volume one

HISTOEY OF TUE CRUSADES. 175
luxury of the Orientals, and they examined with the
greatest surprise the tent of the king of Mossoul,* resplendent
with gold and precious stones, which, divided
into long streets flanked by high towers, resembled a fortified
city. They employed several days in carrying the
spoils into Antioch. The booty was immense, and every
Crusader, according to the remark of Albert d'Aix, found
himself much richer than he was when he quitted Europe.
The sight of the Saracen camp after the battle proved
plainly that they had displayed much more splendour and
magnificence than true courage. The veteran warriors, the
companions of Malek-Scha, had almost all perished in the
civil wars which had for so many years desolated the empire
of the Seljoucides. The army that came to the succour of
Antioch was composed of raw troops, levied in haste, and
reckoned under its standards several rival nations, always
ready to take up arms against each other.f It is the duty
of the historian to admit that the twenty-eight emirs who
accompanied Kerbogha were almost all at variance with one
another, and scarcely acknowledged the authority of a chief.
On the contrary, the greatest union prevailed on this day
among: the Christians. The different bodies of their army
fought upon one single point, and afforded each other mutual
support, whereas Kerbogha had divided his forces. In this
battle, but more particularly in the circumstances whicli
preceded it, the sultan of Mossoul showed more presumption
than skill ; by the slowness of his march he lost the opportunity
of assisting Accien or of surprising the Crusaders.
Afterwards, too certain of victory, he never dreamt of what
despair and fanaticism are able to effect. These two powerful
principles greatly increased the natural bravery of the
Franks. The horrible distress to which they had been reduced
only tended to make them invincible, and in that we
shall find the miracle of the day.
* This tent was able to contain more than two thousand persons.
Bohemond sent it into Italy, where it was preserved for a length of time.
Gemaleddin, who of all the Oriental historians gives the greatest
f
number of details upon the taking and the battle of Antioch, reports that
a violent quarrel had broken out between the Turks and the Arabs ; he
even adds that the Arabs had retired before the battle, and that in the
course of it the Turks turned theii* arms against their allies.