Chapter VI (2)

In the mean time the Mamlooks, “who had breathed in their infancy the keenness of a Scythian air,” advanced from the banks of the Nile to contend with the Tartars for the dominion of Palestine. Under the command of Bendocdar, the Mamlook general, they gained a complete victory over them in the neighbourhood of Tiberias, and drove back the stream of hostility to the eastward of the Euphrates. Bendocdar returned to Egypt the idol of his soldiers, and clothed with a popularity which rendered him too powerful for a subject. He aspired to the possession of the throne which he had so successfully defended, and slew with his own hand his sovereign and master Kothuz, the third Mamlook sultan of Egypt. The Mamlooks hailed him with acclamations as their sovereign, and on the 24th day of October, A. D. 1260, he was solemnly proclaimed sultan of Egypt, in the town of Salahieh in the Delta. Bendocdar was one of the greatest men of the age, and soon proved the most formidable enemy that the Templars had encountered in the field since the days of Saladin. The first two years of his accession to power were employed in the extension and consolidation of his sway over the adjoining Mussulman countries. The holy cities of Mecca and Medina acknowledged him for their sovereign, as did Damascus, Aleppo, Hems, and Jerusalem. His sway extended over Egypt, Nubia, Arabia, and Syria; and his throne was defended by twenty-five thousand Mamlook cavalry. His power was further strengthened by an army of one hundred and seven thousand foot, and by the occasional aid of sixty-six thousand Arabians.

After receiving the homage and submission of the rulers and people of Aleppo, Bendocdar made a hostile demonstration against the vast and wealthy city of Antioch; but finding the place well defended, he retired with his army, by way of Hems, Damascus, and Tiberias, to Egypt. The next year (A. D. 1264) he crossed the desert at the head of thirty thousand cavalry, and overran all Palestine up to the very gates of Acre. He burned the great churches of Nazareth and Mount Tabor; and sought to awaken the zeal and enthusiasm of his soldiers in behalf of Islam by performing the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and visiting with great devotion the Mosque of Omar. He then retired to Cairo with his troops, and the Templars and Hospitallers became the assailants. They surprised and stormed the castle of Lilion, razed the walls and fortifications to the ground, and brought off three hundred prisoners of both sexes, together with a rich prize of sheep and oxen. On the 15th of June, they marched as far as Ascalon, surprised and slew two Mamlook emirs, and put twenty-eight of their followers to the sword. They then turned their footsteps towards the Jordan, and on the 5th of November, they destroyed Bisan or Scythopolis, and laid waste with fire and sword all the valley of the Jordan, as far as the lake of Tiberias.

In the depth of winter, (A. D. 1265,) Bendocdar collected his forces together, and advanced, by rapid marches, from Egypt. He concealed his real intentions, made a long march during the night, and at morning’s dawn presented himself before the city of Cæsarea. His troops descended into the ditch by means of ropes and ladders, and climbed the walls with the aid of iron hooks and spikes; they burst open the gates, massacred the sentinels, and planted the standard of the prophet on the ramparts, ere the inhabitants had time to rouse themselves from their morning slumbers. The citadel, however, still remained to be taken, and the garrison being forewarned, made an obstinate defence. The Arabian writers tell us, that the citadel was a strong and handsome fortification, erected by king Louis, and adorned with pillars and columns. It stood on a small neck of land which jutted out into the sea, and the ditches around the fortress were filled with the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Bendocdar planted huge catapults and cross-bows upon the tower of the cathedral, and shot arrows, darts, and stones, from them upon the battlements of the citadel. He encouraged the exertions of his soldiers by promises of reward, and gave robes of honour to his principal emirs. Weapons of war were distributed in the most lavish manner, every captain of a hundred horse receiving for the use of himself and his men _four thousand arrows_!

During a dark winter’s night the garrison succeeded in making their escape, and the next morning the Moslems poured into the citadel by thousands, and abandoned themselves to pillage. The fortifications were levelled with the dust, and Bendocdar assisted with his own hands in the work of demolition. He then detached some Mamlook emirs with a body of cavalry against Caiphas, and proceeded himself to watch the movements of the Templars, and examine into the defences of the Pilgrim’s Castle. Finding the place almost impregnable, and defended by a numerous garrison, he suddenly retraced his steps to the south, and stormed, after a brave and obstinate defence, the strongly fortified city of Arsoof, which belonged to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John. The greater part of the garrison was massacred, but one thousand captives were reserved to grace the triumph of the conqueror. They were compelled to march at the head of his triumphal procession, with their banners reversed, and with their crosses, broken into pieces, hung round their necks. Bendocdar had already despatched his bravest Mamlook generals, at the head of a considerable body of forces, to blockade Beaufort and Saphet, two strong fortresses of the order of the Temple, and he now advanced at the head of a vast army to conduct the siege of the latter place in person. On 21 Ramadan, the separate timbers of his military machines arrived from Damascus at Jacob’s bridge on the Jordan; the sultan sent down his emirs and part of his army, with hundreds of oxen, to drag them up the mountains to Saphet, and went with his principal officers to assist in the transport of them. “I worked by the sultan’s side, and aided him with all my might,” says the cadi Mohieddin; “being fatigued, I sat down. I began again, and was once more tired, and compelled to take rest, but the sultan continued to work without intermission, aiding in the transport of beams, bolts, and huge frames of timber.” The Grand Master of the Temple ordered out twelve hundred cavalry from Acre to create a diversion in favour of the besieged; but a treacherous spy conveyed intelligence to Bendocdar, which enabled him to surprise and massacre the whole force, and return to Saphet with their heads stuck on the lances of his soldiers. At last, after an obstinate defence, during which many Moslems, say the Arabian writers, obtained the crown of martyrdom, the huge walls were thrown down, and a breach was presented to the infidels; but that breach was so stoutly guarded that none could be found to mount to the assault. Bendocdar offered a reward of three hundred pieces of gold to the first man who entered the city; he distributed robes of honour and riches to all who were foremost in the fight, and the outer inclosure, or first line of the fortifications was, at last, taken.

