great and splendid reputation. But this harmony was of short duration; and occasions of discord soon arose between these jealous and haughty princes. 3. But notwithstanding these disputes, as the length of the siege had reduced the Saracen garrison to the July 12, last extremity, they surrendered themselves prisonA.D. ers; stipulated, in return for their lives, other 1191 advantages to the Christians, such as the restoring of the Christian prisoners, and the delivery of the wood of the true cross; and this great enterprise, which had long engaged the attention of all Europe and Asia, was at last, after the loss of 300,000 men, brought to a happy period. 4. But Philip, instead of pursuing the hopes of further conquest, and of redeeming the Holy City from slavery, being disgusted with the ascendant assumed and acquired by Richard, and having views of many advantages which he might reap by his presence in Europe, declared his resolution of returning to France; and he pleaded his bad state of health as an excuse for his desertion of the com mon cause. 5. The Christian adventurers under Richard's command determined, on opening the campaign, to attempt the siege of Ascalon, in order to prepare the way for that of Jerusalem; and they marched along the sea-coast with that intention. Saladin purposed to intercept their passage, and he placed himself on the road with an army amounting to 300,000 combatants. On this occasion was fought one of the greatest battles of that age, and the most celebrated for the military genius of the commanders, for the number and valour of the troops, and for the great variety of events which attended it. Both the right wing of the Christians, commanded by D'Avesnes, and the left, conducted by the Duke of Burgundy, were, in the beginning of the day, broken and defeated; when Richard, who led on the main body, restored the battle; attacked the enemy with 'intrepidity and presence of mind; performed the part both of a 'consummate general and gallant soldier; and not only gave his two wings leisure to recover their confusion, but obtained a complete victory over the Saracens, of whom forty thousand are said to have perished in the field. 6. Ascalon soon after fell into the hands of the Christians; other sieges were carried on with equal success; Richard was even able to advance within sight of Jerusalem, the object of his enterprise; when he had the 'mortification to find that he must abandon all hopes of immediate success, and must put a stop to his career of victory. The Crusaders, animated with an enthusiastic ardour for the holy wars, broke at first through all regards to safety or interest in the prosecution of their purpose; and trusting to the immediate assistance of Heaven, set nothing before their eyes but fame and victory in this world, and a crown of glory in the next. But long absence from home, fatigue, disease, want, and the variety of incidents which naturally attend war, had gradually abated that fury which nothing was able directly to withstand; and every one, except the King of England, expressed a desire of speedily returning into Europe. 7. The Germans and the Italians declared their resolution of desisting from the enterprise; the French were still more obstinate in this purpose; the Duke of Burgundy, in order to pay court to Philip, took all opportunities of mortifying and opposing Richard; and there appeared an absolute necessity of abandoning for the present all hopes of further conquest, and of securing the acquisitions of the Christians by an accommodation with Saladin. Richard, therefore, concluded a truce with that monarch, and stipulated that Acre, Joppa, and other seaport towns of Palestine, should remain in the hands of the Christians, and that every one of that religion should have liberty to perform his pilgrimage to Jerusalem 'unmolested. This truce was concluded for three years, three months, three weeks, three days, and three hours; a magical number which had probably been devised by the Europeans, and which was suggested by a superstition well suited to the object of the war. 8. There remained, after the truce, no business of importance to detain Richard in Palestine; and the intelligence which he received concerning the intrigues of his brother John, and those of the King of France, made him sensible that his presence was necessary in Europe. As he dared not pass through France, he sailed to the Adriatic; and being shipwrecked near Aquileia,5 he put on the disguise of a pilgrim, with a purpose of taking his journey secretly through Germany. Pursued by the governor of Istria, he was forced out of the direct road to England, and was obliged to pass by Vienna, where his expenses and liberalities betrayed the monarch in the habit of the pilgrim, and he was arrested by orders of Leopold, Duke of Austria. This prince had served under Richard at the siege of Acre; but being disgusted by some insult of that haughty monarch, he was so ungenerous as to seize the present opportunity of gratifying at once his 'avarice and revenge, and he threw the king into prison. 