A Short History of Saracens:Chapter XX

Kaim bi-amr-lllah, the Caliph — Tughril Beg — War with the Byzantines — Tughril's death — Accession of Alp Arslan — The Roman Invasion — Battle of Maldz Kard — Roman defeat — Diogenes Romanus made prisoner— Treaty of peace — Diogenes Romanus blinded and killed by his subjects — Death of Alp Arslan — Accession of Malik Shah — Death of Kaim — Accession of Muktadi bi-amr-Illah as Caliph — Malik Shah's glorious reign — The Rise of the Assassins — Hassan Sabah — Assassination of Nizam ul- Mulk — Death of Malik Shah— Disputes among his sons — Death of Caliph Muktadi — Accession of Mustazhir b'lllah — The beginning of the Crusades — Siege of Antioch — Its capture — Slaughter of the Moslems — Destruction of Maraa't un-Noman — Butchery in Jerusalem —Sack of Tripoli. 

Under Tughril the Seljuks became the dominant nation in Asia. This tribe formed a branch of the great Turkish or Scythian race, and derived their eponym from the chieftain under whom they had entered Transoxiana, and afterwards Khorasan. Although the Turks and Mongols belonged to the same stock, there was this great difference between them, that whilst the latter lived at the eastern extremity of Asia in a state of semi-barbarism verging on savagery, the western tribes had been much influenced by contact with the civilisation of the Arabs. The Seljuks, were the most advanced of them all, adopted Islam with fervour and enthusiasm, and became its ardent champions. While the Arabs were cultivating the arts of peace, they devoted themselves to the extension of the power of Islam. The latter half of the eleventh century forms the most glorious epoch of their history. During this period they recognised the over-lordship of one supreme monarch; the feudal vassals were united amongst themselves and faithful to the suzerain. 

The Greeks had taken advantage of the growing weakness of the Caliphate to extend their power in Asia; the treacherous raids of former times had developed under some vigorous monarchs into attempts at conquest; and at the close of the tenth century of the Christian era, the Byzantine dominions extended as far as Antioch to the south and the boundaries of Armenia Proper to the east.In the year 1060 a.c, Tughril declared war against Byzantines and swept them out of Cappadocia and Phrygia; but a permanent conquest of those regions of Alp was reserved for the reign of his brilliant nephew and successor, Alp Arslan ("the valiant Lion"), who, upon the death of his uncle without male issue, succeeded to the over-lordship of the Seljuks, and was invested by the Caliph with the title and prerogatives of Sultan. 

Alp Arslan is described by Ibn ul-Athir as a noble, benevolent, just, and wise ruler; pure, pious, and devout in his life; humane of heart, charitable, and a friend of the poor; never indulging in anything reprehensible, and withal brave and chivalrous. After achieving the final conquest of Georgia and Armenia, he had retired to Khoi, in Azerbijan, when he received news that Diogenes Romanus (called Armanus by the Arabs), who had been raised from the scaffold to the throne by the favour of the Empress Eudocia, had burst into Asia Minor with an overwhelming force of over 200,000 men, with the avowed object of destroying Bagdad and reducing the whole of Western Asia under the Roman sway. A better equipped and more numerous army had never issued from Constantinople for conquest or plunder. As the Romans advanced, the Moslems fell back until they arrived at Malaz Kard, an important fortress lying midway between the modern cities of Erzerum and Van. Here the Saracens were joined by the Sultan, and here the battle was fought which virtually destroyed the Byzantine power in Asia. The Moslems were out-numbered, but after a desperate Battle of and prolonged struggle they succeeded in inflicting a crushing defeat on the Roman army. The Emperor, with his patricians, was taken prisoner, and carried to the Sultan's camp, where he was treated with the kindness and courtesy due to his rank. 

