But all these perils and all this glory were lost for the cause of the Christians. Richard became every day more odious to his associates; the duke of Burgundy with the French retired discontented to Ptolemaïs; the Germans, commanded by the duke of Austria, quitted Palestine, and Richard remained alone with the English.[352] Hitherto the king of England, as he himself told the ambassadors of Saladin, had taken but little interest in the deliverance of the holy places, and had only performed such prodigies of valour to increase his fame in the Christian world. A desire to efface the glory of Philip, much more than a zeal for religion, governed him in his contests with the Saracens; he underwent the labours of the holy war in the hope that his exploits in Palestine would assist him in triumphing over his rivals and enemies beyond the seas; but as he began to fear being left without an army, and dreaded the enterprises of Philip, and the plots of his brother John, against his European states, he determined to resume his negotiations with Saladin. The various thoughts that harassed his mind, the shame of not having conquered Jerusalem, the fear of losing his own kingdom, made him adopt and reject resolutions of the most opposite nature. At one time he determined upon returning to Europe without making peace at all—first he supplicated, then he menaced Saladin, and endeavoured to frighten him, by spreading a report that the pope was about to arrive in Palestine with an army of two hundred thousand Crusaders.
Winter had not yet passed away, and the passage of the Mediterranean was not without danger. “The sea is stormy,” wrote he one day to Saladin, “but I will brave its tempests, and return to Europe if you are disposed to make peace. But if you still desire war, I will brave all its perils, and will lay siege to Jerusalem.” Saladin was encamped in the vicinity of Ramla, and called his emirs together to deliberate upon the proposals of Richard. “Up to this period,” said he, “we have fought with glory, and the cause of Islamism has triumphed by our arms. I fear that death may surprise me during a peace, and may prevent my terminating the good work we have begun. Since God gives us victory, he commands us to continue the war, and we ought to obey his will.” Most of the emirs applauded the courage and firmness of Saladin, but they represented to him, “that the cities were without defence, and the provinces were devastated; the fatigues of war had weakened the Mussulman army; the horses wanted forage, and provisions for the soldiers were dearer than gold.” “If we reduce the Franks to despair,” added they, “they may still overcome us, and wrest all our victories from our hands. It is wise to observe the maxim of the Koran, which orders us to grant peace to our enemies when they ask it. Peace will give us time to fortify our cities, to recruit our forces, and resume the war with advantage; when the Franks, always faithless in treaties, will offer us fresh pretexts for attacking them.”
Saladin plainly perceived by this speech of his emirs, that the greater part of the Saracen warriors were beginning to lose the ardour and zeal they had evinced for the cause of Islamism. The sultan was abandoned by several of his auxiliaries, and dreaded the appearance of division in his own empire. The armies were close to each other, and the dust which arose from the two camps, says an Arabian author, mingled in the air and formed but one cloud. Neither the Christians nor the Mussulmans showed the least impatience to go beyond the boundaries of their ramparts and ditches, and both being equally tired of the war, it became the interest of the two leaders to make peace. The disposition of the minds of the combatants, with the impossibility of pursuing any warlike enterprises, at length led to the adoption of a truce for three years and eight months.[353]
It was determined that Jerusalem should be open to the devotion of the Christians, and that they should hold all the sea-coast from Jaffa to Tyre. The Saracens and the Christians had both claims upon Ascalon, which was considered as the key to Egypt, and which the Arabs called the spouse of Syria. To terminate these disputes, it was agreed that this city should be again demolished. It is not unworthy of remark, that not a word was said about the true cross, which had been the subject of the first negotiations, and for which Richard had sent several ambassadors to Saladin. The principal leaders of the two armies swore, on the one side upon the Koran, and on the other upon the Gospel, to observe the conditions of the treaty. Royal majesty assumed something more imposing and august than even the sanctity of an oath, for the sultan and the king of England contented themselves with giving their word and touching the hands of the ambassadors.
All the Mussulman and Christian princes of Syria were invited to sign the treaty concluded between Richard and Saladin. Among those who were called upon to be guarantees of the peace, neither the prince of Antioch, who had taken little share in the war, nor the chief of the Ismaëlians, the enemy of both Christians and Mussulmans, was forgotten. Guy de Lusignan alone was not named in the treaty. This prince enjoyed a momentary importance from the dissensions he had given birth to, and sunk into oblivion as soon as fresh subjects of discord arose among the Crusaders. Despoiled of his kingdom, he obtained that of Cyprus, a far more real possession, but for which he was obliged to pay the Templars, to whom Richard had sold it. Palestine was ceded to Henry, count of Champagne, the new husband of that Isabella who appeared to be promised to all the pretenders to the crown of Jerusalem, and who, by a singular destiny, had married three kings, without being able to ascend a throne.[354]
The conclusion of the peace was celebrated by tournaments and festivities, in which the Mussulmans and Christians laid aside the fanaticism and hatred which had led them to shed so much blood. Most of the warriors of the West, by the invitation of Saladin, visited the holy places they had been unable to deliver, and then embarked for Europe. At the moment of departure, the French lost the duke of Burgundy, who fell sick and died in the city of Tyre, as he was preparing to leave Palestine.
Thus finished this third crusade, in which all the western powers in arms obtained no greater advantages than the taking of Ptolemaïs and the demolition of Ascalon; in it Germany lost, without glory, one of the greatest of its emperors and the finest of its armies. If we may believe Arabian authors, six hundred thousand Crusaders appeared before Ptolemaïs, and scarcely one hundred thousand of these warriors saw their native country again. Europe had the greater reason to deplore the losses of this war, from the fact of her armies having been so much better composed than in preceding expeditions; criminals, adventurers, and vagabonds, had been strictly excluded from the ranks. All that the West could boast of the most noble and illustrious of its warriors had taken up arms.
The Crusaders that contended with Saladin were better armed and better disciplined than any that preceded them in Palestine; the foot-soldiers employed the cross-bow, which had been neglected or prohibited in the second crusade. Their cuirasses, and their bucklers covered with thick leather, defied the arrows of the Saracens; and on the field of battle, soldiers were often seen bristling with arrows and darts, whom the Arabs compared to porcupines, still keeping their ranks and fighting bravely. The Saracens had likewise made some progress in the art of war, and began to resume the use of the lance, which they did not employ when the first Crusaders arrived in Syria. The Mussulman armies were not confused multitudes; they remained longer under their banners, and fought with less disorder. The Curds and Turks surpassed the Franks in the art of attacking and defending cities and castles. The Mussulmans had, besides, more than one advantage over the Crusaders; they made war upon their own territories and in their own climate; they were under the command of one single leader, who communicated the same spirit to all, and only presented to them one cause to defend.
In this crusade the Franks appeared to be more polished than they had been till that time. Great monarchs making war against each other without ceasing to give evidences of mutual esteem and generous feeling, was a new spectacle for the world. Subjects followed the example of their princes, and lost beneath the tent much of their barbarism. The Crusaders were sometimes admitted to the table of Saladin, and emirs received at that of Richard. By thus mingling together, Saracens and Christians might make a happy exchange of usages, manners, knowledge, and even virtues.
The Christians, rather more enlightened than during the first crusades, stood in less need of excitement from the visions of fanaticism. The passion for glory was for them almost as powerful a principle as religious enthusiasm. Chivalry also made great progress in this crusade; it was held in such honour, and the title of KNIGHT was so glorious, even in the eyes of the infidels, that Saladin did not disdain to be decorated with it.