volume one

HISTORY or THE CRUSADES. 407
Saladin availed himself of the peace made with the Chris-
tians, to dissipate tlie troubles ^Yhich had arisen in his states,
and to pursue his conquests in Syria. At each truce he got
possession of a city or a province ; he extended his dominions,
and thus placed under his control countries which
became so many the more enemies for the Christians. The
Franks, on the contrary, when war was suspended, gave
peace with
themselves madly up to their internal divisions ;
them gave birth to a thousand new factions, and the kingdom
then found in its own bosom enemies much more dangerous
than those against whom they had been at war.
The knights and barons, on their retin-n to Jerusalem,
accused Gruy de Lusignan of having neglected the opportunity
for conquering Saladin, and reproached him with having
permitted the ravages exercised by the Mussulmans in the
richest provinces of Palestine. Baldwin, who had yielded up
the royal authority with great regret, listened to the complaints
of the barons, and hastened to reascend a tottering
throne. He undertook to dissolve the marriage with Sibylla,
and cited Gruy de Lusignan before the patriarch of Jerusalem
and the nobles of the kingdom, in order to deprive him
of the counties of Ascalon and Jaffa. As Gruy did not appear
on the day named, Baldwin, although infirm and blind,
repaired to Antioch, and finding the gates shut, struck them
several times with his hand without causing them to be
opened.* This unfortunate prince caUed upon Heaven to
witness this insult, and returned to Jerusalem, swearing to
revenge himself upon Gruy de Lusignan. On his side, Guy
no longer observed any measures, but took up arms to sustain
his revolt. In this emergency, Baldwin could find no
better means of punishing Gruy than to oppose to him a
regent and a new king. By his orders, Baldwin Y., who
was five years of age, and born of the first marriage of
Sibylla with the son of the marquis de Montferrat, was
crowned in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the presence
of the nobles and the clergy. Eaymond, count of
Tripoli, less odious to Baldwin than Gruy, obtained the regency
and assumed the reins of government.
The kii^gdom of Jerusalem, which had proceeded rapidly
* I am inclined to think this was a kind of ceremony—the liege lord
demanding entrance to the fortress of his vassal.
—
Trans.