After protracted negotiations, a treaty of peace was concluded between the Sultan and Romanus, by which the latter agreed to marry his daughters to the sons of Alp Arslan, to pay a ransom of a million, and an annual tribute of three hundred and sixty thousand pieces of gold, and to surrender all prisoners of war. The Emperor and his nobles then took leave of their captor, and attended by a guard furnished by the Sultan, proceeded towards Constantinople, but on the way learnt that he had been deposed by his ungrateful subjects. The Sultan prepared to support him by arms, but before he could come to his assistance, Romanus was seized and blinded, and afterwards put to death, by the Greeks. 

After the battle of Malaz Kard, Asia Minor was bestowed as an appanage upon Sulaiman, the son of Kutlumish, a cousin, who held it as a feudatory of the Sultan. Sulaiman proved himself a wise ruler and a brave soldier. He extended his dominions to the Hellespont on the north, and to the Mediterranean on the west, and exacted tribute from the rulers of Byzantium. He established his capital at Nice in Bithynia, where it remained until the Crusades. On the capture of that place by the Crusaders, the seat of government was removed to Iconium. Asia Minor continued under his descendants until they were overthrown by the Tartars. They are commonly known as the sovereigns of Rum, and have left many monuments of their power and civilisation. Aala ud-dln, the fourteenth sovereign, was the friend, patron, and disciple of the celebrated mystic and poet Moulana Jalal ud-din Rumi.

Alp Arslan died of a wound inflicted by a rebel whom he had sentenced to death. His rule was beneficent, wise, and just. During the whole of his reign he had as vizier the great Khwaja Hassan, surnamed Nizam ul-Mulk, in whom was vested the absolute control of the of administration. Alp Arslan was succeeded by his son, Malik Shah, who was invested with the Sultanate under the title of Jalal ud-Dowla (" Glory of the Empire"). 

The Caliph Kaim died three years later, and was succeeded on the pontifical throne by his grandson, Abu’l Kasim Abdullah, under the title of Muktadi bi-amr-Illah. Muktadi was only nineteen at the time of his accession, but had already given proof of his strength of character. He is described as pious, virtuous, and resolute, "magnanimous, and one of the noblest of the House of Abbas." He administered his private domains with care; he expelled from the capital all the bad characters, and took other measures for promoting public decency and suppressing immorality. The fanatical Hanbalites were, however, a source of constant trouble, and riots between them and the Ashaarias (the Hanafis) often led to heavy loss of life on both sides. But the interest of the Moslem world centred at this epoch not in the Caliph or his court, but in the great Sultan, the ruler of Asia. 

The beginning of Malik Shah's reign was disturbed by some insurrections, one headed by his own brother. The character of the Sultan is best indicated by an incident which occurred at Tus. After his devotions at the mausoleum of the Imam Ali ar-Raza, Malik Shah informed his vizier that he had implored the Lord to give his brother the victory if he was more worthy than himself to rule over the Moslems. Wise, noble, and just, Malik Shah's renown as a ruler has been equalled by few sovereigns. He retained Khwaja Hassan, Nizam ul-Mulk, in the office of vizierate, and invested him with absolute authority under the title of Atabek( "Prince Governor"). Nizam ul-Mulk was probably, after Yahya Barmeki, the ablest minister and administrator Asia has ever produced. His work on administration and government forms an enduring monument of his genius and capacity. Peace reigned throughout the vast dominions of the Sultan, which extended from the confines of China to the Mediterranean on the west, from Georgia on the north to Yemen in the south. Twelve times he traversed the wide extent of his dominions, and personally examined the condition and requirements of each province. Like Rashid and Mamun, he established resting-places and guard-houses along all the trade and pilgrim routes for the protection of merchants and travellers. Hunting was the Sultan's passion, but in the pursuit of his pleasure he never forgot the poor or the peasant; and after a battle he distributed heavy largesses among the indigent inhabitants of the district where he hunted. 

