volume one

416 insTOiiY or the ceusades.
bristling with arro^^'s, and rushed upon the ranks of the
Mussulmans, astonished at liis audacity ; at length he fell,
covered with wounds, but fightmg to the last. The Saracens
took him for St. George, whom the Christians believed they
saw descend from heaven to join their battalions. After his
death the Turkish soldiers, whom an historian calls the
children of JBahylon and Sodom, drew near with signs of
respect to his body, slain by a thousand wounds ; they wiped
off the blood, they shared the rags of his clothes and the
fragments of his arms, and, in their brutal excitement,
evinced their admiration by actions that make modesty
blush when speaking of them.*
The grand master of the Templars, with two of his
knights, were all that escaped from the carnage. This battle
was fought on the 1st of May, 1187. In the season, says
an ancient chronicle, in which flowers and roses are gathered
in the fields, the Christians of iS^azareth found nothing but
the traces of slaughter and the mangled bodies of their
brethren. They buried them in the church of St. Mary,
repeating these prophetic words : " Daughters of Galilee,
put on your garments of mourning ; and you, daughters of
Sion, iceep over the ills that threaten the kings of Judah^^
The terror which this sanguinary defeat created for a
moment appeased the discords of the Christians. The king
consented to be reconciled to the count of Tripoli, whilst on
his part Eaymond resolved to forget hi^, private injuries, and
to use every eftbrt to repair the misforiainea he had brought
upon the kingdom. He repaired to Jerusalem, where Guy
de Lusignan, coming forth to meet him, received him with
marks of sincere affection. The two princes embraced
before the people, and swore to fight in ujiison for the
heritage of Christ.
After the rupture of the truce, Saladin employed himself
in getting together a formidable army. Turks, Arabs,
Curds, and Egyptians flocked to his standard ; he promised
the spoils of the Christians to the Mussulman families that
* The Latin history of the kingdom of Jerusalem contains this curious
passage : Quidam verb, ut fama ferebat, ardentiiis cseteris movebatur, et
abscissis viri genitalibus, ea tanquam in usutn gignendi reservare deposuitj
ut vel mortua membra, si fieri posset, virtutis tantae suscitarent hseredem.
-—See the Collection of Bongars, p. 1151.