No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2012
I beg leave to transmit to you the accompanying volume, which in the absence of more important objects of attention, you will, perhaps, do me the favour to lay before the President and Society of Antiquaries.
page 283 note a Henry IV. part i. act i. sc. 1. and act iv. sc. 8. 11.
page 283 note b Polidor. Verg. Angl. Hist. lib. xx. p. 419, and Froissart, vol. x. c. 12, p. 131, 8vo edit, translated by Johnes. This fact is generally credited upon the above authorities. See Hakluyt, and Anderson's Hist. of Commerce, vol. i. pp. 382. 384; yet it is observable that Froissart speaks only of a bastard son of the Duke of Lancaster. In opposition to this it is stated (see Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. i. p. 450. Walsingham, Hist. Angl. p..343) that in the same year, 1390, he was instrumental in taking Vilna, the capital of Lithuania, where he was serving against the Infidels with Thomas Duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Edward the Third. It is not worth while to attempt to reconcile these matters, since the fair inference, and the only one which is material to our purpose, will be, that he was actually at this time employed in some Croisade.
page 284 note c Froissart, vol. xii. c. 12, 13.
page 284 note d Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, c. lxvi.
page 284 note e Shakspeare's Henry IV. part ii. act. 4. sc. 11. from Holinshed.
page 285 note f Ps. li. ver. 18.
page 285 note g Chroniques de Eng. de Monstrellet, torn, i. c. 266.
page 285 note h Hume's Hist. of England, 8vo edit. 1767, vol. iii. p. 123.
page 287 note i Maimbourg's Hist. of the Croisades, at the end.
page 287 note k Froissart, vol. i. e. 26, 27.
page 287 note 1 Le Grand D'Aussy in his Preliminary Discourse to the Travels of Bernardon de la Brocquiere. Memoires de L'Institut, an. xi. torn. v. p. 451.
page 287 note m Hist. of the Knights of Malta, vol. i. p. 257, folio edit, under Helion de Villeneuve.
page 288 note n See an entertaining account of his reception by the different princes of Europe in Froissart, vol. iv. c. 213, 214, 215.
page 288 note o Froiss.vol. x. c 12.17, 18, 19, 20. 22. This city was perhaps Tunis. The historian says expressly that the Duke of Lancaster sent his son thither out of devotion.
page 288 note P Vertot, vol. i. p. 290, and Gibbon, c. lxiv. Jerusalem and the holy sepulchre were given out and received as the ultimate object of this proceeding. Froissart, vol.ii. c. 29, p. 207; Bee also c. 34 and 41.
page 289 note q Memoires de Boucicault, c. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.
page 289 note r Charles VI. of France, unable himself to repair thither, sent three companies at different times to present his oblations. Regnaut, Discours du Voyage d'outre mer au Saint Sepulcre, 1573, p. 208. Henry V. is said by Thomas de Walsingham, p. 457, to have been “in peregrinationibus frequens;” but this must allude to pious journeys which were more within his reach.
page 289 note s See the following Report under the articles.
page 289 note t A similar sentiment is expressed by the Historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, c. lxviii. but he alludes even to a much later period.
page 290 note u Gibbon, c. Ixviii.; see also La Vie de Cesar Borgia par Tomaso Tomasi. Leiden, 1712. p. i. pag. 161, for avow of Charles VIII, of France.
page 290 note x The prologue of this extraordinary traveller contains an invitation to a Croisade. After commending the excellence of that land in which Christ appeared and suffered, he urges that every good Christian, who has it in his power, should endeavour to recover it; but thinks that the corrupt state of Christendom is a serious obstacle to an event so much to be desired. Besides, “the people want a Cheventeyn, or chief Lord,“—“but if all Lords were of good accord, and with the comon peple woulde taken this holy Viage over the See, thanne I trowe wel, that within a lityl time our right Heritage before seyd scholde be reconsyled, and put into the hondes of the right Heires of Jesu Crist.” Travels. London 1727. In another place, speaking of his visit to that part of the world, he says, “Now have the Hethen Men holden that Lond in here Hondes 40 Zeere and more; but thei schull not holde it longe, zif God wole.” Sir John was not so good a prophet, as a writer of romance. In this respect his talent is well known; and the old adage is exemplified in the discredit which he has almost universally obtained, even when he speaks the truth. Yet in some points he is, perhaps, not so undeserving of attention as is generally supposed. He set out on his travels in 1322, and was absent 34 years.
page 290 note y The celebrated statesman and orator, Æeas Sylvius, had been secretary to the Emperor, and was afterwards promoted to the holy See, under the title of Pius II. In both capacities he possessed ample opportunity of ascertaining the true state of affairs; and he has thus described the political condition of Europe about the year 1454. “It is a body without a head; a republic without laws or magistrates. The Pope and the Emperor may shine as lofty titles, as splendid images; but they are unable to command, and none are willing to obey: every state has a separate prince, and every prince a separate interest. What eloquence could unite so many discordant and hostile powers under the same standard? Could they be assembled in arms, who would dare to assume the office of general? What order could be maintained ? What military discipline ? Who would undertake to feed such an enormous multitude ? Who would understand their various languages, or direct their stranger and incompatible manners ? What mortal could reconcile the English with the French, Genoa with Arragon, the Germans with the natives of Hungary and Bohemia? If a small number enlisted in the holy war, they must be overthrown by the Infidels; if many, by their own weight and confusion.” Gibbon, c. lxviii. His death in 1465 has been attributed to the failure of his unseconded measures against the Turks. Machiav. Hist. Flor. 1. 7.
page 291 note z Bajazet threatened to subdue Italy, plant his standard upon the Capitol, and feed his horse with oats upon the altar of St. Peter. Froissart, vol. ii. c. 29, p. 204.
page 291 note a The exhortations against the Turks were so numerous, and frequently issued with so palpable a design of extorting money under pretext of a holy war, that Erasmus has touched upon them satirically in his Encomium Moriae; though he himself has composed a treatise upon the subject. “Consultatio de bello Turcis inferendo.” This piece, and that of Busbequius, “De re militari contra Turcos instituenda consilium,” are, perhaps, the best of the kind. Luther wrote a tract, entitled, “Vom krieg wider den Turcken.” Melchior Adamus. Vitae German. Theolog p. 136.
page 292 note b The names of a great part of those brave men who fought at Azincourt are preserved i n Bibl. Bodl. 7440, Ashmol. This list, made by a herald, contains all the captains and men at arms, or lances; but records only the number of the archers attached to each body. The minute observation that the military uniform of the army of Henry was red, may possibly gratify the curiosity of some readers. In a meagre catalogue of the events of this reign, entitled Acta Regis Hen. V. MS. 2159, Bodl. 496, is the following article, A° Doi 1417. Rex vestit suos rubro, et parat transire in Normaniam.
page 292 note c The union of a political and religious motive might be expected to act with peculiar force: nor could a better method have been devised for extinguishing the sparks of discontent in his newly-acquired kingdom. Thus, according to the representation of the poet, he would have practised the policy, and fulfilled the advice of his father:
I had a purpose now
To lead out many to the Holy Land,
Lest rest and lying still might make them look
Too near into my state. Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course to busy giddy minds
With foreign wars, that action, hence borne out,
May waste the memory of former days.
Shaksp. Henry IV. p. ii. activ. sc. 11.
page 293 note d See in Rymer's Fcedera, vol. x. p. 117, his league with Genoa; pp. 161–163, application to the King of the Romans and Princes of Germany for mercenaries; pp. 167.178, to Portugal for the same; pp. 176,177, &c. league with the Count of Foix.
page 293 note e An alliance with Genoa was of great importance; for whatever might be the commercial pretensions of Venice, she was by no means equal to her rival in war. The Genoese had long been masters of thesea. Froissart, vol. vii. c.44, describes them in his time as most adventurous navigators, and much superior to the Venetians: he says, that “they are more feared by the Saracens than any others, for they are excellent and determined seamen; and one Genoese galley would attack and probably conquer four galleys of the Saracens.” Genoa alone, of all Europe, enjoys the lasting honour of having attempted the relief of Constantinople during the fatal siege.
page 293 note f Gibbon gives him credit for the sincerity of his intentions, though M. Legrand D'Aussy embraces an opposite opinion, deeming him too much enslaved to irregular pleasures. His vanity was, however, flattered by the assumption of a badge which drew upon him universal attention. Nor can his taste for pilgrimage and croisades be doubted. Of this he gave munificent proofs in erecting the strong tower of Saint Nicholas near the entrance of the port for galleys at Rhodes. Vertot, vol. i. p. 434; as well as a monastery for the reception of pilgrims, called Sion House, at Ramla in Syria. Sandys' Travels, 1. 3, p. 152, and Rauwolff, in Ray, p. 2. c. 2. pag. 214. He also several times repaired at his own cost the church and chapel at Jerusalem. Memoires d'Olivier de la Marche, p. i. c. 37. The fashionable sentiment spread throughout his Court. Sir Gilbert de Lannoy himself was one of his confidential ministers; and B. de la Broquiere, with others of his household, set out in 1432 to visit the Holy Land. The works of Brocard, relating to the country and the best mode of endeavouring to obtain it, he caused to be translated from the Latin into the French language. He gave a singular and sumptuous entertainment at Lille in 1454; when in the midst of a chivalrous pomp and pageantry emblematical of his purpose, he and all his knights solemnly pledged themselves to undertake the rescue of Constantinople. Mem. d'Olivier de la Marche, and Hist. de Charles VII. par Mathieu de Coucy, p. 676. But no active measures ensued. The knowledge of his disposition might have dictated the alluring turn given to the politic letter sent to this prince by the Pucelle d'Orleans, dated 16 July 1429. In which, trying to detach him from the English interest, she exhorts him to make peace with France, that they may proceed against the Saracens. Though it must be confessed that such a request is perfectly conformable to the enthusiastic character of “the Maid.” See Observations sur les Memoires de Jacques du Clerq, in Collection Universelle des Memoires particuliers relatifs a L'Histoire de France, torn. ix. p. 502.
page 294 note g For the respectable force of the Duke of Burgundy at the decline of his life, and in peaceful days, see Mem. de Commines, 1. i. c. 2.
page 294 note h Martin V.
page 295 note i I do not think that the open assistance of Venice, as a state, was much to be-relied upon; for she was now in the meridian of her splendor, and had derived it principally from her intercourse with the Saracens. Probably she would not have closed her ports; and might have done much for the highest bidder; but she would have had a careful eye to consequences. Commerce had abated her enthusiasm for croisading. Fulk de Villaret complains1 of the assistance afforded to the Infidels by interested individuals of Genoa, Venice, and Pisa. Vertot, Proofs, vol. i. p. 42; and the continuance of Venetian treachery is confirmed by an incident which occurred in Boucicault's Croisade. Hist. de Boucicault, a la Haye, 1699, pp. 147.151. After the capture of Alexandria by the King of Cyprus, the Sultan seized upon the effects of all the Christians in Egypt; and the Venetians, who were great'losers, requested the king not to continue the war. De Guignes surle Commerce des Francois au Levant, quoted in Brown's Travels, c. vii. p. 126. See also another instance of a later date, in which her communication with the Turks might be dictated by an immediate fear of such powerful and ambitious neighbours. Mem. de Commines, 1. vii. c. 14.
page 295 note k Eligatur unu homo, says Sanutus, diligens, et timens Deum, bonae famse, sapiens et disertusrlarguset liberalis, fortis et constans, diligens et operans justitiam. Secreta Fidel. Cnicisig. I. ii P. i. c. I. Most of these qualities were found in the King of England.
page 296 note l Villaret, Hist. de France, vol. xiv. p. 157.
page 294 note m In the same document, the original of which is in French, the prior of Christchurch in Canterbury petitions also for the restitution of the works of Pope Gregory, lent to the king by the late Thomas Arundell, Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry, notwithstanding his evident attachment to the sword, was not indifferent to learning. An ancient portrait represents him as receiving a volume of divinity from the hands of an ecclesiastic. Granger's Biog. Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 17. Thomas Occleve, the disciple of Chaucer, dedicated to him his book, “De regimine principis.” Speght's Life of Chaucer, The Ballad of John Lydgate, Monk of Bury, in honour of our Lady, in 94 books, was compiled at “the excitacioun of King Harry the Vth.” Bibl. Bodl. MS. Hatton. 94. And “libros saepe legens,” is the encomium bestowed upon him by the anonymous author of his life, in monkish rhyme, MSS. Cotton, Cleopatra, XVII. A.fol. 175.
page 297 note n Thus Richard I. when he received the crown, took upon him the engagements of Henry II. his father, for the relief of Palestine. The anxiety of Henry V. to fulfil the penances enjoined by the Pope to his father for the deposition of Richard II. may be seen in Fabian. Chronicle, p. vii. fol. 178. Nor is it impossible that one secret article of expiation might have been a eroisade.
page 297 note o Several tracts are extant, written in the fourteenth century, and chiefly under the pontificate of Clement V. the object of which is the recovery and retention of the Holy Land. The following may here be enumerated:
1. A Treatise by an unknown writer, a native of Aquitaine, “De recuperatione terrae sanctse,” dedicated to Edward I. King of England, who died in 1307. It is printed at the end of Gesta Dei per Francos.
2. A Memorial composed at the request of Clement V. about the year 1306, by Fulk de Villaret, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers, and to be found in Vertot, Proofs, vol. i. p. 40. et seq.
3. “Haythonus de Tartaris.” This author descended from the blood royal of Armenia, but embracing the monastic profession in Cyprus, wrote his book by order of the same pontiff in 1307. In this he delivers ample directions and strenuous exhortations for a croisade, affording much information upon the subject of Palestine and Egypt. It is inserted in the collection entitled “Novus Orbis Regionum,” &c. by Grynseus, Basil. 1537. In some points it bears considerable resemblance to the report of De Lannoy; and one chapter is so applicable to our present question, and may serve to inform us so well of the standing notions and grounds of these holy quarrels that it shall be extracted. The conduct of Henry V. seems almost to have been framed after the considerations offered by Haythonus.
De conditione quam habere debet helium inccepturus. Cap. 49.
Ratio postulat et requirit, quod quicunque contra suos inimicos guerram movere intendit, debeat quatuor praevidere. Primo quod justam causam habet guerram cum suis adversariis inchoandi. Secundo, considerare debet posse suum, utrum sufficiat in expensis et in aliis necessariis ad guerram manu tenendam, et ipsam sine debito terminandam. Tertio investigare debet sapienter inimicos, intentionem et statum. Quarto, guerram debet inchoare tempore competenti. Ego vero Fr. Haythonus qui ex mandato summi pontificis sum de hac materia loquuturus, dicere possum, quod Xtiani justam habent causam guerrain movendi cum filiis Ismaelis, quoniam hæreditatem eorum obtinent occupatam; videlicet terram sanctam, et sanctum sepulchrum domini nostri Jesu Xti, in quo fuit origo fidei Xtianae, et alia sancta loca Xtianis plurimum reverenda. Insuper propter atrocesinjurias, et nimium horrenda opprobria, quse cum multa nostri sanguinis effusione Agareni intulerunt Xtianis, teraporibus retroactis, et etiam propter alias rationes et causas varias et di-versas. De potentia vero dico, quoniam nemo debet penitus ignorare, quin sacrosancta Romana ecclesia, qua? totius orbis est domina et magistra, potentiam habet cum congre-gatione regum et principum Xtianorum et fidelium crucesignatorum, terrain sanctam eruendi de servitute inimicorum fidei Xtianas qui peccatis nostris exigentibus illam deti-nent occupatam. De cognoscendo vero statu inimicorum, hocque de tempore competenti, in quo guerra debet inchoare, oportet prolixius aliquid enarrare.' Nam sicut bonus medicus, ut ad convalescentiam aegrum perducat, causam debet segritudinis perscrutari: Ita decet providum bellatorem, inimicorum investigare conditionem et statum, ut guerram possit incipere provide et audacter, et illi finem laudabilem imponere. Sapienti enim et strenuo duci, nihil debet esse occultatum de potentia inimici, quoniam prsevisa non laedunt, et improvisa consueverunt sæpius animos perturbare, præcipue in discrimine ubi loci vel temporis spatium non habetur periculis occurrere tarn paratis. In omni enim opere potest correctionis medela facilius adhiberi, quam in pugna, in qua poena errorem continuo sequitur. Ut igitur de his quse dicturi sumus, super passagio terrae sanctæ clarior intelligentia adhibeatur, aliqua narrabimus de statu et conditione terrae Ægypti, de exercitu Babyloniae, et potentia inimici. Novus Orbis, &c. p. 411.
4. “Liber Secretorum Fidelium Crucis super Terrae sanctae recuperatione et conservatione,” printed in the second part of the Gesta Dei ofBongars. In this voluminous treatise of Marinus Sanutus, a Venetian nobleman, the subject of croisading is fully discussed, and the ways and means arelaid down at large. The first two books relate wholly to this matter; but the remaining two are historical and geographical. He began to write it in 1306, and presented it to John XXIII. in 1321. He also laid it before many cardinals, prelates, and nobles, as well as the Kings of England, France, and Sicily.
5. An unpublished manuscript, sometime in the National Library of France; a description of which has been given by Legrand D'Aussy in Disc. Prelim. Voyage D'outre mer de B. de la Brocquiere, p. 455 et seq. The original is in Latin, and was compiled by a German monk named Brochard, of the order of Preaching Friars, and dedicated to Philip de Valois in 1322. The title of this piece is, “Directorium ad passagium faciendum, editum per quendam fratrem ordinis predicatorum, scribentem experta et visa potius quam audita; ad serenissimum principem Philippum Regem Francorum, anno Domini M.cccmo.xxxno.” The same person wrote a description of the Holy Land, in which, as a preacher, he had resided twenty-four years. These are the works that were translated by order of the Duke of Burgundy, and the translations, with the originals, having formed a part of the Brussels collection, were in the Library at Paris. But the “Directorium” had been before translated by John de Vignay in 1333, the year after it was presented to the king; and there is a beautiful copy of it in the Library of the British Museum. Bibl. Reg. xix. D. 1. p. 299. His description of the Holy Land has been several times printed, and occurs in the Novus Orbis of Grynaeus. This writer was held in high estimation. See Itinerarium B. Saligniac. Lugd. 1526, in the dedication, and the preface to Theatrum Terrae Sanctae, G. Brunii. Col. Agrip. 1589.
page 300 note p The opinion of Edward the Black Prince, the flower of chivalry, and his companions, in reply to the solicitations of Peter of Cyprus, is thus expressed by the historian: “The prince and knights made him a courteous answer, saying, that in truth it was an expedition, in which every man of worth or honour was interested.” Froissart, vol. ii. c. 217. See Tyrrwhitt's note on that passage of Chaucer in his description of the knight, “At Alysaundre he was,” &c. But the arguments of ecclesiastics carried the matter much higher even at a later period. The sentiments of a divine of the following age are curious, and may serve as a sequel to the extract from Haythonus, to display still farther the mode of reasoning upon these matters in the fifteenth century.
Part of Breidenbach's exhortation to the Princes to proceed against the Turks:
“O Christianissimi principes. si tantum pace data. compositis periculosis litibus vestris. firmatis treugis. rebusque in ordinetn per eos quorum interesset. dispositis. pari voto. consensuque unanimi. eodemque decreto. ad humiles et supplices ac frequentes ecclesiae et capitum summorum. videlicet pontificum aut imperatorum hortatus. sinceros. fideles. et paratos. vestrse matris defensores vos exhiberetis. Quo nam pacto. quo alio modo. fidem obedientiam et devotionem vestram. sanctius ac fructuosius utiliusque. aliter demonstra-bitis unquam. An forte satis officiis vestris factum putatis. quod ilia prohibita tornea-menta. cruenta spectacula. sumptuosa tyrocinia. ars turn animabus turn corporibus peri-culosa.tanto sere et studio invanum frequentatis et amatis. Quis oro vobis inde honos. quae utilitas. tantis militare laboribus et sumptibus. stipendiis vero nullis. nisi aut mortis aut criminis. Operitis equos sericis et pendulos nescio quos pannos loricis superinduitis. depingitis hastas. clipeos et sellas. frena et calcaria auro argentove circumornatis. et cum tanta pompa pudendo furore ad mortem ssepe properatis. O quantum subsidii ex hujus-cemodi vestris superbis superfluisque apparatibus quos in vanitates et insanias falsas impenditis. in infidelium castigationem conferretur. si in eum sanctum usum converteretis.”
In the wars which Christians wage against each other he tells them, “neque occidere neque occumbere tutum est sed ad prime periculosum. At vero Christiani milites qui contra infideles arma sumunt quam secure quam sancte. proelia domini sui et sponsa? ejus ecclesiae praeliantur. quibus metuendum nequaquam sit. aut de hostium cede peccatum. aut de sua nece periculum quandoquidem mors pro Christo vel ferenda sit vel inferenda. Miles inquam talis et securus interimit et interit securior. quia et sibi prsestat obsequium cum interit et Christo cum interimit. neque dum occidit malefactorem. homicida. sed ut ita dixerim malicida et plane vindex ac defensor reputatur Christianorum. In morte enim pagani Christianus merito gloriatur. quia Christus glorificatur.”
Afterwards moderating his ardour he confesses, “Non essent quidem necandi etiam ipsi infideles. aut occidendi. si qui modo aliter possent a nimia infestatione vel oppressione fidelium cohiberi. Nunc autem multo melius est ut occidantur, dum nos perdere incessanter et jugulare quaerunt.” Breidenbach Peregrinatio.
The ground-work of his argument is evidently self-defence; and he differs in this respect from the earlier preachers of croisading, since his zeal does not arise so much from his religion as his fears; but his reasoning on the subject of slaying the Infidels, or of meeting death at their hands, is precisely the same; and appears rather worthy of the system of Mahomet than the Gospel of Christ.
page 301 note q Though we may turn with abhorrence in more enlightened times from the narrow and fanatical principle of these expeditions, in which human beings were slaughtered for the love of God, we may be induced by a milder spirit of toleration to make charitable allowance for the ideas of those who entered into them from motives mistaken but sincere.
Thus when we look at the state of religion in the fifteenth century, we may pity, though we should not reprobate the conduct of Henry V. in his last moments. To be “delivered from blood-guiltiness “had just been the tenour of his prayer, Ps. li. and he evidently thought his purpose in perfect unison with all that was holy. Nor do I know that he was ingenious in deceiving himself, considering the notions in which he had been educated. If pilgrimage was held out as obtaining pardon for sins, the taking of the cross for the rescue of the sanctuary itself, the object of that pilgrimage, might easily be imagined a higher pitch of piety, and almost meriting an eternal reward. Hence it became the vow of the sick, and the consolation of the dying. Godfrey of Bouillon and St. Louis both engaged in consequence of this description of vow. Under similar circumstances of extreme sickness Philip Duke of Burgundy resolved to proceed against the Turks; but he was dissuaded from it by his sister Agnes. Joan. Burgundio. Annal. Rerum Belgic. 1. IS, pp. 371. 375. How far such a vow could operate, the anxiety to fulfil it, and what comfort the thought of it administered to a death-bed, is shown in the affecting narrative of Robert King of Scotland. Froissart (vol. i. p. 19.) thus describes it:
“He called to him the gallant Lord James Douglas, and said to him in presence of the others, ' My dear friend Lord James Douglas, you know that I have had much to do, and have suffered many troubles, during the time I have lived, to support the rights of my crown; at the time that I was most occupied, I made a vow, the nonaccomplishment of which gives me much uneasiness. I vowed, that, if I could finish my wars in such a manner, that I might have quiet to govern peaceably, I would go and make war against the enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the enemies of the Christian faith. To this point my heart has always leaned; but our Lord was not willing, and gave me so much to do in my life-time, and this last expedition has lasted so long, followed by this heavy sickness, that, since my body cannot accomplish what my heart wishes, I will send my heart instead of my body to fulfil my vow. And, as I do not know any knight so gallant or enterprising, or better formed to complete my intentions than yourself, I beg and entreat of you, dear and special friend, as earnestly as I can, that you would have the goodness to undertake this expedition for the love of me, and to acquit my soul to our Lord and Saviour; for I have that opinion of your nobleness and loyalty, that, if you undertake it, it cannot fail of success—and I shall die more contented: but it must be executed as follows:
“I will, that, as soon as I shall be dead, you take my heart from my body, and have it well embalmed: you will also take as much money from my treasury as will appear to you sufficient to perform your journey, as well as for all those whom you may choose to take with you in your train; you will then deposit your charge at the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord, where he was buried, since my body cannot go there. You will not be sparing of expence, and provide yourself with such company and such things as may be suitable to your rank; and wherever you pass, you will let it be known, that you bear the heart of King Robert of Scotland, which you are carrying beyond seas by his command, since his body cannot go thither.”