Malik Shah's reign, in its grandeur and magnificence, and in the prosperity of the people, rivalled the best period of Roman or Arabian domination. Commerce and industry flourished; arts and literature were fostered by a lavish patronage; an unprecedented impetus was given to the cultivation of the Persian language; the cities of Asia were adorned with colleges, hospitals, mosques, and palaces, and the empire was covered with roads and canals to facilitate traffic and to fertilise the soil. The reformation of the Calendar, at the instance of the Sultan of his great vizier, was of importance to the world at large. A committee of scientists, under the presidency of the astronomer-royal, the celebrated poet Omar Khayyam, was entrusted with the task. This assemblage of astronomers corrected all errors by a computation of time "which," says Gibbon, "surpasses the Julian and approaches the accuracy of the Gregorian." The new year's day was fixed at the first point of the sun's entry into Aries instead of, as heretofore, at the meridian of his passage through Pisces. The reformed era received, after the Sultan, the name Jaslalian. 

Sulaiman, the feudatory ruler of Rum, had extended the Seljukian dominions up to the confines of Caria, and reduced many of the islands. Nicephorus Botaniates, who ascended the throne of Byzantium on the abdication of the son of Constantine Ducas, and Alexius Comnenus his successor, acknowledged Malik Shah as their suzerain, and paid him tribute. In the year 467 a.h., Sulaiman drove the Greeks from the principality of Antioch and reconquered the city in the name of the Sultan. This conquest was, however, counter-balanced by the loss, seven years later, of Sicily. In the year 1061 a.c. the island had been invaded by the Normans, whose progress was favoured by internecine disorders among the Saracens. And yet the struggle was protracted and sanguinary. After a long war, which Sicily, extended over thirty years, the Norman Count Roger brought the island into his power.

Towards the close of Malik Shah's reign, the Assassins, the Nihilists of Islam, made their appearance in the inaccessible defiles of Mazendran, which had at one time harboured Babek and his confederates. This sanguinary fraternity, which was afterwards imitated with such remarkable success both in Europe and Asia, was founded by Hassan Sabah, a school-fellow of Nizam ul- Hassan Mulk, who, baulked in his ambition to play a part in the Seljukian empire, aimed at the destruction of legitimate authority by poison and the dagger. Becoming a follower of the Fatimide Caliphs of Egypt, he was appointed by them their nuncio in the East, with authority to make proselytes to the Ismailia doctrines. The Hitherto, the Ismailites had only masters and fellows; namely, the Dais or emissaries, who, being initiated into the grades of the secret doctrine, enlisted proselytes; and the Rafik who, gradually entrusted with its principles, formed the bulk of the secret society. Hassan saw at once that for the purpose of carrying out his project with security and energy, a third class was needed, composed of agents, who would be mere blind and fanatical tools in the hands of their superiors, who would yield implicit obedience to the master's orders without regard to consequences; these agents were called Fedais (i.e. the Devoted).

The grand-master of this murderous brotherhood was called "our Lord" Syedna or Sidna (the Sidney of the Crusaders), and commonly Shaikh ul-Jabal "the Old Man (or Lord) of the Mountain." And the Fedais formed his body-guard, and were the executioners of his deadly orders. Immediately under the grand-master came the Dai ul-Kabir, the grand-prior, and each of the three provinces, to which the power of the Order extended, namely Jabal, Kuhistan, and Syria, was ruled by one of the grand-priors. Beneath them were the initiated masters, Dais who acted as nuncios, and enlisted proselytes. The fellows or companions {Rafik) were those who were advancing to the mastership, through the several grades of initiation into the secret doctrine. The devoted murderers (the Fedais) came last, and the Lasik (aspirants) seem to have been the novices or lay brethren. From the uninitiated subjects of the Order, strict observance of the religious duties of Islam was expected; from the devoted satellites was demanded only blind subjection. The initiated worked with their heads, and led the arms of the Feddis in execution of the orders of the Shaikh, who with his pen guided the daggers.

