volume one

HISTORY or THE CRUSADES. 245
marched, followed by the di'oves of cattle it had met on the
banks of the Sorec, and brought back all the riches found
in the camp of the infidels. As they approached Jerusalem,
all the trumpets were sounded, and their victorious flags
were unfurled. A crowd of pilgrims, who came out to meet
these lively
them, filled the air with their songs of gladness ;
expressions of joy mingled with the hymns of the priests
the echoes, says Eobert the Monk, repeated the sounds of
the warlike instruments and the acclamations of the Christians,
and appeared to offer an application of these words
of Isaiah: " The mountains and the hills shall sing before
you the praises of the Lordy The Crusaders entered the
holy city in triumph. The great standard and the sword of
the sultan were suspended on the columns of the church of
the Holy Sepulchre. All the pilgrims, assembled in the
very places which the emir Afdhal had sworn utterly to
destroy, returned thanks to Heaven for a victory which
crowned all their labours.
The victory of Ascalon was the last of this crusade. At
length, liberated from their vows, after four years of toils
and dangers, the princes of the crusade quitted Jerusalem,
whose sole means of defence now were three hundred
knights, the wisdom of Grodfrey, and the sword of Tancred,
who had resolved to end his days in Asia. Some embarked
on the Mediterranean, whilst others marched across Svria
and Asia Minor. They arrived in the West bearing palm
branches in their hands, and singing hymns of triumph on
their way. Their return was considered as a miracle, a sort
of resurrection, and their presence was everpvhere looked
upon as a subject of edification and enthusiasm. INIost of
them had been ruined by the holy war ; but they brought
back from the East precious relics, Avhich were in the eyes
of the faithful a veritable treasure.* Their hearers were
* In the genealogical history of several houses of Brittany, is the fol-
lowing rather curious passage :
" Rion de Loheac acquired in this voyage
beautiful and rich spoils from the enemies of Christianity, the Saracens ;
and above all things he was curious to seek for and collect heaps of the
sacred and precious relics which were in those regions, in the number of
which was a part and portion of the true cross upon which our Saviour
Jesus Christ suffered death for the salvation of the human race, and of
the stone of the sepulchre in which the said Saviour was buried. These
relics he intended to bring into his own country ; but being prevented by
;