The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 7G. Cowie, 1825 - Byzantine Empire |
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Abulfeda Alexiad Alexius Alp Arslan Anna Comnena Antioch Apulia arms army Asia Baldwin barbarians barons Bohemond brethren brother Bulgarians Byzantine Cæsar caliph camp captive century Christian church clergy command conqueror conquest Constantine Constantine Porphyrogenitus Constantinople count count of Flanders Courtenay crusade death defence doge Ducange duke east Egypt emperor empire enemies Europe faith father France Franks French galleys Godfrey Godfrey of Bouillon gold Græc Greeks Guignes Guiscard Hellespont Hist historian holy honour hundred thousand Italy Jerusalem king kingdom knights land Latins Liutprand Manichæans military monarch Moslems Muratori nations Nicephorus Nicephorus Gregoras Nicetas noble Normans numbers Pachymer palace Palæologus Palestine patriarch Paulicians peace pilgrims pope prince provinces reign religion Robert Roman Rome royal Saladin Saracens Sicily siege soldiers sovereign spirit successor sultan sword Syria throne tion troops Turkish Turks Tyre valour Venetians Venice victory Villehardouin William of Tyre zeal
Popular passages
Page 337 - A more unjust and absurd constitution cannot be devised than that which condemns the natives] of a country to perpetual servitude, under the arbitrary dominion of strangers and slaves. Yet such has been the state of Egypt above five hundred years. The most illustrious sultans of the Baharite and Borgite dynasties were themselves promoted from the Tartar and Circassian bands; and the four-and-twenty beys, or military chiefs, have ever been succeeded, not by their sons, but by their servants."")" These...
Page 278 - ... complaint of famine may be imputed in some degree to the voracious or disorderly appetite of the Franks, but the stony soil of Jerusalem is almost destitute of water ; the scanty springs and hasty torrents were dry in the summer season ; nor was the thirst of the besiegers relieved, as in the city, by the artificial supply of cisterns and aqueducts. The circumjacent country is equally destitute of trees for the uses of shade or building, but some large beams were discovered in a cave by the crusaders...
Page 285 - But the firmest bulwark of Jerusalem was founded on the knights of the Hospital of St. John, and of the temple of Solomon; on the strange association of a monastic and military life, which fanaticism might suggest, but which policy must approve. The flower of the nobility of Europe aspired to wear the cross, and to profess the vows, of these respectable orders; their spirit and discipline were immortal; and the speedy donation of twenty-eight thousand farms, or manors, enabled them to support a regular...
Page 326 - ... merchant vessels, and leaped foremost on the beach: the castle was relieved by his presence; and sixty thousand Turks and Saracens fled before his arms. The discovery of his weakness, provoked them to return in the morning; and they found him carelessly encamped before the gates with only seventeen knights and three hundred archers. Without counting their numbers, he sustained their charge; and we learn from the evidence of his enemies...
Page 218 - Tuikmans to insult the clergy of every sect : the patriarch was dragged by the hair along the pavement, and cast into a dungeon, to extort a ransom from the sympathy of his flock ; and the divine worship in the church of the Resurrection was often disturbed by the savag0 rudeness of its masters.
Page 53 - Not a single composition of history, philosophy, or literature, has been saved from oblivion by the intrinsic beauties of style or sentiment, of original fancy, or even of successful imitation.
Page 134 - His boundless ambition was founded on the consciousness of superior worth : in the pursuit of greatness, he was never arrested by the scruples of justice, and seldom moved by the feelings of humanity : though not insensible of fame, the choice of open or clandestine means was determined only by his present advantage.
Page 269 - Sixty thousand horses had been reviewed in the camp : before the end of the siege they were diminished to two thousand, and scarcely two hundred fit for service could be mustered on the day of battle. Weakness of body and terror of mind extinguished the ardent enthusiasm of the pilgrims ; and every motive of honor and religion was subdued by the desire of life.
Page 134 - Robert was the eldest of the seven sons of the second marriage; and even the reluctant praise of his foes has endowed him with the heroic qualities of a soldier and a statesman. His lofty stature surpassed the tallest of his army : his limbs were cast in the true proportion of strength and gracefulness; and to the decline of life, he maintained the patient vigor of health and the commanding dignity of his form.
Page 350 - ... to ashes; the clergy were burnt in their churches, and the sick in their hospitals; and some estimate may be formed of the slain from the clemency which sold above four thousand Christians in perpetual slavery to the Turks. The priests and monks were the loudest and most active in the destruction of the schismatics; and they chanted a thanksgiving to the Lord, when the head of a Roman cardinal, the pope's legate, was severed from his body, fastened to the tail of a dog, and dragged, with savage...