volume one

43i insTOKT or the ceusades.
to Egypt were less unfortunate, and touched the hearts of
many embarked for Europe, whither they
the Mussulmans ;
came to announce, with lamentations, that Jerusalem was in
the hands of Saladin.
The loss of the holy city was generally attributed to the
crimes of its inhabitants. Such was the policy of those
times, that it explained everything by the corruption or the
sanctity of the Christians ; as if crime had not its moments
of good fortune, and ^-irtue its days of calamity. There is
no doubt that the corruption of manners had weakened the
springs of government, and enervated the courage of the
people ; but the never-ending discords of the Christians did
not contribute less than their licentiousness and forgetfulness
of scriptural morality, in producing the disasters of Jerusalem.
AYhen we reflect, likewise, that this weak kingdom,
surrounded by enemies, was able to support itself, and defer
its ruin for eiofhtv-eisrht vears, we are much less astonished
at its fall than at the leno^th of its duration. The kino:dom
of Jerusalem owed its preservation and splendour to the
divisions of the Turks and Saracens, and the numerous sup-
plies it received from Europe ; it fell as soon as it was left
to itself, and its enemies united to attack it.
As it was at that time, however, believed that the welfare
of Christianity and the glory even of God were attached to
the preservation of Jerusalem, the loss of the holy city
created throughout Europe as much surprise as consterna-
tion. The news of this disaster was first brought into Italv ;
and Pope Urban III., who was then at Eerrara, died of
grief. Christians forgot all the ills of their own countrv to
weep over Jerusalem ; it even superseded all other afflictions
in private families. Priests carried from city to city images,*
representing the holy sepulchre trampled under the feet of
horses, and Christ cast to the earth by Mahomet. Melancholy
songs deplored the capti^-it^* of the king of Jerusalem
and his knights, the fate of the virgins of the Lord abandoned
to the insults of infidels, and the misfortunes of
Christian children brought up in slavery and in the worship
of fake prophets.
* This fact, which is not mentioned by our Western authors, is related
with many details by "Boha-eddin and Abul-feda.