These nihilists received the name of Mulahida or the Impious. In 483 a.h., Hassan Sabah obtained possession, partly by force and partly by treachery, of the inaccessible castle of Alamut ("the Eagle's Nest") on the mountains of Mazendran, and from there commenced his attacks on constituted society. Two expeditions were directed by Malik Shah against the Assassins, but death overtook him before he could root out the hateful fraternity. In 1091 a.c, Nizam ul-Mulk was murdered by one of the emissaries of Hassan Sabah. "He was universally beloved," says Ibn ul-Athir, "by the commonalty as well as the great, for his noble qualities and his spirit of justice." He left three sons, Muwayyid ul- Mulk, Fakhr ul-Mulk, and Izz ul-Mulk, who afterwards became the viziers of Malik Shah's successors. After the death of his great minister, the Sultan came to Bagdad. A marriage had been arranged between Malik Shah and a daughter of Alexius Comnenus, but death prevented a union from which great results were expected, both for the East and the West. Malik Shah died at the age of thirty-nine, after a reign about twenty-one years.

The greatness and unity of the Seljukian empire expired in the person of Malik Shah. At the instance of his wife Turkhan, surnamed Khatun ul-Jalalieh (the glorious Lady), his infant son Mahmud was invested by the Caliph with the dignity of the Sultanate, under the high-sounding title of Nasir ud-Dunia wa’d-din. But the little child had to make way for his eldest brother Barkyaruk who seized the supreme power and received the title of Rukn ud-Din. Shortly after, another competitor arose in the person of Mohammed, the second son of Malik Shah. The civil war between the brothers Barkyaruk and Mohammed, concerning the territories of Irak and Khorasan, facilitated the execution of Hassan Sabah's ambitious designs, and "in the bloody hotbed of intestine discord, the poisonous plant of murder and sedition flourished."

The Assassins by degrees made themselves master of some of the strongest fortresses in the mountainous tracts of Northern Persia, Irak, and Syria, and pursued the best men of Islam with their daggers.

The Caliph Muktadi died in 487 a.h. and was succeeded by his son Abu'l Abbas Ahmed, under the title Mustazhir b'Illah. He was only sixteen years of age at the time. Ibn ul-Athir describes him as humane, virtuous, and liberal, of generous disposition and gentle manners, zealous in good works, and a patron of the learned. Had he lived in more favourable times, he would probably have made some figure in history. But the resources at his command were too inadequate to enable him to play an important part.

It was at this period that the storm of savage fanaticism which in the annals of Christendom is called "the Holy Wars," burst in all its fury over Western Asia. In European histories the Crusades are surrounded with the halo of romance, and every knight or soldier engaged in it is regarded as the beau ideal of chivalry. It shall be in the interest of truth, to raise the veil from this picture, and to reveal in the short space at my command the ghastliness of these wars, the cruel, savage, and treacherous character of those who were engaged in them, and the dire miseries they inflicted upon Western Asia. "The Crusades form," says an annalist, "one of the maddest episodes in history. Christianity hurled itself at Mohammedanism in expedition after expedition for nearly three centuries, until failure brought lassitude, and superstition itself was undermined by its own labours. Europe was drained of men and money, and threatened with social bankruptcy, if not with annihilation. Millions perished in battle, hunger, or disease, and every atrocity the imagination can conceive disgraced the warriors of the Cross."

Ever since the establishment of the Islamic power, the Christians had enjoyed the utmost toleration; they were protected in the practice of their religion, and under the in the enjoyment of their civil rights and privileges. Islamic They were allowed to move freely about the empire, to hold communication with princes of their own creed in foreign countries, and to acquire lands and property under the same conditions as the Moslems. Public offices (excepting under some tyrannical governors) were open to them equally with the Moslems. Christian convents and churches existed everywhere, and Christian pilgrims from the most distant parts were permitted to enter Palestine without hindrance. In fact, pilgrimage to the Holy Land had been stimulated, rather than suppressed, by the conquest of the Arabs, and the Saracens contented themselves with maintaining order among the rival sects of Christianity, who would have torn each other to pieces in the very sepulchre they professed to worship. In Jerusalem, which was regarded as holy by the followers of both religions, a special quarter was set apart for the Patriarch and his clergy, which was inviolable on the part of Moslems. When Palestine and Syria passed into the hands of the Fatimides in the year 969 a.c, the change of supremacy was to the advantage of the Christians, for the Egyptian sovereigns encouraged Christian trade and patronised the Christians.