“All then present began bewailing bitterly; and when the Lord James could speak, he said, ‘Gallant and noble king, I return you a hundred thousand thanks for the high honour you do me, and for the valuable and dear treasure with which you entrust me; and I will most willingly do all that you command me with the utmost loyalty in my power; never doubt it, however I may feel myself unworthy of such a high distinction.’
“The king replied, ‘Gallant knight, I thank you–you promise it me then?’ ‘Certainly, Sir, most willingly,’ answered the knight. He then gave his promise upon his knighthood. “The king said, ‘Thanks be to God! for I shall now die in peace, since I know that the most valiant and accomplished knight of my kingdom will perform that for me, which I am unable to do for myself.’
“Soon afterwards the valiant Robert Bruce King of Scotland departed this life on the 7th of November 1327.”
page 302 note r He was perfectly well skilled, says Carte, in every point of war; and never engaged in any enterprise till he had first considered all the difficulties attending it, contrived expedients to obviate or surmount them, and supplied himself plentifully with every thing necessary for his success. This was the reason why he was never baffled. Hist. of Engl. vol. ii. p. 692.
Hardyng, the rhyming Chronicler, has this expostulation upon the death of Henry V.
“O good Lord, that art omnipotent,
Why streched not thy power and thy might
To kepe this prince, that sette was and consent
With th'emperour, to convert Surrey right
And with Christen inhabite, it had hight.
Why favoured so thyne high omnipotence
Miscreaunce more, than his benevolence?
The Chronicle of J. Hardyng, c. ccxxii. fol. 218.
The authority upon which he makes the emperor a party in the scheme does not appear; perhaps it was a generally received opinion: but a hint of the design is certainly thrown out in the instructions given by the King to the Bishop of London, Sir William Coggeshale, knt. and Master Nichol Bildeston, ambassadors to the King of the Romans and the Electors of the Empire. “They shall declare what good and profRt myght ryse if there were pees and rest amongs Cristen Princes; for thanne myght they togeder entende ayeins Miscreants, in encrece of Christien Feith, aswel as to the good of the Chirche.” This may also include an allusion to the suppression of those who differed from the Church of Rome. Rymer, torn. ix. p. 161. A. D. 1421. An. 9 Hen. V.
page 304 note t Stow e has censured the Chronicle of Caxton as totally undeserving of credit; but its evidence upon this point is indisputable.
page 304 note u This mistake has been copied in other succeding chronicles, as in that printed by Julian Notary in 1515, p. vii. fol. 122, and the Polycronycon, printed by Peter Treveris in 1.527 fol. 334-. Sir Hugh, Lord of Santes, the elder brother of Gilbert II. author of the Report, and eldest son of Gilbert I. de Lannoy, was a knight of high reputation, and in favour with the three sovereigns of England, France, and Burgundy. His conduct seems to have been characterised by valour and wisdom, and the virtuous qualities of his experienced mind are extolled by Oliv. de la Marche, who saw him only in his old age. He had been a traveller, as far as consisted with his profession and engagements; and had made pilgrimage and borne arms in foreign lands. It was in the holy city that he first received the honour of knighthood at the age of twenty, and he served with the Grand Master of Prussia against the Turks on his return. A prisoner at Azincourt, he afterwards became Master of the Cross-bows to the Kings of England and France. He had been engaged in personal combats, particularly in one with John, Duke of Somerset, in which he acquitted himself with honour. He also signalised himself at a tournament with Kichard, Earl of Warwick; and was one of the first who was admitted to the order of the Golden Fleece. He was equally celebrated in negociation and in war; and being sent by the Duke of Burgundy to Henry V. in his sickness, was the last person with whom the King held a private conference before he expired. He died in the year 1456, aged 72, and was buried in the church of St. Peter at Lille. He married Margaret of Boncourt, by whom he had no issue. For several particulars respecting this distinguished character, see Monstrellet, c. 161. 178. 225. 260. 266. Mem. d'Olivier de la Marche, c. 15. St. Remi, c. 64. 115. 118. Mem. de Pierre de Fenin, pp. 492. 494. Rymer, torn. ix. pp. 323. 891. Dugdale, Antiq. of Warwicksh. p. 326. La Mausolee de la Toison d'Or, p. 10
page 305 note x The De Lannoys derived their origin from the small town of that name, situated between Lille and Tournay in Flanders. Morery enumerates fifteen of them who obtained the order of the Golden Fleece, and his record honourably closes with that celebrated general, by whom Francis I. was taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia, and afterwards escorted on his return to France. (Diet. Hist. in the article Lannoy.)
The general accounts of the family begin with Hugh, the grandfather of the author of these Travels. Gilbert I. third son of this Hugh, and Lord of Sahtes and Beaumont, by marriage with Catherine St. Aubin, had, among other children, first, Hugh, of whom we have already given an account, and after him, Gilbert II. whose work is before us. (Id. and Ponti Heuteri Genealogia, p. 72.)
Of Gilbert II. the following particulars have been ascertained:
Although neither the period of his birth nor his precise age are noted in any of th authorities from which this brief notice is derived; yet, from comparison of dates, it appears probable that he was born about the year 1386; and as the family were always much attached to their sovereign, the Duke of Burgundy, it may be supposed that the sons were early initiated in arms.
The first striking circumstance of his apparently eventful life is that of his being taken prisoner in 1415, at the memorable fight of Azincourt. (Monstrellet, vol. i. c. 149.) The Duke of Burgundy had strictly forbidden the Duke of Charolois his son, to join the French with the army under his command (Villaret, vol. xiii. p. 353); and yet it is evident that gome of the Burgundians were present in the battle, on the side of France. (See the reason of this circumstance given in Joan. Burgundio. Annal. Rer. Belgicar. 1.15. p. 281.) And among the few persons of rank who are stated to have been saved from the subsequent massacre are the brothers Hugh and Gilbert de Lannoy. St. Remi, who has given a particular account of that affair, says expressly, that he derived the chief part of his information from the details which they furnished of that sanguinary day. (Memoires, c. 64, p. 98. J'ay oui parler plusieurs notables chevalliers de la partie de France, et par especial a Messire Hue, et a Messir.e Guillebert de Lannoy freres; qui furent a la dite bataille, qui en racomptoient bien au long.)
In company with other prisoners of distinction they were soon removed from France, and a copy of the passport is still extant, which grants safe-conduct to Gilbert de Lannoy, attended by one domestic, to proceed to England. (Rymer, torn. ix. p. 323.) But their detention was not of long continuance. Henry V. had an interview with the Duke of Burgundy in the following year (Monstrellet, vol. i. c. 161); at which the brothers were probably restored; for Hugh is found in the train of the duke when in the course of the same year that prince visited the Dauphin at Valenciennes; and Gilbert is especially named in the muster held between Pontoise and Meulenc in 1417, when the Burgundian army marched towards Paris. (Monstrellet, vol. i. c. 178.) The connexion between the duke and theKing of England is well known, and to this circumstance, doubtless, the DeLannoys owed their release, while French nobles of the highest dignity were still retained. The Count D'Eu did not regain his liberty till after a captivity of many years, and Marshal Boucicaut died unransomedin the land of his enemies. (Id. vol. i. c. 149.)
The assassination of the Duke of Burgundy by the partisans of the Dauphin took place in 1419; and Philip, son and successor of the deceased, united himself in the strictest amity with Henry V. Two articles in Rymer shew that Gilbert de Lannoy was selected as ambassador upon this occasion. (Fcedera, torn. 9. pp. 811.827.) He also attended his master to the solemnities at Troyes (Monstrellet, vol. i. c. 225), and was most probably present during the campaign of 1420, at. the sieges of. Sens, Monstereau, and Melun, at which Henry and Philip assisted with their combined powers. After the capture of these towns, the princes advanced to Paris, where Henry settled all affairs relative to his new kingdom, and his ally took leave of him to return home. But, before they parted, they determined that a church should be erected near the spot where the lateDuke of Burgundy had been treacherously murdered: and that a placard declaring the reasons of this measure should, among other places, be set up at Jerusalem. (Monstrellet, vol. i. c. 232.) The reader, who bears in mind the date of the travels of De Lannoy, will, perhaps, be disposed to think that this purpose constituted a part of his mission: it might be ostensibly held out as the object of his journey, while a greater end was in view. It is indeed most likely that these confederate sovereigns, similarly disposed with regard to croisading, in their private conferences, in the cabinet and in the field, might agree to explore the dominions of the Sultan, as preliminary to a future enterprise. And this may serve to account for the otherwise singular fact of Henry having selected for so important and confidential a charge the subject of a foreign power.
It is besides worthy of remark, that the name of our author, which occurs occasionally in Monstrellet, up to the year 1420, is not to be found, as far as I have observed, after that time in the course of his history. I am therefore induced to fix upon this as the period when Sir Gilbert took his departure for the East. From the Chronicle of Caxfon it may be seen that he went to solicit the aid of other princes; and though he might set out thus early, taking the different courts in his way, to which he was commissioned to repair; it may easily be understood how his Survey, according to his own statement, might not be effected, or, (as the original “faittes” will bear to be rendered) entirely accomplished, till 1422, the year in which his employer died.
Whether any consequence may be attached to these conjectures, or whatever may have been the time employed in this expedition, it is certain that he was received into the service and favour of his sovereign upon his return. He was his counsellor and chamberlain, and was one of the first who was admitted to the order of the Golden Fleece. (Statutes of the Order of the Golden Fleece. MS. Bibl. Bodl. Laud. E. 43, part 2.) Morery, in an indefinite manner tells us, that he was ambassador in England (Diet. Hist. in the article Lannoy); and he was unquestionably employed in that capacity at the celebrated Council of Basil in 1433. (Voyage D'outre Mer de B. de la Brocqiiiere, p. 635.)
At the extraordinary feast of the Pheasant given at Lille in February 1454, Hugh de Lannoy is mentioned among the lords of the Court who solemnly engaged to assist in an endeavour to recover Constantinople. And in the list of those who were present at this banquet, we find “Sieur de Lannoy, counsellor and chamberlain of the Duke of Burgundy, castellan of Thomicon, and his lieutenant in his countries of Holland, Zealand, and Friseland, knight of the order of the Golden Fleece, who makes his vow under the good pleasure of the king and duke.” (De Coucy. Hist. de Ch. 7. p. 676.) “Though the Christian name of this personage is not given, he may fairly be concluded to have been Gilbert de Lannoy; unless he can be proved to have been Baldwin, Lord of Moulembais, governor of Lisle in 1427, and also knight of the Golden Fleece; an individual of the same family, who has, especially by one writer, been confounded with the former. (Godefroy, Memoires de Pierre de Fenin, p. 492.) But the titles of Counsellor and Chamberlain, exclusively applied-to Gilbert, confirm the opinion already given; and especially his vow,—far more rational than the generality of the pledges given upon that day,— “Sous le bon plaisir du roy et due.” This closely corresponds with the motto of Gilbert, conceived in the true chivalrous spirit of loyalty to the prince, and attachment to the fair,— “Votre plaisir.” His vow is, besides, highly characteristic of the sober caution of the age-which “he must have attained.
He died April 22, 1462, and was buried in the church of St. Maurice at Lille, before the high altar, where the following inscription was to be seen upon his tomb. “Cy gist Noble Chevalier Messire Guillebert de Lannoy, Seigneur de Willerval, et de Tronchiennes, frere et compagnon de la Toison d'or, qui donna mille Ecus de quatres. de gros monnoye de Flandres pour lentretenement du service divin en ladite Eglise, et trespassa anno 1462, le 22 Avril.
page 307 note 1 Refer back to p. 303. If this authority be admitted, it will form an additional presumption that tbe resolve of Henry was far from being “late.”
page 308 note s “En la meme Tombe gist Dame Isabelle de Drinckam, Dame de Willerval, ma treschere et ma bien-aymee Compagne, laquelle trespassa anno 1452, le 11. de Febvrier.”
On one side were quartered the arms of Lannoy, Moulembais, Maingoval, Mailly, Drinckam, Flanders, Gistelles, Dixmude: and on the other side those of Lannoy, Moulembais, Maingoval, Mailly, Gistelles, Dudseel, Craon, Chastillon. (La Mausolee de la Toison D'or, p. 13.)
Nothing has been ascertained respecting his private character; but of the qualities of his mind, as far as they were brought into action by his public life, some estimate may be drawn from the facts already cited, and the annexed production of his pen. Enough may be seen to prove his ability as a statesman; and his work shews that he was well acquainted with the theory of war; to this may be added, that he is enumerated among the wise and valiant of his family (Lespinoy, Recherches des Antiquitez et Noblesse de Flandres), and that his fidelity to his sovereign is manifested by the offices in which he was engaged.
He was thrice married; first, to Leonora des Quesnes, widow of John, Lord of Montigni in Ostrevant, by whom he had no issue; secondly, to Maria of Gistelles, daughter of John of Gistelles, Lord of Urzel, by whom he had two sons, Philip and James. His third wife was Isabella of Flanders, daughter of John Lord of Drinckam, mentioned in the epitaph; by her he had four children, Peter, Margeret, Ferri, and Louisa. (Morery, in the article.)
The name of this family is variously spelt by different authors, and Launoy and Launey are sometimes substituted for Lannoy. Meyer in the A nnales Burgundicae, and Joannes Burgundio in Annales Rerum Belgicarum, render it in Latin by Alnetanus. (See Menestrier. Origine des Ornemens des Armoires, vol. ii. p. 451.) The writer has been informed that, at an early period of the late revolutionary troubles, the present descendants of this ancient race emigrated from the land of their fathers; and he has observed that the name of De Lannoy is still preserved in England.
The arms are, three lions rampant Gules, upon a field Argent.
page 311 note y Bacon, “Advancement of Learning.”
page 312 note z This passage is obscure; and rendered still worse by the false punctuation of the transcriber.
page 316 note a creniaus?
page 316 note b douane?
page 316 note c couchers ?
page 319 note d peuvent?
page 321 note e large?
page 322 note f Si?
page 323 note g guarde?
page 323 note h iceulx?
page 325 note i dessus.
page 326 note j ou.
page 327 note k ioie?
page 327 note l va?
page 329 note m est.
page 329 note n meisment.
page 329 note o porte?
page 335 note p contre.
page 340 note q autres?
page 341 note r Interlined in the Manuscript, porfre.
page 345 note s au tour?
page 345 note t font?
page 347 note u sont.
page 348 note x auroit.
page 349 note a As this part of the Report, and, indeed, the whole of that which relates to Egypt, is particularly laboured, it is probable that the destined point of attack was to be selected somewhere in that quarter. It has been the opinion of many competent judges, and is a fact authenticated by the history of the Croisades, that the grand error of the Christians, the cause of several of their disasters, and of their final failure, was their omission to attack Egypt before they proceeded to the reduction of the Holy Land. The residence of the Mameluke Sultans was uniformly at Cairo; and Jerusalem was governed by a dependent ammiral. Had any attempt upon the seat of empire been crowned with success, the different provinces might be expected to fall, and the fate of Syria might have been decided upon the banks of the Nile.
The possession of Egypt was in every point of view desirable; and more especially, since from this country Palestine drew her principal supply of corn. The Franks, in process of time, fully convinced of this truth, made a feeble endeavour to act upon it in the expedition under Amaury in 1168; and the arguments in the third Lateran Council assembled in 1179 by Pope Alexander III. to concert measures for the defence of the Holy Land, turned upon this point. (Vertot, Knights of Malta; under Joubert, vol. i. p. 69.) In conformity with such apian were the views of that ill-fated enterprise under John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem, in 1218, which are thus detailed by Knolles: “Upon the appearance of spring, when the army again met together, it was thought best by all the great commanders, that, forasmuch as Egypt was the cheefe maintenance of the Mahometan superstition against the Christians in those parts, and that so long as it stood upright, they should not be able to do any great matter in Syria, to attempt the conquest there of, as an exploit best becoming their valour and so great a preparation: for that, that land being once subdued, the city of Jerusalem, with all the land of Palestine, would of themselves, without more adoe, straightway yield unto them.” (History of the Turks, p. 88.)
Yet when Syria was lost, and the recovery of it ardently desired throughout Christendom, different sentiments prevailed among those who were capable of giving advice upon such a subject; for the misfortunes of St. Louis might have contributed to suggest the idea that Egypt was not so easily assailable as had been supposed. Sanutus (Secreta fidel. crucis. in Bongars. 1. ii. p. 2. c. 9.), indeed, strenuously contends that an attack can only be made to advantage on this side the dominions of the Sultan: and he asserts that Amaury, John of Brienne, and St. Louis, wanted only good counsels and sufficient supplies to have ensured their success. Henry, King of England, according to this writer, had a purpose of this kind: “Expertus terrae conditiones, disponebat illuc redire, et prius debellaré Ægyptios.” It was the opinion of Innocent III. that this was the right point of attack. The grand master of the Hospitallers, Fulk de Villaret, in his memorial to the Pope, studiously avoids delivering in writing his sentiments upon the proper place for making a descent, and refers the communication to a private interview with his holiness. Brochard and Haithon, however, recommend a course of operations very dissimilar to that which has just been mentioned; the former pointing out a route through Anatolia (Disc prel. de Legrand D'Aussy, p. 465), and the latter advising an incursion on the side of Aleppo. (De Tartaris, c. 57.) But the one seems to have had an eye to the proceedings of the earlier croisaders, and the other was prejudiced by a wish for the restoration and protection of Armenia.—With respect to the case before us, there appears a peculiar propriety in opening with Alexandria, since it was not only the first object upon the coast to attract the attention of a traveller from Europe, but was the most formidably fortified city in the states of the Sultan.
page 350 note b De la Brocquiere speaks in the same manner of the termination of a column at Constantinople. (Voyage, p. 564.) The expression in the original may here signify the mode in which the individual stones were hewn, which lined the mound;—many of this sort were formerly lying in the ruins of Acre, “taillees en pointes de diamans.” (Doubdan, Voyage de la Terre Sainte, c. 56.) But I am rather disposed to consider the terms as applied to the form in which the hillock itself was cased with stone.
This mode of securing natural or artificial mounds upon which castles were erected was common in the East. Pocock describes some of considerable size. (Travels, vol. i. p. 56.) Of this kind was that at Hems in Syria, the traditionary residence of Hippocrates; as well as that at Hama (De la Brocquiere, p. 516), and at Antab. (Pocock, vol. ii. pp. 141–154, 155, and Brown's Travels, p. 492.) The seeming imitation of this style is traced, perhaps somewhat fancifully, by King, in the ruins of several very ancient structures in England, as at Brunless, Conisborough, Carisbrook, Skenfrith, and Launceston. (Munimenta Anti-qua, vol. iii.) Cherefeddin, in the Life of Tamerlane, gives a curious account of the attack and defence of a similar castle at Aleppo. (Vie de Timour, traduite par Petit de la Croix. 1. v. c. 21.)
page 351 note c This rational origin of the jealousy of the Alexandrians with regard to the old port, the cause of so much inconvenience to European traders, has been lost or purposely misrepresented in subsequent ages. Bruce (Travels, vol. i. p. 10) assigns a very different reason,—“Least the Moorish women should be seen taking the air in the evening at open windows; and this has been thought to be of weight enough for Christian powers to submit to it, and to counterbalance the loss of ships, property, and men.” This might occasionally be adduced as the modern plea; though Antes, in his Observations on Egypt, p. 98, hints at the true cause, the knowledge of which might have abated the surprise of the Abyssinian traveller.
page 352 note d This prince of the house of Lusignan succeeded to the crown of Cyprus on the death of his brother Hugh in 1360. He was a mortal enemy to the Infidels, and began to distinguish himself by the capture of several places from them in 1362. He afterwards visited many courts of Europe with a view of exciting a general league. He met the Kings of France and Denmark at Avignon, where, in the presence of Pope Urban V. they solemnly assumed the cross. But they failed in the personal accomplishment of their engagement; and, with the exception of a few supplies of money and troops, Peter was left to prosecute his undertaking alone. With these scanty succours, however, intent upon his object, he set sail for the Levant, and took and plundered Alexandria in the year 1365. William de Machaut, a contemporary poet, (Memoires de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, 12mo. vol. xxxiv.) recorded the particulars of this transaction, together with his life and actions; and his story, as related by Lusignan (Hist. Generale de l'lsle et Royaume de Cyprus, p. 145, et seq.), combines a series of adventures, that might almost form the groundwork of a drama, truly tragical in its close.
Great expectations were formed of him, but his career was short. The infidelity of his wife recalled him from foreign warfare, and he was guilty of some desperate and cruel acts on his return to his dominions: thus having by domestic vices tarnished, in some measure, the glory of his earlier exploits, he perished by an untimely end. The Saracens, dreading his restless spirit, procured him to be assassinated on the night of January 18,1368, either by his own brother James, or by some of the nobility of Cyprus whom he had offended. (Art de verifier les dates, vol. i. p.465.)
But his memory was revered by the Cypriots. Lusignan, the historian, says that he was entitled “the Great,” and is disposed to attribute the decay of the island, which in his time had arrived to a high pitch of splendour, but afterwards ceased to prosper, to a judgment upon his death. Shortly after this event, St. Bridget, upon her passage from Jerusalem, touched at Famagousta, and reprobating his murder, prophesied the consequent ruin of the land.
Though Cyprus, in 1422, was nominally under the authority of the princes of the house of Lusignan, King Janus was a captive in the hands of the Sultan of Egypt, and the island was governed by a regent archbishop. The king was released in 1427, after payment of a heavy ransom. He died in 1432. His wife was Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Bourbon. Giblet. Hist. des Rois de Chypre. t. ii. 1. 9.
His travels in quest of assistance had rendered him a public character throughout Europe, and his loss was generally deplored. Froissart amusingly describes his efforts to rouse the Princes of the West to unite against the Sultan, speaks with much warmth of his chivalrous disposition, and laments his fall. The following epitaph was inscribed on a monument erected to his memory by his chancellor Philip de Mesieres, in the Chapter-house of the Celestins at Paris.
“Peter of Lusignan, fifteenth Latin King of Jerusalem from Godfrey of Boulogne, and King of Cyprus, by his magnanimous prowess and enterprise, conquered in battle with an army supported at his own cost, the cities of Alexandria in Egypt, Tripoli in Syria, Layas in Armenia, Satalia in Turkey, with several other cities and towns from the enemies of the faith of Jesus Christ.
“Anima ejus requiescat in pace.”
1 Froissart, vol. vii. c. 44, and Diction, de Morery in the article. Chaucer represents his knight as an actor in these chivalrous undertakings:
“At Alysandre he was whan it was won.
At Leyes was he and also at Satalye
Whan they were wonne. Canterbury Tales. He has also given an eulogium upon Peter in the Monke's Tale. 1. 14701, et seq.
page 354 note e The pilgrimage to Mecca in Hakluyt mentions great sepulchres and other buildings, “out of which are daily digged with engines, jaspar and porphyrie stones of great value.”
page 354 note f The term is here used in the original acceptation of prince or governor. Muratori (Antiquitates Medii Ævi. Diss.22.) is of opinion that this word wasfirstborrowed from the Saracens by the Sicilians, and afterwards introduced by them into the other parts of Europe. Yet Godolphin (View of the Admiral Jurisdiction, 8vo, 1661, c. 1.) assigns a later date to it. He says that it was imported “from the Eastern or Greek empire into Italy and Sicily, and thence into France, where, in the year 1286, we first find that name, and from thence into England; and this, as the learned Henry Spelman doth suppose, was after the time of the holy war.” The office of Admiral of the English seas is first mentioned in the twenty-fifth year of Edward I. 1297. (Rymer's Fcedera, vol. ii, p. 759.)
