The Dream and the Tomb (15 page)

In the nearby fields horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and many other animals were standing, too weak to move. They shriveled and died of thirst, rotting where they stood, and they filled the air with the smell of death.

So the days passed in deadening heat and choking dust, and strong winds rose full of the sun's heat. There was little shade; all the trees around Jerusalem had been cut down. The Crusaders had to bring water from springs five or six miles away, and men paid small fortunes for a mouthful of water. The Saracens succeeded in ambushing some of the water-carriers.

By June 12, when the armies were settling down, the princes made a pilgrimage to the Mount of Olives and here they encountered an old hermit who said, “If you will attack the city tomorrow to the ninth hour, the Lord will deliver it into your hands!”

The princes were puzzled. The army was not yet ready for a general assault. The scaling ladders, the siege engines, and the wooden towers were not yet in place.

“The siege machinery is not here,” the princes said.

The hermit replied that the siege machinery had nothing to do with it.

“God is all powerful,” he answered. “If He wills, you can scale the walls with a single ladder. He is on the side of those who work for the Truth.”

The princes were so impressed with the hermit's argument that they did exactly as he had ordered. They commanded a general assault with improvised siege engines and, according to Raymond of Aguilers, a few Crusaders succeeded in reaching the parapets and there was continuous fighting until the third hour. Raymond of Aguilers, who had faith in hermits and miracles, reported that the attack would have been successful if it had not been for the sloth and fear of the princes who called it off too soon.

This reverse discouraged many of the soldiers, who went on foraging expeditions, searching for fodder and water for their horses, and food and water for themselves. At this moment the army became disorganized and a sortie by the defenders of Jerusalem might have destroyed the Crusaders preparing to attack along the north wall. The princes, however, regained command of their troops very quickly, announcing that there would be no further assaults until they had constructed more mangonels and siege engines. For all these they needed stout wooden timbers, but there was scarcely a tree left standing in the neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Providentially there arrived on June 17 at Jaffa six ships laden with provisions and armaments together with the tackle, ropes, nails, iron bolts, and leather hides needed for the making of siege engines. The ships also
carried some timber, but not enough for the Crusaders' purpose. The Muslims were determined that these supplies should not reach the Crusader army and sent four hundred of their best Arab troops and two hundred Turks to Ramleh, a few miles inland on the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem. A certain Count Geldemar Carpenel, attached to Godfrey of Bouillon's staff, was sent with twenty knights and fifty infantrymen to secure the passage of the supplies. It was quickly realized that this might not be a sufficiently large force. Raymond Pilet with fifty knights was sent after Count Carpenel, and later still another force was sent out, consisting of William of Sabran, who belonged to the army of the Count of Toulouse. On the plain of Ramleh there was a hard-fought battle between the Crusader forces and the Muslims. Six hundred Muslims confronted seventy Christians. Five knights were killed, all the archers died, and there were about thirty survivors when the Muslims saw a cloud of dust on the horizon. Fifty additional knights were coming to the rescue. The Muslims, fearing that they would be outnumbered, fled. The Christian troops went off to Jaffa to find that the sailors had unloaded the supplies but an Egyptian fleet was blockading the port. One of the English ships succeeded in slipping past the Egyptians at night, while the remaining ships were abandoned. The sailors accompanied the knights to Jerusalem with all their stores.

Although these stores were welcome, coming at a time when the Crusaders were losing heart, they were not enough to ensure a successful siege. Water and wood had to be found. A surprisingly large amount of wood was required to build the great towers that would be set against the walls of Jerusalem. New mangonels were needed. There was also a great need for scaling ladders, as many as possible. While expeditions to get wood went farther and farther afield the princes met, debated, quarreled, and sometimes came to the conclusion that it was better not to make decisions when there was so much disagreement. The clergy disputed Tancred's claim to be lord of Bethlehem, which he had captured during a quick foray, leaving his banner waving over the Church of the Nativity as a sign of ownership. Some of the princes defended Tancred; the clergy remained adamant. In their eyes Bethlehem and its church were too holy to be under the jurisdiction of anyone except the pope. Similarly, when they discussed the future government of Jerusalem there were arguments about the title of its ruler. Should he be called King of Jerusalem? But if Christ himself had worn a crown of thorns, was it not a mockery of Christianity to grant to a mortal man a title that belonged to the Son of God? Popular feeling, backed by the clergy, insisted that no man was worthy to be called King of Jerusalem. This matter, too, was deferred.

