principality of Edessa-the Greek inhabitants of the town compelling their king, Thoros, who was weak and old, to elect the valiant Crusader his successor. At length the main forces had traversed Lycaonia and Celicia, and turned the north-eastern angle of the Mediterranean. The scattered armies now assembled for another joint enterprise-the siege of Antioch, the capital of Syria, surrounded by massive walls, and amply provided with all the means of resistance.

The Crusaders commenced the siege of Antioch towards the end of October 1097. All the known means of attack were put in operation; movable towers were constructed from which to discharge missiles into the city, the walls were battered, and the sallies of the besieged bravely met; still without any effective result. At length the country round was drained of its stores, and the Crusaders began to suffer the extremities of want. The famine increased to such a degree, that men were seen eating the dead bodies of those who had been slain by the enemy. Pestilence joined its ravages; and instead of the brave array of chivalry which had sat down before Antioch, was to be seen a crowd of gaunt and famishing wretches, with scarcely a thought but that of procuring food. Multitudes died; and many, once the most zealous and enthusiastic in the army, were heard cursing their own folly in quitting their homes on such an expedition. Desertions became numerous. The envoy of the Greek emperor made a pretext for returning to Constantinople; the Count de Melun, a distinguished warrior, was detected making an attempt to leave the army with his followers; Stephen, Count of Blois, pretended illness, and withdrew from the Crusade, retreating towards Europe; and, most disgraceful of all, Peter the Hermit turned his back upon his own enterprise, and had actually fled several miles on the way home, when he was overtaken by the soldiers of Tancred, and brought back to undergo a public repri mand. Poor enthusiast! Accustomed to think of himself as the soul of the enterprise, his strength depended on the feeling of his own importance; and when he was deprived of this feeling, when he found himself a mere unit in the army, without voice or influence, his spirit grew galled and listless, and he who could have borne up a host, became liable, in his own case, to all the infirmities of ordinary men.

At length, after infinite sufferings on the part of the besiegers, Antioch was taken on the 3d of June 1098, by means of the treachery of an Armenian captain, whom the Turks had intrusted with the command of one of the towers, and who admitted a number of the Crusaders during a dark and stormy night. The slaughter was immense. In the usual words of the historians, neither age nor sex was spared; the victors seemed to regard mercy to the infidel as a crime against their oaths to the Crusade. Luxury and licentiousness succeeded to cruelty; and, forgetting their past miseries, the Christians revelled in the possession of

their dearly-purchased wealth. Suddenly they were roused from their sloth and pleasure by the appearance before the walls of Antioch of an immense army, which the Persian caliph, hearing of the progress of the Christians through Asia Minor, had despatched, under the command of his favourite emir, Kerboga, to attack and repulse them. Kerboga had delayed some time at Edessa, otherwise he might have arrived in time to save Antioch. Now, however, his object was to recover it from the possession of the Christians. Having been joined by Kilidge Arslan, his army amounted to upwards of 200,000 men. Great was the alarm of the Christians when they saw this splendid host encamp around the walls of Antioch. The corn and wine which they had found in the city were soon exhausted; and all the horrors of a second famine began-horrors aggravated by the semblances of wealth by which they were themselves surrounded the silks and spices, which they would fain have bartered for any sort of provisions; and still more by the appearances of plenty which they saw in the camp of the besiegers outside the walls. Many deserted and escaped over the walls, carrying the news of the sad condition of the Christians back towards Europe. The worst consequence of these desertions was, that the Greek emperor, Alexius, who, hearing of the successes of the Latins, was on his march to assist the Crusaders, was deterred from advancing, and driven back to Constantinople. As earthly hopes died out, however, Heaven itself appeared to send down help and inspiration. Men who lay down faint and starving, roused themselves, after a few hours' slumber, with flushed faces and excited gestures, and declared that they had seen visions of the Saviour and his apostles beckoning them kindly. These dreams were repeated and interpreted into encouragements to perseverance, vouchsafed by God himself. A feverish fervour spread through the town. One morning the excitement was more than usually intense. A clerk of Provence had dreamt, he said, that St Andrew appeared to him in the night, and informed him that underneath a certain spot in the floor of the church of St Peter was buried the identical lance with which the Roman soldier had pierced the side of Christ as he hung on the cross. This relic, said the apparition, was to be the guarantee of God's presence with the Crusaders, and their guide to victory. There were various opinions as to the propriety of believing in the clerk's story so far as to search for the lance; at length, however, the sceptics, among whom was Adhemar, bishop of Puy, yielded to the general voice, and it was resolved to dig for the relic. Twelve persons were chosen to conduct the search within the chapel, while the multitude remained anxiously without. A whole day was spent in vain; the workmen were tired out, and still no lance was found. It was evening when Peter Barthelmy, the clerk who had seen the vision, descended into the pit, and began to