6 9. The Emperor Henry VI., who also considered Richard as an enemy on account of the alliance contracted by him with Tancred, King of Sicily, despatched messengers to the Duke of Austria, required the royal captive to be delivered to him, and stipulated a large sum of money as a reward for this service. Thus the King of England, who had filled the whole world with his renown, found himself, during the most critical state of his affairs, confined in a dungeon and loaded with irons in the heart of Germany, and entirely at the mercy of his enemies, the basest and most sordid of mankind. DAVID HUME: History of England. as-cendant, higher power; superi- | in-tre-pid-i-ty, courage; fearlessness. com-bat-ants, fighting-men. in-trigues', plots. par-take', share. mor-ti-fi-ca-tion, vexation. pre-cip-i-tate, dashing; headlong. pros-e-cu-tion, following out. pro-tract-ed, delayed. con-sum-mate, highly skilled; per- pur-sued', chased. fect. de-sist-ing, leaving off. em-u-la-tion, rivalry. en-ter-prise, scheme; undertaking. har-mo-ny, agreement. 1 A'cre, or Ptolema’is, a fortified | sea-port on the coast of Syria, near the foot of Mount Carmel. It is famous for the number of its great sieges: 1104, taken by the Crusaders. 1187, taken by the Saracens. 1191, taken by the Crusaders. 1291, taken by the Saracens. 1799, attacked by Napoleon I. 1832, taken by Ibrahim Pasha. 1840, taken by the English. 2 Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, head of the Saracens. He died at Damascus in 1192. 3 The King of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, made king in 1186; but in rep-u-ta-tion, fame; character. stip-u-lat-ed, bargained. 6.-MAGNA CARTA. [John succeeded Richard I. (his brother) in 1199. He made himself unpopular, first by causing (as was believed) the death of Prince Arthur, his nephew, and afterwards by the loss of all his French possessions, which were taken by the King of France (1204). He quarrelled with the Pope regarding the filling up of the vacant see of Canterbury, and brought on the country the papal Interdict, which lasted six years (1208-14). The Pope first excommunicated John, and then deposed him. At last John, to save his crown, submitted to the Pope and became his vassal. This, and John's promotion of foreigners to important posts in England, disgusted the English barons. They demanded from the King the observance of the Charter of Henry I., and on his refusal they took arms against him.] 1. During John's hasty journey to Durham and back, events ever memorable in English history had taken place. On the 4th of August the justiciar1 Geoffrey Fitz-Peter held a great assembly at St. Albans,2 at which attended not Aug. 4, 1213 A.D. estates. only the great barons of the realm, but the representatives of the people of the townships of all the royal The object of the gathering was to determine the sum due to the bishops as an 'indemnity for their losses. There, no doubt, the commons and the barons had full opportunity of discussing their grievances; and the justiciar undertook, in the name of his master, that the laws of Henry I. should be put in force. Not that they knew much about the laws of Henry I., but that the prevailing abuses were regarded as arising from the strong governmental system consolidated by Henry II., and they recurred to the state of things which preceded that reign, just as under Henry I. men had recurred to the reign and laws of Edward the Confessor. 2. On the 25th of the same month the Archbishop,3 at a council of St. Paul's, actually produced the charter Aug. 25. issued by Henry I. at his coronation, and proposed that it should be presented to the king as the 'embodiment of the institutions which he had promised to maintain. Upon this foundation Magna Carta was soon to be drawn up. Almost directly after this, in October, the justiciar died; and John, who had hailed the death of Hubert Walter as a relief from an unwelcome adviser, spoke of Geoffrey with a cruel mockery as gone to join his old fellow-minister in hell. Both had acted as restraints on his desire to rule despotically, and the last public act of Geoffrey Fitz-Peter had been to engage him to an undertaking which he was resolved not to keep. 3. But matters did not proceed very rapidly. It is more than a year before we hear much more of the baronial demands. The new legate showed himself desir1214 ous to gratify the king; and although the northern barons still refused to go on foreign service, he managed to prevent an open struggle. The king went to Poictou5 in February 1214, and did not return A.D. |