The Templars retired into the citadel, but their efforts at defence were embarrassed by the presence of a crowd of two thousand fugitives, who had fled to Saphet for shelter, and they agreed to capitulate on condition that the lives and liberties of the Christians should be respected, and that they should be transported in safety to Acre. Bendocdar acceded to these terms, and solemnly promised to fulfil them; but as soon as he had got the citadel into his power, he offered to all the Templars the severe alternative of the Koran or death, and gave them until the following morning to make their election. The preceptor of Saphet, a holy monk and veteran warrior, assisted by two Franciscan friars, passed the night in pious exhortations to his brethren, conjuring them to prefer the crown of martyrdom to a few short years of miserable existence in this sinful world, and not to disgrace themselves and their order by a shameful apostasy. At sunrise, on the following morning, the Templars were led on to the brow of the hill, in front of the castle of Saphet, and when the first rays of the rising sun gilded the wooded summits of Mount Hermon, and the voice of the muezzin was heard calling the faithful to morning prayer, they were required to join in the Moslem chaunt, _La-i-la i-la Allah, Mahommed re sul Allah_, “There is no God but God, and Mahomet is his apostle;” the executioners drew near with their naked scimitars, but not a man of the noble company of knightly warriors, say the Christian writers, would renounce his faith, and one thousand five hundred heads speedily rolled at the feet of Bendocdar. “The blood,” says Sanutus, “flowed down the declivities like a rivulet of water.” The preceptor of Saphet, the priests of the order, and brother Jeremiah, were beaten with clubs, flayed alive, and then beheaded! The Arabian writers state that the lives of two of the garrison were spared, one being an Hospitaller whom the besieged had sent to Bendocdar to negotiate the treaty of surrender, and the other a Templar, named _Effreez Lyoub_, who embraced the Mahomedan faith, and was circumcised and entered into the service of the sultan.[136] Immediately after the fall of Saphet, the infidels stormed the castles of Hounin and Tebnin, and took possession of the city of Ramleh.

The Grand Master of the Hospital now sued for peace, and entered into a separate treaty with the infidels. He agreed to renounce the ancient tribute of one hundred pieces of gold paid to the order by the district of Bouktyr; also the annual tribute of four thousand pieces of gold paid to them by the sultans of Hems and Hamah; a tribute of twelve hundred pieces of gold, fifty thousand bushels of wheat, and fifty thousand bushels of barley annually rendered to them by the Assassins or Ismaelians of the mountains of Tripoli: and the several tributes paid by the cities or districts of Schayzar, Apamea, and Aintab, which consisted of five hundred crowns of Tyrian silver, two measures of wheat, and two pieces of silver for every two head of oxen pastured in the district. These terms being arranged, the emir Fakir-eddin, and the cadi Schams-eddin were sent to receive the oath of the Grand Master of the Hospital to fulfil them, and a truce was then accorded him for ten years, ten days, and ten months.

Bendocdar then concentrated his forces together at Aleppo, and marched against the christian province of Armenia. The prince of Hamah blockaded Darbesak, which was garrisoned by the Knights Templars, and forced the mountain passes leading into the ancient Cilicia. The Moslems then marched with incredible rapidity to Sis, the capital of the country, which fell into their hands after a short siege. Leon, king of Armenia, was led away into captivity, together with his uncle, his son, and his nephew; many others of the royal family were killed, and some made their escape. All the castles of the Templars in Armenia were assaulted and taken, and the garrisons massacred. The most famous of these was the castle of Amoud, which was stormed after an obstinate defence, and every soul found in it was put to the sword. The city of Sis was pillaged, and then delivered up to the flames; the inhabitants of all the towns were either massacred or reduced to slavery; their goods and possessions were divided amongst the soldiers, and the Moslems returned to Aleppo laden with booty and surrounded by captives fastened together with ropes. Great was the joy of Bendocdar. The musicians were ordered to play, and the dancing girls to beat the tambour and dance before him. He made a triumphant entry into Damascus, preceded by his royal captives and many thousand prisoners bound with chains. “Thus did the sultan,” says the Arabian historian, “cut the sugar-canes of the Franks!”

On the 1st of May, A. D. 1267, Bendocdar collected together a strong body of cavalry, divided them into two bodies, and caused them to mount the banners and emblems of the Hospital and Temple. By this ruse he attempted to penetrate the east gate of Acre, but the cheat was fortunately discovered, and the gates were closed ere the Arab cavalry reached them. The infidels then slaughtered five hundred people outside the walls, cut off their heads and put them into sacks. Amongst them were some poor old women who gained a livelihood by gathering herbs! The ferocious Mamlooks then pulled down all the houses and windmills, plucked up the vines, cut down all the fruit trees and burnt them, and filled up the wells. Some deputies, sent to sue for peace, were introduced to Bendocdar through a grim and ghastly avenue of christian heads planted on the points of lances, and their petition was rejected with scorn and contempt. “The neighing of our horses,” said the ferocious sultan, “shall soon strike you with deafness, and the dust raised by their feet shall penetrate to the inmost chambers of your dwellings.”

