[245] This act is reported in its entirety by William of Tyre.
[246] Albert d’Aix finishes his history in the first year of the reign of Baldwin II., and Foulcher de Chartres terminates his after the siege of Tyre. We may consult for this reign many passages of Baronius, Robert of the Mount, Sanuti, and particularly William of Tyre and Bernardus Thesaurius. We are in possession of the second part of a History of Jerusalem, the anonymous author of which speaks of the reigns of the two first Baldwins.
It will be said perhaps that I have borrowed from these different historians too many details; but I could not resist the desire I had to impart to my readers things that have never hitherto been related in the French language. It is surprising that, notwithstanding Jerusalem was almost always governed and defended by the Franks, no writer of our nation has spoken of it.
[247] The emir Balac was a prince of the family of Ortoc, who possessed many places on the Euphrates, reigned in Aleppo and Mesopotamia, and could set on foot innumerable armies of Turcomans.
[248] Edma, the daughter of Baldwin, still a child, was violated by the Mussulmans, to whom her father had given her as an hostage.
[249] See, as well for the incursion of the Turks as of those of the Christians, Kemaleddin, Tabari, and Aboul-Feda.
[250] Our learned Orientalists have furnished us with some very useful and profound works on the Ismaëlians; at their head is M. de Sacy, who has made us acquainted with the doctrine and many of the usages of this singular people. M. Jourdain has on this subject supplied us with a very interesting memoir.
[251] See, for the origin and the reign of Zengui, the History of the Atabecks, by Ben Latir.
[252] The history of the knights of St. John has been written in Italian by Bosio, and translated into French by Boyssat. The history since written by the Abbé de Vertot has caused all that preceded it to be forgotten. The Templars, after their tragical end, had no historian of their exploits in the Holy Land; but they have in our days found a very eloquent one in M. Raynouard.
[253] See Saint Bernard, Exhortatio ad Milites Templi.