It was amidst this double defeat that Frederick, duke of Swabia, arrived under the walls of Ptolemaïs with five thousand men, the deplorable remains of a numerous army. When the Christians in Syria had heard of the preparations of the Germans, their invincible powers were the theme of every tongue, and the Crusaders before Ptolemaïs were animated by the most sanguine expectations; but when they arrived, and related the disasters they had undergone, their presence spread mourning and depression throughout the army.
Frederick wished to signalize his arrival by an attack upon the Saracens. “The Christians,” say the Arabian writers, “issued from their camp like ants swarming to their prey, and covered the valleys and hills.” They attacked the advanced post of the Mussulman army, encamped upon the heights of Aiadhiat, not far from the mountains of Galilee. Saladin, whom a serious illness prevented from mounting on horseback, caused himself to be carried to Mount Karouba, from whence he could overlook all that went on, and issue his orders. The Christians renewed their attacks several times without producing any effect upon their enemies; and after having fought the whole day, they renounced the hope of a triumph, and returned to their camp, where the famine, which was beginning to be severely felt, allowed them nothing wherewith to recruit their exhausted strength.
Every leader of this multitude of Crusaders was obliged to feed the troops that he commanded, and they at no time were possessed of more than provisions for one week. When a Christian fleet arrived, they enjoyed abundance; but when no vessels appeared for a time, they were destitute of the commonest necessaries of life. As winter approached, and the sea became more stormy, want was necessarily proportionately increased.
When the Crusaders made incursions upon neighbouring lands to procure provisions, they fought amidst the ambuscades of the Saracens. Animated by despair, they several times attacked the enemy in their intrenchments, but were always repulsed. At length famine began to make frightful ravages in the Christian army; a measure of flour, that weighed two hundred and fifty pounds, was sold for ninety-six crowns, a sum so exorbitant that not even princes could pay it. The leaders insisted upon fixing the prices of all provisions brought to the camp; the venders then hid them in the earth, and the scarcity was increased by the very measures adopted to lessen it.[332] The Crusaders were obliged to feed upon their horses; next they devoured leather, harness, and old skins, which were sold for their weight in gold. Many Christians, driven from their camp by famine, took refuge in that of Saladin; some embraced Islamism to obtain relief in their misery; whilst others, going on board Mussulman vessels, and braving the perils of the sea, went to pillage the isle of Cyprus and the coasts of Syria.
During the rainy season the waters covered the plains, and the Crusaders remained crowded together on the hills. The carcasses left on the banks of the rivers, or cast into the torrents, exhaled a pestilential odour, and contagious diseases were very soon added to the horrors of famine. The camp was filled with mourning and funeral rites; from two to three hundred pilgrims were buried daily. Several of the most illustrious leaders found in contagion the death they had so often braved in the field of battle. Frederick, duke of Swabia, died in his tent, after having escaped all the perils of war. His unhappy companions in arms gave tears to his memory, and, despairing of the cause of the Christians, for which they had suffered so much, returned to the West.
To complete their misfortune, Sibylla, the wife of Guy de Lusignan, died, with her two children, and her death gave rise to fresh discord. Isabella, second daughter of Amaury, and sister to Queen Sibylla, was heir to the throne of Jerusalem; consequently Humphrey de Thoron, the husband of this princess, immediately asserted her rights. On the other side, Guy de Lusignan could not consent to abandon his, and maintained that the character of king was indelible; no one had the right to deprive him of a crown he had once worn. Amidst these disputes, Conrad, already master of Tyre, was all at once seized with the ambition of reigning over Jerusalem and Palestine; he succeeded in gaining the love of Isabella, induced the council of bishops to dissolve the marriage of Humphrey, and, although himself married to the sister of the Emperor Isaac, espoused the sister and heiress of Baldwin, determined to defend with the sword the rights which this new union gave him.
The Christians, though plunged in such horrible misery, and at the same time constantly menaced by Saladin, were entirely engaged by the pretensions of the two rival princes. Humphrey, who defended his rights very weakly, was in great dread of the threats of Conrad, and was wise enough not to regret a sceptre which he must win, or a wife who had abandoned him. He renounced all his claims, and would have been happy if his docility had restored unanimity; but there remained still two kings for an invaded, or rather a nominal kingdom, and the two factions divided the army. Some were touched by the misfortunes of Guy, and declared themselves his partisans; whilst others, admiring the bravery of Conrad, thought the kingdom should fall to him who was most capable of defending it. Guy was reproached with having fostered the power of Saladin; the marquis of Tyre, on the contrary, was praised for having preserved the only two cities that remained in the power of the Franks: he alone, they added, could furnish the Christians with provisions, and put an end to the famine which was consuming them.
Not one of the Crusaders was ignorant of this quarrel. Dissension spread from the leaders to the soldiers; they heaped abuse upon each other, and were even ready to cut the throats of their comrades to determine who should possess a broken sceptre and the vain title of king. The bishops at length calmed the fury of these differences, and persuaded the rivals to refer the matter to the judgment of Richard and Philip.
These two princes, who had embarked at Genoa and Marseilles, met at Messina. Sicily was then at war with Germany for the succession of William II. Constance, the heir of William, had married the Emperor Henry VI., and had charged him with the duty of proclaiming her rights, and defending her inheritance; but Tancred, natural brother of Constance, who had obtained the love of the nobility of Sicily, had usurped the throne of his sister, and maintained himself upon it, by force of arms, against the efforts of the Germans.
This prince, not firmly settled on his throne, was much alarmed at the approach of the Crusaders. He feared in Philip an ally of the emperor of Germany, and in Richard, the brother of Queen Jane, the widow of William, whom he had ill-treated, and still detained in prison. Being totally unable to contend with them, he attempted to conciliate them by his submission and attentions: he at first succeeded with Philip beyond his expectations, but had much more trouble in appeasing Richard, who, immediately after his arrival, haughtily demanded the liberty of Jane, and took possession of the two forts which commanded Messina. The English soon got embroiled with the subjects of Tancred, and the banners of England were seen floating over the capital itself. By this act of violence and authority Richard gave great umbrage to Philip, whose vassal he was. The king gave orders that Richard’s standards should be removed; and the impetuous Cœur de Lion was forced to comply, though trembling with rage. This submission, although it was accompanied with menaces, seemed to appease Philip, and put an end to the quarrel; but from that time Richard became friendly with Tancred, who endeavoured to create suspicions of the loyalty of the king of France, and to secure peace to himself, sowed dissension among the Crusaders.