volume one

174 HISTOET or THE CHL'SADES.
inspired the Christians, who were persuaded that God hini-
sell" was coming to their aid, and the war-ciy " It is the will
of God r' was heard as at the beginning of the battle. The
"vsomen and children who had remained in Antioch, and
were collected on the walls, animated the courage of the
Crusaders by their cries and acclamations, whilst the priests
continued to raise their hands towards heaven, and returned
thanks to God by songs of praise and thanksgiving for the
succour he had sent to the Christians. Of the Crusaders
themselves each man became a hero, and nothing could
stand before their impetuous charge. In a moment the
ranks of the Saracens were evervwhere broken, and they
only fought in confusion and disorder. They endeavoured
to rally on the other side of a torrent and upon an elevated
point whence their trumpets and clarions resounded; but
the count de Yermandois attacked them in this last post
and completely routed them. They had now no safety but
in flight, and the banks of the Orontes, the woods, the
plains, the mountains were covered with the fugitives, who
abandoned both their arms and their hass^se.
Kerbogha, who had been so certain of victory as to have
announced the defeat of the Christians to the caliph of
Bagdad and the sultan of Persia, fled towards the Euphrates,
escorted bv a small bodv of his most faithful soldiers.
Several of the emirs had taken to flight before the end of
the battle. Tancred and some others, mounted on the
horses of the conquered enemy, pui'sued till night-fall the
sultans of Aleppo and Damascus, the emir of Jerusalem,
and the scattered wreck of the Saracen army. The conquerors
set fire to the intrenchments behind which the
enemv's infantrv had sous^ht refuo^e, and a vast number of
Mussulmans perished iq the flames.
According to the account of several contemporary historians,
the infidels left a hundred thousand dead on the
field of battle. Pour thousand Crusaders lost their lives on
this glorious day, and were placed among the ranks of the
martyrs.
The Christians found abundance beneath the tents of
their enemies ; fifteen thousand camels and a great number
pf horses fell into their hands. As they passed the night
in the camp of the Saracens, they had leisure to admire the