volume one

308 HISTORY or THE CRUSADES.
the Hospitallers and the Templars, had clothed themselves
with the casque and the cuirass, and, under the name of the
Elnights of the Holy Sepulchre, distinguished themselves
amongst the soldiers of Christ.
The glory of these military orders ^Yas soon spread
throughout the Christian world. Their renown penetrated
even to the isles and the most remote nations of the West.
All who had sins to expiate hastened to the holy city to
share the labours of the Christian warriors. Crowds of men,
who had devastated their own country, came to defend the
kingdom of Jerusalem, and take part in the perils of the
most firm defenders of the faith.
There was not an illustrious family in Europe which did
not send at least one knight to the military orders of Pales-
tine. Princes even enrolled themselves in this holy militia,
and laid aside the insignia of their dignity to assume the
red coat of arms of the Hospitallers, or the white mantle of
the knights of the Temple. In aU the nations of the "West
castles and cities were bestowed upon them, which ofiered
an asylum and succour to pilgrmis, and became auxiliaries to
the kingdom of Jerusalem. As monks, as soldiers of Christ,
they were remembered in every will, and not unfrequently
became the heirs of monarchs and princes.
The knights of St. John and of the Temple for a length
of time were deserving of the greatest praises ;
more happy
and more worthy of the benedictions of posterity would
they have been, if, in the end, they had not allowed themselves
to be corrupted by their success and their wealth
and if they had not frequently disturbed the welfare of the
state of which their bravery was the support ! These two
orders were like a crusade that was unceasingly renewed,
and preserved emulation in the Christian armies.
The military customs and manners of the Franks who
were then engaged in Palestine, present an object worthy of
fixing the attention of the historian and the philosopher,
and may serve to explain the rapid rise and the following
decline of the kingdom of Jerusalem. The spirit of honour
which animated the warriors, and permitted them
not to fly, even in an unequal fight, was the most active
principle" of their bravery, and with them took the place of
discipline. To abandon a companion in danger, or to retire
;