rake the loose earth. Who so likely to discover the relic as the man who had dreamt of it? Still Peter raked the earth at the bottom of the pit, and the men who had for some time hung over to look down at him had lost hope of his success, and began to move away, when all at once a cry of joy was heard, and, stretching himself to his full height, Peter handed up into the eager fingers of those above an actual rusty lance-head. In an instant it was noised abroad through the city that the holy relic had been found. What remained now but to issue from Antioch and discomfit the infidel host?

The infidel host was discomfited. On the 28th of June 1098, 200,000 Turks, in the full flush of health and strength, were routed outside the walls of Antioch by a half-famished Christian army! Sixty-nine thousand Turks were slain, and the booty was immense. Antioch, now a Christian principality, was bestowed on Bohemond of Tarentum; and it was resolved that the Christian army should remain there to recruit during the hot autumn months, not advancing towards Jerusalem till the beginning of October. In the meantime Hugh of Vermandois, with some other chiefs, were despatched to Constantinople to remonstrate with Alexius, and remind him of his engagements to assist the Crusaders. Hugh arrived safely at Constantinople, and delivered his message; but finding himself so near his native country, he became home-sick, and continued his journey to France, abandoning an enterprise the pains of which had already been too severe for him.

During their stay at Antioch the Crusaders were visited by a plague incident to the climate, which cut off many of their number, among others Adhemar, bishop of Puy. Somewhat later than the time appointed they commenced their march to Jerusalem by Tripoli and Acre, at the former of which towns they first saw the sugar-cane, and tasted its sweets. We need not detail their various actions on this march, their sufferings from the usual cause of famine, their disputes and reconciliations. The only incident which need be mentioned is the tragical death of Peter Barthelmy, the discoverer of the sacred lance. Out of hostility to Barthelmy's patron, Raimond of Toulouse, many of the Crusaders had begun to call the genuineness of the relic in question; and, in order to silence their expressions of doubt, Peter was prevailed upon to submit to the ordeal of fire. A great fire was kindled in the presence of the assembled army; Peter, with the lance in his hand, walked into the flames, where, becoming frightened, he was burnt to death. From that moment the story of the relic lost credit with all, except a few whose faith could not be shaken.

It was on a lovely morning in the summer of 1099 that the 40,000 Crusaders, who were all that remained of the vast army of more than 600,000 which, two years before, had laid siege to Nice-it was on a lovely summer morning that this devoted

band of survivors, consisting of warriors, priests, women, and children, were recompensed for all their toils by a sight of Jerusalem. They had passed Emmaus, that place of sacred associations, when the Holy City burst upon their view, revealing itself at once and goldenly in the swift-rising sun of the East. The name "Jerusalem" escaped from every lip; some leaped and shouted; some knelt and prayed; some wept; some threw themselves prostrate, and kissed the earth; some gazed, and trembled ; "all had much ado," says the quaint and emphatic Fuller, "to manage so great a gladness."