The additional title of King or Regent used in the instances of Alexandria and Damascus seems to indicate the superiority of these governors to the other ammirals.
page 355 note g There appears no reason to doubt the accuracy of this statement, as applicable to the particular “spots which he describes: yet the testimony of all travellers coincides with regard to the insecurity of the new port. See for instance, Sandys (Travels, edit. 1621, p. 112), Norden (c. 1. p. 2), Bruce (vol. i. pp. 8, 9), and Sonnini (c. 7). Brownsays; that, with someprecaution, about twenty vessels may lie at anchor securely.
page 355 note h Perhaps the great and little Pharillon were not extant at this time; or, if they were Be Lannoy, from the expression here used, probably mistook these buildings at a distance for religious edifices. He was not permitted to inspect them, and their external appearance might not be very military. Norden has represented them as surmounted with minarets, and calls them castles of a bad Turkish structure; and Belon (Observations, 1. 2. c. 23) remarked the wretched contrivance of that which was garrisoned when he visited Alexandria.
page 355 note i False brays were much in use, when in the attack of towns they employed those military engines which are so frequently spoken of by the historians of the Croisades. In the twelfth century they formed part of the works at Acre, Damietta, the castle of David, and'the city of Jerusalem. (Sanutus, in Gesta Dei per Francos. 1. iii. p. 6. c. 4. and 23. Gul. Tyriensis, ibid. pp. 747. 758.) Muratori and Du Cange conjecture them to have been the same as the Barbacans. Furetiere (Diction, in the article,) describes them as “a second wall, below the first, and surrounding the place, for the defence of the fosse.” These must have proved a serious obstacle to the approaches of the ram and moveable towers: but when the engines of the middle ages were succeeded by more formidable methods of assault, the bray seema to have been gradually laid aside; and it is said to have been more especially brought into disuse by the invention of ricochet-firing. They are repeatedly mentioned in the relation of the celebrated siege of Famagousta (in Hakluyt); and the modern mode of constructing them, since the general adoption of firearms, is given by Ward in his Art of War. (Sect. iii. c. 25. p. 61.) “The false-bray ought to be 15 or 16 foot broad from the foot of the bulwark to the moat. At the very foot of the rampires, is planted a bed of quick-set, two foot broad, which will hinder not only the enemy from sudden running through; but also stays up such earth as shall be battered down, from falling into the moat. Next the moat, the false-bray hath a breast-work, three or four feet high, for the musquetiers to shoot over to defend the moat.”
1 A Minaret still exists at the Pharos. See the letter of Girez in “Copies of Original Letters from the Army of Egypt,” Part ii.
page 356 note k The island of Pharos, since the time of De Lannoy, has been entirely occupied by the Pharillon.—Whoever will take the trouble to compare the version of this passage with the original, will discover that the translator has rendered it rather freely. The author appears to mean a depot or place d'armes by the expressions “drechier et assir pour trais et aultres habillemens.” Rymer furnishes an exposition of the signification of “habillemens,” as applied to the military stores of the age. “Ablements of Werre,—Poudres, Gonnes, Arblasters, Shotte and other Artilrie.” (Fcedera, vol. x. p. 212.)
1 Much unnecessary controversy and disquisition have taken place with respect to the original builder of these sumptuous walls and towers, a point which most travellers have thought necessary to decide; and on which, from the variety of opinions, many must have fallen into error. De Lannoy, who saw them in much greater perfection than any European traveller who has since described them, preserves a modest silence upon the subject. Belon (Observations, 1. ii. c. 19.) without hesitation ascribes them to Alexander; and this is a notion which Baron de Tott (Memoires, torn. ii. p. 180.) has since revived. Sandys (Travels, b. ii. p. 114.) on the authority of others, attributes them to Ptolemy. Savary (vol. i. Letter 2.) assigns them to Elmain Ebn Toulon, about the year 875; and Norden and Pocock (vol. i. p. 7.) to the year 1212, in the reign of one of the successors of Saladin. Happily the matter is of no great importance; but it is melancholy to observe, on topics of more consequence to the cause of truth, how much some of the later travellers into Egypt are employed in correcting and contradicting those who went before them.
The general conjectures of Norden, Danville, Niebuhr, and Sonnini, founded upon solid reasoning, that these works were constructed by tbe Saracens, may safely be allowed. The number of towers is given with great variety by different authors. “These when the French in 1798 took the city by storm, made a firm resistance; for after all opposition had ceased elsewhere, those who occupied the towers still kept up their fire, and obstinately refused to surrender.” (Berthier's Campaign of Bonaparte.)
1 Giblet, the Cypriot historian, says that Peter, King of Cyprus, when he took Alexandria, burnt the city, and rased the walls, which ought to have been spared for the sake of Alexander the Great who built them. But this statement seems confuted by other parts of the story. That prince was only four days in the place employed in sacking it and collecting spoil. Hist. des Rois de Chypre. t. i. 1. 7.
2 See Savary, Volney, and Sonnini. Berthier in his account of the Campaigns in Egypt, speaking of the expectations formed by the French from the writings of those who had visited the country, says, I think, of Volney, “that he was the only author who did not mislead them.” Maillet and Savary seem totally to have forgotten the grievous disadvantages of Egypt in their admiration and excessive praise.
page 358 note m It is well knownthatmilitary mines at this period were formed according to the method of the ancients. When the uprights which supported the galleries or chamber Were destroyed by fire, the earth or walls above or on the sides of course gave way; and thds the whole defence of a town or foundation of a tower was frequently propped by only a few stakes at the moment of surrender. They were commonly opposed by counter-mines on the part of the besieged, and warriors and miners often fought under ground. In the sieges of Harfleur in 1415, and of Melun in 1420, mines were particularly employed; and in that of Melun were the scene of subterraneous conflicts, in which Henry V. himself was engaged. (See in Juvenal des Ursins, p. 381, a curious accovint of these combats.) We have already supposed Gilbert de Lannoy to have been present at the latter siege, in which case he might have enjoyed an opportunity of seeing this process in all the perfection of the age. Some idea of the importance attached to this offensive operation may be inferred from the circumstance of the destruction of a single mine having caused the raising of the siege of St. Malo, about 1380. (Froissart, vol. v. c. 1.) The practice was universal in the East as well as in Europe; and the engineers of Tamerlane proved themselves complete masters of the art. (Cherefeddin, Vie de Timour, in many places.)
The earliest theory of mines with gunpowder, according to Gibbon, appears in 1480, in a MS. of George of Sienna. (Tiraboschi, torn. vi. p. i. p. 324.) They were first practised at Sarzanella in 1487; but the honour and improvement is ascribed to Peter of Navarre, who used them with success in the wars of Italy. (Hist. de la ligue de Cambraye, torn. ii. pp. 93. 97.)
page 358 note n This passage is given with much diffidence, since the original is not so clearly expressed as could be wished. The author may have intended to signify, “It is little better than chalk.” But the fact is, that these buildings consist of free-stone of a sandy kind, “such,” says Xorden (Travels, vol. i. p. 6.) “as those of Portland, or of Bentheim.” This stone is found in other parts of the country; and the same writer remarks, that the stones of the northern side of the Pyramids are rotten, and by no means of so hard a kind as those above specified. Many of the houses of Cairo are also built with a soft stone of a fine grain procured from the neighbouring Mount Mokattam (Volney, vol. i. c. 16). And in another part of his work (c. 5.), he has endeavoured to account for their mouldering away; since the air is strongly impregnated with natron which every where corrodes the stones. But the rocks, especially near Cairo, possess this quality independent of exposure; and thus it is that Niebuhr (vol. i. p. 92.) explains the reason of the singular depth of Joseph's well.
page 359 note o A strikingly similar passage occurs in Hirtius Pansa. (Comment, de bello Alexandr. c. 4.) “Alexandria est feré tota suffossa; specusque habet ad Nilum pertinentes, quibus aqua in privatas domos inducitur … Ea plebes ac multitudo contenta est necessario, quod fons urbe tota nulla est.” Owing to a stratagem which he describes, Caesar and his army were greatly distressed in the siege; for the enemy found means to introduce sea water into these stupendous reservoirs; but the Romans by sinking wells in the sand obtained, in one night, a sufficient supply of fresh water. (Id. c. 5.)
page 359 note p Specimens of this Saracenic battlement may be observed in Le Bruyn's views of Alexandria (Voyage au Levant, c. 43), and in the representations given by Pocock and Niebuhr of the gates Nasr and El fituch at Cairo. (See the Representation of the Cathedral at Cordova in Bourgoing.) It may be traced also in the East Indies; instances of it occurring in Daniell's views of that country. Something of this kind is said to be visible in some of the ancient castles of Italy; which, according to the varieties of rounded or angular battlements, are traditionally reported to have belonged to one of the adverse parties of the Guelphs or Ghibelines.
page 361 note q The large cannons here spoken of are thus described by Villaret (torn. xiv. pp. 244, 245.) In the plates to Froissart, ed. Johnes, many representations of these ancient cannons occur corresponding with Villaret's description): “Their figure was like that of hollow cylinders, strengthened from space to space by several embossed circles; the breech terminated in a nob, and the match was placed between the first and second circles. These cannons resembled what our architects called rustic columns. Artillery was usually employed only for sieges; it does not appear that it was made use of in battles.” Yet cannons were unquestionably applied to the defence as well as attack of towns; for in an old MS description of the siege of Rouen by Henry V. in verse the author assures us,
“Wolde be schotte y dare well say
An hundred off gunnes from walle and tour
With inne the mowntans off an owre.”
MS. Bibl. Bodl. e Musæo, 124.
But we shall see, that the military proceedings of this age were characterised by a singular mixture of the ancient and modern methods of warfare.
1 Printed in this volume, pp. 48–78.
page 361 note r In the lapse of more than a century the attention of Belon was attracted by the plenty and variety of the market at Alexandria. “Thither are brought all sorts of provisions, as well from Egypt, as from Cyprus, and other neighbouring places. The bread made in that country and in Syria is platted like a lash, and they have a custom of sprinkling it with nigella. For which reason the seed is found exposed to sale in large sacks in the markets, and in the shops of the merchants. All sorts of wines are brought thither by sea from various parts; for Cyprus itself is at no great distance. Their meats, whether of mutton or kid, veal or beef, are very well flavoured. They have great abundance of the kind of goats, which are called gazelles, and were formerly denominated origes by the Greeks, which they shoot in the fields, where they go in flocks. There are also chickens and eggs. Alexandria is situated in a part that abounds with fish: we observed seabreams, bars, maigres, dentals, mullets, rays, angels, seadogs, gournals. Besides these, many other sorts are brought from the Nile, both fresh and cured. They have likewise pomegranates, &c. ……, and several other kinds of fruit unknown to us. Also, they have every species of vegetables which are held in much esteem. They abound too in every kind of grain. They have likewise a great quantity of the seed of a species of pea, called Latyri by the Greeks, Manerete by the Venetians, Cicerchie by the Italians, and Cerres by the French-Whoever desires to ascertain what is most plentiful in a city, should take a walk on the market-days through the places where they sell game, fish, vegetables, fruit, and other commodities; and he will presently discover what those things are in which the inhabitants chiefly abound; a matter which was clearly exhibited to us at Alexandria.” This lively and ingenious observer hints that the cause of the prosperity of the city was principally to be attributed to the Christians residing there for the purposes of trade. (Observ. 1. ii. c. 19.) But this picture of abundance is strikingly contrasted by the representation of Volney, who saw their markets ill supplied with dates, and round flat little loaves. (Travels, c. 1.)
page 362 note s Fust or Foist, a pinnace or small ship with sails or oars. Wey mentions them in his pilgrimage (IMS. Bodl. 565. fol. 67.), “Turcus erat in mare cum trecentis navibus, galeis, grypis ac fustis versus Rody's:” and Belon (1. ii. c. 10), in his description of the Mediterranean Corsairs, assigns them the following place in the scale of vessels then in use: “Thus as they (the pirates) increase in numbers, they will advance from a frigate to a brigantine, from a brigantine to a fust, from a fust to a galliott, and from a galliott to a galley.” Galley-foist is a term used by Massinger; and though it be obsolete in England, is still, the latter part of it, retained by some of the nations whose harbours are formed by the Mediterranean sea,—a water famed for the variety and peculiarity of its vessels, and on which the Fust probably was first seen. The word is applied in the French and Spanish languages to a vessel of burden with a flush deck, navigated by sails and oars. (Diction, of Boyer and Neuman.)
page 362 note t It has already been noticed that the military proceedings of the intermediate age were characterised by a singular mixture of the ancient and modern instruments of war. The cross-bow and harquebuss, the balista and the cannon were frequently opposed to each other. Of the variety of engines used in the attack and defence of towns, which are noticed by contemporary writers, little is now known but the names. They have spoken of them as matters, the nature of which was generally understood; and they, probably, considered that a description of the precise mode in which they were constructed, did not fall within the province of the historian. Modern elucidators may also have experienced some difficulty from the variety of terms occasionally applied to the same machine; and this is suspected to be the case with that which is the immediate subject of inquiry. The mention of the coillart or cuillard is rare; but, from the circumstances and situation attached to it by De Lannoy, it seems to have been the same with the bricolle; and to have been framed after the catapulta of the ancients. It is said that the balistae were only employed in throwing darts, and the catapults in projecting stones. The principle of both appears to have been the same; and the bricolle seems to have possessed the combined advantages of either, for it threw darts as well as stones, and was capable of being employed in vessels as well as on shore. At the siege of Africa, “brigandines, armed with bricolles and cannons, were sent by the assailants towards the harbour; and in turning into that harbour, there was a large castle with towers, and on one larger than the rest was placed a bricolle, for the defence of the place, which was not idle, but threw quarrels among the fleet. On each of the towers on the walls was a bricolle which shot well.” (Froissart, vol. x. c. 17. pp. 194, 195. Machiavel, Hist. of Florence uses the word briccole; upon which see the note in Farneworth's translation, b. 5. vol. i. p. 257.) The etymology of both bricolle and coillart, or cuillard, but certainly of the latter, may be found in “cuillier,” a spoon; and this form of a spoon corresponds with the representations usually given of the catapulta of the Romans. (Rollin, Arts and Sciences, vol. ii. pi. 16 and 17.) See especially one in that curious book of Ramelli, “Le Diversee Artifiziose Macchine.” Par. 1588.
These were the machines called petrarise by the historians of the Croisades, and were used both by the Christians and Saracens. De Vinisauf, an eye-witness of their effect, has described them in his account of the expedition of Richard I. and Saladin employed thirteen of them at the attack of Tyre. (Note on Lyttelton's Hist. of Henry II. B. v. p. 466.)
Henry V. himself used the cuillard in his wars in France. In an article preserved in Rymer (Fcedera, vol. x. p. 155), and dated October 4, 1421, an order is given that instant search be made in a certain district for those workmen who had formerly constructed them for the Duke of Clarence. It is probably what Monstrellet (torn. i. c. 228.) alludes to under the title of “engins vollans” at the siege of Melun; Thomas de Elmham also speaks of the “balista,” and “saxivomium,” though the latter may have been those awkward cannons which discharged “Gonstones.”
The catapulta or cuillard acted with amazing force. Josephus was astonished at the manner in which it mowed down whole files of men in the fatal siege of Jerusalem. The experiments of Folard (Rollin, ut supra,) proved it to be possessed of very considerable powers; and its merits in this respect may furnish us with a reason why it should have continued so long in use after the invention of gunpowder.
A machine of this kind was shewn to Maundrell, when he visited the arsenal at Damascus. (Travels, p. 126.)
Of this class was likewise the espringold.
page 363 note u It is the same which he elsewhere calls the great public gate; and the practical application of the structure here described, which entirely answers to what some authors call the barbacan, is explained by the pilgrim Breidenbach, who visited the city more than sixty years from the time of our author, and was detained with all his party a whole night upon this spot. “Cum ad urbem ipsam venissemus portam proximatn per quam intrare volebamus sarraceni clauserunt. atque nos per totam civitatis latitudinem supra fossata civitatis circuire coegerunt et id pedestres. et cum longo et tedioso ambitu ad aliam venissemus portam.crudelemreperimus exactoretn qui dehominibus camelis et asinis vectigal grave exigebat. quo soluto intromissi per portam altam et magnam ferreis sens etjanuis firmatam putabaraus nos in pace usque ad hospicium perventuros. processimus ergo inter altos muros et fortes et ad aliam portam venitnus ferream et grandem. quam multi sarraceni circumsta-bant. cumque intrare cum bestiis nostris contenderemus. fustibus nos retrorsum abegerunt. moxque currentes aliqui primam etiam portam. seris et repagulis recluserunt, et reversi etiam hanc secundam claudentes. nos in medio stare dimiserunt. atque ita conclusi inter duas portas altissimis muris et turribus circumsepti sedentes paximates nostros comedebamus” &c. (Peregrinatio Bernhardi de Breidenbach. Impress, in civitate Moguntina. anno salutis. M.cccc.lxxxvj. die xi Februarii.) Thus, as it were, entrapped, they were not admitted into the city till the ensuing morning. (Fitz-Simeon was detained in the same place. Itinerar. Symonis Simeonis, pp. 19, 20.)
The volume, from which this quotation is given (as well as a former extract; see p. 300), is supposed to be the first book of travels that was ever printed. It contains the journal of a pilgrimage from Mentz, by way of Venice and the Levant, to Jerusalem, Mount Sinai, and Egypt, undertaken in 1483 by Bernhard de Breidenbach, Dean of Mentz, Count Solms, and Philip de Bicken, knight. The party had taste enough to carry out a draughtsman, “Erhardus Rewich de Trajecto inferiori,” and from his designs curious wooden cuts are given of the costume of the countries visited by the travellers, together with views of Venice, Rhodes, &c. a map of Egypt and the Holy Land. These too are, perhaps, some of the first attempts at illustration of this kind.
The estimation, in which this work was held, was very great; and John Rous, in a passage which has often been brought forward to exhibit his ignorance, considered the authority of the writer superior to that of the inspired historian of the creation. After mentioning that Cain built the city of Enoch, he observes, that, though Moses is silent upon the foundation of any other cities before the Deluge, eight more are mentioned by that excellent man Bernhard de Breidenbach, who visited the Holy Land in 1483!
page 365 note x The trade from India by way of the Red Sea and the ports of Egypt had been carried on from the earliest times, and had now attained the highest pitch to which it ever arrived. But among all the European states that partook of this commerce, the Venetians enjoyed the greatest share. Even during the holy wars they had contrived to keep up the long-established intercourse with the East, and rapidly increased in wealth and power. But when at the beginning of the fourteenth century the Sultan of Cairo revived the ancient direct communication through Egypt (Anderson, vol. i. p. 260), they eagerly applied themselves to improve the advantage. They obtained a licence from the Pope to trade with the Infidels, and to fit out annually a certain number of vessels for the harbours of Egypt and Syria. A treaty was concluded with the Sultan upon equitable terms, and they maintained the superiority, which they thus acquired, till this channel of traffic was abandoned for the passage round the Cape of Good Hope. In Alexandria their merchants always found a certain supply, and barter was the principal mode of purchase. Their consuls were permitted to reside and exercise their functions in the cities of Lower Egypt, and all the trading towns of Syria, a privilege which existed to its full extent in the days of Belon, though the republic was then in the wane. He has detailed the advantages of it.
“This,” says he, “is a great benefit to them; and hence it comes to pass that they obtain news from all parts of the world: hence also they become acquainted with the value of foreign merchandise, for which reason they surpass all other nations in commercial concerns. And if they know that there is any merchandise on sale at any port, they despatch their people thither; that they may acquire the profit.” (Observations, 1. ii. c. 26.).
page 366 note y This people in their establishment at Pera, on the Bosphorus, possessed. at this time a considerable share of the overland traffic to India. They engrossed the commerce of the Black Sea, their bank was in a flourishing condition, and their navy in high repute. But they were never successful in their competition with the Venetians at Alexandria, and the loss of Constantinople ruined their Indian trade. (Robertson, ut supra, sect. iii. pp. 123, 124.) In 1422 Genoa passed under the sovereignty of the Duke of Milan.
page 366 note z Spain being at present distracted with Moorish wars, the Catalans were almost the only people in the country who applied to commercial pursuits. They are, however, more celebrated for naval prowess; and in this respect proved formidable opponents to the Genoese, with whom they had severe conflicts at sea. In the league made with Genoa by Henry V. a stipulation is entered, that both contracting parties shall unite to oppose the Catalans, Arragonians, and pirates. (Rymer, vol. x. p. 117.) They appear in general to have been rather ferocious than mercantile. See in Gibbon (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, c. 72,) an account of their service and war in the Greek empire.
page 366 note a Est Fonticus domus grandis in qua et negociatores et merces eorum conservantur ubi et forum rerum venalium habent. (Breidenbach.) A merchant's store-house, chiefe shop, or warehouse. (Florio's Ital. Diet. Lond. 1611.) Muratori considers this word as of Arabic extraction; but an etymology, to which Du Cange inclines, is, if not more just, at least more generally comprehensible to an European ear. Joinville tells us, that at Damietta was a place called La Fonde, the resort of the merchants, and the repository for the various commodities of the East and West. His annotator refers the origin of the term to funda, a purse; and adduces in elucidation, that of bourse, a public place for the meeting ofmerchants. (Du Cange, note on Joinville.) Breidenbach has given a particular account of these fontecchi at Alexandria, of which the Venetians had two, Genoa one, and the Catalans one. The Turks and Moors, Ethiopians and Tartars had also their fonteccho, the bustle of which he describes, and with an honest indignation declaims against their inhuman method of exposing slaves for sale. The pilgrimage to Mecca in Hakluyt enumerates five of these buildings. Venice herself had her Fondaco di Todeschi for the merchants of Germany; and they existed in many other places; there was one at Acre, and another at Aleppo. (Blainville, Sanutus, Rauwolff.)
Thus Venice flourished during the period in which De Lannoy visited Egypt,—not with out rivals, but far surpassing them all. It has been supposed that if the several states which traded in the Mediterranean had united together, Venice alone would have been superior to the whole of them in naval power, and in extent of commerce. And the Doge Mocenigo, about the year 1420, gave the following view of their naval force. It consisted of three thousand vessels of various dimensions, on board of which were employed seventeen thousand sailors; of three hundred ships of greater force, manned by eight thousand sailors; and of forty-five large galeasses or carracks, navigated by eleven thousand sailors. In public and private arsenals sixteen thousand carpenters were employed.” (Sanuto, Vite de Duchi di Venezia, ap. Mur. Script. Rer. Ital. vol. xxii. p. 959. quoted by Robertson. Hist. Disquis. cone, ancient India, note L.)
The discoveries of the Portuguese proved ultimately the ruin of Venice; and the extinction of her political and commercial consequence has in one sense fully justified the prophetical parallel of the poet,
“Nee tu sempeF eris, quaeseptem amplecteris arces, Nee tu, quae mediis asmula surgis aquis.” Sannazar. 1. it. el. 1.
But while Egypt continued to be the principal channel for the valuable produce of India, who can wonder that, engrossing so large a proportion of it, under such circumstances Venice rose to so splendid a preeminence ? We cannot be surprised that, in possession of such means actively and intelligently employed, she should be able to find a superior market for her commodities, or to collect materials ofinformation for her gazettes. Europe has been more indebted to Venice than we are generally aware. To her we originally owe those modes of public information, that have contributed so highly to the amusement and instruction of society: to her we also owe the institution of banks. “Venice,” says Robertson, “may boast of having given the first example to Europe of an establishment altogether unknown to the ancients, and which is the pride of the modern commercial system.” (Robertson, Hist. Disquis. note xlix.) No liberal spirit can contemplate without lamenting the fall of a state, the mistress of inventions, the munificent patroness of the arts, and the central point of communication for all the civilised world.
“Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee;
And was the safeguard of the West: the worth
Of Venice did not fall below her birth,
Venice the eldest child of liberty.
She was a maiden city, bright and free;
No guile seduced: no force could violate;
And when she took unto herself a mate
She must espouse the everlasting sea.
