The terror which preceded his army opened to Saladin the gates of Naplouse, Jericho, Ramla, and a great number of other cities which were left almost without inhabitants. The cities of Cæsarea, Arsuf, Jaffa, and Berouth shared the fate of Ptolemaïs; the yellow standards of Saladin floated over their walls. On the sea-coast, the cities of Tyre, Tripoli, and Ascalon still remained in the hands of the Christians. Saladin attacked Tyre without success, and determined to wait for a more favourable opportunity to renew the siege. Ascalon presented itself to him as a conquest of much greater importance, as it would assure his communication with Egypt. This city was besieged by the Mussulmans, but it resisted, at first, with more firmness than Saladin had expected. When a breach was effected, the sultan proposed peace; but the inhabitants, with whom despair supplied the place of courage, sent back his messengers without granting them a hearing. The king of Jerusalem, whom Saladin led with him in triumph, then entreated the defenders of Ascalon not to compromise the safety of their families and the Christians of the city by a useless defence. After this appeal, the principal among them came to the tent of the sultan: “It is not for ourselves,” said they, “that we are come to implore mercy, but for our wives and children. Of what importance is a perishable life to us? We look for a more solid blessing, and that death alone can procure us. God alone, the master of all events, has allowed you to obtain victories over the unhappy Christians; but you shall not enter into Ascalon unless you take pity on our families, and promise to restore the king of Jerusalem to liberty.”
Saladin, touched by the heroism of the inhabitants of Ascalon, accepted the conditions proposed. Such devotedness merited the redemption of a prince of nobler character and more worthy of the love of his subjects than Guy de Lusignan. Saladin consented to liberate the captive monarch at the expiration of a year.
The moment was now come in which Jerusalem was again fated to fall into the power of the infidels; and all Mussulmans earnestly implored Mahomet for this crowning triumph for the arms of Saladin. After having taken Gaza, and several fortresses in the neighbourhood, the sultan drew his army together and marched towards the holy city. A queen in tears, the children of the warriors slain at the battle of Tiberias, a few fugitive soldiers, and some pilgrims recently arrived from the West were the only guardians of the Holy Sepulchre. A great number of Christian families which had left the devastated provinces of Palestine, filled the capital, and, very far from bringing it any assistance, only served to increase the general trouble and consternation.
When Saladin drew near to the holy city, he caused the principal inhabitants to be sent for, and said to them: “I acknowledge, as well as you, that Jerusalem is the house of God; I do not wish to profane its sanctity by the effusion of blood: abandon its walls and I will bestow upon you a part of my treasures; I will give you as much land as you will be able to cultivate.” “We cannot,” they replied, “yield the city in which our God died; still less can we give it up to you.” Saladin, enraged by their refusal, swore upon the Koran to lay prostrate the towers and ramparts of Jerusalem, and to avenge the death of the Mussulmans slaughtered by the companions and soldiers of Godfrey of Bouillon.
At the moment in which Saladin was speaking to the deputies, an eclipse of the sun all at once left the heavens in utter darkness, and appeared to be a presage fatal for the Christians. Nevertheless, the inhabitants, encouraged by the clergy, prepared to defend the city, and chose as their commander Baleau d’Ibelin, who had been present at the battle of Tiberias. This old warrior, whose experience and virtues inspired confidence and respect, immediately set about repairing the fortifications, and training the new defenders of Jerusalem. As he was deficient in officers, he created fifty knights from amongst the citizens; and all the Christians able to bear arms, placed themselves under his command, and swore to shed their blood in the cause of Christ. They had no money to meet the expenses of the war, but all means of obtaining it seemed legitimate in a danger that threatened the city of God. They despoiled the churches, and the people, terrified at the approach of Saladin, beheld, without scandal, the precious metal which covered the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre converted into coin.[309]
The standards of Saladin were soon seen floating over the heights of Emaüs, and the Mussulman army encamped on the same places on which Godfrey, Tancred, and the two Roberts had pitched their tents when they besieged the holy city. The besieged at first resisted boldly, and made frequent sorties, in which they bore in one hand a lance or a sword, and in the other a shovel filled with dust, which they cast upon the Saracens. A great number of Christians received the palm of martyrdom, and ascended, say the historians, to the heavenly Jerusalem—many Mussulmans fell beneath the swords of their enemies, and went to dwell on the banks of the river which waters Paradise.
