volume one

384 niSTOET OF the CErSADES.
families, he prevented tlieir desire for the possession of
lands, and thus accustomed them to consider the camp as
their home and their country. In the midst of armies
, which he had liiraself formed, and ^Yhich respected in him
the avenger of the Prophet, he restrained the ambition of
the emirs, and directed their efforts and their zeal towards
one sole object, the triumph of Islamism, His victories,
his fortune, his religious and political virtues drew upon
him the attention of the entire East, and made the Mussulmans
believe that the period of their deliverance had arrived.
Baldwin III., who undertook to stop the career of ]^oureddin,
displayed great valour in several battles. The most
important and the most fortunate of his expeditions was the
taking of i\scaloii, in which the Mussulmans always kept
up a formidable garrison. This city, which is situated in a
fertile plain, and which the Mussulmans call tlie Spouse of
Syria, was succoured by an Eg}^tian fleet, and for a long
time resisted all the efforts of the Christians. Hivers of
blood flowed before its walls diu-ing several months ; both
Mussulmans and Christians fighting with fury, and neither
giving nor receiving quarter. During the siege the knights
of the Temple particularly distinguished themselves by their
valour ; the thirst for booty, far more than the love of glory,
making them brave the greatest perils. The garrison and
the inhabitants, exhausted by fatigue and pinched by famine,
at length opened the gates of the city. Baldwin granted
them a capitidatioii, permitted them to retire into Egypt
with their families, and caused a Te Deum to be sung in the
great mosque, which he consecrated to St. Paul.
After this victorv the king of Jerusalem marched to encounter
Xoureddin, and compelled him to raise the sieges of
both Paneas and Sidon. Baldwin was en2:aQ:ed in assistinix
the principality of Antioch, always disturbed by fiictions,
always threatened by the Mussulmans, when he was poisoned
by a Syrian physician. As soon as he became sensible of
his danger, he set out for Jerusalem, and died in the city of
Berouth. His remains were transported to the holy city,
the clergy coming out to meet the funeral train. The
people descended from the mountains to join the procession,
and through the country, and in the cities nothing was heard
but lamentations. Xoureddin himself, if we are to believe