Although the siege engines and towers, the scaling ladders and mangonels, and all the other engines of war were being constructed at a rapid pace—the army turned into a vast carpentry shop—no decision about the
date of the assault had been reached by the end of June. There was a sense of urgency; but there was also the conviction that there could be no failure of equipment; the great towers must be built solidly, and everybody in the army must know what was expected of him.

Everyone was working to the point of exhaustion; something more was needed to spur them to even greater effort. What was really needed, in the eyes of Raymond of Aguilers and the Count of Toulouse and perhaps also in the eyes of the other princes, was a sure sign from God, like the discovery of the Holy Lance at Antioch.

This came on the morning of July 6 when the priest Peter Desiderius, who was known to have had visions previously, announced that the dead Bishop Adhémar of Le Puy had come to him with a message addressed to all the Crusaders. (The bishop had died of high fever in August 1098.) The bishop urged them to free themselves from the filth of the world, put sin behind them, and walk barefoot around the walls of Jerusalem. If they did all these things, then at the end of nine days, after a violent assault, the city would fall. If they did not, then God would increase their misfortunes.

Since Bishop Adhémar had been, until his death, theoretically the commander of the Crusaders and the ultimate authority under the pope, his ghostly words held special force. A general assembly was called to consider the new commandment. It was agreed that the bishop had indeed spoken through Peter Desiderius and his commandment must be obeyed. Had not Christ humbled himself by entering Jerusalem on an ass? Therefore, the Christians must humble themselves in a similar manner: they must walk meekly in the sight of the Lord, imitating Christ.

Two days later an extraordinary procession, led by priests carrying crosses and holy relics, and followed by knights and infantrymen, marched around the walls of Jerusalem. All were barefoot. Some of the soldiers brandished their weapons; the trumpeters blew on their trumpets; all were moved by the solemnity of the occasion. Raymond of Aguilers, who took part in the procession and later delivered a sermon addressed to the whole army on the Mount of Olives, remembered that it was very noisy and the Saracens on the walls amused themselves by erecting crosses on which they performed obscene acts. The crosses were supported on gibbets and could, therefore, be made to swing backward and forward when they were struck. The sight of the blasphemed crosses only stirred the Christians to firmer resolution.

The march around the walls was both a penitential procession and the celebration of a triumph. From that morning, everyone seemed to know that Jerusalem would be conquered.

A certain Gaston, Viscount of Béarn, was now placed in charge of the towers and siege engines on the northern wall, while William Embriaco was placed in charge of the construction of the towers and siege engines at Mount Zion. Huge balks of timber carried by captured Muslims could be
seen making their way toward Jerusalem. Raymond of Aguilers speaks of great logs supported on the backs of fifty or sixty Muslims.

The princes worked out a timetable. On July 9 they were able to determine that the assault would take place on the night of July 13, for the great towers and siege engines were nearly completed and it only remained to put them in place. The attack would be launched simultaneously from Mount Zion and along the eastern sector of the northern wall.

At the last moment Godfrey of Bouillon and the counts of Flanders and Normandy made an abrupt change of plan. During the night, the largest tower was wheeled, with enormous difficulty, to another place a half mile away, because it was known that the Saracens were concentrating their forces where the tower had been. This tower was now facing the north wall near Herod's Gate. At Mount Zion the Count of Toulouse was offering a
denarius
to anyone who would carry three heavy stones to help to fill the dip in the land that prevented him from bringing his tower close to the walls. He paid the money out of his own purse and the dip was quickly filled.