And what if she had seen those glories fade,
Those titles vanish, and that strength decay;
Yet shall some tribute of regard be paid,
When her long life hath reached its final day;
Men are we, and must grieve when even the shade
Of that which once was great is pass'd away.
page 366 note 1These are spoken of by Fitz-Simeon, who travelled in 1322. He gives one of them to Marseilles. Itiner. Symonis Simeonis, p. 21.
page 368 note b From the mention of these places it appears that the states of Italy were eager to obtain a portion of this lucrative traffic; and that the Pope himself had not disdained an intercourse with the Infidels. Florence was now following hard after them. In 1422 that republic sent ambassadors to the Sultan, who negociated those commercial relations with Egypt from which the Medici are supposed to have derived a considerable part of their wealth. They even obtained the extraordinary privilege of erecting a church in Alexandria. (Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo, vol. i. c. 3.) Though Gibbon, on the authority of a single expression in Ducas, considers the English among the nations who resorted for the purpose of trade in the fifteenth century to the Ionian Islands, yet I cannot find that they had hitherto penetrated into the Mediterranean with any degree of frequency or effect. In 1413 they traded to the western ports of Morocco; but in this they were afterwards interrupted by the jealousy of the Genoese (Rymer, vol. viii. p. 773), nor had they a consul at Pisa till 1485 (Henry's Hist. of Gr. Britain, b. v. c. 6): in the ensuing century, however, they conveyed their wares to Cairo. (Prosp. Alpinus.)
page 368 note c Louis, Count of Provence, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, had entirely freed the ports of Provence from all kinds of taxes and customs, permitting them to establish commercial consuls in all foreign ports, so that Marseilles was at this time in very great prosperity. (Anderson's Hist. of Commerce, vol. i. pp. 412, 413, in the year 1406.)
page 368 note d Though Jerusalem was undoubtedly the chief point of attraction to the pilgrim; yet Egypt was not without objects of devout visitation. The two principal courses of pilgrimage were, the one from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and the environs,—the other from Alexandria to Cairo and Mount Sinai; many used to begin with the latter journey, which was considered the longer and more arduous undertaking. In this case they frequently traversed the deserts to Syria; and having viewed the Holy Sepulchre on their return, embarked at Jaffa for Europe. (Travels of Sir John Maundeville, p. 65 et alibi.) Many relics were shewn at Alexandria, besides the spot where St. Mark and St. Catherine suffered martyrdom. But Matarea near Cairo was of still higher renown. Pilgrims were subject to great exactions and illusage in this country; though the governors of it were too well aware of the advantages of so clear a branch of profit to prohibit the admission of these European strangers; and at this season, in spite of all difficulties, a great passion for pilgrimages prevailed. The frequent licences that occur in Rymer bear testimony to it, and the earlier travellers, whose accounts are preserved, were chiefly of this description, with the exception of a few merchants. The visiting of foreign lands for the pure sake of science, is a practice of far more recent date.
When Breidenbach was at Alexandria, the pilgrims were lodged in the fonteccho of the Catalans, under the protection of the consuls of that nation.
page 370 note e This was a place of considerable consequence. Bauragarten, Marmol, and Belon, in the sixteenth century saw it very populous and flourishing. It was then considered in point of inhabitants as inferior to Cairo alone; and it enjoyed peculiar advantages from its situation on the river, by which it kept up a constant communication between Cairo and Alexandria. Merchandise was transported from this place to the capital of Egypt by canals; but these, choked with sand, are now no longer navigable, and Foua is become an insignificant village, whose ruins alone declare its former splendour. It is still, however, one of the most agreeable situations on the Nile. (Brown, p. 36.)
page 370 note f Geziret el Dahab. (Leo Africanus, 1. 8.) There is another island above Cairo of the same name, originating probably from a similar cause, the fertility of the soil. Geziret el Dahab partook of the prosperity of Foua, and was filled with the pleasure-houses of wealthy merchants. (Marmol, 1. ii. c. 20.)
page 371 note g The cultivation of the cane was early understood in Egypt. “Terra Ægypti,” says Haythonus, “dat omnium frugum et fructuum ubertatem, et optimam chacharam in maxima quantitate.” After the conquest by the Turks, the Grand Signior seems to have engrossed a great part of this article (Belon, 1. i. c. 33); but Europe learned to procure it elsewhere. Though the revolutions and exactions of the Egyptian government are a general bar to every species of cultivation and improvement, much is still grown on the bank of the river. They have not, however, in general, the art of refining it, and the canes are usually consumed by the peasants in a raw state. (Sonnini, c. 31.)
page 371 note h By the Tartars he probably means that remnant of the Mongols, whom he might have seen in Syria, since some of them for a time continued scattered throughout the countries conquered by Tamerlane. In 1408, when Boucicault ravaged the Syrian coast, the country was in possession of the Saracens, but the Tartars had not entirely quitted it. Six hundred of their cavalry stood ready to receive him on the shore at Tripoli, dressed in fine velvet, and cloth of gold. (Memoires de Boucicault.) See in Modern Universal History an account of their habitations (vol. iv. pp. 71, 72). These Egyptian cabins have frequently been compared to bee-hives.
page 372 note i In a country so peculiarly circumstanced as Egypt, it was natural that the inhabitants from the earliest ages should have conceived a veneration for the Nile. Blessed with plenty in its due increase, visited with the horrors of famine in its failure, their ignorance and superstition rendered it the object of astonishment and devotion. Its hidden spring, the mystery of its rise, might induce them to lend a willing ear to fable, and their gratitude might prompt them to ascribe a celestial origin to that from which such annual advantages were derived.
Other nations equally uninformed as to the phenomena which it exhibited, might readily concur in the sentiment of the natives; and ΔιοΠετήδ, the epithet applied to it by Homer, may probably serve to express the general opinion of the heathen world. It is said that some of the philosophers guessed the cause of its increase, and that Ptolemy Philadelphus ascertained it;—but, where is the source of this extraordinary stream ? has been the grand question of ancient and modern times.
In treating of this subject it is merely my wish to justify and throw some light upon the expression of my author, by bringing forward a few of the popular opinions which had to his day continued to exist from remote antiquity.
Whatever might be the notion of the Jews, who resided in this country occasionally in great numbers before the coming of our Lord, the seventy Interpreters were decisive in fixing the origin of the Nile in the garden of Eden; and Josephus (Antiq. Jud. lib. i. c. 1. § 3. See Harmer, vol. iv. obs. 182), perhaps, speaks the sentiments of the most learned of his countrymen, when he says, that the Gihon of Moses is the Nile. When Egypt, through the medium of the Gospel, received the Scriptures of the Jews as the oracles of her faith; and various researches upon matters connected with these sacred writings arose; the version of the Seventy would of course be referred to, as the only one which contained any illustration of a point so little ascertained. It was found that the Interpreters had determined Cush to be Ethiopia, and Gihon the river of Egypt; and thus the ancient exalted idea of the source of this mighty stream was in some degree confirmed. That which, as idolaters, they considered to have flowed from the Gods, as Christians, they believed to proceed from Paradise Terrestrial.
The Fathers of the Church entered eagerly into this persuasion, and it was universally received not only in Egypt, but throughout the Christian world. Saint Austin is especially supposed to have contributed to the confirmation of it, and to have been a considerable cause of disseminating it, from the general reputation of his writings. Such authorities were then held incontrovertible, and the truth was not easily ascertained. When the Ma-hometan took possession of the land, he was not anxious, from principle or habit, to confute the error; and though the active spirit of some of the Egyptian Sultans made a few attempts to unravel the mystery, these were not more successful than others which had been undertaken before; and their systematic jealousy prevented travellers from penetrating into the interior. Thus those who visited the country took the general opinion upon trust, since they were not allowed to prosecute the inquiry, and many things which they heard or observed tended to support the notion. Joinville tells a story of spices found in the stream, which he refers to the trees of the primeval garden; and Breidenbach attributes the fertility occasioned by the overflow to the “nobilissima gleba Paradisi.”
It is amusing to observe into what improbabilities and difficulties this established prejudice, which occupies an important place in the history of geographical errors, led those writers who attempted to give a grave account of the course of the river. If they were agreed upon the circumstance of its flowing from the Garden of Eden, they could neither so decidedly lay down the site of this Paradise Terrestrial, nor what countries the stream visited in its passage to the Mediterranean. It was indeed a fascinating idea to consider that by tracing the Nile to its fountain they might reach the “blissful seat;” but savage tracts and barbarous nations interposed; and the aid of fancy was called in to supply what was denied to investigation.
Since, according to the writers of the Septuagint, Gihon was the Nile, and Cush Ethiopia, Eden was to be looked for beyond Ethiopia, and an opinion arose and prevailed that it was situated in India. Their chief communication was with India, it was the point from which the traffic of the East proceeded, and to which that of the West tended; it was evidently a land of wealth and wonders: and there by universal consent they placed the Paradise Terrestrial. But how could the river be brought from that quarter ? The intervention of the Red Sea, for they seem to have thought of no other difficulty, was an evident obstacle to the plan. They determined, however, to remove this impediment, and to account for the course of the Nile, by attributing to it a caput secundum, or second source. (See Burnett's Theory of the Earth, b. ii. c. 7.) Thus they pretended that it penetrated under ground somewhere to the eastward of the Red Sea, and that it rose again in Ethiopia. Maundeville, to whom marvels are familiar, may afford us a fair specimen of the mode of stating this popular opinion: “This Ryvere comethe rennynge from Paradys terrestre betwene the Desertes of Inde; and aftre it smytt unto Londe, and renneth longe tyme many grete countres undre Erthe: and aftre it gothe out undre an high hille, that Men clepen Alotte, that is betwene Ynde and Ethiope, the distance of five Monethes Journeyes fro the entree of Ethiope. And aftre it envyronnethe alle Ethiope and Morekane, and gothe all along fro the Lond of Egipte, unto the cytee of Alisandre, to the ende of Egipte; and there it fallethe into the See.” (Travels, pp. S3, 54. See also Jac. de Vitriaco Histor. Iherosol. p. 84 in Gesta Dei.)
Others, who were superior to this marvellous idea, or unacquainted with it, were equally at a loss. Two centuries before Maundeville, Fulcherius Carnotensis, who went into the Holy Land with Robert Earl of Normandy, and published his history in 1124, has thrown out a doubt with regard to the reputed origin and course of the Nile, in which he appears t o have thought for himself, more than might have been expected in an age addicted to tradition, and ignorant of the true geography of the river. His difficulties are very rational, but he was obliged to abandon all hope of solution, and resign the matter to the omniscience of the Creator. The cause of his scepticism is as follows: Baldwin King of Jerusalem, having in 1116 made an excursion of curiosity to Helim upon the Red Sea, Fulcherius and others were delighted with the account of the expedition, and the specimens of natural curiosities produced by the adventurers on their return. He made many inquiries concerning the position of that sea; and was surprised to learn that, having been to the eastward of the mouths of the Nile, and as far to the south as the Red Sea, they had not met with the river in its course from that part of the world, which was said to contain the Paradise Terrestrial.
“Possum mirari, sed nunquam rimari, quomodo vel qualiter fluvius iste, qui de Paradiso cum tribus aliis legitur emanare, ortum suum iterum videatur recuperare, cum ab orien-tali parte Mare habeat Rubrum; et ab occasu, in quo incidit, mare nostrum. Habet enim mare Rubrum inter se et Orientem positum, ubi esse intelligimus Paradisum, ex quo egreditur. Quomodo ergo iterum Mare illud rubrum resumit ortum suum, et quomodo transit idem mare, vel non transit, admiror......Quærat qui vult, discat qui valet. Nam hoc addiscere persaspe, et quamplurimis inquirendo, studui; sed qui hoc mihi insinuaret, nequaquam invenire valui. Committo autem illi hoc ratiocinari, qui super cælos aquas mirifice inesse statuit; quique eas a montibus et collibus convallibusque hauriri fecit; et per occultos meatus cursibus in undis vias multifidas prsebuit; et in mare denique mirabiliter inducit et reducit.” (Fulcher. Carnot. in Gesta Dei, p. 426.)
The difficulties of accounting for the prevailing theory were so insurmountable, that later travellers began to hesitate upon the point. De Lannoy himself states the matter upon the prevailing report, and an old contemporary pilgrim in Purchas is equally cautious:
“There is a water of grete prise
That cometh out of Paradice,
The which is callet Nilus,
Men of that lande thei sale thuse.”
Yet to the credit of our author it must be observed, that though the fact might be doubted by some persons, the general illusion continued undispelled in his time; nor is it t o be supposed that his readers smiled at the account, or treated it as an idle tale.
In a former part of this note it has been stated that the universal earlier conjecture with regard toParadiseTerrestrial was in favour ofIndia. It will hardly bebelievedhow much the inquiry concerning it has exercised the human mind. The list of those who have employed themselves upon this fruitless investigation is almost endless; but a sketch of the variety of their opinions is well given in the Universal History:
“Several of the primitive fathers believed, that there never was a local Paradise, and that all the Scripture says of it, is to be understood in an allegorical sense: others, who allowed the reality of Paradise, have swerved so far from the letter, as to suppose it not to be situated in any part of this terrestrial globe. They have placed it in the third heaven, within the orb of the moon, in the moon itself, in the middle region of the air, above the earth, under the earth, in a recess hidden and removed from the knowledge of men, in the place possessed at present by the Caspian Sea, under the arctic pole, and under the equator......On the other hand, many of those who have allowed a terrestrial Paradise have fallen into no less absurdity. There is scarce a corner of the earth which has not been ransacked in search of it. They have looked for it in Asia, in Africa, in Europe, in America, in Tartary; upon the banks of the Danube, and the Ganges; in the isle of Ceylon, in Persia, in Armenia, in Mesopotamia, in Chaldsa, in Arabia, in Palestine, in Syria, about the mountains of Libanus and Antilibanus; near the cities of Damascus and Tripoly; in Ethiopia, towards the mountains of the Moon; and which will, doubtless, be thought as much out of the way, in Sweden.” (vol. i. pp. 4, 5.)
Butler has placed among the mock philosophers one who
“knew the seat of Paradise, Could tell in what degree it lies; And, as he was dispos'd, could prove it Below the Moon, or else above it.”
Grey's Hudibras, vol. i. p. 23. part i. c. 1.1.173, and notes.
“The sum of all,” says Sir Walter Raleigh, “is this; that whereas the eyes of men in the Scriptures have been dim-sighted, I hope that the reader will be sufficiently satisfied, that these were but like castles in the air, and in mens fancies vainly imagined.” (Hist. of the World, b. i. c. 3. s. 15.)
And the whole tends but to verify that sentiment of St. Austin, which unites the assertion of the Sacred Writings with the experience of mankind: “Aio Paradisum esse terrestrem, et locum ejus ab hominum cognitione esse remotissimum.” But if, dissenting from this positive opinion, we should consider that, though the writer of the book of Genesis has assigned to Paradise an apparent locality, by a subsequent change upon the surface of the earth that locality may have been destroyed; it will be agreed that Eden is no longer what it was; and consequently, that in any case, the endeavour to discover it is void of hope.
page 372 note 1Villoison triumphs in this allusion of the poet, which he applies exclusively to the increase of the river. The expression is, however, at most but dubious, and has its parallel in that of Plautus, who is considered to allude to the Nile, when he speaks of a river flowing from beneath the throne of Jove. Trin. Act iv. sc. 2.
“Ad caput amnis, quod de ccelo exoritur sub solio Jovis.”
page 375 note 1It was thought to be on a very elevated spot by most of the inquirers; and thus the poet describes it:
“Sú quel monte alpestre,
Ch'oltra le nubi, e presso al ciel si leva
Era quel paradiso, ehe terrestre
Si dice, ove habit gia Adamo et Eva.”—Orl. Fur. c. 33. St. 110.
“‘Twas fam'd, where Egypt's hoary mountain shews Its head, in clouds whence Nilus’ fountain flows, Was Paradise of old, those happy bowers, Where Adam passed with Eve the blissful hours.”—Hoole.
The translator has not, however, happily entered into the idea of “oltra le nubi, e presso al ciel,” which evidently alludes to the supposed situation of Paradise, somewhere above the middle region of the air.
page 372 note k The accounts of the numbers contained in Cairo are surprising. It was supposed to be the most populous city under the sun, to contain as many people as the whole of Italy, and more vagabonds than there were regular inhabitants in Venice. This last opinion, often to be met with, seems to have been almost proverbial. (Breidenbach: but he adds with much simplicity what will certainly be credited: “Audita refero—neque enim ipse numeravi!” see also Baumgarten in Churchill, 1. i. c. 18. p. 44.) Prosper Alpinus thinks it probable that the pestilence in 1580 swept off a million in the course of five months; yet he affirms, that at the expiration of that time, the streets were apparently as crouded as before. And, if this be too extravagant for belief, we may descend without hesitation to the soberer assertion of Le Bruyn, (Voyages, c. 37), that they are not missed when 200,000 die of the plague. Of this enormous mass it has been computed that one fourth were not fixed inhabitants, but drawn thither for the purposes of traffic. (Pocock, vol. i. c. 4.) A Note addressed to Desgenettes, chief physician of the French army in Egypt, estimates them at 300,000, without bringing into the account those of the citadel, old Cairo, and Boulac. (Mem. sur L'Egypte, vol. iii. p. 383.)
Fitz-Simeon (Itinerar. p. 41 et seq.) gives a very lively picture of the city, as it existed in 1322; and Leo Africanus affords a good idea of the populousness and bustle of Cairo, though in the decline of her prosperity. Since the Sultans permitted no European to pass through Egypt to the Red Sea, the natives of the North and of the East were brought to the mart of Cairo, and contributed to its wealth and splendor. This city, occupying a position between the three divisions of the then known world, was to Asia and Africa and Europe, what Bruges was to the north of Europe, a general receptacle for merchants and their wares. She might then justly merit the epithet of “Grand,” to which she has now little claim but ancient usage. Venice and Cairo in this respect gradually declined together; but when Prosper Alpinus resided here, even in 1580, she was still considered the emporium of the East. It is well known, that one of the projects of Ali Bey was to have restored the direct communication with the East, and thus to have reestablished the consequence of Cairo. Local circumstances afford her a peculiar advantage; and even with the loss of the greater part of those Indian, and, consequently, European connexions, which formerly upheld her, she retains no inconsiderable share of trade. (See observations on the advantageous situation of Egypt for commerce, &c. in the Monthly Magazine for July 1810.)
De Lannoy tells us, that the city had been decaying twenty years. The times were agitated; and under a government so mutable as that which existed in Egypt, the capital might experience neglect and even desolation. Niebuhr thinks, from a comparison of the description of Leo with recent observations, that the city has not since that time decreased in size. He admits that the suburbs may be more remote from each other; and in fact, Thevenot, in the middle of the seventeenth century, found Boulac returned to its former state of a distinct town, divided from Cairo by land in tillage.
page 377 note 1Throughout these illustrations respecting the commercial and military condition of Egypt, when any allusion is made to a more recent state of affars, the reader will bear in mind that the greater part of these notes were written at least fifteen years ago. Since that period Mehemmed Ali Pacha, the present Viceroy, has introduced changes, and infused a'vigour into its internal administration unknown to that country for many generations.
page 378 note l In its present state it is divided into three quarters, of which that of the Janizaries is full of houses. (Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 93.) This citadel, built by Saladin, towards the latter end of the twelfth century with stones taken from some small pyramids, is about a mile in circumference, and like a little town. (Note on Makrisi, in Joinville, vol. ii. p. 236. Pocock, vol. i. p. 35.) In some of the apartments vestiges of the magnificence of the Mameluke Sultans still remain. See representations of it in Meyer's Views in Palestine, and Travels of Lord Valentia.
page 378 note m The walls, as well as the castle of Cairo, are attributed to the reign of Saladin; but the existence of these walls has been the subject of dispute among travellers. Ascolini, who was in Egypt in 1243, found the city very strongly fortified with a wall. The houses of the suburbs had not then, probably, screened it from the view:—Belon says, “there are almost as many houses without the circumference of the walls as within the city; whence some have erred in supposing that the city was not walled.” (Observations, 1. ii. c. 37.) Thevenot also denies the assertion that it is not protected in this manner; and Niebuhr even declares that remains of a double wall may be traced. (Voyage en Arabie, vol. i. p. 87.) It was of consequence to De Lannoy to ascertain this point, and he has done it in a satisfactory manner.
The account of Sandys will throw some light upon this matter. “The walls (if it be walled), rather seem to belong to private houses than otherwise.” (Travels, b. ii. p. 119.) The reader will hereafter have occasion to observe in the course of the Report, that a common method of providing for the security of the cities in Syria, was to construct the houses so contiguously, that to the eye they presented a front in some measure resembling the wall of a town. Requina near Valencia in Spain is described by Captain Carleton (Memoirs, pp. 211, 212) as fortified in the same manner; and specimens of it are to be seen in the Grecian Islands.
That the practice was of very ancient date may be collected from the Scriptures. The house of Rahab was upon the town wall, and she was thus enabled to provide for the safety of the spies. (Joshua, c. ii. ver. 15.) Thus too, though Aretas, the governor of Damascus, kept the city with a garrison, and doubtless, guarded every pass night and day, thinking to take Paul, we may readily understand the full import of the words of the Apostle, when he says he was let down “in a basket through a window by the wall, and so escaped their hands.” (2 Corinthians, c. xi. v. 32, 33.) King has endeavoured to explain the accommodation prepared by the rich Shunamite for Elisha, by reference to a tower built with a double wall, of the existence of which he produces some proofs. (See Munimenta Antiqua, vol. iii. p. 96.) Yet, according to what has been just stated concerning the cities of Syria, the matter may, perhaps, be more satisfactorily elucidated, without having recourse to a remote and elaborate way of accounting for the prophet's “chamber in the wall.” (2 Kings, c. iv. ver. 10.)
page 380 note n Probably brick of common mud dried in the sun is here intended. See Harmer, vol. i. p. 175.
page 380 note o From the jealousy of the Saracens it is by no means improbable that the author passed through the land in the guise of a devout and peaceful pilgrim, meditating war and conquest in his heart. Matarea possessed many objects of pious curiosity, and was revered by Mahometans as well as Christians. (Prosp. Alp. i. c. 5.) Tradition had represented this as the place, where our Lord and his mother sought a refuge in their flight from Judaea: a fountain was pointed out, in which the infant was bathed; and a tree was shewn, which had opened to afford them an asylum from their pursuers. (Belon, 1. ii. c. 49. Sandys, 1. ii. p. 127.) But, according to the plan of De Lannoy, he forbears to introduce these to the notice of his readers, and barely mentions the balmgarden, one of the wonders of Egypt. This rare plant has been described by a variety of naturalists and travellers (Abdollatiph, c. ii. p. 23. Belon, c. 39, and Prosp. Alp. de plantis Ægypti, c. 14.): the first introduction of it at Matarea is, however, a point by no means agreed upon. When Brocard was in Egypt the Saracens attended to the cultivation of it with much care. But towards the end of the fifteenth century it disappeared; and though Breidenbach saw it in 1483, Peter Martyr in his embassy to the Sultan in 1501 laments its loss. (Legatio Babylonica, in Novus Orbis of Grynaeus. “Proh dolor! adeo preciosi arbusta liquoris interiere.”) Had the case been otherwise, it would in all likelihood have been destroyed in the conflicts that took place upon the change of the government; for when the Turks had penetrated into the heart of the country, a severe battle was fought at Matarea between Selim and the Mameluke sovereign of Egypt, in which the Turks were victorious. (Marmol.) Under these new masters the plantation at Matarea was restored. In 1519 Messoner, governor of Cairo, brought forty plants from Arabia, which Belon in 1530 found diminished to nine or ten. They have many times been renewed, and as often perished.
Sandys mentions a single plant, “the whole remainder of the store;” and this was destroyed in 1615, by an inundation of the Nile. (Henry Kantzow, quoted by Niebuhr, vol..i p. 98.) Many wonderful effects were attributed to the balsam; and its reputed powers are magnified and illustrated in the story of the Cid Rodrigo de Bivar. (Chronicle of the Cid by Southey, towards the end.) When the Venetians traded to Alexandria it sold for its weight in gold.
page 380 note p If Maundeville may be believed on this point, the number was very considerable in his time; and he asserts it with that air of authority, which wears the defiance of contradiction. “There dwelleth the Soudan in his Calahelyke, (for this is commonly his see,) in a fayr castelle, strong and gret, and well sett upon a rocke. In that castelle dwellen alle wey, to kepe it and to serve the Sowdan mo than 6000 persones, that taken alle here necessaries of the sowdanes court. I ought righte wel to knowen it. For I dwelled with him as soudyor in his werres a gret while azen the Bedoynes.” (Travels, c. 5.)