But no amount of toleration would conciliate the fanatics, who looked upon the presence of the Moslem in Jerusalem as an abomination. The pilgrims came under the protection of the Saracens, they enjoyed Saracen hospitality, and they carried away in their hearts a bitter hatred. Towards the end of the tenth century, the Millennium was believed to be at hand. Enormous crowds from the Latin world began to pour into the Holy Land; and in the eleventh century they increased to an appalling extent. About this time Palestine came into the possession of the Turkoman family of Ortok, who acknowledged a lax obedience to the Seljukian sovereign or his Syrian feudatory. The large influx of strangers and their furious zeal were equally unintelligible to the rude Turkomans, and the pilgrmis were occasionally exposed to ill-treatment and robbery.

The tales of ill-treatment, as usual grossly exaggerated, brought to a head the long-pent-up animosity of the Franks. Pope Urban II summoned a council at Placentia March 1095, and another at Clermont in November of the same year. Here the Pope commanded a crusade against the "infidels who were in possession of Christ's sepulchre, and promised a remission of sins to those who joined it, and paradise to those who fell in battle." Religious fanaticism was the chief motive of this Crusade, but it was mixed with others, such as a desire of carving out new kingdoms or acquiring riches; and "sensuality was allured by the fabulous flavour of Oriental wines and the magical beauty of Grecian women." "Avarice, ambition, and lust" thus co-operated with faith in exciting a religious outburst.

"Every means," says Hallam, "was used to excite an epidemical frenzy." During the time that a Crusader bore the Cross, he was free from suits for debts and exempt from taxes, and his person was under the protection of the Church. To these material advantages were joined the remission of penances, the abolition of all sins, and the assurance of eternal felicity. "None doubted that such as perished in the war unfailingly received the reward of martyrdom."

The first band, led by Walter (Gauthier) the Penniless, was massacred by the Christian Bulgarians. Peter the Hermit led the second host of forty thousand men, women, and children of all nations and languages. "Arriving at Malleville, they avenged their precursors by assaulting the town, slaying seven thousand of the inhabitants, and abandoning themselves to every species of grossness and libertinism." Hungary and Bulgaria became a desert before Peter's horde. Alexius shipped them across the Bosphorus without admitting them into the city. In Asia they recommenced their excesses. Michaud says that they "committed crimes which made nature shudder." They killed children at the breast, scattered their limbs in the air, and carried their ravages to the very walls of Nice. But the Sultan attacked them with fifteen thousand men. Their leader, Reginald, with some companions, embraced Islam. The rest were exterminated.

The third wave, says Gibbon, comprised of "the most stupid and savage refuse of the people," was commanded by Godeschal, a German monk. "They mingled with their devotion a brutal licence of rapine, prostitution, and drunkenness." According to Michaud, they gave themselves up to intemperance; they forgot Constantinople and Jerusalem "in tumultuous scenes of debauchery," and "pillage, violation, and murder was everywhere left on the traces of their passage." The Hungarians rose in arms against them; the plains of Belgrade were covered with the Crusaders' bones, and only a few of Godeschal's rabble escaped to tell the tale. The fourth wave issued from England, France, Flanders, and Lorraine. Mills calls them "another herd of wild and desperate savages." The Turks being far off, they took to murdering the Jews. Thousands of Jews were massacred and pillaged at Cologne, and in other towns on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle. Seven hundred were slaughtered at Mayence alone. "The infernal multitude" says Mills, "hurried on to the south in their usual career of carnage and rapine"; but at Memsburg they were destroyed by a Hungarian army.

