they might now perform their religious vows, and that all
Christian pilgrims, who should thenceforth visit the holy sepulchre,
might expect the same good treatment which they had ever received from
his predecessors. The offer was rejected; the soldan was required to
yield up the city to the Christians; and on his refusal, the champions
of the Cross advanced to the siege of Jerusalem, which they regarded
as the consummation of their labours. By the detachments which they
had made, and the disasters which they had undergone, they were
diminished to the number of twenty thousand foot and fifteen hundred
horse; but these were still formidable, from their valour, their
experience, and the obedience which, from past calamities, they had
learned to pay to their leaders. After a siege of five weeks, they
took Jerusalem by assault; and, impelled by a mixture of military and
religious rage, they put the numerous garrison and inhabitants to the
sword without distinction. Neither arms defended the valiant, nor
submission the timorous: no age or sex was spared: infants on the
breast were pierced by the same blow with their mothers, who implored
for mercy: even a multitude, to the number of ten thousand persons,
who had surrendered themselves prisoners, and were promised quarter,
were butchered in cool blood by those ferocious conquerors [a]. The
streets of Jerusalem were covered with dead bodies [b]; and the
triumphant warriors, after every enemy was subdued and slaughtered,
immediately turned themselves, with the sentiments of humiliation and
contrition, towards the holy sepulchre. They threw aside their arms,
still streaming with blood: they advanced with reclined bodies, and
naked feet and heads, to the sacred monument: they sung anthems to
their Saviour who had there purchased their salvation by his death and
agony: and their devotion, enlivened by the presence of the place
where he had suffered, so overcame their fury, that they dissolved in
tears, and bore the appearance of every soft and tender sentiment. So
inconsistent is human nature with itself! and so easily does the most
effeminate superstition ally, both with the most heroic courage and
with the fiercest barbarity!
[FN [a] Vertot, vol. i. p. 57. [b] M. Paris, p. 34. Order. Vital. p.
756. Diceto, p. 498.]

This great event happened on the 5th of July, in the last year of the
eleventh century. The Christian princes and nobles, after choosing
Godfrey of Bouill