We know surprisingly little about the fighting that took place throughout July 14. The towers closed in on the walls; the sappers were at work. The Christians battered at the walls with petraries and mangonels, instruments for hurling stones, and the huge siege engines, which could throw heavy rocks over the walls. The Saracens fought rocks and stones with fire. They hurled wooden bolts wrapped in rags aflame with burning pitch, sulfur, wax, and tow at the invaders; the bolts were provided with long nails so that they stuck to whatever they touched. The Saracens fought stubbornly. It is possible that there were too many of them—Raymond of Aguilers says there were sixty thousand of them against no more than thirteen hundred Christian knights, twelve thousand infantrymen, and workmen of all kinds—and they got in each other's way, crowding the parapets and walkways. They were less maneuverable, and perhaps less disciplined, than the Crusaders, who were attempting at many different places to claw their way up the walls with ropes and scaling ladders. The two huge towers, once they were joined to the walls, presented the greatest danger to the Muslims. It was precisely in these places, at Mount Zion and on the north wall, that the Muslims needed skilled engineers rather than soldiers. Meanwhile, they did everything they could to burn down the towers, which were covered with skins and hides to protect them from fire. The task of the Crusaders was to make a single breach in the walls through which the army could pour in.

The Muslims were well supplied with Greek fire: burning pitch and sulfur. The Crusaders used fire only with the flaming arrows they shot into the city. Sheets of flame fell on the Crusaders. Bales of hay, liberally sprinkled with oil and wax, were tossed over the walls, the hay continuing to burn long after it had reached the ground. Huge columns of smoke
arose. Buildings in Jerusalem were burning, and there were pools of flame outside the walls, especially near the wooden towers, where the Muslims concentrated their fire.

So the fighting went on, all through the day and into the night. Raymond of Aguilers speaks of the incessant noise and of siege engines that were shattered by rocks, for the Saracens also had catapults trained on the machinery of the Christian army. He speaks, too, of their defensive skill, and hints at the extraordinary accuracy of the defenders, who succeeded in burning or shattering many of the siege engines. They were also using witchcraft, a weapon the Christians could not use. Two witches, he tells us, were standing on the parapet and casting spells on one of the petraries. He observes, with some satisfaction, that immediately after they had cast their spells a rock went whistling through the air and killed them.

On the morning of July 15, the Christians began to waver. They were exhausted by the continuous fighting, the lack of water, the sight of so many burnt-out siege engines. The princes met and debated whether to pull back and regroup. By this time, both towers were joined to the walls but it had been impossible to put the bridges in place, for these bridges, attached to the tops and swung into place by ropes and pulleys, were essential for making a pathway into the city. Up to this time, not a single Crusader had succeeded in entering the city. Every attempt to climb the walls had failed. An unknown knight standing on the Mount of Olives signaled with his shield to the Count of Toulouse to move forward. Raymond of Aguilers hints that the unknown knight was an angel. At this moment Godfrey of Bouillon, who was in the tower, ordered his men to throw fire on the bales of straw and cushions filled with cotton, which hung suspended from the walls, and the wind changing, huge columns of black smoke poured across the city, blinding the defenders who ran away. The Saracens had used balks of timber in an effort to keep the tower away from the walls. The Crusaders seized one of these timbers and nailed it to the tower, while the other end was secured to the battlements. Then the bridge was swung into position over the timber; at last, this narrow bridge provided a covered road into the city. Two Flemish knights, Litold and Gilbert of Tournai, had the honor of being the first to cross the bridge. They were closely followed by Godfrey of Bouillon, his brother Eustace, Robert Duke of Normandy, and the Count of Flanders. It was about noon on Friday, July 15, on the ninth day prophesied by Bishop Adhémar; and the Crusaders were aware that they were entering Jerusalem at the same hour that Christ died on the Cross.

At Mount Zion, the Count of Toulouse had succeeded in bringing his tower close to the walls but had not yet succeeded in using it as a bridge into the city. Iftikhar was commanding the Saracens fighting at Mount Zion, and he put up a powerful defense with stones, rocks, Greek fire, and incessant flights of arrows. Soon messengers came to him with news that
the Crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon had broken into Jerusalem and were already riding through the streets, killing everyone they encountered—man, woman, and child. Iftikhar shut himself up in the well-fortified Tower of David with as many of his soldiers as the tower could accommodate. He offered terms. He offered his treasure to the Count of Toulouse on condition that his life and the life of his bodyguard be spared, and that he be given safe passage to Ascalon. The count agreed. Alone among the Saracens, Iftikhar and his bodyguard survived the general massacre. They were escorted out of Jerusalem the same day.