On the 7th of March, A. D. 1268, the sultan stormed Jaffa, put the garrison to the sword, set fire to the churches, and burnt the crucifixes and crosses and holy relics of the saints. “He took away the head of St. George and burnt the body of St. Christina,” and then marched against the strongly fortified city of Beaufort, which belonged to the order of the Temple. Twenty-six enormous military engines were planted around the walls, and the doctors of the law and the _Fakirs_, or teachers of religion, were invited to repair to the Moslem camp, and wield the sword in behalf of Islam. The town was defended by two citadels, the ancient and the new one. The former was garrisoned by the Templars, and the latter by the native militia. These last, after sustaining a short siege, set fire to their post and fled during the night. “As for the other citadel,” says the cadi Mohieddin, “it made a long and vigorous defence,” and Bendocdar, after losing the flower of his army before the place, was reluctantly compelled to permit the garrison to march out, sword in hand, with all the honours of war. The fortress was then razed to the ground so effectually that not a trace of it was left.

The sultan now separated his army into several divisions, which were all sent in different directions through the principality of Tripoli to waste and destroy. All the churches and houses were set on fire; the trees were cut down, and the inhabitants were led away into captivity. A tower of the Templars, in the environs of Tripoli, was taken by assault, and every soul found in it was put to death. The different divisions of the army were then concentrated at Hems, to collect together and to divide their spoil. They were then again separated into three corps, which were sent by different routes against the vast and wealthy city of Antioch, the ancient “Queen of Syria.” The first division was directed to take a circuitous route by way of Darbesak, and approach Antioch from the north; the second was to march upon Suadia, and to secure the mouth of the Orontes, to prevent all succour from reaching the city by sea; and the third and last division, which was led by Bendocdar in person, proceeded to Apamea, and from thence marched down the left bank of the river Orontes along the base of the ancient Mons Casius, so as to approach and hem in Antioch from the south. On the 1st Ramadan, all these different divisions were concentrated together, and the city was immediately surrounded by a vast army of horse and foot, which cut off all communication between the town and the surrounding country, and exposed a population of 160,000 souls to all the horrors of famine. The famous stone bridge of nine arches, which spanned the Orontes, and communicated between the city and the right bank of the river, was immediately attacked; the iron doors which guarded the passage were burst open with the battering-rams, and the standard of the prophet was planted beneath the great western gate. The Templars of the principality, under the command of their Grand Preceptor, made a vain effort to drive back the infidels and relieve the city. They sallied out of the town, with the constable of Antioch, but were defeated by the Mamlook cavalry, after a sharp encounter in the plain, and were compelled to take refuge behind the walls.

For three days successively did the sultan vainly summon the city to surrender, and for three days did he continue his furious assaults. On the fourth day the Moslems scaled the walls where they touch the side of the mountain; they rushed across the ramparts, sword in hand, into the city, and a hundred thousand Christians are computed to have been slain! About eight thousand soldiers, accompanied by a dense throng of women and children, fled from the scene of carnage to the citadel, and there defended themselves with the energy of despair. Bendocdar granted them their lives, and they surrendered. They were bound with cords, and the long string of mournful captives passed in review before the sultan, who caused the scribes and notaries to take down the names of each of them. After several days of pillage, all the booty was brought together in the plain of Antioch, and equally divided amongst the Moslems; the gold and silver were distributed by measure, and merchandize and property of all kinds, piled up in heaps, were drawn for by lot. The captive women and girls were distributed amongst the soldiery, and they were so numerous that each of the slaves of the conquerors was permitted to have a captive at his disposal. The sultan halted for several weeks in the plain, and permitted his soldiers to hold a large market, or fair, for the sale of their booty. This market was attended by Jews and pedlars from all parts of the East, who greedily bought up the rich property and costly valuables of the poor citizens of Antioch.

These last might have borne with fortitude the loss of their worldly possessions, and the luxuries of this life, but when they were themselves put up to auction--when the mother saw her infant child handed over to the avaricious Jew for the paltry sum of five pieces of silver, and sold into irredeemable bondage, the bitter cries that resounded through the plain, touched even the hearts of the Moslems. “It was,” says the cadi Mohieddin, “a fearful and a heart-rending sight. Even the hard stones were softened with grief.” He tells us, that the captives were so numerous, that a fine hearty boy might be purchased for _twelve_ pieces of silver, and a little girl for _five_! When the work of pillage had been completed, when all the ornaments and decorations had been carried away from the churches, and the lead torn from the roofs, Antioch was fired in different places, amid the loud thrilling shouts of ALLAH ACBAR, “GOD _is_ VICTORIOUS!” The great churches of St. Paul and St. Peter burnt with terrific fury for many days, and the vast and venerable city was left without a habitation, and without an inhabitant!