The siege of Jerusalem, which commenced on the 7th of June 1099, and terminated on the 15th of July, did not differ essentially from that of Antioch. The besiegers, who had gained skill by their former attempts, employed all the methods of attack that experience could suggest or courage execute; while the garrison of 40,000 Turks, who maintained the city for their master, the caliph of Egypt, resisted with determined obstinacy. At length, after a confession of sins by the whole army, and a penitential procession round the walls, a simultaneous assault was made with battering-rams, mangonels, and all manner of besieging engines. At one quarter a huge wooden tower was wheeled close to the walls, a movable bridge was let down, and, bounding across it, a soldier named Lutold was the first man to stand upon the battlements. Godfrey of Bouillon and a number of knights sprang after him; and the Christians were within Jerusalem. Meanwhile, at another part of the wall, Tancred and Robert of Normandy had shattered open a gate, and rushed in with their men; while, at a third part of the city, Raimond of Toulouse effected an entrance for himself and his followers by the help of scaling ladders. The carnage was terrific. Never," in the language of the contemporary chroniclers, "was there so great a massacre of the Gentiles;" the birthplace of the religion of peace was won amid the shrieks and blasphemies of gashed and dying men; and the work of blood being brought to an end, "the clamour of thanksgiving among the victors was loud enough to have reached the stars." On the 15th of July 1099 the banner of the cross floated on the walls of Jerusalem. What tears and rejoicings succeeded; what visits to the holy places of the Saviour's life and passion; what confessions of past sin; what vows of future sanctity; what prayers and imprecations against the infidel! And then the pride of having had a part in so glorious an achievement! Oh, who now would grudge the pains and toils of their long and weary march; the loss of friends and relatives by the way; the agony of broken ties and sickening home-remembrances! To return to Europe with the glory of having been one of the captors of Jerusalem; to clasp once more-the father his wife and little ones, the son his mother and sisters, the lover his long-lost bride! Oh, was not this worth all that had been endured by the way! Such

were the feelings of the victorious Crusaders. The Hermit was once more the idol of the army; his weakness at Antioch was forgotten or forgiven, and nought remembered but his merits and his enthusiasm. From this moment, however, we lose sight of him. That he shared the triumphs of the capture of Jerusalem we know for certain; but how long afterwards he lived, or where he died, are points respecting which we have no information.

Eight days after the capture of the city, the Latin chiefs unanimously, and with the enthusiastic consent of the whole army, elected Godfrey of Bouillon king of Jerusalem. A new Christian state was thus founded in Syria, consisting at first of little more than the mere city of Jerusalem, but which was extended, by subsequent battles and conquests, until it included the whole of Palestine. A language resembling Norman-French was established in this new kingdom, and a code of feudal laws drawn up for its government. The clergy also obtained their share of the conquest. Jerusalem was erected into a patriarchate, and Bethlehem into a bishopric; and the first bad outbreaks of human nature among the Crusaders after conquering Jerusalem, were the cabals of the clergy respecting these new ecclesiastical dignities. The foundation of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem in July 1099 was the conclusion and consummation of the first Crusade.

HISTORY OF THE LATIN KINGDOMS IN ASIA FROM THE

FIRST TO THE SECOND CRUSADE.

The Crusades are usually reckoned seven in number; and as the first began in 1096, and the last was brought to a termination in 1291, the entire history of the Crusades may be said to occupy a period of two centuries. We have sketched the history of the first Crusade with sufficient fulness to give a general conception of the true spirit of the Crusades, and of the toils and difficulties which the soldiers of the cross had to contend with. All that we can attempt more, is to give such a historical outline as may exhibit the connexion of the last six Crusades with the first and greatest one, and put our readers in possession of the facts necessary to enable them to view the Crusades as a whole.

Godfrey of Bouillon, the first king of Jerusalem, died in July 1100, after having reigned but one year. He was succeeded by his brother Baldwin, Prince of Edessa, who reigned eighteen years; and was in turn succeeded by Baldwin du Bourg, or Baldwin II., also one of the original Crusaders. After him the dignity of king of Jerusalem was held by Fulk of Anjou, who ascended the throne in 1131, and who was succeeded in 1148 by his son, Baldwin III. Under these successive princes the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem was extended and consolidated. Many battles were fought with the Saracens of Syria and Egypt, who exerted themselves to the utmost to crush the infant principality founded by the Crusaders. The result of all these battles was but to