volume one

224 HISTOKY OF THE CEUSAJDES.
Christians, who, in the security of victorr, were proceeding
to the pillage.* The latter were even beginning to give
wav before the enemy they had so recently conquered, when
Evei arJ de Puvsaie, of whom Eaoiil de Caen has celebrated
the bravery, revived the courage of his companions, placed
himself at* their head, and once more spread terror among
the infidels. From that moment the Crusaders had no more
enemies to contend with. History has remarked that the
Christians entered Jemsalem on a Friday, at the hour of
three in the afternoon ; exactly the same day and hour at
which Christ expired for the salvation of the human race.
It might have been expected that this memorable epoch
would have awakened sentiments of mercy in their hearts ;
but, iiTitated by the threats and protracted insults of the
Saracens, incensed bv the suiferings thev had undergone
durins: the siesre. and bv the resistance thev had met with
even in the city, they filled with blood and mournmg that
Jerusalem which thev came to deliver, and which thev considered
as their own future country. The carnage soon
became general, for all who escaped from the swords of
G odfrey and Tancred, feE into the hands of the Provencals,
equally thii'sting for blood. The Saracens were massacred
in the streets and in the houses ; Jerusalem contained no
place of refuge for the vanquished. Some sought to escape
death by thi'owing themselves from the ramparts ; others
flocked in crowds to the palaces, the towers, but particularly
to the mosques.—but nowhere could they escape the pur-
suit of the Chrisrians.
TThen the Crusaders made themselves masters of the
mosque of Omar, in which the Saracens defended themselves
for some time, a frightful repetition ensued of the
scenes of carnage which attended the conquest of Titus.
Horse and foot entered the mosque pele-mele with the vanquished.
In the midst of the most horrible tumult nothing
was heard but groans, screams, and cries of death ;
the con-
querors trampling over heaps of bodies in pursuit of all who
endeavoured to escape. Raymond d'Agiles, an ocular witness,
says that under the portico, and in the porch of the
mosque, the blood rose. up to the knees and the bridles of
* RaouJ de Caen, cap. 132 et 133.