The Knights Templars.

CHAPTER IX . GRAND MASTER . —GERARD DE EIDEFORT . Deaths of the Kings Baldwin IV . and V . —Disputes as to the Sovereignty—Cromiing of Guy Lusigmni and Sylillo . —Bevolt of the Count of Tripoli and tiie Barons—Batik

of tiie Brook Kedron—Slaughter of the Ivniylds Templars and . Hospitallers—Heroism of Taeqiics de Maillic—Reconciliation of Guy and the Count of Tripoli—A . D . 1187 .

For nearly eighty years had the Christians maintained their supremacy in the Holy Land , and sustained the furious attacks of the Infidel , led on by some of their bravest aud most experienced generals . But the time has HOAV arrived

when Ave must tell how defeat awaited upon the followers of the Cross , and how the worship of Mahomet once more superseded the service of Christ . In our last chapter we left the Christians imploring aid from the Kings of Europe , Avhich

was denied them till it was too late , to make head against Saladin , Avho , after reducing his rebellious subjects , concentrated his forces for the purpose , when the truce should cease , of following up his victories over the Christians . We come HOAV to

treat of the wars with Saladin , to relate how , after slaughtering the bravest champions of Christendom , the invincible Sultan succeeded in wresting ; from the Christians the Holy City , the terrible prelude to that series of disasters Avhich , a hundred

years after , resulted in the extinction of the Christian power for ever in the Holy Land . We shall now have occasion to refer to the Third Crusade , which , although unable to bear comparison with the First , still , from the nobility and courage of

the combatants , their many and bloody battles , and the contemptible finish of a war unequalled for its splendour and its bloodthirstiness , is still worthy of our best attention .

Upon the death of Arnold de Turrirubra , the choice of the Templars fell upon Gerard de Ridefort . This Grand Master ' s name is spelt variously in different manuscripta , and often differently in the same chronicle . In some he is called Biddeforcl ,

Eicldeford , and Reddiford ; in others , Tiddeford ancl Bedford . He Avas raised to the command of the Order in 1187 . He was cool and sagacious , brave and skilful , and conducted the affairs of the Order , through great dangers , ivith considerable

success . Had his counsels been followed by the Christian leaders , or had he been appointed commander-in-chief of the Holy Land , as several of his successors were , there can be little doubt- that an effectual bar would have been placed upon the

successful advance of Saladin . Bat the envy and ambition of the Barons , the treachery of the Count of Tripoli , the vacillating character of the King , and even the obstinacy and boorish pride of Richard of England , who , with a magnitude of theAvs and

sinews , possessed a small modicum of brains , stultified all the efforts of De Eidefort , and even paralysed the daring bravery of the Templars . De Eidefort , distracted by the constant successes of Saladin , ancl the repeated defeats of the Christians ,

had little time to pay attention to the internal economy of the Order , or to investigate the conduct of the European brethren , who accordingly began to display a hmzriousness in their lives totally at variance with their vows and the

character of the founders of the Order . The dangerous times , the continual battles , and his own captivity , prevented him even paying that attention to his duties AA hich the Order required of him . He Avas like a skilful captain AVIIO , finding his vessel amid

the breakers , and in hourly peril of going to pieces upon the rocks , pays more attention to . his gearing , and the capability of his men to manage so as

successfully to ride past the clanger , than to the minor details of discipline , trusting when in harbour to right these abuses , Avhich by reason of the exigencies of the occasion has crept in among his crew . Such a time of peace ivas never permitted

to De Eidefort ; and the European brethren , Avithout check , abandoned themselves to a course of luxury which called down upon them the contempt of the people , Avhile the Knights in the Holy Land , by their abnegation and devotion , kept still proudly

unsullied the banner of the Beauseant . We have already said that we are not advocating the perfect purity of the Order . The brethren of Europe were neither better nor ivorse than the other religious

orders of the time ; but Avhat we do advocate is , that the Templars in the East were pure in their morals , and acted up to their VOAVS in the strictest manner . We must not , therefore , condemn the Avhole Order for the errors of those Avho were not

under the immediate surveillance of the Master and his great officers , any more than Ave ivould blame a father for the excesses of his sons , of which he is ignorant , ancl Avhich , were he aware of , he would punish .

From the day of his election to the hour of his death , the reign of Gerard de Eidefort was a troubled one . The affairs of the Christians were utterly ruined , the Holy City ivas taken , and the Avood of the Holy Cross became the spoil of the