volume one

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HISTORY or TIIJS CRUSADES. 143
bis trenchant blade ; lances, helmets, and cuirasses flew in
shivers beneath its strokes. A Saracen of surpassing strength
and stature offered him single combat in the midst of the
melee, and with his first blow dashed the shield of Grodfrey
in pieces. Indignant at such audacity, the Christian hero
raised himself in his stirrups, and rushing on his antagonist,
dealt him so terrible a blow on the shoulder, that he divided
his body into two parts.* The one, say the historians, fell
to the ground, whilst the other remained on the horse, which
returned to the city, where this spectacle redoubled the consternation
of the besieged. In spite of these astonishing
exploits, the Christians sustained a considerable loss. Whilst
celebrating the heroic valour of the Crusaders, contemporary
history is astonished at the multitude of martyrs which the
Saracens sent to heaven, and who, on arriving in the abodes
of the elect, Avith crowns upon their heads, and palm branches
in their hands, addressed God in these words : " Why have
you not
*day?"t
spared our blood which has flowed for you this
The infidels passed the night in burpng such as had
been killed under the walls of the city. They interred them
near a mosque built on the outer side of the bridge of
the Orontes. After the funeral ceremonies, they returned into
Antioch. As, according to the custom of the Mussulmans,
these bodies had been buried with their arms, their ornaments,
and their vestments, this plunder held out too strong
a temptation for the gross multitude that followed the army
of the Crusaders. They crossed the Orontes, precipitated
themselves in a crowd upon the graves of the Saracens,
exhumed the dead bodies, and tore off the arms and habiliments
with which they were covered. They quickly retiu*ned
* Sic lubricus ensis super crus dextrum integer exigit, sicque caput
integrum cum dextra parte corporis iramersit gurgite, partemque quae
equo prsesidebat remisit civitati. Rob. Mon. Cujus ense trajectus
Turcus duo factus est Turci; ut inferior alter in urbem equitaret, alter
arcitenens in flumine nataret. Rad. Cad.
f* Feruntque in ilia die martyrisati ex nostris militibus seu peditibus
plusquam mille, qui in coelum loetantes ascendebant, atque candidati
ferentes stolam recepti martyrii, glorificantes et magnificantes Dominum
Deum nostrum trinum et unum, in quo feliciter triumphabant ; et dicebant
concordabili voce : Quare non defendis sanguinem nostrum, qui hodie pro
tuo nomine effusus est ?— Gesta Francorum, lib. xviii. cap. 18, p. 13.