Notwithstanding the doubts of M. Legrand D'Aussy, I am inclined to think that this extraordinary traveller at least visited Egypt; that he penetrated much farther is certainly highly doubtful. In 1778 the castle was supposed to contain 30,000 inhabitants, half of which were military. (Parsons, Travels, p. 302.)
page 381 note q At the entrance of old Cairo is an hexagonal building, each side of which is thirty feet, and one hundred high. A range of steps, very easy of ascent, permits the oxen to mount it, where they turn a wheel which raises the water to the top. Five basons receive, and pour it into an aqueduct supported by three hundred arches, which conveys it into a reservoir. From thence, other oxen raise it by means of fresh wheels, up to the palace of the Pacha.” (Savary, vol. i. 1.7.) This building was constructed, as were all the other principal works, under Saladine, and was very nearly destroyed by the folly of one of the succeeding governors of Egypt. (Abdollatiph, c. iv. p. 91.) Prosper Alpinus hints at the ease with which the works might be stopped (lib. i. c. 5.); and the Earl of Sandwich informs us, that in tumults the supply of water is very often cut off by the seizure of the oxen, and the party who have made themselves masters of the castle forced to yield. (Voyage up the Mediterranean, p, 446.) Yet this weak point escaped the observation of our accomplished spy.
page 382 note r This personage, who acts so conspicuous a part in some of the old romances, was in 1422 the chief of the Mamelukes resident in the castle of Cairo; and deriving his lofty title from the suburb of the city already mentioned. The first of these slaves who was raised to the dignity was Ezzodin (Abul-Pharagii, Hist. Dynast, p. 325), about the period of the French invasion under St. Louis; and their government, unstable as it was, lasted 275 years. The Mamelukes boast of two dynasties, the Baharite, and the Borgite; the former continued from 1254 to 1382; the latter closed in 1517, when Sultan Selim made the conquest of Egypt, and barbarously hung Touman Bey, their last sovereign, under the gate Bab Zouile at Cairo.
page 383 note s In this tumultuous state of affairs the power of the ammirals was so nearly balanced that changes ensued too frequently to be the subject of wonder. But among these fluctuations the various fortunes of Al Naser form a conspicuous instance of the mutability of their condition. By singular felicity he was permitted to succeed his father; and in a reign of thirteen years and four months, was twice raised to the throne, and twice deposed. He closed his career in 1412.
Looking onward from the death of Boursbai, mentioned in the following note, to the conclusion of the Circassian dynasty we shall find a succession of 15 or 16 Sultans within a period of eighty years. (Wilson's Hist. of Egypt, vol. ii. p. 460.) Five of them comprehended about seventy-four years; and out of these five, one prince reigned five and another twenty-nine years. The ephemeral duration of the rest may be easily calculated, “Come like shadows, so depart.” Nor is the present condition of the principal Beys more secure “Ever tortured by the anxiety of suspicion, they live like the ancient tyrants of Syracuse; they sleep continually in the midst of carbines and sabres.” (Volney, vol. i.e. 12.)
page 383 note t Thes e revolutions, according to Pocock (Supplem. ad Abulph. pp, 212, 213) and others, occurred in 1421. Now the Survey of De Lannoy is said in the preamble to have been made,—by which, as I have before suggested, perhaps, may be really meant concluded,—in 1422. But whoever reads the variety of information which it contains, will suppose that it must haye cost the author more than a transient view of the country and its inhabitants. From the assertion of this passage, compared with the accounts of other writers, he appears to have been actually in Syria in 1421; and, admitting this to have been the fact, we are furnished with an additional proof that the intention of Henry V. had been digested long before the day on which he breathed his last.
The ensuing list of Sultans may confirm this assertion of De Lannoy.
1421. Sheik Mahmoud.
Ahmed.
Thathar Daher Seifeddin.
Mohammed Saleh Naser Eddin.
1422. Boursbai Aseraf Seifeddin.—Art de verifier les dates, vol. i. p.493.
Pocock even places the accession of the latter to the throne in 1421. He was the 12th of the Borgite dynasty, and his reign continued sixteen years; in the course of which he attacked and subdued Cyprus. In this expedition he acted upon the same principle which Henry IV. recommended to his son; for, being exposed to domestic tumults, he entered upon the war to employ his seditious ammirals abroad. He seems, in other respects, to have been truly worthy to reign. It is recorded of him, that he issued an edict forbidding his subjects to prostrate themselves, and kiss the ground in his presence, and commanded them only to kiss his hand. He died in 1437. (D'Herbelot.)
page 384 note u Having already spoken of the chiefs, he proceeds to describe that extraordinary body of men from which they were chosen; better known in this age by the appellation of Ma-melukes, a term which, in the original, according to D'Herbelot and Pocock, signifies a purchased slave. This class of persons was first introduced into Egypt by the Sultan Salech in 1227. He purchased a part of that multitude of captives, which the Tartars had taken in ravaging Asia, formed them into a body, and trained them to military exercise. In process of time, like the Praetorian guards, they usurped the supreme authority, and elected a Sultan from among themselves. Though the Turkish conquest ostensibly put an end to this system, and Egypt is nominally governed by a Pacha appointed by the Porte; yet it is well known that these slaves have regained a great share of their former influence, and that the Beys in reality govern Egypt.
The character of the Mamelukes for tyranny, rapacity, treachery, and the absence of every moral principle, has ever been the same, yet their bravery has been universally allowed. “The battle of the Pyramids” proved it to some of the most experienced soldiers of Europe; and the testimony of a very high authority has recorded the indisputable valour of the present race. (LeMoniteur, No 31, an. 7, 1 Brumaire, p. 175. “La cavalerie des Mamlouks a monté une grande bravoure.”)
Joinville calls this body La Hauleca, and his annotator, Du Cange, quotes in illustration a portion of this chapter of the manuscript travels of the Lord de Villerval. A good account of this singular people under their own princes may be seeu in the narratives of Peter Martyr (Legatio Babylonica in “Novus Orbis” of Grynæus.) and Baumgarten (in Churchill's Collection of Voyages, 1. i. c. 18. p. 44).
For the different inhabitants of Egypt, especially the Mamelukes, see Volney (vol. i. c. 6), whose account may form a copious commentary upon this part of the Report.1
page 385 note x In speaking of the native Saracens he alludes not only to the Copts, supposed to be descended from the native Egyptians; but, principally, to the more numerous posterity of those Arabs who settled in the country after it was conquered by Amrou in 640; and who constitute the present class of fellahs, or husbandmen. ( See Volney, ut supra.) The oppression they endured may be collected from an incident mentioned by Baumgarten (in Churchill, 1. i. c. 28, p. 66); and Volney (vol. i. c. 12.) gives in a note a striking instance of the little regard paid by these tyrants to public order, or the common ties of social life.
Our author has applied the term Saracen in a general sense to the different descriptions of inhabitants, each of which is now, and, doubtless, was then distinguished by a particular appellation. As the Greeks of old branded all other nations with the title of Barbarians, so it was long the fashion of Christendom to include all infidels under the appellation of Saracens. ”The ancient French writers, says M. le Baron de la Bastie, have called for many centuries by the name of Saracens, not only the Mahometans, but likewise all people who were not Christians, and even the Pagans of Livonia and Prussia.” (Dissertation on the life of St. Louis, in Joinville, vol. i. p. 81.)
page 385 note y How little the passive indifference of a wretched people inured for ages to oppression and the frequent spectacles of military broils is at present changed, may be seen from a parallel description of a more modern writer. “The people of Egypt, debased, and cruelly tormented by a pretended government, remained neuter and indifferent amidst the most terrible commotions, never interfering in the quarrels of the Beys; or in the perpetual wars in which they were reciprocally engaged. The streets of Cairo were frequently the theatre of the furious and bloody conflicts between the competitors for power and their partisans. The tradesman neither quitted nor shut up his shop; and the mechanic worked coolly at his door, without giving himself the smallest concern respecting the combatants or the issue of the contest.” (Sonnini, Travels, c. 33.)
page 386 note x For the changes that have taken place in their arms, which are even now a capricious mixture of ancient and modern weapons and accoutrements, satisfactory information may be obtained from comparing the account of De Lannoy with those of Volney (vol. i. c. 11.) and of Denon (Voyage dans L'Egypte, planches), who has given a detailed representation of them. Yet I shall briefly note how far any alteration has been made with regard to those enumerated here; observing at the same time that no absolute uniform seems to prevail in so disorderly a body.
1. The Cuirass covered with silk. A silk coftan still forms a part of their dress, and many wear concealed under it the ancient ring armour of woven links of steel. (Brown, c. 5. p. 50.) It has long been a fashion in Egypt to cover the armour with a kind of robe: we find something of this sort in the time of Saladin, before the introduction of the Mamelukes; the body-guard of that Sultan in the celebrated battle of Ascalon, when he invaded Syria in the reign of Baldwin IV. are described by William of Tyre as “omnes induticroceis super loricas examentis, Saladino concolores.” (Gul. Tyr. in Gesta Dei, v. i. p. 1010. an. 1177-) The coftan now worn is surmounted by the djouba and beniche, outer garments.
2. The Head-piece. The original word is huvette, which Legrand D'A ussy interprets as ornamental for the head, but which is, perhaps, rather a matter of necessary and defensive covering. Some of them still have helmets, though the greater part wear a turban.
3. Bow and Arrows. Though they frequently exercise themselves with these in shooting at a mark; yet they no longer use them in battle. The carbine and pistols are adopted i n their stead. A crooked sabre is also universally employed; and some of them manage one in each hand with admirable dexterity. ( See the letter of Boyer to his parents in the Intercepted Correspond, of the Army of Egypt, vol. ii.)
4. The Mace (See a description in Ellis's Notes to Ways Fabliaux, vol. i. p. 226) was a weapon formerly in high estimation, and very destructive when wielded by a strong and skilful arm. The peculiar advantage of it to a horseman was found in close and mingled fight, and it was as useful to him as the dagger to the foot soldier in the confusion and press of a croud of combatants. Muratori, in his description of its application, presents a lively picture of an affair of cavalry: “Quum manus conserebantur, arduum plerumque erat homines armatos ac fortes jn equis considentes dejicere aut vulaerare; nam corpora loricis, galeis, aliisque ferreis tegumentis involuta, ensium, jaculorum, sagittarum, alio-rumque armorum ictus eludebant. Quare mos etiam fuit clava ferrea armatos percutere, aut in miseros equos bellum convertere, ut iis prostratis eques caperetur, aut dejectus in terrain pondere ferri iners ad sustinendam pugnam opprimeretur. Propterea lanceis, gladiis, aliisque mucronibus equorum ventres impetebantur. ‘Alle cinghie, alle cinghie, vox erat imperantium, ut equorum ilia confoderentur’.” (Antiq. Med. iEvi Dissert. 26.) The Mace and Battle-axe are still used by the Mamelukes.
5. I cannot discover that the drum is now employed in the way which our author and De la Brocquiere (Voyage, p. 507; he calls it “tabolean;”) have described. It must have been of small size, or it would have been an impediment to the soldier. Drums are frequently mentioned in accounts of the first Croisade, and they are introduced in the romance of Richard Coeur de Lion, who in the battle with the Sultan of Damascus found means to counteract the effect which they might otherwise have produced upon his horse:
“His eres with waxe were stopped faste,
Therefore Richard was not agaste.”
(Warton, Hist. of Engl. Poetry, vol. i. p. 165. See the-Romance in Ellis.)
The adoption of the drum among the martial instruments of Europe is not well ascertained; though it is generally agreed that it was derived from the Saracens; Warton says, in the holy wars. The brazen drum of Saladin forms a striking feature in the history of his campaigns.
The Mameluke drummer has now a distinct-office; and one of these mounted on a dromedary is conspicuous in Denon's representation of the battle of the Pyramids.
page 388 note a Syrian Christians existing in a wretched state of oppression. The origin of this title is thus accounted for by M. Legrand D'Aussy, in a note upon De la Brocquiere. “In the year 235 of the Hegira, 856 of the Christian æra, the Calif Motouakkek compelled the Christians and Jews to wear a broad leathern girdle, and in the East they wear it even to the present day. But since that period the Christians of Asia, and especially those of Syria, who are almost all Nestorians or Jacobites, were called Christians of the cincture.” From the notices of various travellers these appear to have dwindled into something of a religious order; and were found in Egypt as well as Syria. Maundeville, Breidenbach, Marmol, and Belon speak of them as a sect; but their accounts of their derivation, and the peculiarities of their persuasion, are very confused, and contradictory to each other.
page 389 note b “We have carefully examined,” says Dr. Perry, “the degree or quantity of the Nile's current, at different seasons of the year; and though in the month of August, the time of its inundation, it runs near three miles an hour, yet in the month of November it did not run above two miles an hour; and in the months of April or May, no more than half a league.” (View of the Levant, p. 476.)
page 391 note c See Pocock, vol. i. pp. 175, 176; also Mem. sur L'Egypte, tom. i. p. 354, and torn, iii. p. 333 et seq. for the measures of Egypt. There are two pikes, that of Constantinople and that of Kahira; the latter measures twenty-four inches. The usual height of sixteen pikes is fancifully expressed by the number of children which surround the ancient statue of Nilus (see a plate of it in Sandys), and the medal of Trajan, representing the Nile, with a boy standing upon it, and pointing to the number XVI.
page 391 note d The fame of Prester John is clouded with fable. He is supposed by the most accurate inquirers to have been some Tartar prince who was converted to Christianity by the Nestorians; and, from the variety of reports raised concerning him, to have been confounded with the Lama of Thibet. Hence it was by some said that he ruled over a vast territory in and beyond India. Another notion also became prevalent, which existed in the age of De Lannoy, that his residence was in Abyssinia. This is the situation which our traveller evidently assigns, to him.
Kircher says, that Peter Couillon, or Cavilham, ambassador from John II. King of Portugal to the Emperor of Abyssinia, was the first who erroneously placed Prester John in that country; but if the detection of such an error be of any consequence, it may be suggested by the evidence before us. Couillon might have contributed to spread, but could hardly have been the author of the error. For John II. did not reign till towards the latter end of the fifteenth century, at the beginning of which we find the opinion entertained even in Africa itself. Ludolph (Hist. Æthiop. Comment. 1. xi. c. 1.), and after him Gibbon (Decline and Fall, vol. iv. c. 47, note 117.) attribute it also to the Portuguese. The subject has been amply discussed by Morery (Diet, in the article Prester John) and Du Cange (note on Joinville). It seems to be more certain that the Portuguese auxiliaries, on their return from the campaign in Abyssinia in 1541, undeceived Europe.
This continued long to be a popular opinion, much to the advantage of the Abyssinians, and of the Christians resident in Egypt.
“Si dice che'l Soldan re del Egytto
A quel re2 dà tributa, e sta sujeto
Perch' è in poter di lui dal camin dritto
Levare il Nilo, e darli altro ricetto;
E per questo lasciar subito afflitto
Di fame el Cairo, e tutto quel distretto.
Senàpo ditto e da i sudditi suoi;
Gli diciam Presto o Preteiani noi.”
Ariosto, c. 33, st. 106.
The Soldan who the Egyptian sceptre sways,
As fame declares, his vassal tribute pays
To this great king, whose hand can turn aside,
And bid the Nile in other channels glide;
Whence famine must her scourge o'er Cairo spread,
And desolation round the country shed:
His name Senapus by his subjects known,
By us tis Prester called, or Prester John.”
Hoole's Translation.
The idea that this prince could alter the course of the stream might serve to keep the Sultans from endeavouring to aggrandise their dominions to the prejudice of their southern neighbours, and render them anxious to preserve a good understanding with the ruler of Ethiopia. The real or imaginary power of Prester John seems to have been held out as a check to the Egyptians in very early times, and the Coptic patriarch had the merit of interceding with him that Egypt might continue to enjoy the blessing of the river.1 The effect produced by this awful impression may be seen from an event which occurred in the reign of Boursbai, who ascended the throne of Egypt in 1422. In the treaty which formerly subsisted between the Saracens and Knights of Rhodes, a variety of arrangements were made for the safety of the Christians in the dominions of the Sultan. Among other covenants, it was stipulated that there should be free access to the Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and that the Christian pilgrims should receive protection and pay no tribute. Boursbai made war upon the Christians in the Mediterranean, when all these agreements were broken, and the Ethiopians suffered by the change.
Travelling in pilgrimage to Jerusalem through the Egyptian territory without knowing of the war, some of them had been exposed to unexpected and cruel treatment. In revenge for what his subjects had suffered, the Emperor of Ethiopia commanded many of the Mussulmen in his dominions to be punished, and some of them to suffer death. The Sultan Boursbai threatened retaliation upon the patriarch and Christians of Egypt; but his wrath was appeased. (Wilson's Hist. of Egypt, vol. ii. p. 458. from Abul-pharaj. proleg. p. 23. D'Herbelot, &c). Nor need it be doubted that a grand motive for this lenity was his fear for the loss of the stream.
The diversion of the channel of the Nile, and consequent ruin of the country, was among the schemes of the celebrated Albuquerque.
page 391 note 1 In 1490, in which year that country was discovered by the Portuguese. , Geddes, Church Hist. of Ethiopia, pp. 29, 41.Google Scholar This author also falls into the error above-mentioned.
page 391 note 2 Senapo.
page 393 note e Whoever is desirous of penetrating the veil, which the jealousy of the Sultans opposed to European discoveries, and of surveying the unspoiled wonders of the East, “the wealth of Ormuz and of Ind,” should read the Travels of Abdulrizak, sent by Shah Rokh, son of Tamerlane, from Persia to Hindostan in the year 1442. An abridgement of this piece is t o be seen in the Monthly Magazine for May 1808, translated from the Collection Portatif de Voyages par M. Langles. The traveller describes Hormuz in terms that correspond with DeLannoy's account of Cairo, allowing for the Eastern elevation of expression. “On the face of the earth one cannot find such a city. Merchants from the seven climates of the world assemble there: from Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, &c. One finds at Hormuz every thing that can be imagined. Here may be found men of all religions; even Infidels1 who traffic in perfect liberty, and to whom justice is equally administered; on which account Hormuz has been entitled “Dar-al-iman, or the habitation of safety.” He also found Kalikul equally frequented; and the city of Bisnagor, the capital of Hindostan, a prodigy of population, wealth, luxury, and grandeur.
Though the sovereigns of Egypt permitted no European to penetrate through their dominions in the way to India; yet they knew too well the advantage of keeping the Northern channel open between their capital and Europe; and they profited by it, not only in a commercial but political point of view. Whatever credit may be attached to a tale which Sir John Maundeville relates of the ministers of the Sultan acting as spies; it, perhaps, has truth for its basis; and the Saracenic practice of exploring Christendom has laid the foundation of one of the most amusing of the Novels of Boccacio. (Decamer. Giorn. x. Nov. 9.)
page 393 note 1 One of the Emperors is said to have actually altered the course of the Nile in 1165, aud to have restored the liver fo its channel through the interference of the Patriarch of Alexandria. See , Geddes' Church Hist. of Ethiopia, p. 19.Google Scholar See also Ludolph. Hist. Æthiop. Comment. 1. i. c. 8. No. 66
page 394 note f If a motive of terror overawed the Egyptians, the knowledge of this circumstance might inspire the Abyssinians and Nubians with confidence to attack them. Some information of this kind had probably induced Haythonus to recommend the employment of them in his projected croisade. In his advice to the Pope, he says, “I venture to suggest that your holiness should deign to write to the King of the Nubians, who were converted in Æthiopia to the faith of Christ, by the blessed Apostle St. Thomas. I firmly believe that those Nubians will endeavour to invade the country of the Sultan of Egypt for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the respect which they bear to your holiness.” (De Tartaris, c. 57.) But, if such were the sentiments of the Ethiopians in his time, they afterwards experienced an entire change; for we find a prince of that country pleading a motive of religion as his reason for abstaining from making war upon Egypt. Encienco Emperor of Abyssinia writes to John III. King of Portugal in these terms: “Henceforth I desire no more embassies from the Kings of Egypt, and from the other princes who have been accustomed to send them, but from you alone; for these sovereigns only seek my friendship for the profit which they derive from it, on account of the traffic and quantity of gold which they acquire: but I dislike the commerce of Infidels, and only endure it by custom; and if I fail to make war upon them, it is for fear they should destroy the Temple of Jerusalem, where is the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ, which God hath put into the power of the Mahometans, as well as the churches of Egypt and Syria.” (Marmol. 1. x. c. 28, and Geddes, p. 58, &c.)
page 394 note 1 Commerce cannot be extensively carried on without toleration. Ascolini, in the earlier part of the thirteenth century notices that which was exercised at Cairo. “La habitent les crestiens, iuis et sarrazins et chascun doute son dieu et garde saloi si comme il veult. MS. Mus. Brit. Bibl. Reg. 19. D. 1.
page 395 note g Thus Egypt from time immemorial has been occasionally distressed by famine. Many notices of this kind occur in the Scripture. The cause of the remarkable dearth in the days of Joseph is not explicitly pointed out, but it is more than obscurely hinted at in the particulars of the dream of Pharaoh (Genesis, c. xli. v. 17, &c.); and the prophetical warnings of Ezekiel (c. xxix. xxx.) are expressly directed against the river. The Mahommedan histories furnish instances of this nature; and many travellers, among the latter of which Volney may be mentioned, have witnessed the shocking effects of a failure of the inundation. But scarcely any account, either ancient or modern, of so dreadful a scourge, can be compared with the detail of Abdollatiph in his History of Egypt. (Hist. Ægypti Compend. c. 2.)
page 396 note h Probably a convent at Bebè, above Benesuef, where, according to Savary (vol. i. 1.31.) the relics of St. George are still preserved. Its former condition is thus described by Leo Africanus: “Georgia amplissimum olim fuit ac opulentissimum Christianorum monasterium, D.Georgii appellatione celebre, sexto aMunsia milliario dissitum. Monachi inhabitabant amplius ducenti, qui innumeros agros et pascua possidentes, exteris pariter cibum prasbebant, et quod e reditibus illis supererat, ad Alcairi Patriarcham transmittebant, qui inter pauperes Christianos hæc distribui procurabat; verum anno abhinc circiter cente-simo, pestifera quaedam lues Ægyptum invasit, ejusque monasterii monachos omnes extinxit. Quamobrem Munsise princeps monasterium perpetuo muro cinxit, domosque fabricari instituit, quas diversi generis turn artifices, turn mercatores inhabitarunt. Ipse quoque pulcherrimorum hortorum colliculis quibusdam adjacentium amoenitate tractus, eo habitaturus perrexit: verum Patriarcha Jacobitarum apud Sultanum quaerimoniam faciente, Sultanus aliud monasterium eo loco construi jussit, quo olim civitas vetus ædificata fuerat, tantumque pensionis illi assignavit, qua facillime triginta posset alere monachos.” (Africa, pp. 725,726.)
page 397 note i Belon makes exactly the same remark; and most observers have been struck with the deficiency of the country in this respect. Invading armies of Croisaders in Syria as well as Egypt had suffered from want of this article. Great difficulties were experienced in the first croisade; and but for the large beams accidentally discovered in a cave near the city, with which those towers were constructed, that decided its fate, Jerusalem might much longer, if not effectually, have resisted the efforts of Godfrey and his companions. St, Louis in Egypt was so much distressed for want of timber to erect two military engines, that he was obliged to request his barons to allow a great part of their ships to be taken to pieces. (Joinville, vol. i. p. 138.) From this natural scarcity it became an important branch of commerce;1 and when the Mamelukes, desirous of opposing the Portuguese in their encroachments on the Indian trade, fitted out a fleet in the Red Sea, the Venetians, alike interested in the measure, which they hoped would restore the ancient channel of trade, permitted the Sultan to cut the timber in the forests of Dalmatia. (Robertson, Hist. Disquis. sect. S.) Pocock doubts whether there are any trees in Egypt, which have not been introduced from other countries. (Descr. of the East, c. 8.)
page 397 note 1 The Ball of Pope Innocent, published in 1252, forbids all Christians under pain of excommunication to furnish the Saracens with any article of this kind. Rymer, vol. i. p. 469.
page 398 note k The position of this canal corresponds more than any to that of Moez. Modern maps exhibit many small cuts through the eastern bank, communicating with this towards Menzaleh. According to Niebuhr eighteen or twenty little canals fall into the lake, from the branch of Damietta, at high Nile. (Descr. de L'Arabie, p. 361.)
page 398 note l The canal of Ashmoun. Near the entrance of this canal, John of Brienne pitched his camp, and suffered extreme hardships from the letting out of the water. Somewhere also upon the bank of it, as appears from the narrative of Joinville, which is a little confused as to accuracy of geographical position, St. Louis wasted his time and strength in useless skirmishes with the Saracens. Near this place also was fought the bloody battle of Mansoura; and the plague coming upon the French army slew more than the swords of the Infidels. (See Abulpharagii Hist. Dyn. p. 324.)