Thus fell Antioch, one hundred and seventy years after its recovery from the dominion of the infidels by the crusaders, under the command of the valiant Godfrey, Boemond, and Tancred. Near six centuries of Moslem domination have now again rolled over the ancient Queen of the East, but the genius of destruction which accompanied the footsteps of the armies of the ferocious Bendocdar has ever since presided over the spot. The once fair and flourishing capital of Syria, the ancient “throne of the successors of Alexander, the seat of Roman government in the east, which had been decorated by Cæsar with the titles of free, and holy, and inviolate,” is, at this day, nothing more than a miserable mud village; and the ancient and illustrious church of Antioch, which, in the fourth century of the christian era, numbered one hundred thousand persons, now consists only of a few Greek families, who still cling to the christian faith amid the insults and persecutions of the infidels. Immediately after the destruction of the city, Bendocdar caused the following letter to be written to the prince of Antioch, who was at Tripoli: “Since not a soul has escaped to tell you what has happened, we will undertake the pleasing task of informing you.... We have slain all whom you appointed to defend Antioch. We have crushed your knights beneath the feet of our horses, and have given up your provinces to pillage: your gold and silver have been divided amongst us by the quintal, and four of your women have been bought and sold for a crown. There is not a single christian in the province that does not now march bound before us, nor a single young girl that is not in our possession. Your churches have been made level with the dust, and our chariot wheels have passed over the sites of your dwellings. If you had seen the temples of your God destroyed, the crosses broken, and the leaves of the gospel torn and scattered to the winds of heaven; if you had seen your Mussulman enemy marching into your tabernacles, and immolating upon your shrines and your altars, the priest, the deacon, and the bishop; if you had seen your palaces delivered to the flames, and the bodies of the dead consumed by the fire of this world, whilst their souls were burning in the everlasting _fire of_ HELL; doubtless, you would have exclaimed, _Lord, I am become but as dust_; your soul would have been ready to start from its earthly tenement, and your eyes would have rained down tears sufficient to have extinguished the fires that we have kindled around you.”[137]

On the fall of Antioch the Templars abandoned Bagras, a rich and flourishing town, on the road to Armenia and Cilicia, which had belonged to the order for more than a century. This town of the Templars, Mohieddin tells us, had long been a source of intense anxiety and annoyance to the Moslems. “Over and over again,” says he, “it had been attacked, but the Templars foiled the utmost efforts of the faithful, until, at last, Providence gave it into our hands.” The Templars also abandoned the castles of Gaston and Noche de Rusol, and the territory of Port Bounel, at the entrance of Armenia. The towns of Darbesak, Sabah, Al Hadid, and the sea-port of Gabala, successively fell into the hands of Bendocdar, and the whole country from Tripoli to Mount Taurus was made desolate, the houses were set on fire, the fruit trees were cut down, and the churches were levelled with the dust. The wealthy and populous maritime towns of Laodicea, Tripoli, Tortosa, Beirout, Tyre, and Sidon, however, still remained to the Christians, and as these cities were strongly fortified, and the christian fleets kept the command of the sea, Bendocdar postponed their destruction for a brief period, and granted separate truces to them in consideration of the payment of large sums of money.

In the year 1269, a terrible famine, consequent upon the ravages of the infidels, afflicted Syria and Palestine, and many of those whom the sword had spared, now died of hunger. Louis IX., king of France, being deeply affected by the intelligence of the misfortunes of the Latin Christians, attended an assembly of Preceptors of the Temple in France, to devise means of forwarding succour to the Holy Land, and caused a quantity of corn to be sent from Languedoc to Palestine. He moreover determined to embark in another crusade, and he induced prince Edward of England to assume the cross, and prepare to join his standard. Bendocdar, on the other hand, returned from Egypt to Palestine; he surprised and cut to pieces several bands of Christians, and made his public entry into Damascus, preceded by many hundred ghastly heads stuck on the points of lances, and by a vast number of weeping captives of both sexes, and of every age. He then proceeded to Hamah and Kafarthab, and attempted to undertake the siege of the strong fortress of Merkab, but the winter rains and the snow on the mountain compelled him to abandon the enterprise. He then made an attack upon the castle of the Kurds, which belonged to the Hospitallers, but receiving intelligence of the sailing of the expedition of king Louis, who had left the ports of France with an army of sixty thousand men, and a fleet of eighteen hundred vessels; he hurried with all his forces to Egypt to protect that country against the French. Instead of proceeding direct to the Holy Land, king Louis was unfortunately induced to steer to Tunis. He fell a victim to the insalubrity of the climate, and his army, decimated by sickness, sailed back to France. Bendocdar immediately returned to Palestine. He halted at Ascalon, and completed the destruction of the fortifications of that place; he stormed Castel Blanc, a fortress of the Templars, and appeared with his Mamlook cavalry before the gates of Tripoli. He ravaged the surrounding country, and then retired into winter quarters, leading away many christian prisoners of both sexes into captivity. The next year he stormed the fortified town of Safitza, and laid siege to Hassan el Akrad, or the castle of the Kurds. His victorious career was checked by the arrival (A. D. 1271) of prince Edward of England, who joined the Grand Master of the Temple at the head of a welcome reinforcement of knights and foot soldiers. Various successes were then obtained over the infidels, and on the 21st Ramadan, (April 23rd, A. D. 1272,) a truce was agreed upon for the space of ten years and ten months, as far as regarded the town and plain of Acre, and the road to Nazareth.

