The crusaders; or, Scenes, events, and characters, from the times of the crusades . he town hallowed by the birth of the Saviour ofman. The people came forth with joy to receive theWestern warriors, singing psalms and holy hymns, andled them to the abode of Mary, and showed them thestable in which the Holy Infant had lain. In pious ado-ration the knights knelt and prayed to their Eedeemer;then placing the banner of their leader on the church,they mounted their horses, and pressed forwards towardJerusalem. Tancreds impatience urged him on beforehis companions • he even ventured to approach the
The crusaders; or, Scenes, events, and characters, from the times of the crusades . he town hallowed by the birth of the Saviour ofman. The people came forth with joy to receive theWestern warriors, singing psalms and holy hymns, andled them to the abode of Mary, and showed them thestable in which the Holy Infant had lain. In pious ado-ration the knights knelt and prayed to their Eedeemer;then placing the banner of their leader on the church,they mounted their horses, and pressed forwards towardJerusalem. Tancreds impatience urged him on beforehis companions • he even ventured to approach the walls,and crossing the Valley of Jehoshaphat to ascend theMount of Olives, to view the interior of the town. Thesun was now declining toward the west, and his beamsdistinctly marked each object; a hermit drew nigh to the * This is not the Emmaiis mentioned in the Gospel (Luke xxiv. 13), which wasonly sixty furlongs from Jerusalem. It was the town named Latrun, on thedirect road from Ramla to the Holy City, near which are the ruins of Nicopolis,anciently called Emmaiis (Amwds).. X099.] APPEOACH TO JEEUSALEM. 133 daring Frank, and pointed out to him each well-knownspot within the town and round the walls. As he wasretiring he craved his name. Tancred, a Norman ofthe race of Bobert Guiscard, was the reply. I nolonger wonder at thy courage, said the hermit; manyyears ago I heard that name in Greece, and was wont totremble at it. At length the Saracens, discerning theknight, came forth to attack him, and he hastened to re-join his friends. The meanest pilgrim in the Christian camp was aseager as Tancred could have been to reach the sacredtown, and could not brook the slightest delay. Evenduring the night of the 5th of June, a knight, namedGaston of Biterre, set forth with thirty companions, anddrove some cattle that were feeding under the walls ofJerusalem. The Saracens issued forth to the rescue, andbut for the timely aid of Tancred, he would have paiddear for his temerity.* The
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade185, booksubjectcrusades, bookyear1859