Before the Annotator closes his remarks upon this chapter, he cannot but add, that this description of the river reflects considerable credit upon the ability and accuracy of the Lord de Villerval. The whole account is so correct and judicious, considering the period in which it was written, and appears drawn up with so much diligence and fidelity, that, as far as it goes, it need not blush to be compared with the representations of more learned travellers. The loss of the chart, which originally accompanied it, and which from interspersed notices seems to have descended to particulars hardly to have been expected, is not to be repaired. Should the reader be inclined to refer to modern draughts of the course of the Nile, and of the adjacent country, those of Norden will be found most satisfactory from the Cataracts to the angle of the Delta; the remainder of the river, from that point to the Boghasses of Damietta and Rosetta, is well supplied by Niebuhr.
page 399 note m Gize of Damietta, from three to six miles wide. (Savary, vol. i. 1. 23.)
page 399 note n Huis a leur porte. The various meanings attached to this word are to be found in Du Cange on Villehardouin, No. 14, and in the Glossary to the Louvre edition of Joinville.
page 399 note o The city of Damietta, considered by the ancients the key of Egypt, from its exposed situation has been subject to various calamities, and has undergone many changes. It is especially distinguished in the history of the Croisades. It was captured by Roger, King of Sicily, in 1155; attempted in vain by the Princes in 1169; taken by John, King of Jerusalem, in 1219 (Knolles' Hist. of the Turks, p. 88, &c. Vertot, vol. i. p. 126), and by St. Louis in 1249. When the Saracens recovered it after the capture by John, they rased it to the ground, and built another town farther from the sea, to which they gave the same name. (Maundeville, Haython, c. 24. Sanutus, 1. iii. p. 11. c. 10.) Others affirm, that after the departure of St. Louis, it was again, with the exception of the mosques, destroyed by the Saracens themselves on the report of a new invasion; and that eleven years after, during the reign of Bibars Elbondoukdari, the mouth of the Nile was effectually choaked to prevent the entrance of any hostile fleet. (Note upon Makrisi in Joinville, vol. ii. p.241.)
page 400 note p See Pocock, vol. i. p. 19, and Niebuhr. The materials of this building were removed by Mohammed Bey Abudahab to construct a tower upon the shore against the Russians. (Brown, p. 405.)
page 400 note q Here the Mamelukes afterwards erected a tower. (Savary, vol.i. 1. 23. Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 53.) But this is also now destroyed. From the elevation may be seen the field of battle, in which, according to the Arabs, St. Louis was taken prisoner, called by them, “the field of blood.” (Brown, p. 405.)
page 400 note r Compare with this the account given by Sanutus in his description of the unfortunate expedition of Amaury (or Almeric) in 1169. “Est ante Damiatam in flumine fortissima turris erecta; ad cujus pedem dues fortissimae catenæ fixæ sunt quæ usque ad turrem aliam protenduntur, quæ in civitate est, ne introitus vel exitus pateat navigantibus, nisi de Soldani licentia.” (1. iii. p. 6. c. 22; also Hist. Capt. Damiatæ in Gale, vol. ii. c. 8. p. 440.) Ascolini who saw the former city, as it flourished previous to the attack of St. Louis, whilst he seems to allude to this precise spot, gives a good idea of the strength and commerce of a place, which is still the depôt between Egypt and Syria, and the mart of all the productions of the Delta. Danaiette est bien garnie de double fosse, et est ennoblie de.xxxviij. hautes tours et de petites sans nombre. et a lencontre du port el milieu du nil est assise la tour du soldan qui est forte tour et haute. Et au pied de celle tour est fermee une chaine de fer qui est menee tout en tour. Si que sans la licence du soldan qui est roy de babilonne les neis chargiees de touz biens ne pueent monter ne descendre sans congie du soldan. et si viennent la les neis de puille. de venise. darmenie. dantyoche. de grece. de cypre. et de les autres pors. et de pluseurs illes de mer. et le soldan en recoit rentes sans nombres.” (MS, Mus. Brit. Bibl. Reg. 19.D.1.) The materials of the tower and walls were afterwards applied, according to Maundeville, to the building of the new city. Nor did this situation, which De Lannoy so accurately noted, escape the observation of Niebuhr. “The place, where it is said the Nile was blocked by a chain, seems still discoverable: for on the northern bank within the town there is an old and lofty tower. The river is in this place scarcely more than one hundred feet wide: and opposite to it, on the western bank, may still be seen foundations of another similar tower, of which every thing above ground is already demolished.” (Vol. i. p. 53, See also his Plans, pl. 7.)
page 401 note s “Nor were my emotions unpleasant at beholding for the first time the celebrated Papyrus, pushing its green spikes through the mud of the adjacent ditches. This plant abounded formerly in the neighbourhood; but the channel of the Nile altering, the seawater has obtained access to the marshes in which they used to grow.” (Brown, p. 403.)
page 402 note t This circumstance greatly distressed the croisaders under the Pope's legate, who usurped the command of the army led by John of Brienne. “The river dividing itself into many armes, in some places here and there overflowing, in another cut into many ditches and channels, and in some other pent up by walls and causies, gave to our men a thousand displeasures.” (Knolles, p. 89.) These rivulets rendered it the most fertile spot in the country (Savary, vol. i. 1. 23.); but that fertility is greatly diminished, since the Nile has taken to the canal of Menouf. (Travels of Lord Valentia, vol. iii. p. 419.)
page 402 note u Apentich; a penthouse, an open gallery. (Cotgrave.)
page 403 note x “we remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely,” (Numbers, c. xi, ver. 5.) was the complaint of the murmuring Israelites in the desert, and it conveys the most ancient proof of the continual abundance offishexisting in the Nile, and in the various lakes of the country. Sonnini (Travels, c. 32 and 36.) enumerates the various species. In describing these, as well as the water, Prince Radzivil (Jerosol. Peregrinatio, p. 142.) uses nearly the same expressions as De Lannoy. All the fish are very fat, and some of the eels, particular, extremely unwholesome. (Prosp. Alpinus, 1. iv. c. 1.) Their bad qualities are attributed by Sandys to the mud of the river. But, if Benjamin of Tudela is to be believed, any one who has eaten too abundantly of them, has only to drink the water and will feel no harm.
page 404 note y Many opinions with regard to the salubrious or noxious properties of the water are examined and balanced by Ludolf. (Hist. Æthiopic. Comm. l. i. c. 8. No. 53.) Entirely opposite qualities are ascribed to it by various authors, whose assertions are to be received, says this writer, “cum grano salis.” The time of the year, and the pure or turbid state of the stream, are to be taken into the account. The answer of Pescennius Niger to his soldiers, when they murmured for wine, has been frequently repeated. “Have ye the Nile, and do ye ask for wine?” In the same strain Prosper Alpinus is extravagant in its praise. “Quam suavis, et jucunda ad potum sit, dici satis non potest, eoque argumento etiam intelligitur, quod homines, vino quoque assueti, ipsum spernant, aquamque libentius complectantur.” (Rer. Ægyptiac, l.i. c. 3.) Than the water, “says Sandys,” none is more sweet; being not unpleasantly cold, and of all others the most wholesome.” Sonnini (Travels, c. 22.) is entirely on the same side, and attempts to set the question at rest. Berthier, in his account of the Egyptian campaign, mentions the delight with which the French soldiers discovered, rushed into, and eagerly drank of the river on their march to Cairo.
page 404 note z Naturalists and travellers unite in assuring us that neither the hippopotamus nor crocodile are any longer to be found in Lower Egypt. In the days of Abdollatiph, or about the beginning of the thirteenth century, the hippopotamus was not uncommon even about Damietta; and he has given an animated description of its form and qualities, which has been thus rendered by the learned White. “Est animal mole magnum, aspectu terribile, robore praestans; naves assequitur easque submergit, et siquas earum invadat, pereunt: est autem bubalis quam equo similior, nisi quod non sint ipsi cornua. Inest voci ejus raucedo, similis hinnitui equino, aut muli potius; estque magno capite, curtis eruribus, insultu feros, impetu fortis, terribilis forma, fraudulentia metuendus.” (Ægypti Compendium, c. 3.) He afterwards speaks of the havoc committed by two of these monsters in the environs of Damietta, and the difficulty of destroying them. Radzivil (Jerosol. Peregrin, p. 142.) and Sanderson (Purchas, vol. i. 1. 9. c. 16. § 1.), in 1582 and 4, met with several n the river near Damietta. But in the course of the ensuing century they rapidly disappeared. Sonnini (Travels, c. 47.), after comparing various accounts, concludes that the year 1658 was the precise date of the last appearance of the hippopotamus in Egypt.
The crocodile also has retired into the interior of the country.
page 405 note a It is salt at low Nile, and only five or six feet in depth; but it rises four or five feet with the increase of the river, and is then fit for drinking. (Niebuhr, Descript. de l'Arabie, p. 362.)
page 405 note b See Kennell, Geogr. of Herodotus, sect. xix. p. 541.
page 405 note c Pelusiac mouth. (Id. p. 536.)
page 405 note d The navigation and fishery of the lake are supposed to employ six or seven thousand small boats. (Niebuhr, ut supra, p. 362.)
page 406 note e This small stream is mentioned by the historian of the siege of Damietta in 1218. After the capture of the city, parties were sent “per pervium flumen in naviculis, qui fluvius Thannis appellatur, ut de casalibus tollerent sibi victualia.” (Cap. Damiatæ, c. 21. Gale, vol. ii. p. 451.)
page 407 note f Through the slip of sandy country, which lies between the lake and the sea, called El-Arish, three streams pass into the Mediterranean. The most eastern of these is the largest. (Niebuhr, ut supra, p. 362.)
The whole account of the lake may be sufficiently illustrated by reference to an able Memoir of General Andreossy in Mem. sur L'Egypte (vol. i. p. 165, et seq.) Accompanied by the scavans Lefevere and Bouchard, he surveyed the lake in October 1798, taking the soundings and a chart, for the formation of which he measured the coast with the chain, to the extent of more than 45,000 toises. In this chart may be seen the small canal at Damietta, the outlets by which the lake discharges itself into the Mediterranean, the islands and the site of the ruins of Pelusium and Pharma. See also the chart and description of Rennell. (Geography of Herodotus, sect. xvii. p. 449.)
page 408 note g Jaffa had continued in ruins ever since the expulsion of the Franks, and the only accommodation for strangers was to be found in three miserable vaults, which are often mentioned by the pilgrims. These continued in use till the seventeenth century, in the course of which the Franks were more commodiously lodged. (Le Brun, Voyages, c. 45.) The Armenian convent is capable of containing four or five thousand persons. (Lusignan, Revolt of Ali Bey, &c. p. 186.)
We have already observed the frequency of pilgrimage in the time of De Lannoy, and shall in this place introduce some farther details concerning it.
At Jaffa began the pardons of the Holy Land (B. de la Brocquiere, p. 474.), but here also began the trial of the pilgrim. As soon as he reached the shore he discovered that he was in a land of intolerance and oppression. Guards were immediately despatched to announce his arrival, and his first lodging was a filthy cave, which might serve to remind him that he was now approaching the sepulchre of him, who, in his life despised and rejected of men, had not even where to lay his head. Insult, exaction, and robbery attended him in his course towards the interior; and he might think himself happy if, sailing homeward from Jaffa, he had escaped the pestilence of the country, as well as the perils of the way.
Annexed is a view of Joppa, copied from the narrative of Breidenbach, whose book has been quoted and described in a former part of this work. The pilgrims are in the act of landing, and a Saracen is inflicting blows upon one of the troop to the terror of his companions. At the lower part of the ruinous town appear the caves, and above them sits one who from his attendants, the dog, and the page bearing his bow, seems a person of distinction. He is in the act of examining a pilgrim; and farther to the right is another undergoing a scrutiny of a stricter kind: others, both mounted and on foot, are represented as released and on their road. And, as, according to the custom of the old masters, various actions are introduced into one point of view; two horsemen on the left are probably intended for the guards, which as soon as the ship arrived, set out to give notice to the ammiral at Ramla. A view of the caves is also to be found in Joannis Cotovici Itiner. Antverp, 1619.
William Wey, B.D. Fellow of the Royal College of St. Mary and St. Nicholas at Eton, near Windsor, who died in 1474, had been twice to the Sepulchre, and had once visited the shrine of St. James of Compostella in Spain. At the beginning of his Itinerary (MSS. Bodl. 565.) he has left directions for the benefit of succeeding pilgrims, which may give some idea of the best mode of proceeding upon this hazardous expedition in that age.
“A Provysyon.
“A good provysyon. When a man is at Venyse and purposeth by the grase of God to passe by the see unto port Jaff and the holy londe, and so to sepulkyr of owre Lord cryst Jhu in Jherusalem. He most dyspose hym in thys wyse. 1. Fyrste yf ye goo in a galley make yowre covenante wyth the patrone by tyme, and chese yow a place in the seyd galey in the overest stage, for in the lawyst under hyt ys ryght smolderyng hote and stynkynge. 2. And ye schal pay for yowre galey and for yowre mete and drynke to port Jaff and ayen to Venyse xl ducatt for to be in a goyd honeste plase. and to have yowre ese in the galey and also to be cherishet. Also when ye schal yowre covenant take take goyde hede that the patron be boundeyn to yow afor the duke other lord of Venyse yn an c doketts to kepe all maner covenants wyth yow that ys to say thatt he schal conduce yowe to certeyne havenys by the wey to refreshe yow and to gete yow fresch water and fresch bred and flesch. 3. Also that he schal not tary longer at none havyn than thre days at the most with oute consent of yow all. 4. And that he schal nat take yn to the vessel nother goyngnother comyngno maner of marchandyse wyth owte yowre wylle to destresse yow yn yowre plasys and also for taryng of passage by the see. 5. And by the havenes he schal lede yow yf ye wyl First to Pole c mile from Venyse by water. From Pole to Curphew vi c myle. From Curphew to Modyn iii c mile. From Modyn to Cande iii c myle. From Cande to Rodys iij c myle. From Rodys to Baffe in cipres iiij c myle. From Baffe to port Jaffe iij c myle wyth owte more. 6. But make covenaunte that ye com nat at Famagust in cipres, for no thing, for meny englysh men and other also have dyde. for that eyre ys so corrupte ther abowte and the water also. 7. Also that yowre patrone yeff yow every day hote mete twyes at too melys. Yn the morning at dyn and afternone at soper. And the wyne that ye schal drynke be goyd and yowre watyr fresch yf ye may com ther too. and also bystocte. 8. Also ye most ordeyne for yowre selfe and yowre felow and ye have eny iij barellys eche of a quarte which quarte holdyth x galynys. Too of thes barell schal serve for wyne and the therde for water. In that on barel take rede wyne and kep evyr in store and tame hyt notyfye may tyl ye com hamwarde ayen withoute syknes cause hyt other eny other nede. For ye schal thys in specyal note and ye had the flux yf ye wolde yeff xx doketes for a barel ye schal none have after ye passe moche venyse. And that othyr barel schal serve when ye have dronke up yowre drynkyng wyne to syl ageyne at the havyn. Where ye next com un to. 9. Also ye most by yow a chest to put yn yowr thyngys. And yf ye may have a felow with yow too or thre y wolde then by a chest that were as brode as the barel were long. In that one ende ye wolde have loke and key and a lytyl dore and ley that same barell that ye wolde spende frust at the same dore ende. for yf the galymen other pylgremys may com ther to meny wyl tame and drynke ther of and stele yowre watyr whyche ye wolde nat mysse oft time for yowre wyne. And in the other part of the cheste ye may ley yowre bred ches spyses. and al other thynges. 10. Also ye most ordeyne your bistockte to have wyth yow. for thow ye schal be at the tabyl wyth yowre patrone not wyth stondyng ye schal oft tyme have nede to yowre vytelys bred chese eggys frute and bakyn wyne and other to make yowre collasynn. For sum tyme ye schal have febyl brede wyne and stynkyng water, many tymes ye schal be ful fayne to ete of yowre owne. 11. Also y consel yow to have wyth yow oute of venyse confettyunnys confortatynys laxatynys restoratynys gyngever ryse fygys. reysenes. gret and smal whyche schal do yow gret ese by the wey. pepyr saferyn clowys masys a fewe as ye thenge nede. and powder dekke. 12. Also take wyth yow a lytyl cawdren and fryyng pan dysches platerrys sawserrys of the cuppys of glas. a grater for brede. and such nessaries. 13. Also when ye com to venyse ye schal by a bedde by seynt Markys cherche ye schal have a fedyr bedde a mattres too pylwys too peyr schettes and a qwylt. and ye schal pay iij dokettes. And when ye com ayen bryng the same bedde to the man that ye bowt hyt of and ye schal have a doket and halfe ayen thow hyt be broke and worne. 14. Also make yowre chaunge at Venyse and take wyth yow at the leste xxx doketes of grotes and grossynes ye schal have at Venyse xxviij of new grossetes and di'. For when ye passe venyse ye schal have in sum plase xxvj grossetes or xxviij. And take also wyth yow iij other iiij doketys of soldys that galy halpanse of venyse for every grosset iiij soldys. Take also wyth yow fro venyse a doket other too of torneys hyt ys bras money of candi hyt wyll o-o by all the wey ye schal have viij for a solde at Venyse. at Modyn and Cande oftyn tyme but iiij, v other vj at the most for a solde. 15. Also by yow a cage for half a dosen of hennys or chekyn to have wyth yow in the galey. For ye schal have nede un to them meny tymes. And by yow halfe a buschel of myle sede of venyse for them. 16. Also take a barel wyth yow close for a sege for yowre chamber in the galey. hyt ys ful nessessary yf ye be syke that ye com not in the eyre. 17. Also whan ye com to havyn townys yf ye wyl ye may by eggys yf ye com by tyme to londe for then ye may have goyde chep for the be ful nessessary in the galey sum tyme fryed wyth oyle olyfe and sum tyme for a caudel. 18. Also when ye com to havyn townys yf ye schal tary there iij days go by tyme to londe for then ye may have logyng by fore other. For hyt, wyl be take up a none. And yf eny goyd vytel be. bee ye speed afore other. 19. Also when ye com to dyverse havynnys be wel ware of dyverse frutys. For they be not acordyng to yowre complexion. And they gender a blody fluxe. And yf an englysch man have that sykeness hyt ys a marvel and scape hyt but he dye therof. 20. Also when ye schal com to port Jaff take wyth yow oute of the galey un to the londe too gordys one wyth wyne another wyth water eche of a potel at the lest, for ye schal none have tyl ye com to ramys and that ys ryght febyl and dyre. And at Jherusalem hyt ys goyde wyne and dere. 21. Also se that the patron of the galey take charge of yowre harneys wyth yn the galey tyl ye com ayen to the galey. ye schal tary in the holy lond xiij other xiiij days. 22. Also take goyde hede of yowre knyves and other smal thynges that ye ber upon yow for the sarsenes wyl go talkynge wyth yow and make goyde chere but they wyl stele fro yow that ye have and they may. 23. Also when ye schal take yowre asse at port Jaffe be not to longe be hynde yowre felowys for and ye com by tym ye may chese the beste mule other asse. for ye schal pay no more for the best then for the worst. And ye most yeve yowre asman curtesy a grot other a grosset of venyse. And be not to moche by fore nether to fer by hynde yowre felowys for drede of strewys.1 24. Also whan ye schal ryde to flum Jordan take wyth yow out of Jerusalem bred wyne water hard chese and harde eggys and suche vytellys as ye may have for too days for ther nether by the way ys none to sell. 25. Also kepe on of yowre botell other gordys wyth wyne and ye may when ye corn from flum Jordan to munte quarentyne. And yf ye go up to the plase where oure lorde Jhu cryste fastyde xl days and xl nhyte hyt ys passyng hote and ryght hyee. When ye com down ayen for no thyng drynk no water but rest you a lytyl and then ette bred and drynke clene wyne wyth oute water after that grete hete water genderyth a gret fluxe other a fever, other bothe than a man may haply lese hys lyfe ther by. Kepe all thes thynges afor wryt and ye schal wyth the grace of God spede yn yowre jorney to goo and cum to the plesur of God and encrese of yowre blys the whyche Jhs graunt yow Amen.”
In after times, owing to the difficulty of ascending the country, peculiar privileges were granted by the Popes to those who in repairing to Joppa should merely set foot on holy ground. Prince Radzivil, who from pious motives performed the journey a hundred years later than Wey, has thus explained the matter. Mud etiam praetermittendum non est Pontifices maximos huic loco Joppae singulare quoddam indulgentiarum privilegium con-cessisse. Nam qui peregrinus hue appulerit (prout recta Cypro et ex aliis Christianorum locismultiadnavigant) etiamsi ulteriora Terrae Sanctae non visitaverit, littus attingens easdem indulgentias consequitur, quas eadem personaliter accedentes adipisci solent. Id autem ea de causa concessum est, quod propter bella, Arabum latrocinia, pestem, morbos, paupertatem, multi ex peregrinis inde ulterius progredi non possunt.” (Jerosol. Peregr. p. 125.)
From various licences granted to the masters of vessels for the tranportation of pilgrims preserved in the Foedera of Rymer, it appears as though about this period St. James of Compostella, being easier of access, had attracted a great proportion of the Western, or at least British devotees, and latterly proved a formidable rival to the Sepulchre. At length the reformation in many countries of Europe obliterated the passage to Jerusalem, and pilgrimage since that event has been upon the decline. Yet the practice is not totally abandoned; and Jaffa still annually receives the remnant of those who as an exercise of piety visit the hallowed scenes of Palestine, in which the divine Author of our religion lived and died. (Brown, p. 411. See also an account in Lusignan, Travels, vol. ii. p. 234, et seq. and in his rival Volney, vol. ii. p. 304, et seq.)
page 411 note h The vicinity of this place to Jerusalem rendered it of importance to the Franks in all their religious expeditions as pilgrims or warriors. It accordingly became the theatre of much military enterprise. Here on the shore, in sight of the city and castle, Richard Cæur de Lion, rivalled the heroes of romance, and astonished the Saracens by his deeds in arms. The king, with only eighty knights and four hundred cross-bow-men, “hasted to Joppe by sea: Saladine having already taken the town, the souldiers were upon delivery of the castle; when King Richard brake in among them like a furious lion, and chased the Saracens to Ramula. But hearing the next day of the king's small number they returned. Saladine sent 62,000 to set upon the king, which encompassed his tents, and awaked him with their noise. He gate upon his horse, attended by eleven others, and beyond beliefe so laid about him, making way for the rest, that they in the towne also made out, and quited the field of them.” (Purchas, vol. i. 1. 8..C. 4. & 2, from Matth. Paris.)