On the 18th of June, prince Edward was stabbed with a poisoned dagger by an assassin. Though dangerously wounded, he struck the assailant to the ground, and caused him to be immediately despatched by the guards. The same day the prince made his will; it is dated at Acre, June 18, A. D. 1272, and Brother Thomas Berard, Grand Master of the Temple, appears as an attesting witness. The life of the prince, however, was happily preserved, the effects of the poison being obviated by an antidote administered by the Grand Master of the Temple. On the 14th of September, the prince returned to Europe, and thus terminated the last expedition undertaken for the relief of Palestine. Whilst prince Edward was pursuing his voyage to England, his father, king Henry III., died, and the council of the realm, composed of the archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the English bishops and barons, assembled in the Temple at London, and swore allegiance to the prince. They there caused him to be proclaimed king of England, and, with the consent of the queen-mother, they appointed Walter Giffard, archbishop of York, and the earls of Cornwall and Gloucester, guardians of the realm. Letters were written from the Temple to acquaint the young sovereign with the death of his father, and many of the acts of the new government emanated from the same place.[138]

The Grand Master of the Temple, Brother Thomas Berard, died at Acre on the 8th of April, and on the 13th of May, A. D. 1273, the general chapter of the Templars being assembled in the Pilgrim’s Castle, chose for his successor Brother WILLIAM DE BEAUJEU, Grand Preceptor of Apulia. The late Vice-Master, Brother William de Poucon, was sent to Europe with Brother Bertrand de Fox, to announce to him the tidings of his elevation to the chief dignity of the order. The following year William de Beaujeu, accompanied by the Grand Master of the Hospital, proceeded to Lyons, to attend a general council which had been summoned by the pope to provide succour for the Holy Land. The two Grand Masters took precedence of all the ambassadors and peers present at that famous assembly. It was determined that a new crusade should be preached, that all ecclesiastical dignities and benefices should be taxed to support an armament, and that the sovereigns of Europe should be compelled by ecclesiastical censures to suspend their private quarrels, and afford succour to the desolate land of promise. More than a thousand bishops, archbishops, and ambassadors from the different princes and potentates of Europe, graced the assembly with their presence. From Lyons, the Grand Master William de Beaujeu proceeded to England, and called together a general chapter of the order at London. Whilst resident at the Temple in that city, he received payment of a large sum of money, which the young king Edward had borrowed of the Templars during his stay at Acre.[139]

Pope Gregory X. died in the midst of his exertions for the creation of another crusade. The enthusiasm which had been partially awakened subsided; those who had assumed the cross forgot their engagements, and the Grand Master of the Temple at last returned, in sorrow and disappointment, to the far East. He reached Acre on St. Michael’s day, A. D. 1275, attended by a band of Templars, drawn from the preceptories of England and France. Shortly after his arrival Bendocdar was poisoned, and was succeeded by his son, Malek Said. Malek Said only mounted the throne to descend from it. He was deposed by the rebellious Mamlooks, and the sceptre was grasped by Malek-Mansour-Kelaoun, the bravest and most distinguished of the emirs. As there was now no hope of recovering the towns, castles, and territories taken by Bendocdar, the Grand Master directed all his energies to the preservation of the few remaining possessions of the Christians in the Holy Land. At the expiration of the ten years’ truce, he entered into various treaties with the infidels. One of these, called “the peace of Tortosa,” is expressed to be made between sultan Malek-Mansour-Kelaoun, and his son Malek-Saleh-Ali, “honour of the world and of religion,” of the one part, and Afryz Dybadjouk, (William de Beaujeu,) Grand Master of the order of the Templars, of the other part. It relates to the territories and possessions of the order of the Temple at Tortosa, and provides for their security and freedom from molestation by the infidels. The truce is prolonged for ten years and ten months from the date of the execution of the treaty, (A. D. 1282,) and the contracting parties strictly bind themselves to make no irruptions into each other’s territories during the period. To prevent mistakes, the lands and villages, towers, corn-mills, gardens, brooks, and plantations, belonging to the Templars are specified and defined, together with the contiguous possessions of the Moslems. By this treaty, the Templars engage not to rebuild any of their citadels, towers, or fortresses, nor to cut any new ditch or fosse in their province of Tortosa.

Another treaty entered into between William de Beaujeu and the infidels, is called the peace of Acre. It accords to the Christians Caiphas and seven villages, the province of Mount Carmel the town and citadel of Alelyet, the farms of the Hospitallers in the province of Cæsarea, the half of Alexandretta, the village of Maron, &c., and confirms the Templars in the possessions of Sidon and its citadel, and its fifteen cantons. By this treaty, sultan Malek Mansour conceded to the inhabitants of Acre a truce of ten years, ten months, and ten days; and he swore to observe its provisions and stipulations in the presence of the Grand Master of the Temple and the vizir Fadhad. But all these treaties were mere delusions. Bendocdar had commenced the ruin of the Christians, and sultan Kelaoun now proceeded to complete it.