In the following year a more systematic onslaught was organised by the princes of feudal Europe. Their passage towards the East was attended by the same atrocities. Under the leadership of Godfrey of Bouillon, the Crusaders arrived at Constantinople. With considerable dexterity Alexius diverted their attack on Constantinople, and shipped the unwelcome visitors across the Bosphorus, and in May 1097 a.c. the Crusaders mustered on the plains of Nice, seven hundred thousand strong, an enormous host sufficient to sweep from the field any army the Seljuks could bring against them. Nice, the capital of the Sultan, was invested and threatened with destruction. But Alexius induced the Seljuk sovereign to deliver the place to him. The sight of his standard flying over the castle threw the fanatical horde into a frenzy. But the city was saved. From Nice the Crusaders marched to Antioch. Slaughter, rapine, and outrage marked their progress through Asia. The siege of Antioch lasted nine months. Provisions became scarce, and the soldiers of the Cross actually resorted to cannibalism. "Carrion was openly dressed," says Mills, "and human flesh was eaten in secret." 

Mutilation of the dead was indulged in as a sport. The heads of two thousand Turks, who fell in a sortie from Antioch, were cut off; some were exhibited as trophies, others were fixed on stakes round the camp, and others shot into the town. On another occasion they dragged the corpses of the Saracens from their sepulchres, and exposed fifteen hundred heads to the weeping citizens. "The son of the Seljuk Ameer commanding at Antioch," says Michaud, "fell into the hands of the Crusaders, and they tried to induce his family to deliver up the city as his ransom. On their demand being refused, they subjected their young captive to the most barbarous treatment. His cruel tortures were renewed each day for a month. At last they conducted him to the foot of the rampart, and there immolated him in the sight of his parents and fellow-citizens."

Brutality often goes hand-in-hand with reckless indulgence, and the invaders gave the rein to their wildest passions. One author remarks that "seldom does the history of profane wars display such scenes of intemperance and debauchery." And Michaud says, "if contemporary accounts are to be credited, all the vices of the infamous Babylon prevailed among the liberators of Sion."

An attempt at relief failed owing to the incapacity of the Seljukian general (Kerbogha) and his ill-treatment of princes and ameers who had joined him. Antioch at last fell by treachery. An Armenian traitor named Firuz, or as the Arabs call him Behruz, lowered ropes in the night by means of which the Crusaders scaled the walls. Some towers were seized and the guards slain. A gate was then opened, and the whole army poured into the city shouting "Dieu le veuf" and then commenced a frightful butchery. "The dignity of age, the helplessness of youth, and the beauty of the weaker sex, were disregarded by the Latin savages. Houses were no sanctuaries, and the sight of a mosque added new virulence to cruelty."  Every habitation, from the marble palace to the meanest hovel, was converted into a shamble; the narrow streets and the spacious squares all alike ran with human blood. The lowest estimate puts the people massacred in Antioch at ten thousand souls.

After butchering the Saracens, the invaders abandoned themselves to the worst excesses. From Antioch they proceeded to Marra't un-Noman, one of the most populous and flourishing cities of Syria, which they captured. Here they slaughtered one hundred thousand people. "The streets ran with blood until ferocity was tired out." Bohemond then reviewed his prisoners. "They who were vigorous or beautiful," says Mills, "were reserved for the slave-market at Antioch, but the aged and infirm were immolated at the altar of cruelty." At Marra also cannibalism was rampant, "and it is even said that human flesh was publicly exposed for sale in the Christian camp." From Marra the soldiers of the Cross marched upon Jerusalem, which they took by storm.