Saladin, after being encamped for several days on the western side of the city, directed his operations towards the north, and caused the ramparts which extended from the gate of Jehoshaphat to that of St. Stephen to be undermined. The bravest of the citizens made a sortie, and endeavoured to destroy the machines and works of the besiegers, encouraging each other by repeating these words of Scripture: “A single one of us shall make ten infidels fly, and ten of us shall put to flight ten thousand.” They performed prodigies of valour, but they could not interrupt the progress of the siege. Repulsed by the Saracens, they were forced to return to the city, whither their appearance brought terror and discouragement. The towers and ramparts appeared ready to fall at the first signal for a general assault. Despair then took entire possession of the inhabitants, who saw no means of defence within their power but tears and prayers. The soldiers crowded to the churches instead of flying to arms; and not even the promise of a hundred pieces of gold could keep them on the tottering ramparts for one night. The clergy made processions through the streets, to invoke the protection of Heaven. Some struck their breasts with stones, whilst others tore their bodies with hair-cloth, crying aloud for mercy! Nothing was heard in Jerusalem but sobs and groans; “but our Jesus Christ,” says an old chronicle, “would not hear them, for the luxury and impurity that were in the city would not allow either orisons or prayers to ascend before him.” The despair of the inhabitants inspired them with the most contradictory projects at the same time; at one moment they formed the resolution of issuing in a body from the city, and seeking a glorious death in the ranks of the infidels; whilst, the next, they placed their last hope in the clemency of Saladin.
Amid the general trouble and agitation, the Greek and Syrian Christians, with the Melachite Christians, endured very unwillingly the authority of the Latins, and accused them of all the misfortunes of the war. A plot for giving up the city to the Mussulmans was discovered, which redoubled the general alarm, and made the principal inhabitants determine upon demanding a capitulation of Saladin. Accompanied by Baleau d’Ibelin, they went and proposed to the sultan to give up the place to him upon the conditions he had himself proposed before the siege. But Saladin remembered that he had sworn to take the city by assault, and put the inhabitants to the sword; and he sent back the deputies without giving them the least hope. Baleau d’Ibelin returned several times, renewing his supplications and his prayers, but always found Saladin inexorable. One day, whilst the Christian deputies were earnestly imploring him to accept their capitulation, turning towards the place, and pointing to his standards which floated over the walls, “How can you ask me,” said he, “to grant conditions to a city which is already taken?”
Nevertheless, the Saracens were repulsed; and Baleau, reanimated by the success the Christians had obtained, replied to the sultan: “You see that Jerusalem is not without defenders; if we can obtain no mercy from you, we will form a terrible resolution, and the fruits of our despair shall fill you with terror. These temples and palaces that you are so anxious to conquer, shall be totally destroyed; all the riches which excite the ambition and cupidity of the Saracens, shall become the prey of the flames. We will destroy the mosque of Omar; and the mysterious stone of Jacob, which is the object of your worship, shall be broken and pounded into dust. Jerusalem contains five thousand Mussulman prisoners; they shall all perish by the sword. We will, with our own hands, slay our wives and children, and thus spare them the shame of becoming your slaves. When the holy city shall be but a heap of ruins—one vast tomb—we will march out of it, followed by the angry manes of our friends and kindred; we will march out armed with sword and fire; and no one of us will ascend to Paradise without having consigned ten Mussulmans to hell. We shall thus obtain a glorious death, and shall die calling down upon your head the maledictions of the God of Jerusalem.”
This spirited speech alarmed Saladin, and he invited the deputies to come again on the following day. He consulted with the doctors of the law, who decided that he might accept the capitulation proposed by the besieged, without violating his oath. The conditions were signed on the following day in the tent of the sultan, and thus Jerusalem again fell into the power of the infidels, after having been eighty-eight years under the domination of the Christians. The Latin historians had remarked that the Crusaders entered the city on a Friday, and at the same hour that Christ had submitted to death to expiate the crimes of the human race. The Saracens retook the city on a Friday, the anniversary of the day on which, according to their creed, Mahomet set out from Jerusalem to ascend into heaven. This circumstance, which might influence Saladin in his agreement to sign the capitulation, did not fail to add a new splendour to his triumph with the Mussulmans, and caused him to be regarded as the favourite of the Prophet.