The separate truces and treaties of peace which Bendocdar had accorded to the maritime towns of Palestine, in return for payments of money, were encumbered with so many minute provisions and stipulations, that it was almost impossible for the Christians to avoid breaking them in some trifling and unimportant particular; and sultan Kelaoun soon found a colourable pretence for recommencing hostilities. He first broke with the Hospitallers and stormed their strong fortress of Merkab, which commanded the coast road from Laodicea to Tripoli. He then sought out a pretext for putting an end to the truce which the count of Tripoli had purchased of Bendocdar by the payment of eleven thousand pieces of gold. He maintained that a watch-tower had been erected on the coast between Merkab and Tortosa, in contravention of the stipulation which forbad the erection of new fortifications; and he accordingly marched with his army to lay siege to the rich and flourishing city of Laodicea. The Arabian writers tell us that Laodicea was one of the most commercial cities of the Levant, and was considered to be the rival of Alexandria. A terrible earthquake, which had thrown down the fortifications, and overturned the castle at the entrance of the port, unfortunately facilitated the conquest of the place, and Laodicea fell almost without a struggle. The town was pillaged and set on fire, and those of the inhabitants who were unable to escape by sea, were either slaughtered or reduced to slavery, or driven out homeless wanderers from their dwellings, to perish with hunger and grief in the surrounding wilderness. Shortly after the fall of Laodicea, the castle of Krak, which belonged to the Hospitallers, was besieged and stormed; the garrison was put to the sword, and some other small places on the sea-coast met with a similar fate.

On the 13th Moharran (9th of February,) A. D. 1287, the sultan marched against Tripoli at the head of ten thousand horse, and thirty-three thousand foot. The separate timbers of nineteen enormous military engines were transported in many hundred wagons drawn by oxen; and fifteen hundred engineers and firework manufacturers were employed to throw the terrible Greek fire and combustible materials, contained in brass pots, into the city. After thirty-four days of incessant labour, the walls were undermined and thrown into the ditch, and the engineers poured an incessant stream of Greek fire upon the breach, whilst the Moslems below prepared a path for the cavalry. Brother John de Breband, Preceptor of the Temple at Tripoli, fought upon the ramparts with a few knights and serving brethren of the order; but they were speedily overthrown, and the Arab cavalry dashed through the breach into the town. Upwards of one thousand Christians fell by the sword, and the number of captives was incalculable. Twelve hundred trembling women and children were crowded together for safety in a single magazine of arms, and the conquerors were embarrassed with the quantity of spoil and booty. More than four thousand bales of the richest silks were distributed amongst the soldiers, together with ornaments and articles of luxury and refinement, which astonished the rude simplicity of the Arabs. When the city had been thoroughly ransacked, orders were issued for its destruction. Then the Moslem soldiers were to be seen rushing with torches and pots of burning naphtha to set fire to the churches, and the shops, and the warehouses of the merchants; and Tripoli was speedily enveloped in one vast, fearful, wide-spreading conflagration. The command for the destruction of the fortifications was likewise issued, and thousands of soldiers, stonemasons, and labourers, were employed in throwing down the walls and towers. The Arabian writers tell us that the ramparts were so wide that three horsemen could ride abreast upon them round the town. Many of the inhabitants had escaped by sea during the siege, and crowds of fugitives fled before the swords of the Moslems, to take refuge on the little island of Saint Nicholas at the entrance of the port. They were there starved to death; and when Abulfeda visited the island a few days after the fall of Tripoli, he found it covered with the dead bodies of the unburied Christians. Thus fell Tripoli, with its commerce, its silk manufactories, churches, and public and private buildings. Everything that could contribute to prosperity in peace, or defence in war, perished beneath the sword, the hammer, and the pick-axe of the Moslems. In the time of the crusaders, the port was crowded with the fleets of the Italian republics, and carried on a lucrative trade with Marseilles, Amalfi, Genoa, Pisa, Venice, and the cities of the Grecian islands; but the rich stream of commerce hath never since revisited the inhospitable shore.

Shortly after the fall of Tripoli, Gabala, Beirout, and all the maritime towns and villages between Sidon and Laodicea, fell into the hands of the infidels; and sultan Kelaoun was preparing to attack the vast and populous city of Acre, when death terminated his victorious career. He was succeeded, A. D. 1291, by his eldest son, Aschraf Khalil, who hastened to execute the warlike projects of his father. He assembled the ulemas and cadis around his father’s tomb, and occupied himself in reading the Koran, in prayer, and invocation of Mahomet. He then made abundant alms-giving, collected his troops together, and marched across the desert to Damascus, where he was joined by Hosam-eddin Ladjin, viceroy of Syria, Modaffer, prince of Hems, and Saifeddin, lord of Baalbec, with the respective forces under their command. Ninety-two enormous military engines had been constructed at Damascus, which were transported across the country by means of oxen; and in the spring of the year, after the winter rains had subsided, sultan Khalil marched against Acre at the head of sixty thousand horse, and a hundred and forty thousand foot.

After the loss of Jerusalem, the city of Acre became the metropolis of the Latin Christians, and was adorned with a vast cathedral, with numerous stately churches, and elegant buildings, and with acqueducts, and an artificial port. The houses of the rich merchants were decorated with pictures and choice pieces of sculpture, and boasted of the rare advantage of glass windows. An astonishing, and probably an exaggerated, account has been given of the wealth and luxury of the inhabitants. We read of silken canopies and curtains stretched on cords to protect the lounger from the scorching sunbeams, of variegated marble fountains, and of rich gardens and shady groves, scented with the delicious orange blossom, and adorned with the delicate almond flower; and we are told that the markets of the city could offer the produce of every clime, and the interpreters of every tongue. The vast and stupendous fortifications consisted of a double wall, strengthened at proper intervals with lofty towers, and defended by the castle called the King’s Tower, and by the convent or fortress of the Temple. Between the ramparts extended a large space of ground, covered with the chateaus, villas, and gardens of the nobility of Galilee, the counts of Tripoli and Jaffa, the lords of Tyre and Sidon, the papal legate, the duke of Athens, and the princes of Antioch. The most magnificent edifices within the town were, the cathedral church of St. Andrew, the churches of St. Saba, St. Thomas, St. Nicholas, and St. John, the tutelar saint of the city; the abbey of St. Clare, the convents of the Knights Hospitallers and the Knights Templars, and various monasteries and religious houses.

