volume one

HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES. 449
nations, and dictated laws to two empires, without having
yet done anything towards the aim of liis enterprise. After
having crossed Mount Taurus, near Laureuda, he had
resumed his march towards Syria at the beginning of
spring, and was proceeding along the banks of the river
Selef.* Attracted by the freshness and limpidity of the
waters, he wished to bathe ; but, seized all at once by a
mortal coldness, he was dragged out insensible, and soon
after died, humbly bowing to the will of God, who would
not allow him to behold the land he was going to defend.
His death was more fatal to his army than the loss of a
great battle ; all the Germans wept for a chief who had so
often led them to victory, and whose name alone was the
terror of the Saracens. The bones of this unfortunate
monarch were preserved for the purpose of being buried in
that Jerusalem he had sworn to deliver, but in which he
could not even obtain a tomb. William, who had been to
preach the crusade in Europe, buried the remains of Frederick
in the city of Tyre, and pronounced the funeral oration
of the most powerful monarch of the Christians.
After the death of Erederick, grief weakened the courage
of his soldiers ; some deserted the banners of the crusade,
whilst the others listlessly and sadly continued their march
under the orders of Frederick, duke of Swabia, who re-
* Most historians make Frederick perish in the river Cydnus, in which
Alexander bathed; but they have confounded the Cydnus with the Selef,
according to historians of the time. The Cydnus, which is now called
Kara-sou, that is to say, black loater, flows from Antitaurus into Lower
Armenia, near ancient Diansea ; it enters Cilicia, pas>es by the city of
Tarsus, and falls into the sea two leagues from that city. Selef, a little
river, has its source in the mountains of Isauria, and bathes the walls of
Seleucia ; the inhabitants commonly call it "the water of Selefke."
According to Afmenian historians, it was in this river Frederick Barbarossa
met his death. S. Narses, of Lampron, sent by the Armenians to
compliment the emperor of Germany, says that that prince, bathing in the
river Selef, was carried away by the rapidity of the stream, and that, being
weakened by age, he was not able to contend against it, and was drowned.
(This precious and authentic information is giver us by M. Cahan de Cerbied,
Armenian professor.) The Arabian historian Omad relates that
Frederick Barbarossa was drowned in endeavouring to cross the river on
horseback ; the force of the stream carried him towards a tree, against
which he struck his liead. He was dragged out of the water, adds Omad,
and his soul being ready to quit his body, the angel of death took pos-
session of it, and carried it to hell.