Safadin, the successor of Saladin, took a bloody revenge for this repulse; for he stormed the city in 1193, and put 20,000 Christians to the sword. (Vertot, vol. i. p. 101.) St. Louis, during his stay in the Holy Land, rebuilt the walls at an immense expence, and furnished them with twenty-four towers, A. D. 1250. (Joinville, vol. i. p. 216.) But these were destroyed by the Sultan who expelled the Franks from Syria, and Jaffa continued little better than a heap of ruins for several ages. “Totaliter est destructa,” says Wey, (MS. fol. 20.); and Sandys (Travels, p. 153.) found no part of it standing. By degrees it revived to more recent miseries. It suffered severely in the sieges undertaken against it, by Ali Bey in 1771, and Mohammed Abudahab in 1776. (Volney, vol. i. c. 8 and 9.) It was also taken by assault by the French, March 6, 1799.
page 411 note 1 In the Latin version it is “malorum.” Q. stragglers?
page 412 note i Jaffa presents an object rather extraordinary in the Levant, a good wharf. (Brown, page 410.)
page 413 note k Pocock (vol. ii. part 1. p. 3.) asserts the same; yet water is scarce, being principally carried by women from a small river in the vicinity. One of the governors engaged to remedy this inconvenience; but before he could accomplish his purpose, he was strangled by order of that barbarian, Djezzar Pacha of Damascus. (Brown, p. 411.)
page 413 note l The harvest is very early at Ramla according to the historians in the Gesta Dei, Raimond de Agiles, p. 173, and Fulcherius Carnotensis, p. 413. See also Harmer's Observations concerning the weather in the Holy Land, vol. i. pp. 41, 68.
page 413 note m On this fertile spot the adventurers of the first Croisade, in 1099, found ample supplies of corn and provisions for themselves and their cattle. Here they received intelligence concerning the Saracens from their spies, and from the Syrian Christians of Bethlehem. The inhabitants of Ramla having fled upon their approach, they continued in the town four days to refresh and prepare themselves for the siege of Jerusalem. (Gesta Francor. Expugn. Hierus. in Gesta Dei, p. 572.) The condition of this place in later days has been very deplorable. (Lusignan, p. 186.)
page 414 note n The word casale, or casellum, frequently used by the writers of the Croisades, is sometimes applied to towns of considerable size, and sometimes to smaller collections of habitations, to villages or hamlets. (See Lithgow's Travels, part viii. p. 353.) Thus Damietta is called by Sanutus “casale longum,” and the same term is used by Matthew of Paris when he speaks of Mansoura, in the account of the expedition of St. Louis in 1250. (Vinisauf in Gale, vol. ii. p. 362, and Hist. Capt. Damiatae, ibid. pp. 440, 451.) Will. Tyriensis in Bongars, p. 808–1031, explains it by “loca suburbana.” For a variety of testimonies upon this subject see the Glossary of Du Cange.
page 414 note o Aera.
page 414 note p This valley, and that of Siloë, are designated in D'Anville's plan as the valley of Kedron and the valley of Benhinnom. Dissertat. sur l'etendue de Jerusalem.
page 414 note q A curious article of intelligence is given, in a Latin description of the holy places, concerning this valley. “Inter templum domini et montem oliveti est vallis iosaphat: ubi virgo raaria ab angelis sepulta fuit. In quam valient, mundumjudicaturus, veniet dominus. (MS. Bodl. 2661. 750.)
In this manner were the superstitious visitants imposed upon by the resident Christians, whose office it was to point out the sacred spots, and who delighted to load them with wonders. We may therefore search in vain in the greater part of the few accounts, which the earliest of these religious travellers since the Croisades have left us, for any interesting particulars respecting the existing condition of this city and country. They are filled with memorials of the weakness of the human mind. The mention of any place is immediately followed by the superstitious legend attached to it, or the number of pardons to be obtained there. The rhymers are intolerably barren. Take a sample from the opening of William Wey;
“Fro Venyse to Port Jaff by the see
Hyt ys ij myle and hundrys thre
And yn that see ther ys a place
Wher the whale swallowyd Jonas
Ther ys yn the same by syde that
A Stone that Seynt Peter fyschyd at.” &c. &c.
Wey has, however, a mixture of a few better things in the prose part of his book; but of the above-mentioned unprofitable class are two MSS. preserved in the Bodleian Collection (MS. Laud. 1.74. fol. 65, and MSi Bodl. 2004. 57.), besides the Latin MS. already quoted, and observations made in Pilgrimage in the first volume of Purchas. These are little more than mere catalogues of distances, indulgences, and scriptural and traditional references. Breidenbach is strongly infected with the same taste. Baumgarten and De la Brocquiere are perhaps some of the best among the old pilgrims, whose accounts have been handed down.
page 415 note t This venerable building which contained the ostensible cause of so many murderous expeditions to the East, was respected by the Mahometans themselves; and they have even suffered the tombs of Godfrey and Baldwin to remain uninjured to, the present day. Indeed the Saracens appear to have been much more careful of this edifice than the Christians, at one period of the barbarous ages. It might be imagined that those who had made such sacrifices to become the masters of it, would have preserved it inviolate, and transmitted the same disposition to their successors. But the contrary seems to have been the case. It should seem as though the settlers after the first Croisade manifested top little respect for it, and that, whatever might have been the fate of it, under the reign of the devout Godfrey of Bouillon, it became, probably after his death, an object of plunder. A contemporary rhymer, who witnessed this disgraceful conduct, gives an account of the revolutions which this structure had undergone;1 and in an apostrophe to King Baldwin, exhorting him to remedy the prevalent neglect and abuses, proves that the Christians were not very careful to preserve inviolate that which they had lavished so much blood to obtain.
“Gratias agamus Deo qui nostris temporibus
Templum suum cum sepulcro sicut ipsi cernimus
De turcorum perfidorum liberavit manibus
Atque suis excolendum reddidit fidelibus.
Sed adversus eos quiddam graviter conquerimur
Qui eidem templo modo deservire cernimur.
Nam cum bona sua templo sunt ab infidelibus
Conservata sicut patet in structuris ipsius
Neque enim de musino sive de marmoribus
Opera tot essent facta extra vel interius
Nisi de collatis sibi maximis redditibus.
Illud vero venerari qui deberet amplius
Rebus suis spoliavit Ckristianus populus.2
Verum tu Baldwine miles invictissime
Fac eos qui rapuerunt templo sua reddere
Erit enim sempiternum nobis ad opprobrium
Si ruinam patiatur tempore fidelium
Quod honeste tenuerunt nationes gentium
Qui tamen ipsius templi non noverunt dominum.”
MS. Bibl. Bodl. 2391. Bodl. 603.
Eighty-eight years the Christians retained it in their possession, till at length it was wrested from them them by Saladin in 1187. When this prince recovered the city, he made the patriarchal church the object of his especial care; for he caused the bells to be melted down, and the building to be washed with rose water, and converted into a mosque. Though it was afterwards restored to the Franks by Al Kamel in 1227, they were in a few years obliged to relinquish it, never more to resume the possession of the sacred tomb. (Vertot, ut supra.)
Many descriptions of the city were printed in the sixteenth century; a list of which may be seen at the end of Theatrum Terrae Sanctæ. Col. Agrip. 1589. But Sandys and Maurrdrell are, perhaps, the best guides. The judicious relation of the latter is the subject df universal praise; and Sandys has all the devotion without the blind credulity of the pilgrim character. At the sight of the relic in possession of the Turks, he exclaims, “O who can without sorrow, without indignation, behold the enimies of Christ to be the Lords of.his Sepulchre!” (Travels, p. 161.)
Latterly, owing to the decrease of the revenues arising from pilgrimage, the church had been much neglected, and was rapidly falling to decay (Brown, p. 413.): when on the night of the 11th of October 1808 it. was destroyed by fire. The interior of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre is said, however, to have escaped without the least injury. (See Literary Panorama, Nos. 35, 36, 37. May, June, and July 1809.)
page 416 note 1 The writer apparently confounds this building with the original Jewish temple; but this was a traditional error among the pilgrims. See Vertot, vol. i. p. 89.
page 416 note 2 Perhaps by way of sending them as relics to Europe.
page 417 note s The want of it was bitterly experienced by the army under Godfrey of Bouillon. (Gul. Tyr. 1. viii. p. 7. and Albert, Acquensis, 1. vi. p. 6.) This is noticed in an old MS. Romance of the first Croisade, Bibl. Bodl. Hattori, 68.
“Mult angoissement fud lost de eue greuee
Por en porent trouer al mains dune iornee
Et cele que i trouent ere si eschaufee
Et quant ele est en lost a paine est a desee,” &c.
The thirst of the besiegers was so extreme that “they digged holes in the earth, and put the moist turfs to their mouths; they licked the dewy marbles, and sewed beasts skins newly killed to fetch water.” (Purchas, vol. i. 1. 8. c. 1.)
While thus they daily suffered under a burning sun, the Saracens within the city were amply supplied, principally from an enormous cistern. (Alb. Acquensis, 1. vi. p. 22.) The facility with which every local advantage of this nature may be cut off, without the walls, has ever constituted one of the best defences of the place. When Saladin expected to be attacked by the confederate Christians, he began, according to the author of his life, translated by Sehultens, “aquas extra urbem eorrumpere, cisternasque et puteos diraere; ita ut circa nihil remaneret omnino quod bibi posset. Contentissimo studio et labore isti rei perficiendæ incubuit, quod terra Hierosolymitana apta nata haud sit ad puteos aquae limpidse ac perennis effodiendos, quae magno duroque saxo in montem consurgat.” (Bohadin, Vita Saladini, c. 155.) And the same historian asserts that the French and English quarrelled upon the difficulty of procuring water, when, led by Richard Cceur de Lion, they approached in sight of Jerusalem and retired. (Id. e. 156.) This concurrent cause of the failure of that attempt is, I believe, unnoticed by Christian writers.
page 418 note t Turn s Hippicos. D'Anville. Psephina turris. Castel Pisano.
page 418 note u The fortress of the city during the Croisades. It had been of considerable magnitude; and the consequence attached to it may be collected from a circumstance related by Vertot; that the ambassadors soliciting the aid of Philip II. King of France, presented him with the keys of this important tower, as well as those of the city, as a sort of investiture or right of possession which he was to acquire by his arms. (Vertot, vol. i. p. 78.) Benjamin of Tudela mentions it as the strongest building in Jerusalem;1 and the Archbishop of Tyre has thus described it: “Turris David, opere constructa solidissimo, quæ quasi præsidium civitatis cum turribus, muris et antemuralibus sibi annexis, universae sub se positæ præeminet civitati.” (Gul. Tyr. in Gesta Dei, p. 747.)
When during the siege of 1099, the besiegers in the quarter of Godfrey were constructing that moveable tower which proved so fatal to the Saracens, the latter, considering it impossible to move the ponderous machine from the place where it stood, boasted in derision, that if it could be advanced to the walls they would bring the tower of David from the other side of the city to oppose it. (Gesta Franc, expugnant. Hierusalem, in Gesta Dei, p. 575.) Immediately after the capture of the place, the garrison, terrified with the general slaughter which they beheld from the walls of this castle, surrendered it to Raymond, who, with an honourable exception to the savage treatment which the inhabitants experienced at large, granted them safe conduct to Ascalon. (Raimondde Agiles, p. 179.)
It is still the citadel, the residence of the Turkish Aga, and commands a prospect of the Red Sea, Judaæ, and Arabia. (D'Anville, Dissert, sur l'etendue de Jerusalem, pp. 19, 23.)
page 418 note 1 P. 41. Ed. L'Empereur. Notwithstanding the apparent deviations from truth contained In the narrative of his journey, I am unwilling to reject the whole of it as dross. His description of this tower is circumstantial and striking.
page 419 note x The following is a representation of the different positions of the besieging army in the memorable first Croisade.
1. Position of Godfrey of Bouillon.
2. Position of Robert Count of Normandy and Robert Count of Flanders.
3. Position of Raymond.
4. Position of Tancred: but he afterwards drew off to support the two Roberts. (See Gesta Franc, expugn. Hierus. in Gesta Dei, p. 574.)
page 419 note y It is greatly choked up since the time of Fakr-el-din, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. (Volney, vol. ii. p. 227.)
page 420 note z Henry, Count of Champagne, and nephew to the King of England, who by marriage with Isabella had obtained a right to the kingdom of Jerusalem, fell from a window in the wall of Acre, as he was looking upon a review of troops in the plain below, and died in the fosse. An. 1193. (Vertot, vol. i.p. 101.)
page 420 note a The importance and beauty of Acre and its miserable downfall have been the theme of much panegyric and lamentation. This city was celebrated for the splendour of its buildings, and the number and variety of its population; and being of great consequence in point of situation, was several times lost and won by the contending parties in the Croisades.
Acre was taken by Baldwin the First, King of Jerusalem, assisted by seventy Genoese galleys, in 1104; and in 1187 the Saracens again became masters of it under Saladin. In 1191, after a blockade and many obstinate conflicts during two years, it yielded to the Christians commanded by Richard I. and Philip Augustus, Kings of England and France. This is a siege which is celebrated in the annals of chivalry, and the pages of romance; and is singular for the great variety of nations engaged upon the occasion. “Si decennale bellum,” says an old historian, “Trojam celebrem reddidit; si Christicolarum triumphus Antiochiam illustrius extulit3 Accon profecto perpetua fama extollet, proquo pariter totus orbis conflixit.” (Hist. Hierosolym. in Gesta Dei, p. 1166. Marin in Hist. de Saladin, draws a brief parallel between the sieges of Troy and Acre, 1. 11.)
St. Louis, who rendered this the place of his residence, after his escape from Egypt, strengthened the fortifications by heightening the walls and erecting towers. (Joinville, vol. ii. p. 224.) As the Franks towards the close of their continuance in Syria, were gradually pressed and straightened by the Saracens on every side, Acre became a place of increasing resort, a refuge for characters of every description, and the seat of insubordination and every crime. It was besides peculiarly unfortunate in having no head to reform its abuses, direct its strength, and watch over its safety. The number of independent sovereigns having authority there in 1263 is almost incredible. They are said to have been
Henry King of Jerusalem and Cyprus.
The Duke of Athens.
The King of Naples and Sicily.
The Venetians.
The Prince of Antioch.
The English. The Count of Jaffa.
The Genoese. The Count of Tripoli.
The Pisans.
The Prince of Galilee.
The Florentines.
The Legate of the Pope, maintaining at his own cost 2,500 men.
The Prince of Tarentum. The King of Armenia.
The Grand Master of the Templars.
The Grand Master of the Hospitallers.
The Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.
The Grand Master of St. Lazarus.1
To which some add the Patriarch of Jerusalem; and others even affirm that within the walls there were no less than twenty-nine distinct tribunals appointed to judge and determine the affairs of so many different nations. (Perry's View of the Levant, p. 132.) The consequence may easily be anticipated. As all these were occasionally at variance with each other, a criminal had only to fly from the quarter, in which the offence was committed, to the protection of a rival governor, and he was screened from punishment. Such a state of things could not continue long; and Seraf, the Sultan of Egypt, taking advantage of an outrage that had been committed upon some of his subjects, and for which he in vain demanded satisfaction, laid siege to Acre in the spring of 1291, with the determination of razing it to the ground. (The geographer Abulfeda was with the army employed upon this service. Tabula Syriae a Kaehler, p. 82.)
From Marinus Sanutus, who had frequently visited it before it was destroyed, the annexed plan is given of the city, together with an account of the circumstances which preceded, attended, and followed its fall, including the total expulsion of the Franks from the Holy Land;—a narrative, which is at least so far interesting as it comes from the pen of one who was living at the time when these events occurred, and who enjoyed every opportunity of inquiry.
Lib. III. p. XII. c. xxi.
Continet amissionem Ptolomayde civitatis. XXL
A.D. 1290. Cogitavit Melee Messor Soldanus parare exercitum ad destruendam in Terra Suriæ Christianorum reliquias; et MCCXC. de mense Octobris movit exercitum. Sed qui Amoræos inde expellere noluit, nisi completae forent iniquitates eorum, adhuc patienter sustinuit, si forte ad pænitentiam redeant de via sua mala; et mortuus est Messor in itinere, successitque illi filius vocatus Seraf. Cum vero carnalia, cæteraque peccata continuè augerentur in fractoribus foederis baptismalis, nee de malis vellent con-teri, nee per pcenitentiam redire ad viamjustitiae, assumpsit Seraf paternum propositum, eb audentius commotus, quod xix Saracenos mercatores Ptolomayde, in loco vocato Lafunda, juxta cambium, contra fidem treugarum, crucesignati gladio peremerunt, ac poscenti justitiaæ denegata sit: et quasi instrumentum, licet dirum, severi judicisnegli-A. D. 1291- gentibus misericordise tempus, Mccxci. quinto Aprilis, undique obsedit Ptolomaydam civitatem: in exercitu enim suo habuisse dicitur LX. millia equitnm, et CLX. millia peditum. Erexit autem in locis variis machinas multas, demolientes muros civitatis et turres: fecit quoque plures mines, seu cuniculos, respondentes ad terram novam, factam nuperanteturrem Maledictam, etad sbaraliumsive barbacanum regis Hugonis, et ad turrem Comitissæ de Blois, et ad turrem Sancti Nicolai, usque ad sbaralium Domini Odoardi; et post leboauchiers fecit erigi plures Carabagas, projicientes magnos lapides, et frequenter, ita ut prosternerent muros cum turribus. Venit autem Rex Henricus in succursum obsessis. iv. Madii cum ducentis militibus, et quingentis peditibus: et vm die ejusdem men sis destruxerunt sbaralium Regis Hugonis, imposueruntque ignem: pontem quoque muro adhærentem sitniliter: quia aliquibus videbatur quod haec defendere non valerent. Saraceni aut'em xv Madii, violenter ceperunt turrim rotundam novam Regis, quee erat ante turrem Maledictam; et ipsarn electis bellatoribus muniere. xvm. autera ejusdem mensis insexta feria, Soldanus durissimum civitati dedit insultum, omnem apponens exercitus sui virtutem, contra totum muri circuitum, a mari videlicet usque ad mare: et intraverunt Saraceni per dictam turrim novam toto conatu, usque ad barbacanum, et obtinuerunt: inde per pontem lapideum, quem fecerant Christiani, ut per eum a magno muro ad barbacanum transirent, civitatem ingressi sunt; diverteruntque aliqui versus portam Sancti Nicolai; alii versus portam Legati. Tune Christiani fugam capiunt versus mare; et Saraceni per scalas liberè muros ascendunt, et infra civitatem jam omnia occupant. Rex autem et Magistri Templi, et Hospitalis Alamannorum, Johannes de Grelli, et caeteri bellatores processerunt ad portam civitatis, ut exirent ad barbacanum; sed major fuit potentia resistentium. Magister enim Templi cum aliquibus confratruni ulteriorem moliens insultum, spiculo percussus interiit, et ad Templum usque delatus est. Post hæc videntes Turchi quod nulla esset defensio ad portam Turris Maledictae in civitatem intrantes, quoscunque reperiunt gladio secant. Cernentes autem Rex et Capitaneus qui secum erant, illorum liberum introitum, cunctosque perimere, versus mare pergunt; et cum majoribus galeas ascendunt. Eorum vero qui gladios effugerant impiorum, rionulli ad templum habuere recursum. Patriarcha solus, quasi pastor bonus, sollicitus erat de ovibus, et cum propinqua illi esset galea ad recipiendum parata, ut gregem salvaret commissum, cunctos per aquam ambulantes ad se in parvo suo navigio recolligere cupiebat, donee nimiâ fuit repletione submersa. Sic animam pro ovibus suis, et simul cum ovibus suis dedit: solusque evasit qui portabat crucem, et crucifixi imaginem, ante eum. Multitudo itaque ad maritimam partem con-currerat; et cum parva navigia vellent ascendere, ut ad majora confugerent, seipsos impedientes, (nam ubi multitudo maxima timore mortis perterrita, ibi confusio) in mare alteru-trum impellebant. Erat quoque in mari tempestas valiila, ut ad magna navigia accedere non valerent: undique erat tremor, et pavor, et gemitus mortis. Soldanus quoque ad quatuor partes civitatis fecit ignes accendi, ut ferro et igne consumeret universa. Nunc luit peccata, sed non abluit civitas scelerata, gratiis divinis ingrata. Ad ipsam conflue-bant Reges et Principes terræ, ad ipsam mittebant succursum tributariæ cunctæ partes Occiduæ; et nunc contra earn pugnant omnia elementa. Terra enim, ejus sanguinem devorat quæ Christiano sanguine tota madescit, mare absorbit populum; ædificia consumit ignis, aer fumo et caligine tenebratur. Juste proinde Maledicta vocata est turris ilia, quâ maledicta gens Saracenica subintravit; et qui illi nomen imposuit, eventum tam diri infor-tunii, nesciens quid diceret, prophetavit.
XXII. Eodem die quo Ptolomayda capta est, Tyrii civitatem vacuam in vesperis relinquentes victoribus, sine ictu gladii, absque tumultu belli occupandam liberè, ascensis navibus, reliquerunt; in crastino vero, Saraceni intraverunt, nemine prohibente, feceruntque quod libuit. In crastino quoque Ptolomaydæ captionis Soldanus misit ad eos qui ad Templum confugerant, ut locum reddant; salvosque conduci faceret, quo ipsi elegerint: firmata conventione Soldanus Admirakium quendam cum trecentis transmittit ad locum: quorum nonulli Christianas capiunt mulieres, cum illis affectantes turpitudinem operari. Tune Christiani arma capiunt, et interficiunt universos. Soldanus dissimulata ira, iterum priora requirit; culpatque suos, quasi negligat quod evenit. Accedit proinde ad Soldanum Marescalcus Templi, cum aliis pluribus ignarus perfidies, capiteque truncatur. Quod cernentes qui in Templo remanserant, in turri qua Magistri vocabatur, se reduxerunt. Saraceni vero turrim suiFoderunt, trabibus sustentantes; et tune cum Christiani se redderent, tot Saraceni turrim ascenderunt, ut ruptis scalis ex pondere, turrique ruente cum Christianis, non solum qui intra, sed etiam multi qui erant exterius Saraceni, extincti sunt. Templarii autem qui prius fugerant, Sydonem adeunt, et muniunt castrum maris: contra quos Soldanus unum Admiratum transmisit, nomine Segei: qui cum eos ex parte terrae superare non posset, in Licia prasparavit navigia; quod cernentes Templarii, timore percussi, ad Tortosae insulam primo, Cyprum deinde confugerunt; Admiraldus vero castrum dirui jussit. Tune qui Baruthi erant, nuntios illis transmittunt petentes quid de eis intenderet: responditque subdolus Segey cum inter eos esset treugae conventio et Soldanum, ideo sibi per confines suos transeunti festive occurrant; illi dum jussa perficiunt, trucidantur, capiuntur, catenisque nectuntur; diruitque muros civitatis et castrum. Post hsec parvo elapso tempore, castrum Peregrinorum a Christianis relinquitur, et a Saracenis destruitur. Tune omnis Suria amissa est, cunctique Christiani habitatores Terræ Promissionis, aut morte extincti sunt, aut profugi exulesque suis demeritis, inde ad Insu-lam Cypri habuere refugium: illicque secum habentes, quam secum in conscientia porta-verant sarcinam peccatorum, et causam desolationis prajfatæ, in multa angustia multoque tremore miseram vitam agunt.
(Mar. Sanuti Tors. Secreta Fidel. Cruc. in Gesta Dei per Francos, vol. ii.)