William de Beaujeu, the Grand Master of the Temple, a veteran warrior of a hundred fights, took the command of the garrison, which amounted to about twelve thousand men, exclusive of the forces of the Temple and the Hospital, and a body of five hundred foot and two hundred horse, under the command of the king of Cyprus. These forces were distributed along the walls in four divisions, the first of which was commanded by Hugh de Grandison, an English knight. The siege lasted six weeks, during the whole of which period the sallies and the attacks were incessant. Neither by night nor by day did the shouts of the assailants and the noise of the military engines cease; huge stones and beams of timber and pots of burning tar and naphtha were continually hurled into the city; the walls were battered from without, and the foundations were sapped by miners, who were incessantly labouring to advance their works. More than six hundred catapults, balistæ, and other instruments of destruction, were directed against the fortifications; and the battering machines were of such immense size and weight, that a hundred wagons were required to transport the separate timbers of one of them. Moveable towers were erected by the Moslems, so as to overtop the walls; their workmen and advanced parties were protected by hurdles covered with raw hides, and all the military contrivances which the art and the skill of the age could produce, were used to facilitate the assault. For a long time their utmost efforts were foiled by the valour of the besieged, who made constant sallies upon their works, burnt their towers and machines, and destroyed their miners. Day by day, however, the numbers of the garrison were thinned by the sword, whilst in the enemy’s camp the places of the dead were constantly supplied by fresh warriors from the deserts of Arabia, animated with the same wild fanaticism in the cause of _their_ religion as that which so eminently distinguished the military monks of the Temple.

On the 4th of May, after thirty-three days of constant fighting, the great tower considered the key of the fortifications, and called by the Moslems “the cursed tower,” was thrown down by the military engines. To increase the terror and distraction of the besieged, sultan Khalil mounted three hundred drummers, with their drums, upon as many dromedaries, and commanded them to make as much noise as possible whenever a general assault was ordered. From the 4th to the 14th of May the attacks were incessant. On the 15th, the double wall was forced, and the king of Cyprus, panic-stricken, fled in the night to his ships, and made sail for the island of Cyprus, with all his followers, and with near three thousand of the best men of the garrison. On the morrow the Saracens attacked the post he had deserted; they filled up the ditch with the bodies of dead men and horses, piles of wood, stones, and earth, and their trumpets then sounded to the assault. Ranged under the yellow banner of Mahomet, the Mamlooks forced the breach, and penetrated sword in hand to the very centre of the city; but their victorious career and insulting shouts were there stopped by the mail-clad Knights of the Temple and the Hospital, who charged on horseback through the narrow streets, drove them back with immense carnage, and precipitated them headlong from the walls.

At sunrise on the following morning the air resounded with the deafening noise of drums and trumpets, and the breach was carried and recovered several times, the military friars at last closing up the passage with their bodies, and presenting a wall of steel to the advance of the enemy. Loud appeals to God, and to Mahomet, to Jesus Christ, to the Virgin Mary, to heaven and the saints, were to be heard on all sides; and after an obstinate engagement from sunrise to sunset, darkness put an end to the slaughter. The miners continued incessantly to advance their operations; another wide breach was opened in the walls, and on the third day (the 18th) the infidels made the final assault on the side next the gate of St. Anthony. The army of the Mamlooks was accompanied by a troop of sectaries called _Chagis_, a set of religious fanatics, whose devotion consisted in suffering all sorts of privations, and in sacrificing themselves in behalf of Islam. The advance of the Mamlook cavalry to the assault was impeded by the deep ditch, which had been imperfectly filled by the fallen ruins and by the efforts of the soldiers, and these religious madmen precipitated themselves headlong into the abyss and formed a bridge with their bodies, over which the Mamlooks passed to reach the foot of the wall. Nothing could withstand the fierce onslaught of the Moslems. In vain were the first ranks of their cavalry laid prostrate with the dust, and both horses and riders hurled headlong over the ruined walls and battlements into the moat below; their fall only facilitated the progress of those behind them, who pressed on sword in hand over the lifeless bodies of men and horses, to attack the faint and weary warriors guarding the breach.

