volume one

KISTOKY or THE CilUSADES. 205
du Boiirg and Tancred. The latter had hastened from Bethlehem,
of whicli he had taken possession. After having pursued
the fugitives up to the gates of the holy city, he left
his companions and repaired alone to the Mount of Olives,
from whence he contemplated at leisure the city promised
to the arms and devotion of the pilgrims.* He was disturbed
in his pious contemplations by live Mussulmans Avho
came from the city, and finding him alone attacked him.f
Tancred made no effort to avoid the combat ; three of the
Saracens fell beneath his arm, whilst the other two took to
flight, AVitliout either hastening or retarding his speed,
Tancred rejoined the army, which, in its enthusiasm, was
advancing without order, and descended the heights of
Emmaus,;{; singing these words from Isaiah, " Jerusalem, lift
tip thine eyes, and behold the liberator tvho comes to break ihy
chains^
On the day after their arrival the Crusaders employed
tliemselves in regularh^ laying siege to the place. The duke
of Normandv, the count of Flanders, and Tancred encamoed
tovrards the north, from the gate of Herod to the gate of
Cedar or of St. Stephen. jS'ear to the Flemings, the Normans,
and the Italians, were placed the English, commanded
by Edgar Atheling, and the Bretons, conducted by their
duke, Alain Eergent, the sire de Chateau-Griron, and the
viscount de Dinan. Godfrey, Eustace, and Baldwin du
Bourg established their quarters between the west and the
north, around the enclosure of Calvary, from the gate of
Damascus to the gate of Jaffa. The count of Thoulouse
placed his camp to the right of Godfrey between the south
and the west ; he had near to him Baimbaud of Orange,
"William of Montpellier, and Gaston of Beam. His troops
at first extended to the declivity of Sion, and a few days
* Tasso here makes Tancred contend with Clorinda.
of Clorinda and Herminia are the invention of the poet.
The personages
f Tliis fact, which Tasso has mixed with some fictions, is related by
Raoul de Caen, Gesta Tancredi, cap. 112. The same historian adds that
Tancred met upon the Mount of Olives a hermit who was born in Normandy,
and who ha i been the enemy of Robert Guiscard and his family.
This hermit welcomed the Italian hero with respect, and showed hitn the
places around Jerusalem the most venerated by pilgrims.
X See, for this arrival of the Christians, William of Tyre, lib. vii.
cap. 25.