Part 7 (1/2)
Whether the Christian leaders felt that they could better spare Peter than a general we do not know, but we do know that, with the great revival of courage, challenge was sent to the Saracens for general engagement or single combat, and Peter the Hermit was the messenger. He was in his element when he could talk. Though treated contemptuously by his audience, he spoke as if he was the greatest ruler of the earth. It is a wonder that they did not promptly kill him for his insolence. He told them that Asia Minor properly belonged to Christians, that G.o.d had permitted it to fall into Turkish hands on account of Christian sins, but G.o.d was now arisen to fight on the Christian side. ”Now,” he says, ”leave and go to your own country. We will not humble you. We will pray for your conversion to the true faith. If you will not go, and will not become Christians, let us decide all matters by battle by a few knights, or by one, or by a general fight.”
[Sidenote: _Emba.s.sy Driven Away_]
The perilous situation of the Christians was known to Kerbogha, the Mohammedan general, and he was enraged at the impudence of Peter. ”You are as good as conquered and come to me to dictate terms. Go back and tell them they must receive conditions, and not make them. If you will acknowledge Mohammed, I will feed and clothe you, and may leave Antioch in your hands. If not, we shall see what the sword will do!” Peter and his escort were driven off, and were several times in danger of death on the way back. Battle was ordered for the next day by the Christian captains.
During the night a hidden supply of provisions was found. The Crusaders strengthened themselves by a meal and the offices of religion, and day coming, the Christian army, representing the twelve apostles, marched out in twelve divisions.
[Sidenote: _Carrying the Lance-Head_]
[Sidenote: _Disposition for Battle_]
Raymond D'Agiles carried the lance-head and fixed their attention on it.
Some of the priests chanted a warlike psalm in the front rank, while others blessed the outgoing army from the walls. The walls and the hills echoed the cry, ”G.o.d wills it! G.o.d wills it!” The appearance of the army was such as to fill the Mussulmans with contempt. Ragged, thin, and weak, mounted on a.s.ses and camels, on anything which could carry them, they deployed to meet the fifteen ma.s.ses of Saracens. The Crusaders soon cut to pieces the two thousand who guarded the bridge of Antioch, and ranged themselves where the mountain protected them from surprise. The great names commanded the wings and the center, with Bohemond in reserve. The early hours were friendly to the Christians. Later they were sorely hurt by a surprise from a body of Saracens who had pa.s.sed around the mountain and had attacked their rear. The gra.s.s was fired in front of the Christians by the sultan of Nicea, a fact which was near ruining the prospects of the Christians.
[Sidenote: _Prodigy of Hors.e.m.e.n_]
[Sidenote: _Hundred Thousand Turks Killed_]
Once again a prodigy is reported. A squadron descends from the mountains, led by three white hors.e.m.e.n. A bishop, perhaps himself the inventor of this pious fraud, cries out to the wavering Crusaders: ”Behold, heavenly succor has come!” Instantly the Christians revive and renew the attack, and the Saracens were put to rout. Failing even to rally on the other side of the river, they left behind them their arms and their baggage. Their general had only a small body-guard as he fled toward the Euphrates. With horses captured on the field, the Christians kept up the pursuit. A hundred thousand of the infidels died, and four thousand Christians won the martyr's crown. The battle enriched the Crusaders beyond any hope or experience, and Antioch was filled with the captured booty. The historian declares, ”Horrors had made the Christians invincible. This was the only miracle.”
[Sidenote: _Disputes Follow Victory_]
With this astounding victory the march of the Crusaders almost ceased to meet armed resistance. The ma.s.s of the army clamored to march on to Jerusalem. The leaders were divided. Some said, ”Let us march before the enemy recovers from the terror of our arms.” The majority of the leaders forgot the Holy City in the pleasures, securities, and conquests of Syria. This gave strength to their arguments to wait for the re-enforcements of men and horses for which they asked the home authorities.
[Sidenote: _Fifty Thousand Christians die of Pestilence_]
Pestilence was the penalty of delay, and fifty thousand old and new warriors died in and near Antioch. Yet in such times Christians could quarrel, and Bohemond was denied by the Count of Toulouse the full possession of Antioch. They were ready to fight. Others followed their example, and all important time was wasted by quarrels and recriminations. At the very foot of the altar some of the leaders lied and quarreled to gain power. Bands roamed over Syria wherever there was a chance to loot; fighting over it when taken, and dying of starvation and thirst whenever they met unexpected resistance.
[Sidenote: _Piety and Villainy_]
The world has never seen a greater mixture of piety and villainy than among these Crusaders. They could rape, rob, and murder with a good conscience, yet must be numbered among the most heroic of men. They endured uncomplainingly long marches in heat and cold, in hunger, thirst, and pestilence. They fought superior numbers with amazing courage. The one supreme virtue was valor against man and beast.
[Sidenote: _Excursions While Waiting_]
[Sidenote: _Careless Again_]
The long wait for orders to march to Jerusalem sent some leaders out to take cities over which they might rule, and others to visit the Christian leaders who had already won thrones. But most remained in a demoralizing inactivity until a prodigy of electrical b.a.l.l.s of light, or possibly a meteoric shower, started, by various interpretations, the ma.s.s into securing their rear by the capture and subjugation of several Syrian cities. In one of these sieges the Saracens threw something like Greek fire down on the besiegers, and followed this with hives of bees.
Always the Crusaders seemed to be without a proper preparation for food, and before more than one city the Christian soldiers cooked and ate the bodies of their enemies; and it is even reported that human flesh was sold in the shambles of their camp, as the flesh of dogs certainly was.
[Sidenote: _Saracens Defile the Cross_]
In all this horror the spirits of the Crusaders were fortified by the outrages of the Saracens on the symbol of Christianity. They erected crosses on their walls, covered them with filth, and reviled the wors.h.i.+pers. It was poor policy for the besieged. It infuriated the natural pa.s.sions and inflamed the religious zeal of the besiegers.
Constructing engines which shattered the walls, the Crusaders made themselves masters of the fortifications. In the dusk they did not dare to enter the city. In the morning it appeared to be deserted, but the inhabitants were discovered in subterranean refuges. They were soon smoked out, and were slaughtered without regard to age or s.e.x. Thus fell the city of Maarah, of which no stone was left. Awful as this was for men wearing the cross of Christ, it spread such terror that life may have been saved thereby, since other cities willingly opened their gates.
[Sidenote: _Soldiers Desire Attack_]
The common soldiers refused longer to interest themselves in the quarrels of their leaders, and, hearing that the Egyptians had taken Jerusalem, demanded to be led on, and threatened to choose new leaders unless their old ones showed the way to Jerusalem. Raymond finding that he must lead or be left behind, forsook his ambition, led in a procession of penitence, and gave the signal for departure.