volume one

134 UISTOET OF THE CltUSADES.
whilst advancing rapidly across the defiles of Cappadocia.
Attacked bv an enemy superior in numbers, he had defended
himself during a whole day, ^vithout being able to repulse
the infidels, ^Yith all the eftorts of his corn-age or the battleaxes
of his warriors. Tlorine, daughter of Eudes I., duke of
Biu'gundy, who accompanied the Danish hero, and to whom
he was to be married after the taking of Jerusalem, had
valiantly fought by his side. Pierced by seven arrows, but
still fighting, she sought with Sweno to open a passage
towards the mountains, when they were overwhelmed by
their enemies. They fell together on the field of battle, after
having seen all their kniofhts and their most faithful servants
perish around them. " Such were the news that came to
the camp of the Christians," says AYilliam of T}Te, "and so
full were they of sadness and grief, that more than ever were
their hearts depressed with the increase of their calamities." *
Each succeeding day famine and disease made greater
ravages. The provisions t brought to the camp by a few
S^Tians were at so high a price that the soldiers could not
obtain any ; the multitude filled the camp with lamentations,
and there was not a Crusader who had not to weep for the
death of several of his companions. Desertion was soon
added to the other scourges. The greater part of the Crusaders
had lost all hope of taking Antioch, or of ever reaching
* The historian of Burgundy, Urbain Plancher, without alleging any
reason, and without quoting any authority, treats thjs event as a fahle,
although it is attested by William of Tyre, Albert d'Aix, and several other
nearly contemporary historians. Mallet says nothing of it in his " History
of Denmark;" nevertheless Langbeck, in his collection of the Danish
historians, says he has seen a basso-relievo, in bronze, in which the Sweno,
of whom this history speaks, is represented with the attributes of a
Crusader. This basso-relievo was executed by the order of Christian V. ;
at the bottom of the portrait of Sweno are several Latin verses which
describe his glorious and tragical death. The " Scriptores Rerum Danicarum"
may be consulted for the dissertation in which Langbeck discusses
the passages of the ancient historians, and clearly demonstrates the
truth of their accounts. This dissertation is entitled, " Infelix Suenonis
Danici adversus Turcas."
t According to William of Tyre, the bread which sufficed for the daily
food of one man cost two sous instead of a denier ; an ox two marks of
silver, instead of five sous ; a kid or a lamb five or six sous, instead of
three or four deniers ; the expense of a horse for a single night arose as
high as eight sous, whilst it had only been two or three deniers at the
commencement ot the siege.