Count of Vermandois were joined under its
walls by each host in succession, as it left Constantinople. Among the
celebrated crusaders who fought at this siege, we find, besides the
leaders already mentioned, the brave and generous Tancred, whose name
and fame have been immortalized in the Gerusalemme Liberata, the
valorous Bishop of Puy, Baldwin, afterwards King of Jerusalem, and
Peter the Hermit, now an almost solitary soldier, shorn of all the
power and influence he had formerly possessed. Kilij Aslaun, the Sultan
of Roum, and chief of the Seljukian Turks, whose deeds, surrounded by
the false halo of romance, are familiar to the readers of Tasso, under
the name of Soliman, marched to defend this city, but was defeated
after several obstinate engagements, in which the Christians showed a
degree of heroism that quite astonished him. The Turkish chief had
expected to find a wild undisciplined multitude, like that under Peter
the Hermit, without leaders capable of enforcing obedience; instead of
which he found the most experienced leaders of the age at the head of
armies that had just fanaticism enough to be ferocious, but not enough
to render them ungovernable. In these engagements, many hundreds fell
on both sides; and on both sides the most revolting barbarity was
practised: the crusaders cut off the heads of the fallen Mussulmans,
and sent them in paniers to Constantinople, as trophies of their
victory. After the temporary defeat of Kilij Aslaun, the siege of Nice
was carried on with redoubled vigour. The Turks defended themselves
with the greatest obstinacy, and discharged showers of poisoned arrows
upon the crusaders. When any unfortunate wretch was killed under the
walls, they let down iron hooks from above, and drew the body up,
which, after stripping and mutilating, they threw back again at the
besiegers. The latter were well supplied with provisions, and for
six-and-thirty days the siege continued without any relaxation of the
efforts on either side. Many tales are told of the almost superhuman
heroism of the Christian leaders--how one man put a thousand to flight;
and how the arrows of the faithful never missed their mark. One
anecdote of Godfrey of Bouillon, related by Albert of Aix, is worth
recording, not only as showing the high opinion entertained of his
valour, but as showing the contagious credulity of the armies--a
credulity which as often led them to the very verge of defeat, as it
incited them to vict