Michaud gives a graphic account of the massacre. "The Saracens were massacred in the streets and in the houses. Jerusalem had no refuge for the vanquished. Some fled from death by precipitating themselves from the ramparts; others crowded for shelter into the palaces, the towers, and above all into their mosques, where they could not conceal themselves from the pursuit of the Christians. The Crusaders, masters of the Mosque of Omar, where the Saracens defended themselves for some time, renewed there the deplorable scenes which disgraced the conquest of Titus. The infantry and cavalry rushed pell-mell among the fugitives. Amid the most horrid tumult, nothing was heard but the groans and cries of death; the victors trod over heaps of corpses in pursuing those who vainly attempted to escape. Raymond d'Agiles, who was an eye-witness, says, 'that under the portico of the mosque, the blood was knee-deep, and reached the horses' bridles.'"  

There was a short lull in the work of slaughter whilst the Crusaders returned thanks to heaven for their success; but it recommenced immediately the prayers were over. "All the captives whom the lassitude of carnage had at first spared, all those who had been saved in the hope of a rich ransom, were butchered in the cold blood. The Saracens were forced to throw themselves from the tops of towers and houses; they were burnt alive; they were dragged from their subterranean retreats, they were haled to the public places, and immolated on piles of the dead. Neither the tears of women, nor the cries of little children, nor the sight of the place where Jesus Christ forgave his executioners, could mollify the victors' passion." 

Mills adds: "It was resolved that no pity should be shown to the Mussulmans. The subjugated people were therefore dragged into the public places, and slain as victims. Women with children at the breast, girls and boys, all were slaughtered. The squares, the streets, and even the uninhabited places of Jerusalem, again were strewed with the dead bodies of men and women, and the mangled limbs of children. No heart melted into compassion, or expanded into benevolence."  Over seventy thousand people perished in the city!

As special objects of malevolence, the Jews were of the reserved for a worse fate. Their synagogues, into which they were driven, were set on fire and they all perished in the flames. "Contemporary Christian historians," says Michaud, "describe these frightful scenes with perfect equanimity." Even amid recitals of the most disgusting details, they "never allow a single expression of horror or pity to escape them."

Godfrey de Bouillon was made King of Jerusalem. He was succeeded a year later by Baldwin, who laid siege to Csesarea. After a brave resistance, the garrison proposed to surrender on honourable terms, which were accepted. The gates were accordingly thrown open; but the Franks, once in the town, "paid no respect to the capitulation, and massacred without pity a disarmed and defenceless people." Tripoli, Tyre, and Sidon shared more or less the same fate. At this period the towns on the Phoenician sea-board were at the zenith of their prosperity. Nasir Khusru describes the first-named city as a beautiful place ; its suburbs and surrounding villages covered with fields of waving corn, smiling vineyards, luxuriant sugar-plantations, and gardens of orange, citron, dates, and other fruit-trees. The town itself was magnificent and populous, with houses "four, five, and even six stories" in height, with shops which looked like palaces, and markets stocked with every article of luxury and food. Fountains played in the public square and streets. Its cathedral mosque was a splendid structure of marble, "well adorned and decorated." It possessed besides a rich public library, a famous college, and a paper manufactory, which turned out paper "as good as that of Samarkand." In the year 1109 a.c, the Crusaders, under Tancred, assisted by a Pisan fleet, besieged this place. After a heroic defence, lasting Tripoli, several months, it was captured and sacked; the inhabitants were put to the sword, and the library college, and manufactory were reduced to ashes.

Palestine and a part of Syria thus fell into the hands of the Franks, who introduced into their new possessions the feudal institutions of their native land. The Moslem population was reduced to serfdom or villenage; judicial investigation gave place to trial by battle or ordeal; and, as in Europe at that time, slaves chained in gangs were hawked about the streets. Ameer Osama, who visited Jerusalem some years later, ransomed a number of these poor wretches. The Templars appear, from his description, to have acquired a certain degree of polish, but the new comers were uncouth barbarians; whilst his description of the laxity of morals among the Crusaders reveals a picture of unmitigated coarseness and depravity.