sicut scriptum est in litteris nostris. Verum si nos de bono pacis requisieritis, mandabimus procuratoribus istorum trium locorum praedictorum, ut vobis ea sine contradictione consignent, et vobis sanctam Crucem reddemus, et liberabimus omnes captivos Christianos, qui sunt in tota terra nostra, et permittemus vobis ad sepulcrum esse unum sacerdotem, et reddemus abbatias quae solebant esse tempore paganismi, et bonum eis faciemus, et permittemus venire peregrinos in tota vita nostra, et habebimus vobiscum pacem. Quod si carta, quae ad nos venit per manum Henrici nominati, sit carta regis, scripsimus cartam istam pro responso, et Deus erigat nos ad consilium suum sua voluntate.

Nevertheless, if you want war, and if God shall will, that by His will we acquire the whole land of the Christians, we will meet you by the virtue of God, as it is written in our letters. But if you shall have sought from us for the good of peace, we will command the procurators of those three aforesaid places to consign them to you without contradiction, and we will restore to you the Holy Cross, and we will free all Christian captives who are in our whole land, and we will permit you to have one priest at the Sepulcher, and we will restore the abbeys which were accustomed to be in the time of paganism, and we will do good to them, and we will permit pilgrims to come throughout our life, and we will have peace with you. And if the charter which came to us by the hand of the one named Henry is the charter of the king, we have written this charter in response, and may God raise us to His counsel by His will.

Carta haec scripta fuit anno adventus prophetae nostri Mahumeti quingentesimo lxxxiiii., gratia Dei solius; et Deus salvet prophetam nostrum Mahumetum et suam progeniem, et salvet salvationem salvatoris Domini excelsis regis, victoriosi, adunatoris, veridici verbi comptoris, vexilli veritatis, correctoris orbis et legis, soldani Sarracenorum et paganorum, salvatoris duarum sanctarum domorum, et sanctae domus Ierusalem, patris victorum Ioseph filii Iob, suscitatoris progeniei Mirmuraeni.

This charter was written in the 584th year from the advent of our prophet Mahomet, by the grace of God alone; and may God save our prophet Mahomet and his progeny, and may He save the salvation of the savior, the lord, the most high king, victorious, unifier, adorner of the veridical word, the standard of truth, the corrector of the world and of the law, the sultan of the Saracens and pagans, the savior of the two holy houses, and of the holy house of Jerusalem, the father of the victors, Joseph son of Job, the reviver of the progeny of the Mirmuraeni.