§ 53. THE THIRD CRUSADE. 261
Acre, or Ptolemais, under Mount Carmel, had become the metropolis of the Crusaders, as it was the key to the Holy Land. Christendom had few capitals so gay in its fashions and thronged with such diverse types of nationality. Mer chants were there from the great commercial marts of Europe. The houses, placed among gardens, were rich with painted glass. The Hospitallers and Templars had exten sive establishments.
Against Acre, Guy of Lusignan had been laying siege for two years. Released by Saladin upon condition of renounc ing all claim to his crown and going beyond the seas, he had secured easy absolution from the priest from this solemn oath. Baldwin of Canterbury, Hubert Walter, bishop of Salisbury, and the justiciar Ranulf of Glanvill had arrived on the scene before Richard. " We found our army," wrote the archbishop's chaplain,1 " given up to shameful practices, and yielding to ease and lust, rather than encouraging virtue. The Lord is not in the camp. Neither chastity, solemnity, faith, nor charity are there — a state of things which, I call God to witness, I would not have believed if I had not seen it with my own eyes."
Saladin was watching the besiegers and protecting the garrison. The horrors of the siege made it one of the mem orable sieges of the Middle Ages.2 It was carried on from
wax torches and flaming lights "that it seemed to be usurped by the bright ness of the day, and the Turks thought the whole valley was on fire." Kichard of Devizes, LXIIL, says, " The besiegers received Richard with as much joy as if it had been Christ who had come again."
1 The Itinerary, I., 66, says Baldwin was made sick unto death when he saw " the army altogether dissolute and given up to drinking, women, and dice."
2 The loss before Acre was very heavy. The Itinerary gives a list of 6 archbishops, 12 bishops, 40 counts, and 500 knights who lost their lives. IV. 6. De Hoveden also gives a formidable list, in which are included the names of the dukes of Swabia, Flanders, and Burgundy, the archbishops of Besan§on, Aries, Montreal, etc. Baldwin died Nov. 19, 1190. The Itin erary compares the siege of Acre to the siege of Troy, and says (I. 32) " it would certainly obtain eternal fame as a city for which the whole world contended."
L!U2 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
the sea as well as on tlie land. Greek fire was used with great effect by the. Turks.1 The struggle was participated in by women as well as the men. Some Crusaders apos tatized to get the means for prolonging life.2 With the aid of the huge machine Check Greek, and other engines con structed by Richard in Sicily, and by Philip, the city was made to surrender, July, 1191. By the terms of the capitulation the city's stores, two hundred thousand pieces of gold, fifteen hundred prisoners, and the true cross were to pass into the hands of the Crusaders.
The advance upon Jerusalem was delayed by rivalries between the armies and their leaders. Richard's prowess, large means, and personal popularity threw Philip into the shade, and he was soon on his way back to France, leaving the duke of Burgundy as leader of the French. The French and Germans also quarrelled.3 A fruitful source of friction was the quarrel between Guy of Lusignan and Conrad of Montferrat over the crown of Jerusalem, until the matter was finally settled by Conrad's murder and the recognition of Guy as king of Cyprus, and Henry of Champagne, the nephew of both Richard and Philip Augustus, as king of Jerusalem.
A dark blot rests upon Richard's memory for the murder in cold blood of twenty-seven hundred prisoners in the full sight of Saladin's troops and as a punishment for the non-
1 The Itinerary and other documents make frequent reference to its deadly use. Among the machines used on both sides were the petrarice, which hurled stones, and mangonels used for hurling stones and other mis siles. Itinerary, III. 7, etc. One of the grappling machines was called a " cat." The battering ram was also used, and the sow?, a covering under which the assailants made their approach to the walls. King Richard was an expert in the use of the arbalest, or cross-bow.
2 The price of a loaf of bread rose from a penny to 40 shillings, and a horseload of corn was sold for 60 marks. De Hoveden, etc. Horse flesh was greedily eaten, even to the intestines, which were sold for 10 sols. Even grass was sought after to appease hunger. A vivid description of the pitiful sufferings from famine is given in the Itinerary, I. 07-83.
8 Itinerary. I. 44.