y Baldwin, whose ambitions and covetous nature bore no
resemblance to that of his brother. Tancred, a man after Godfrey's
heart, surrendered this conquest for the sake of peace; but, when
Baldwin showed symptoms of repeating his injustice, resisted by force.
Tancred was defeated, but a reconciliation took place between the
combatants. Baldwin, who had no real interest in the success of the
Crusade, soon afterwards turned aside into Mesopotamia, where he made
himself master of Edessa, and formed a Christian state there. Though
founded by merely personal ambition, this eventually proved of great
assistance to the Crusaders, by checking the progress of the Turkish
arms in Asia.

The main body now crossed the Taurus, after a tedious and painful
passage, and presented itself before the walls of Antioch, then ruled
by an independent Turkish emir named Accien. This city was especially
dear to the Christians, as the first in which their title had been
assumed; and the sight of its walls roused their flagging spirits.
Some of the generals advised that the siege should be deferred for
some months, until reinforcements arrived, and the winter was over;
but the majority of the chiefs, among whom Godfrey was conspicuous,
confident of success, and dreading the depressing influences of delay,
urged an immediate attack, which was accordingly made. The Turks
adopted the stratagem of apparently neglecting to defend the city; and
the Christians, falling into the snare, scattered their forces. The
licentiousness of some of their number, moreover, proved fatal to
their vigilance, and a sudden sortie of the garrison inflicted deadly
havoc. The siege was then commenced in earnest; but the city was so
strongly guarded, that months elapsed without any impression being
made upon its walls; and disease, famine, and the inclemency of the
season, united with the missiles of the Turks to weaken the Christian
force. Many of the leaders (Robert, Duke of Normandy, among them),
withdrew in cowardly disgust at the failure of the siege and the
pressure of want; while despair drove many of those who remained to
courses of reckless vice. Godfrey, firm to his duty and strong in
faith, aided the exertions of the clergy in encouraging the spirits of
his troops, and restraining their profligate excesses. A timely supply
of provisions from some of the Armenian monasteries, and a brilliant
victory obtained by Bohemond and the Count of Toulouse over an army
which