volume one

194 HISTOET or THE CBUS.U)ES.
and the miraculous lance from that time ceased to work
miracles.* In vain the Crusaders from the southern pro-
vinces endeavoured to substitute for it the ring and cross of
of Adhemar ; they attracted neither the devotion nor the
offerings of the pilgrims.
A\Tiilst the Crusaders were detained before the fortress of
Archas, thev received an embassy from Alexius. The Greek
emperor wished to impose upon the Latins, by promising
to follow them into Palestine with an army, if they would
allow him time to make the necessary preparations. Alexius
in his letters complained of the non-performance of the
treaties by which he was to be made master of the cities of
Syria and Asia ]Minor that had fallen into the hands of
the Christians ; but he complained without bitterness, and
showed so much circumspection in his reproaches as proved
that he likewise had some v.Tongs to repair. This embassy
was but ill received in the Christian army. The leaders
accused the Grreeks of the death of the count of Hainault,
and reproached the emperor with his shameful flight during
the siege of Antioch. They despised his complaints, and
gave no faith to his so often broken promises.
The Latins hated Alexius ever since the siege of Nice.
Hatred guided them on this occasion better than the most
clear-sighted policy could have done ; for in the end, if we
are to believe their historians, they learned that the emperor
of Constantinople maintained a secret understanding with
the caliph of Egypt, and that his design was to retard the
march and the progress of the Christian army.
The caliph of Cairo, who was governed by the same policy
as Alexius, kept up relations with the Crusaders which circumstances
rendered more or less sincere, and which were
subordinate to the fear which their arms inspired. Although
he negotiated at the same time with the Christians and the
Turks, he hated the former because thev were the enemies
of the prophet, and the latter because they had deprived
him of Svria, His object was but to profit by the war, so
as to regam his possessions and extend the limits of his
empire. For several months he had been master of Jeru-
* Accounts of this event may be read in William of Tyre, Robert
d'Aix, and above all in Raymond d'Agiles, who does not omit the least
circumstance.