The Grand Masters of the Temple and Hospital fought side by side at the head of their knights, and for a time successfully resisted all the efforts of the enemy. But as each knight fell beneath the keen scimitars of the Moslems, there were none in reserve to supply his place, whilst the vast hordes of the infidels pressed on with untiring energy and perseverance. Brother Matthew de Clermont, Marshal of the Hospital, after performing prodigies of valour, fell covered with wounds, and William de Beaujeu, as a last resort, requested the Grand Master of that order to sally out of an adjoining gateway at the head of five hundred horse, and attack the enemy’s rear. Immediately after the Grand Master of the Temple had given these orders, he was himself struck down by the darts and the arrows of the enemy; the panic-stricken garrison fled to the port, and the infidels rushed on with tremendous shouts of _Allah acbar! Allah acbar!_ “GOD is victorious!” Thousands of panic-stricken Christians now rushed to the sea-side, and sought with frantic violence to gain possession of the ships and boats that rode at anchor in the port, but a frightful storm of wind, and rain, and lightning, hung over the dark and agitated waters of the sea; the elements themselves warred against the poor Christians, and the loud-pealing thunder became mingled with the din and uproar of the assault and the clash of arms. The boats and vessels were swamped by the surging waves; and the bitter cries of the perishing fugitives ascended alike from the sea and shore. Thousands fled to the churches for refuge, but found none; they prostrated themselves before the altars, and embraced the images of the saints, but these evidences of idolatry only stimulated the merciless fanaticism of the Moslems, and the Christians and their temples, their images and their saints, were all consumed in the raging flames kindled by the inexorable sons of Islam. The churches were set on fire, and the timid virgin and the hardened voluptuary, the nun and the monk, the priest and the bishop, all perished miserably before the altars and the shrines which they had approached in the hour of need, but which many of them had neglected in days of prosperity and peace. The holy nuns of St. Clare, following the example and exhortations of their abbess, mangled and disfigured their faces and persons in a most dreadful manner, to preserve their chastity from violation by the barbarous conquerors, and were gloriously rewarded with the crown of martyrdom, by the astonished and disgusted infidels, who slaughtered without mercy the whole sisterhood!

Three hundred Templars, the sole survivors of their order in Acre, had kept together and successfully withstood the victorious Mamlooks. In a close and compact column they fought their way, accompanied by several hundred christian fugitives, to the convent of the Temple at Acre, and shut the gates. They then assembled together in solemn chapter, and appointed the Knight Templar, Brother GAUDINI, Grand Master. The Temple at Acre was surrounded by walls and towers, and was a place of great strength, and of immense extent. It was divided into three quarters, the first and principal of which contained the palace of the Grand Master, the church, and the habitation of the knights; the second, called the Bourg of the Temple, contained the cells of the serving brethren; and the third, called the Cattle Market, was devoted to the officers charged with the duty of procuring the necessary supplies for the order and its forces. The following morning very favourable terms were offered to the Templars by the victorious sultan, and they agreed to evacuate the Temple on condition that a galley should be placed at their disposal, and that they should be allowed to retire in safety with the christian fugitives under their protection, and to carry away as much of their effects as each person could load himself with. The Mussulman conqueror pledged himself to the fulfilment of these conditions, and sent a standard to the Templars, which was mounted on one of the towers of the Temple. A guard of three hundred Moslem soldiers, charged to see the articles of capitulation properly carried into effect, was afterwards admitted within the walls of the convent. Some Christian ladies and women of Acre were amongst the fugitives, and the Moslem soldiers, attracted by their beauty, broke through all restraint, and violated the terms of the surrender. The enraged Templars closed and barricaded the gates of the Temple; they set upon the treacherous infidels, and put every one of them, “from the greatest to the smallest,” to death. Immediately after this massacre, the Moslem trumpets sounded to the assault, but the Templars successfully defended themselves until the next day (the 20th). The Marshal of the order and several of the brethren were then deputed by Gaudini with a flag of truce to the sultan, to explain the cause of the massacre of his guard. The enraged monarch, however, had no sooner got them into his power, than he ordered every one of them to be decapitated, and pressed the siege with renewed vigour.

In the night, Gaudini, with a chosen band of his companions, collected together the treasure of the order, and the ornaments of the church, and sallying out of a secret postern of the Temple which communicated with the harbour, they got on board a small vessel, and escaped in safety to the island of Cyprus. The residue of the Templars retired into the large tower of the Temple, called “The Tower of the Master,” which they defended with desperate energy. The bravest of the Mamlooks were driven back in repeated assaults, and the little fortress was everywhere surrounded with heaps of the slain. The sultan, at last, despairing of taking the place by assault, ordered it to be undermined. As the workmen advanced, they propped the foundations with beams of wood, and when the excavation was completed, these wooden supports were consumed by fire; the huge tower then fell with a tremendous crash, and buried the brave Templars in its ruins. The sultan set fire to the town in four places; the walls, the towers, and the ramparts were demolished, and the last stronghold of the christian power in Palestine was speedily reduced to a smoking solitude.[140]

A few years back, the ruins of the christian city of Acre were well worthy of the attention of the curious. You might still trace the remains of thirty churches; and the quarter occupied by the Knights Templars continued to present many interesting memorials of that proud and powerful order. “The carcass,” says Sandys, “shows that the body hath been strong, doubly immured; fortified with bulwarks and towers, to each wall a ditch lined with stone, and under those, divers secret posterns. You would think, by the ruins, that the city consisted of divers conjoining castles, which witness a notable defence, and an unequal assault; and that the rage of the conquerors extended beyond conquest; the huge walls and arches turned topsy-turvy, and lying like rocks upon the foundation.” At the period of Dr. Clarke’s visit to Acre, the ruins, with the exception of the cathedral, the arsenal, the convent of the knights, and the palace of the Grand Master, were so intermingled with modern buildings, and in such a state of utter subversion, that it was difficult to afford any satisfactory description of them. “Many superb remains were observed by us,” says he, “in the pasha’s palace, in the khan, the mosque, the public bath, the fountains, and other parts of the town, consisting of fragments of antique marble, the shafts and capitals of granite and marble pillars, masses of the verd antique breccia, of the ancient serpentine, and of the syenite and trap of Egypt. In the garden of Djezzar’s palace, leading to his summer apartment, we saw some pillars of variegated marble of extraordinary beauty.”