volume one

860 HISTOET OF THE CErSAI>ES.
marcli towards Cilicia. Tliej had no boats to cross overfiowing
rivers ; they had uo arms with which to resist the
Turks, and they ahnost all perished. Others who followed
them shared the same fate, whilst the sick in the city of
Attalia were ruthlessly massacred. It has been a painful
task for the historian to record even a few details of these
and it is in this place we find the words
frigiitful disasters ;
of the old chronicles so applicable—
" Grod alone knows the
number of the mart^-rs whose blood flowed beneath the
blade of the Turks, and even under the sword of the
Greeks."
Many Christians, bewildered by despair, believed that the
God who thus left them a prey to so many ills could not be
the true God ;* three thousand of them embraced the faith
of Mahomet and joined the Mussulmans, who took pity on
their wretchedness. The Greeks were soon punished for
their perfidious cruelty ; pestilence uniting its ravages with
those of war, left the city of Attalia almost without inhabitants,
a very few weeks after the departure of "Louis YII.
"^""hen Louis arrived in the principality of Aiitioch,t he
had lost tliree-fourths of his armv ; but he was not the less
warmly welcomed by Ea^Tuond of Poictiers. The French
who accompanied him soon forgot, in the midst of pleasures,
both the dangers of their voyage and the deplorable
of their companions.
death
Antioch could then boast of haATng within its walls the
countess of Thoulouse, the countess of Blois, Sibylla of
TTanders, Maurille countess de Eoussy, Talquery duchess
de Bouillon, and several other ladies celebrated for their
birth or their beauty. The fetes which Eaymond gave
them received additional splendour from the presence of
Eleanor of Guienne. This young princess, daughter of
"William IX. and niece of the prince of Antioch, united the
most seducing gifts of mind to the graces of her person.
She had been much admired at Constantinople, and had
found no rival in the court of Manuel. She was accused,
and with some reason, of being more desirous of admiration
than became a Christian queen. It was neither sincere
* Odo de Deuil is the only writer who speaks of these events ; but his
account appears to us full of obscurity in some parts.
t The 19th of March, 1U8.