volume one

470 HISTOET or THE CEUSADES.
^Mussulman vessels, and braving the perils of the sea, went
to pillage the isle of Cyprus and the coasts of S}Tia.
Durins; the rainy season the waters covered the plains,
and the Crusaders remained crowded together on the hills.
The carcasses left on the banks of the rivers, or cast into
the torrents, exhaled a pestilential odour, and contagious
diseases Avere verv soon added to the horrors of famine.
The camp was filled with mourning and funeral rites ; from
two to three hundred pilgrims were buried daily. Several
of the most illustrious leaders found in contasdon the death
thev had so often braved in the field of battle. Frederick,
duke of Swabia, died in his tent, after haATug escaped aU the
perils of war. His unhappy companions in arms gave tears
to his memory, and, despairing of the cause of the Christians,
for wliich thev had suffered so much, returned to the
"\^>st.
To complete their misfortune, Sibylla, the wife of Gruy de
Lusignan, died, with her two children, and her death gave rise
to fresh discord. Isabella, second dauo;hter of Amaurv, and
sister to Queen Sibylla, was heir to the throne of Jerusalem
; consequently Humphrey de Thoron, the husband of
this princess, immediately asserted her rights. On the
other side, Guv de Lusisfuan could not consent to abandon
his, and maintained that the character of king was indelible ;
no one had the right to deprive him of a crown he had once
worn. Amidst these disputes, Conrad, already master of
Tvre, was all at once seized ^ith the ambition of reisTiins:
over Jerusalem and Palestine ; he succeeded in gaining
the love of Isabella, induced the council of bishops to dissolve
the marriage of Humphrey, and, although himself
married to the sister of the Emperor Isaac, espoused the
sister and heiress of Baldwin, determined to defend with
the sword the rights which this new union gave him.
The Christians, though plunged in such horrible misery,
and at the same time coustantlv menaced bv Saladin, were
entirely engaged by the pretensions of the two rival princes.
Humphrey, who defended his rights very weakly, was in
great dread of the threats of Coni-ad, and was wise enough
31 't to regret a sceptre which he must win, or a wife who
had abandoned him. He renounced all his claims, and
would have been happy if liis docility had restored unaui-