volume one

niSTOEY OF THE CKUSADE3. 487
forest of Sarun, and which is believed to be the forest celebrated
by Tasso, extended along the declivities of the mountains
of Naplouse : it was upon this spot Saladin awaited
the Crusaders to offer them a decisive battle.
A part of his army covered the heights, whilst the
remainder encamped upon the banks of the torrent of
Arsur. The Christians soon arrived in face of their enemy,
and di'ew up in order of battle. The Danes, Flemings, and
Tuscans, commanded by Jacques d' Avesnes, formed the van.
Richard marched in the centre, at the head of the English,
Normans, Gascons, the S^T-ian troops, and those of the
count of Champagne: the rear-guard Avas composed of
French and Germans, under the orders of the duke of Burgundy
and Leopold of Austria. Whilst the archers were
showering their arrows from a distance, Saladin passed
through the ranks, and roused the courage of his soldiers,
who replied to him with cries of Allah ac bar!— God is
powerful.* Profound silence prevailed in the Christian
army ; the black cuirasses of the Crusaders seeming to
darken the horizon, whilst sixty thousand swords gleamed
out from amidst clouds of dust. All at once the Christian
infantry opened their ranks, and the cavalry rushed forward
towards the enemy, drawn up on the banks of the torrent
of Arsur. Jacques d'Avesnes, who commanded them, penetrated
twice into the closely-pressed ranks of the Saracens,
and twice was compelled to retreat in disorder. At the third
charge his leg was severed by the stroke of a sabre, but he still
pursued the infidels, when the arm with which he fought
was struck off at a blow. The Christian hero fell amidst
the enemy, calling aloud upon Eichard, and conjuring him
to avenge his death.
* Omad says that the Mussulmans surrounded the army of their enemy
as the eyelashes sunv^nd the eye. The Mussulman authors speak highly
of Jacques d' Avesnes. All the historians of Saladin do not agree as to
his defeat, and say that Richard got possession of Jaffa after being conquered.
Aboul-feda is more honest; Tabary agrees also that the Mussulmans
were put to flight ; the same historian adds to his faithful account
the following remarkable circumstance:— "Near the Mussulman army
was a thick wood, into which they retreated. The Franks believed that
this retreat was a stratagem, and did not dare to pursue their enemies,
whom they might have destroyed if they had followed up their victory."
For these authors, see the Latin extracts of Dom -Bc-rthereau.