Acre remained for several centuries in a state of complete desolation; though the works, indeed, were in some degree repaired by the Mamelukes, from whom they were taken by the Turks in 1517. (Pocock, vol. ii. part 1. p. 52.) The palace of the Knights of St. John was also partly restored by the extraordinary Fakr-el-din, Emir of the Druses (Id. vol. ii. part 1. pp. 52, 53.); but the rest of the city continued much in the same condition in which it is described by De Lannoy, till within about the last fifty years. The modern restoration of this place arose from the industry of Sheik Daher in 1751 (Hasselquist); and the various buildings since erected by Djezzar Pacha, the mosque and the palace, the reservoir, baths and markets rendered it one of the principal towns upon the coast. The population in 1797 amounted to between 15 and 20,000. (Volney, vol. ii. p. 226, and Brown, p. 420.) The circumstances of the last siege are well known. The valour of contending nations was never more eminently displayed; and France and England disputed the palm of victory on the same remote spot, where, with a singularity almost unparalleled n i their histories, they had formerly fought as allies.
page 425 note b The ruins were very splendid; among which were reckoned the vestiges of thirty churches. (Thevenot.) “The carkasse shews that the body hath bin strong; double immured, fortified with bulwarks and towers; to each wall a ditch, lined with stone, and under those divers secret posternes. You would thinke by the ruines that the city rather consisted wholy of divers conjoyning castles, than any way mixed with private dwellings: which witnes a notable defence, and an unequall assault; or that the rage of the conquerours extended beyond conquest; the huge wals and arches turned topsie turvy, and lying like rocks upon the foundation.” (Sandys, pp. 204, 205.) Under the temple of the Knights Hospitallers was concealed a treasure in a vault, which escaped the general pillage; but the place being marked with a piece of marble, and the knowledge of it being successively communicated to the members of that society, they landed at Acre, sometime about the year 1570, and conveyed it in safety to Malta. (Thevenot, Sandys, ut supra.) A particular description of the ruins is given by Doubdan (Voyage de la Terre Sainte), a pilgrim who travelled in 1651, and dedicated his book to the Virgin Mary. Two pillars of white marble, said to be brought from Acre, stand near the great gate of the palace of St. Mark at Venice, and the vulgar believed that they were to serve as a gibbet for the Doge, should he do any thing contrary to law. (Blainville's Travels, p. 522.)
page 425 note c Saladin laid it entirely waste in the third Croisade. In this plain Fulk of Anjou, King of Jerusalem, was killed in hunting by a fall from his horse. Will. Tyriens, 1. 15. The mountains to the north are Antilibanon, and to the east the hills of Galilee.
page 426 note c About the cities of Tripoli and Acre an epidemic disorder usually prevails from May to the end of September. It is an intermitting fever of a most malignant kind arising from adjoining morasses, stagnant waters, and their noxious exhalations. In the season when no rain has fallen the disorder is unknown. (Volney, vol. ii. pp. 158, 159.) During the celebrated two years siege, a dreadful mortality raged in the camp of the Franks. In the first winter, before the arrival of the King of England, the debatable ground was turned into a swamp; and the mire was so deep between the encampment of the besiegers and that of Saladin, who had taken up a position beyond them, that it reached to the girths of the horses, and for a time put a stop to all hostilities. (Abul-pharagius and Bohadin, c. 64.) In the second winter, that of 1190, Saladin retired on account of the incessant rain (Bohadin, c. 88.); and the Christians, continuing at their post, were, in the absence of the Saracens, assailed by a far more destructive enemy. (Id. c. 92.) Guy of Lusignan saw four of his sons and his queen Sybilla perish. (Vertot, vol. i. p. 95.) Richard himself was seized with the distemper (Bohadin, c. 104.); and its ravages furnished Philip with a pretext for returning to France.
page 426 note e The fountain of St. Mary, (Pocock, vol. ii. p. 53.) See also his plan of the site of the city.
page 426 note f This mound is famous in history, and is so obviously calculated for advantage, that it seems to have been selected by every assailant. Guy King of Jerusalem made choice of it when he first invested the place. “Rex montem proximum, quem vulgo Turonem dicunt, tentoriis figendis eligit; unde loci beneficio et maris et terrae speculetur accessus. Mons iste, a parte urbis orientali consurgit editior; et in circuitu oculo spatiante liberius, longe lateque prospectum in plana diffundit.” (Hist. Hierosol. in Gesta Dei, p. 1165.)
In the translation of Bohadin it is styled, “Collis precantium.” (c. 56. 58.) Upon another elevation, more towards the north, Saladin pitched his tents to watch the motions and harass the army of the Croisaders. “Mons quidem Turoni objectus eminet, his hostis papiliones fixerat, et ingens camporum interjecta planities, aream bellis accommodam latius explicabat.” (Hist. Hierosol. ut supra, p. 1165.) Thus a double line of enemies and friends was formed around this devoted city.
Both these eminences are thus noticed by Pocock. “Half a mile east of the city is a small hill, improved by art, it is about half a mile in length, and a quarter of a mile broad, and is very steep every way, except to the south-west. This was probably the camp of the besiegers, as it was a fine situation for that purpose; and the Pacha pitches his tent on the hill when he goes the yearly circuit to receive his tribute. To the north-west of this place, and a mile to the north of the city, there is another firm situation for a camp, being a rising ground.” (Vol. ii. part 1. p. 54. Marin in Hist. de Saladin, 1. 9, has given a good account of Acre and the environs.)
The French occupied the first of these eminences in 1799. The siege of six years mentioned by our author, is most probably a traditional reference to that which occurred in the reign of Saladin.
page 428 note g In this port was fought a battle between the fleet of Saladin and the navy of the Franks, in which that of the Sultan was destroyed before his eyes, A. 1188. (Abul-phar. Hist. Dynast, a Pocock, p. 274.)
page 428 note h Benjamin of Tudela, whom I am not disposed to think entirely unworthy of credit, saw the city in the hands of the Christians, and has particularly mentioned this port. “Tyre is a very neat city, which has within itself a haven or port, where the ships ride at anchor between two towers. But in the night time, the Publicans extend an iron chain from one tower to another, that no persons, should they rob the ships, may have an opportunity of escaping. Nor is there any thing in the world which can compare with this haven.” (Travels translated by Gerrans, c. vii. p. 66.) The opening of this bason is still defended by two towers, but the port itself is so choked up that children pass it without being wet above the middle. (Volney, vol. ii. p. 211.)
page 429 note i Jt discovers still the foundations of a wall which anciently encompassed it round, at the utmost margin of the land. (Maundrell, p. 50.)
page 429 note k Necessity taught the inhabitants to remedy the want of water in the island by cisterns, the remains of which are still to be found in the form of vaulted caves, paved and walled with the utmost care. A considerable one was some time since discovered without the walls. (Volney, vol. ii. pp. 219, 220.)
page 430 note l The last King of Jerusalem crowned at Tyre was Hugh VII. King of Cyprus, about twelve or fourteen years before the loss of the Holy Land. (Vertot under Hugh de Revel, vol. i. p. 167.)
page 430 note m The most remarkable building is a ruin at the soulh-east corner. This was a Christian church, built probably by the Croisaders; a part of the choir only is remaining; close to which, amidst heaps of stones, lie two beautiful columns, with shafts of red granite, of a kind unknown in Syria. Djezzar, who stripped all this country to ornament his mosque at Acre, wished to carry them away, but his engineers were not able even to move them. (Volney, vol. ii. pp. 212, 213.) “They extend,” says Lusignan, “from east to west: each of them consists of a triple column on a flat stone, the length of which is about sixteen feet, besides thepiece which is broken off the main body; the diameter I could not measure, as they lay on the ground covered with nettles; but as nearly as I could guess, the diameter of the three united columns, which were of a single granite, might be about seven feet.” (Revolt of Ali Bey, &c. p. 173. See also Extrait du Journal de General Vial, in Mem. sur L'Egypte, vol. iv. p. 217.)
Maundrell conjectures that this might have been the cathedral; Pocock (Travels, ii. p.49.) was informed that it had been dedicated to St. John. In the cathedral the unfortunate Frederic Barbarossa was interred (Herold. Contin. bell. sacr. 1. ii. c. 6, 7.); and in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in this city the tomb of the great Origen was still to be seen i n the time ofBrocard; “cujus titulum,” says the monk, “et vidi et legi.” (p. 5.)
The denunciation of the prophet (Ezekiel, c. xxvii.) is literally fulfilled in the desolation of Tyre. During the holy wars, however, the city was distinguished by population and trade: and was the seat of an archbishop, next in precedency to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. (Sandys, p. 216.) It seems to have experienced fewer revolutions than some of the other cities upon the coast, owing perhaps to the strength of its fortifications; which were by some thought much superior to those of Acre. (Brocard. See also Abulfedæ Syria a Kæhler, under the article Tyre.) Sanutus was there before the final destruction of the place, and his account may give some idea of its strength and grandeur. “Tyrus ex parte terrse triplici muro crasso cingitur, habetque fossas profundas et latas, ad quas facile esset introducere aquas maris. Muri quoque xli turribus munitissimis ornantur: turribus vero continuatur arx civitatis in rupe in corde maris, et ipsa turribus et palatiis distincta.” (Seer, fidel. Crucisign. 1. ii. p. 4. c. 22.)
The changes that it underwent during the croisades are briefly these. Though in 1112 it successfully resisted the attempts of Baldwin I. during a siege of four months, it surrendered about twelve years after to Baldwin II. In 1188 it was attempted by Saladin, who directed the efforts of a large army furnished with many powerful military engines against that part of the wall which crossed the isthmus; he endeavoured also to blockade it by sea; but was at length compelled to retire. (Abul-phar. Hist. Dynast; p. 274.) The year 1291 brought it finally under the destructive dominion of the Saracens. Terrified at the unsparing capture of Acre, on the evening of the same day in which that signal event occurred, the Christian inhabitants with universal consent embarked on board their ships, and abandoned their city: their enemies marched in without opposition on the ensuing morning, and Tyre was shortly levelled in the dust. (Pocock, vol. ii. part 1. p. 83.)
page 431 note n See Volney, vol. ii. p. 213.
page 431 note o This fountain is said to have been made by Solomon, at the time when he cultivated an alliance with Hiram, King of Tyre. (Pocock, vol. ii. part 1. p. 81.) Maundrell (Journey, p. SO, and Volney, vol. ii. p. 213 et seq.) however, advances an argument which tends to prove it of a much later date. It is so abundant that it drives three mills which are near it; and forms a rivulet before it reaches the sea, which is only four hundred paces distant.
page 431 note p Ras-el-aen, Volney. Bakwok. Pocock, vol. ii. p. 84.
page 431 note q Libanon and Antilibanon.
page 432 note r A river of Flanders, which rises at Lisbourg, and after passing by Aire, St. Venant, La Gorgue, Armentieres, Varneton, and Commines, falls into the Scheldt at Ghent. (Martiniere, Diction. Geograph. in the article.) The attempt of the people of Bruges to turn its course, by opening a canal to their town, occasioned disturbances between them and the people of Ghent, which in the fourteenth century, proved so murderous and destructive to Flanders. (Froissart, vol. iv. c. 20. 26.)
In the year 1423 an inundation of this river did much damage to the surrounding country. (Joan. Burgund. Annal. sive Hist. Rerum Belgic. p. 304.)
Hugh De Lannoy, grandfather of Gilbert II. was Lord of Lys. (See Diet, de Morery.)
page 433 note s On the rock stood a tower built by the Teutonick Knights. (Sanutus, 1. iii. p.14. c. 3.)
page 433 note t Boucicaut, in his Croisade in 1403, intended to have made an attempt upon this place; and had disembarked some of his troops in the water, in sight of twelve thousand horse and foot drawn out upon the shore; but the wind suddenly changing set in from the land and obliged him to retire. (Hist. de Boucicaut, pp. 158, 154.)
page 433 note u Fakr-el-din destroyed this as well as every other little port from Bairout to Acre, by sinking boats and stones to prevent the Turkish ships from entering them. The bason of Saida, if it were emptied, might contain twenty or twenty-five small vessels. (Volney, vol. ii. p. 208.)
page 433 note x The evidence of Sanutus, so often adverted to, is interesting upon the subject of the sea-ports of Syria; since being continually engaged in mercantile pursuits, he spent his life chiefly in foreign parts; and had frequently visited the towns in the hands of the Franks, at a time when they were about to be wrested from them by the Saracens. He thus describes Saida: “Sydon magna fuit, autem in campo per longum disposita, tendens ab Austro ad Aquilonem, sub monte Antilibano: de ruinis autem ejus alia parva, sed munita edificata est, et etiam ex parte una in corde maris sita: habens hinc inde duo castra satis munita; unum ab Aquilone, in rupe quadam in mari, quod ibidem edificaverunt Peregrini Theutonici; aliud ex parte Australi, in colle situm; quæ castra, cum civitate, tenebant milites templi; et est ibi terra fertilis et aer saluberrimus.” (Secreta Fidel. Crucisign. 1. 3. p. 14. c. S.) Baldwin I. took Saida by the assistance of the pilgrims and croisaders of Denmark and Norway. It was much improved by St. Louis when he sojourned in Syria; and he rebuilt the castle on the south side, which still retains his name. (Pocock, vol. ii. pp. 86, 87.) The town was lost by the Christians in 1291. (Theatrum Terree Sanctae under the word.) It had been an episcopal see, depending upon the Archbishop of Tyre; and in the political revolutions of those days generally underwent the same fate as that city.
Fakr-el-din, Emir of the Druses, of whose genius and achievements an account may be seen in Sandys (Travels, p. 210, &c. and Volney vol. ii.p. 41, &c.) has here left vestiges of his power in a castle and the ruins of a magnificent palace. Saida is still flourishing; the situation is good, and the air salubrious. For the modern state of it compare Volney (vol. ii. p. 207, &c), Lusignan (Revolt of Ali Bey, p. 174, &c), and Brown (Travels, p. 430.)
page 436 note y This place was taken from the Saracens by Baldwin I, in 1111, and retaken by Saladin in 1187. Ten years afterwards the Franks regained it, and it was frequently ravaged by both parties in the holy wars. (Pocock, vol. ii. part 1. p. 90.) Boucicaut, in 1403, landed in spite of opposition, stormed and burned the city, and destroyed the vessels in the harbour. (Hist. de Boucicaut, p. 153.)
page 436 note z De la Brocquiere (Voyage, p. 486.) observed the commercial advantages of Bairout in the residence of merchants from Europe. The reason of the difference between the prosperity of this town and the others upon the coast is very obvious. Saida had no particular communication with the interior; and Jaffa only received the pilgrims of the Sepulchre; but Bairout was a warehouse for the costly merchandise of Damascus.
page 437 note a See Harmer, vol. i. p. 210, for a similar custom.
page 437 note b The approach to Bairout is even now finer than that of any other town on the coast. (Brown, p. 443.) The mulberry, olive, and fig-tree flourish here, and their grape (Berytia uva) has been in high repute. Maundrell (Journey, p. 39.) has described the sumptuous gardens belonging to the palace of Fakr-el-din; but these, together with the edifice, have totally disappeared.
page 437 note c Maundrell, Volney, and Brown attribute this wood to the Emir of the Druses: it is not improbable, that, among the rest of his improvements, he might have restored a part that had been decayed or destroyed; but the wood itself is of much higher antiquity. The Croisaders in an attack upon the city applied the timber to the construction of engines. “Silva pinea, Berythensium civitati vicina, Christianis eandem oppugnantibus urbem, ad componendum scalas, ligneas turres, arietes, et alias quaslibet rei bellicæ machinas, copiosam et idoneam præstabat materiam.” (Gul. Tyriensis.) It still exists reduced to half its original size. (Brown, ut supra.)
page 438 note d See Brown (Travels, p. 455.) for a particular enumeration. The fruit-trees are so numerous, that those which die and are cut down supply the city with abundance of firewood. (Id. p. 470.) Maundrell has given a pleasing coup-d'eeil of Damascus. It is reported that Mahomet stood for some time upon a precipice that overlooks the city and plain; and “considering the ravishing beauty and delightfulness of it, would not tempt his frailty by entering into it, but instantly departed, with this reflection upon it, that there was but one Paradise designed for man, and for his part he was resolved not to take his in this world.” (Journey, pp. 121,122.)
page 439 note e The city of Damascus was given up to plunder on the 28th of March 1401. Every outrage that can be conceived was committed by the furious conqueror, and on the ensuing day it was reduced to ashes. The following is an account of this transaction from Petit de la Croix's translation of Cherefeddin, the historian of Timur:
Book V. Chap. 26.
Timur was on horseback by break of day, and ravaged the suburbs of Damascus. On the morrow, being the twenty-third of Jumaziulevel, after sun-rise, the whole army was ordered to march in order of battle, and having passed the gardens and suburbs to encompass the city. This order was completely carried into execution; and Timur took up his quarters in the palace of Casrablac, situated opposite to the fortress, and built by Malek Ezzaher, sometime Sultan of Egypt. The Mirzas, Emirs, and warriors were quartered in the suburbs: so that the Tartars occupied every thing without the walls. There they found an abundance of furniture, arms, and stuffs, and merchandise of every kind.
Timur, who neglected no opportunity of devotion, visited the tombs of Oummé Selma, and Oummé Habiba, both of them wives of Mahomet, and afterwards that of Belalhabachi, and having implored their intercessions, returned to his camp. As soon as the inhabitants of Damascus saw themselves besieged in form, they were seized with such a panic, that all the Cherifs, Cadis, Imams, Doctors, and other Lawyers of the city opened the gates of their own accord, and came out submitting unconditionally; they brought presents with them, and threw themselves at the feet of the Imperial throne. They testified their distress and sorrow at all that had occurred; and besought the Emperor to spare the blood of Mussulmans, and only to grant quarter to themselves and their families. They made many presents to the officers, and having agreed to pay a ransom for their lives, returned. Timur divided the commission for receipt of the ransom amongst his Emirs, and sent them for this purpose to the city. They were the Emirs Cheik Noureddin, Chamelik, and Allahdad, accompanied by the Comptrollers Coja Masaoud Semnani, and Gelalislan, who entered Damascus, and, according to custom, walled up seven gates of the city, leaving none open but the gate Elferadis. They held their office outside of this gate, where they employed themselves in executing their commission. The receivers, having drawn the stipulated sums from the city, carried and counted them out to the Emirs. On the Friday following, the Coutbé, or prayer for the King, was read in the celebrated mosque of the Caliphs Ommiades, in the name and titles of the august Emperor Timur.
Chap. 27.
Capture of the Castle of Damascus.
Though the condition of the city was such as we have just related, yet Yezdar Coutual, governor of the Castle, relying upon the strength of this place, which was one of the most famous fortresses in the world, determined to defend it. Its walls, which were very lofty and regularly built, consisted of large masses of rock. It was surrounded by a fosse about twenty cubits broad; and was furnished with all sorts of provisions and military stores. The garrison first began by casting stones, and Greek fire from machines, as well as arrows and vessels filled with naphta, and the same Greek fire to keep the assailants in check. All the generals of Toumans and Hezarés were, however, ordered to advance towards the castle, and lay siege to it in form. They made the necessary preparations for the purpose, and got ready rams and machines for casting stones; the soldiers even raised three platforms of such a height, that they commanded the castle. They then drained the fosse; when the sappers advanced to the foot of the wall, and began to work in the most diligent manner, undisturbed by the vast stones which the besieged were continually casting upon them. They were supported by an incessant shooting of stones from machines erected upon the platforms, which rendered the besieged more backward in exposing themselves; with the same machines they also threw upon them vessels full of Greek fire similar to their own, besides arrows which fell in the place like rain. The siege being divided among the Emirs, each in his department shook the walls with rams and other contrivances. While these things were transacting, Timur ordered the Mirzas, Miran Chah and Charoc, and the Emirs, Solyman Chah, Gehan Chah and others, to march towards Canaan to take up their winter-quarters; that these lords might furnish their soldiers with a relaxation from their toils, and that their horses might refresh themselves in the pastures. The rest of the army pressed the siege with great vigour. They rendered large portions of the rock red-hot by the application of fire; and throwing vinegar upon them they broke them with hammers, and drew them out of the walls; and when they had reduced the wall and the front of a bastion to a tottering condition, they supported them with large props, least they should suddenly fall. In this manner they soon accomplished the sap of the bastion of Tarma which was the largest; and the spot where Altoum Bacchi directed the works was finished first of all. Then they received orders to set it on fire, and this lofty and famous tower came down, making a considerable breach in the castle by its fall. The soldiers ran with their bucklers on their heads to enter by this breach; but another portion of the wall suddenly fell, causing a great dust, and crushing in its descent eighty men of the troops of Corassan and Sistan. This unfortunate circumstance restrained the ardour of the march of our brave men, who ceased to advance; and the besieged taking advantage of the opportunity, repaired the breach, and fortified themselves behind it. Still they were alarmed, and would gladly have surrendered, had they not apprehended that they should meet with no indulgence for their presumption in defending themselves after the capture of the city. Orderswere given thatotherparts thathadbeen undermined should be set on fire, upon which a great portion of the castle fell down. This accident depriving the besieged of every hope, Yezdar, governor of the place, caused the gate to be opened, and being compelled to come out, in the deepest distress delivered up the keys of his castle, and those of the treasures and magazines which it contained. Other portions of the walls, that had been sapped and supported by props, remained in this condition without being fired. Timur ordered Yezdar, the governor, to be executed, because he had delayed too long to surrender. In the castle they found abundance of wealth, jewels, precious stuffs, and rarities that had been hoarded there for many ages. The garrison were made slaves, and divided among the Mirzas and the Emirs: they consisted chiefly of Circassians, Mamelukes, Ethiopian slaves, and Zanghebars: all the women, children, and old men experienced the same fate. The artisans were set apart from the rest, and, together with those which had been taken from the city, were divided among the Emirs to be immediately conveyed to Samarcand..............
On the first of the moon of Schaban (28th March) the troops, without having received any orders, forcibly burst into the city, and committed every imaginable excess of slaughter, violence, and plunder. They took captive men and women, seized their jewels, and carried off their property, which consisted in an almost infinite quantity of gold, precious stones, valuable merchandise, magnificent stuffs and rarities of every kind. So much booty was taken, that all the horses, mules, and camels, which had been collected between Sebaste and Damascus proved insufficient to carry it away, and the soldiers were obliged to abandon a portion of it. That which they chiefly gave up was a quantity of gold and silver stuffs, and very precious girdles of Cyprus and Russia, which they had plundered in the opening of the campaign, that in their stead they might carry off whole loads of ready money, jewels, and vessels of gold and silver which fell into their hands. This is so certain a fact, that I have heard it mentioned by many credible persons who were present upon the occasion. The method in which the houses are constructed at Damascus is such, that the lower story is of stone, and the second and third consist of wood; and the greater part of the cielings, and even the walls, are covered with varnish. This varnish exposes them so much to accident by fire, that when it once takes place, a considerable part of the city is always burnt, in spite of every effort of the judges and governors to confine the flames to one quarter. This frequently happens in time of profound peace.
On the second of Schaban (29th March) the city thus accidentally took fire, and everyone endeavoured to extinguish it in vain...... The whole of Damascus was consumed, sacked, and plundered of the immense wealth which it contained, in common with the rest of Syria. (History of Timur Bee, book v. c. 27, 28.)
page 442 note f De la Brocquiere, who made his appearance before this potentate, gives him also the title of King. “Roy amiral,” (p. 510 ) Legrand D'Aussy has interpreted this expression, “governor;” but it seems to have been a peculiar distinction attached to the ammiral of Damascus. The title has occurred before. See the chapter upon Cairo and Babilon.
page 442 note g “The port of Gallipoli is small for large vessels, but it is of sufficient size to admit fusts, galliotts, brigantines and maonnes, that species of vessel to which the Latins have applied the Greek word hippagi, which serves for the passage of horses and camels from Europe to Natolia.” (Belon, 1. ii. c. 2.)
The consequence of Gallipoli is frequently noticed in history. During the service and: wars of the Catalans in the Greek empire, that people in possession of this important post intercepted the trade of Constantinople and the Black Sea, while they ravaged either side of the Hellespont. (Gibbon, vol. vii. c. 62.) In 1352 it was rebuilt and colonised by the judicious care of Soliman, on the establishment of the Ottomans in Europe. (Id. c. 64.) Had the policy of securing these straits been steadily pursued by a combination of the maritime states of Europe, it might have been attended with consequences extremely favourable to the capital of the Greek empire. The Turks, on their part, were fully aware of the advantage of keeping this communication with Asia open and guarded. The passage, narrow as it is, proved in 1403 an insuperable barrier to the cavalry of Tamerlane, and probably saved Europe.
page 443 note h A coincidence of opinion as to the advantage of pressing upon the Turks in this point, and at this precise juncture, occurs in c. 65 of the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire;” and a comparison of it with the sentiment of De Lannoy will exhibit how well the historian entered into the notions, while he was writing the history of the age. Speaking of the domestic dissensions among the Turks about the year 1421, he proceeds in the following manner: “In these conflicts, the wisest Turks, and indeed the body of the nation, were strongly attached to the unity of the empire; and Romania and Anatolia, so often torn asunder by private ambition, were animated by a strong and invincible tendency of cohesion. Their efforts might have instructed the Christian powers; and had they occupied, with a confederate fleet, the Streights of Gallipoli, the Ottomans, at least in Europe, must have been speedily annihilated.”