Crusaders on the March.

(From the Painting by Sir John Gilbert, R.A., P.R.W.S., in the Victoria and Albert Museum.)

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The preparations having been completed, the towers were rolled up to the walls, and the attack commenced. The chiefs of the Christian army appeared on the higher stages of the towers, and Godfrey of Bouillon himself was seen with a crossbow in his hand directing his shafts within the town. The Turks replied by pouring out sheets of flame[23] and flights of arrows upon their assailants. The assault had continued for ten days without result, when the Crusaders redoubled their efforts. Some soldiers from the tower of Godfrey effected a lodgment on the walls, and were followed by the Lord of Lorraine, with Baldwin de Bourg, and other chiefs. Robert of Normandy and Tancred forced one of the gates, and the standard of the Cross was raised upon the walls of Jerusalem on the 15th of July, 1099.

The details of the massacre that ensued form one of the bloodiest pages of history. The Turks, after a vain attempt to dispute the advance of the Crusaders, fled to the mosques, and were slain before the altars. The inhabitants of the city were put to the sword without distinction, women and children sharing the fate of their husbands and their fathers. Ten thousand men are said to have been butchered in the Mosque of Omar, where they had attempted to defend themselves. Streams of blood flowed down the streets of the city, and few of the infidel race escaped the carnage. Such was the vengeance taken by the Crusaders for the persecutions suffered by the Christians in Jerusalem; such were the deeds of horror perpetrated in the name of the Saviour of mankind, as though the Majesty of Heaven could be propitiated by a libation of human blood.

It became necessary to place the safety of the Holy City in the care of one powerful chief, and Godfrey of Bouillon was elected the first King of Jerusalem. He was invested with his new dignity in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but refused to be crowned, saying that it was not fitting that he should wear a crown of gold in the city where the Saviour had been crowned with thorns. His reign lasted barely a year, and on his death his brother Baldwin was chosen to succeed him.

It does not fall within the scope of this history to trace the progress of events at Jerusalem under its Latin kings. Some account may, however, be given of the origin of two powerful orders of knighthood, which indirectly owed their origin to the First Crusade.

In the year 1048, some merchants from Amalfi obtained permission from the caliph to build a hospital at Jerusalem for the protection of pilgrims. A piece of ground near to the site of the Holy Sepulchre was assigned to them for this purpose, and a chapel and hospital were built there, the first being dedicated to St. Mary, and the second to St. John the Baptist. During the siege of Jerusalem many of the sick and wounded Crusaders were brought into the hospital; and, in gratitude for the benefits they received there, they determined to dedicate their lives to charitable acts, and to enter the Monastery of St. John. They assumed as a dress a black robe, with the figure of a white cross with eight points. Pope Pascal II. bestowed many valuable privileges upon the order, and the Poor Brothers of the Hospital of St. John became a wealthy community, famed throughout Europe. During the reign of Baldwin III. of Jerusalem, the Hospitallers resumed the sword, binding themselves by a vow to draw it only against the enemies of Christ. The order of St. John was then divided into the several classes of knights, clergy, and serving brothers. The knights were highest in rank, and commanded in battle or in the hospital; the serving brothers filled the offices of esquires, or assisted the clergy in attendance upon the sick. The vows, which were taken by all without distinction, included the duties of chastity, of obedience, and of a renunciation individually of all worldly possessions.

The order of the Red Cross Knights, or Templars, is to be referred to a different origin, though the object for which it was instituted was of a similar kind, namely, the protection of pilgrims. The military order of Knights Templars was founded by Baldwin II., King of Jerusalem, in 1118, and they first came to England in 1185. They took vows of obedience to a Grand Master whom they had appointed, and also bound themselves to purity of life, to mutual assistance, and to fight continually against the infidel, never turning back from less than four adversaries. The order was known as that of the Temple of Jerusalem. They wore a white robe, to which was attached a red cross. In addition to their great standard, which also displayed these colours, they carried in battle a banner with black and white stripes, which was intended to signify charity and kindness to their friends, and destruction to their enemies. The Knights Templars, whose rules, like those of the Hospitallers, enjoined humility and poverty, soon became the proudest and wealthiest order in Christendom; and while the Knights of St. John remained during several centuries honoured and respected for acts of benevolence, the Templars became hated and feared for their vices and their cruelty. Much of the chivalry of Europe afterwards became merged in these two orders.