Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brief History Of The Religious And Military Order Of The Knights Templars Of St. John Of Jerusalem.
refused tq join in so unjust an attack , as they considered it to be contrary to religion and conscience . The Egyptians had recourse to Noraddin , sultan of Aleppo , for assistance . That prince sent a prodigious army into Egypt , under the command of Siracon , who soon obliged the Christians to retreat into Palestine with loss and disgrace . Having accomplished this service
, he assassinated the Egj-ptian prince , and was proclaimed sultan in his stead . He survived his new dignity only two months , and left the throne to his nephew , the celebrated ' Saladine , who was confirmed in it by Noraddin . On the death of the latter , Saladine seized upon Damascus , Aleppo , and the principal part of Syria , and became of course a most formidable enemy to the little kingdom of JudeaThe
. Christians were now to reap the fruits of their unjust and impolitic aggression . Saladine laid siege to the fortress of Gaza , which is the key of Palestine , and was then in the custody of the Templars . He had scarcely made his appearance before the place when-those kni ghts sallied out upon him with such dauntless valour , as to necessitate his raising the siege with great loss . The reli gious warriors exerted themselves with
prodigious valour and alacrity against the inroads of the infidels , and iu defence of the holy land ; but their numbers being inadequate to the preservation of it , the king of Jerusalem was obliged to apply to the Christian princes for a new croisade . He went himself to the imperial court of Constantinople , to solicit the assistance of the emperor Manuel . The regency , during his absence , was committed to the two grand-masters of the military orders .
At this time an Armenian prince , of the name of Melier , and enrolled , among the Kni ghts of the Temple , forsook his obligations , ancl , joining the forces of Saladine , committed the most horrid outrages upon the Latin Christians . The two military orders mustered all their force to attack this apostate kni ght . To avoid them he retired into the mountains , and so their
escaped vengeance ; but was assassinated some years afterwards by some of his own people . The Templars about this period suffered another disgrace in the conduct of one of their body . The people known by the name of the Assassins , and governed b y the Old Man of the Mountains , so terrible to all their nei ghbours , paid an annual tribute of two thousand
crowns in gold to the order of the Templars for peace . Willing to get rid of this imposition , the chief of the Assassins sent one of his people to the king of Jerusalem , with an offer to embrace the Christian reli gion on condition that the tribute to the Templars should be taken off . Tlie king accepted the proposal , and the ambassador was dismissed ; buton his return laid b
, , was way y a knight called Du Mesnil , and murdered . The king was justly enraged at this violation of faith , and demanded the kni ght to be delivered up ; but this the grand-master Odo refused , on pretence that the order was exempt from his jurisdiction ' . This only served to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brief History Of The Religious And Military Order Of The Knights Templars Of St. John Of Jerusalem.
refused tq join in so unjust an attack , as they considered it to be contrary to religion and conscience . The Egyptians had recourse to Noraddin , sultan of Aleppo , for assistance . That prince sent a prodigious army into Egypt , under the command of Siracon , who soon obliged the Christians to retreat into Palestine with loss and disgrace . Having accomplished this service
, he assassinated the Egj-ptian prince , and was proclaimed sultan in his stead . He survived his new dignity only two months , and left the throne to his nephew , the celebrated ' Saladine , who was confirmed in it by Noraddin . On the death of the latter , Saladine seized upon Damascus , Aleppo , and the principal part of Syria , and became of course a most formidable enemy to the little kingdom of JudeaThe
. Christians were now to reap the fruits of their unjust and impolitic aggression . Saladine laid siege to the fortress of Gaza , which is the key of Palestine , and was then in the custody of the Templars . He had scarcely made his appearance before the place when-those kni ghts sallied out upon him with such dauntless valour , as to necessitate his raising the siege with great loss . The reli gious warriors exerted themselves with
prodigious valour and alacrity against the inroads of the infidels , and iu defence of the holy land ; but their numbers being inadequate to the preservation of it , the king of Jerusalem was obliged to apply to the Christian princes for a new croisade . He went himself to the imperial court of Constantinople , to solicit the assistance of the emperor Manuel . The regency , during his absence , was committed to the two grand-masters of the military orders .
At this time an Armenian prince , of the name of Melier , and enrolled , among the Kni ghts of the Temple , forsook his obligations , ancl , joining the forces of Saladine , committed the most horrid outrages upon the Latin Christians . The two military orders mustered all their force to attack this apostate kni ght . To avoid them he retired into the mountains , and so their
escaped vengeance ; but was assassinated some years afterwards by some of his own people . The Templars about this period suffered another disgrace in the conduct of one of their body . The people known by the name of the Assassins , and governed b y the Old Man of the Mountains , so terrible to all their nei ghbours , paid an annual tribute of two thousand
crowns in gold to the order of the Templars for peace . Willing to get rid of this imposition , the chief of the Assassins sent one of his people to the king of Jerusalem , with an offer to embrace the Christian reli gion on condition that the tribute to the Templars should be taken off . Tlie king accepted the proposal , and the ambassador was dismissed ; buton his return laid b
, , was way y a knight called Du Mesnil , and murdered . The king was justly enraged at this violation of faith , and demanded the kni ght to be delivered up ; but this the grand-master Odo refused , on pretence that the order was exempt from his jurisdiction ' . This only served to