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lawful patriarch were usurped by the Latin clergy: the exclusion of the Greeks and Syrians was justified by the reproach of heresy or schism; ^116 and, under the iron yoke of their deliverers, the Oriental Christians regretted the tolerating government of the Arabian caliphs. Daimbert, archbishop of Pisa, had long been trained in the secret policy of Rome: he brought a fleet at his countrymen to the succor of the Holy Land, and was installed, without a competitor, the spiritual and temporal head of the church. ^* The new patriarch ^117 immediately grasped the sceptre which had been acquired by the toil and blood of the victorious pilgrims; and both Godfrey and Bohemond submitted to receive at his hands the investiture of their feudal possessions. Nor was this sufficient; Daimbert claimed the immediate property of Jerusalem and Jaffa; instead of a firm and generous refusal, the hero negotiated with the priest; a quarter of either city was ceded to the church; and the modest bishop was satisfied with an eventual reversion of the rest, on the death of Godfrey without children, or on the future acquisition of a new seat at Cairo or Damascus.

[Footnote 114: The English ascribe to Robert of Normandy, and the Provincials to Raymond of Tholouse, the glory of refusing the crown; but the honest voice of tradition has preserved the memory of the ambition and revenge (Villehardouin, No. 136) of the count of St. Giles. He died at the siege of Tripoli, which was possessed by his descendants.]

[Footnote 115: See the election, the battle of Ascalon, &c., in William of Tyre l. ix. c. 1 - 12, and in the conclusion of the Latin historians of the first crusade.]

[Footnote *: 20,000 Franks, 300,000 Mussulmen, according to Wilken, (vol. ii. p. 9) - M.]

[Footnote 116: Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 479.]

[Footnote *: Arnulf was first chosen, but illegitimately, and degraded. He was ever after the secret enemy of Daimbert or Dagobert. Wilken, vol. i. p. 306, vol. ii. p. 52. - M]

[Footnote 117: See the claims of the patriarch Daimbert, in William of Tyre (l. ix. c. 15 - 18, x. 4, 7, 9,) who asserts with marvellous candor the independence of the conquerors and kings of Jerusalem.]

Without this indulgence, the conqueror would have almost been stripped of his infant kingdom, which consisted only of Jerusalem and Jaffa, with about twenty villages and towns of the adjacent country. ^118 Within this narrow verge, the Mahometans were still lodged in some impregnable castles: and the husbandman, the trader, and the pilgrim, were exposed to daily and domestic hostility. By the arms of Godfrey himself, and of the two Baldwins, his brother and cousin, who succeeded to the throne, the Latins breathed with more ease and safety; and at length they equalled, in the extent of their dominions, though not in the millions of their subjects, the ancient princes of Judah and Israel. ^119 After the reduction of the maritime cities of Laodicea, Tripoli, Tyre, and Ascalon, ^120 which were powerfully assisted by the fleets of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, and even of Flanders and Norway, ^121 the range of sea-coast from Scanderoon to the borders of Egypt was possessed by the Christian pilgrims. If the prince of Antioch disclaimed his supremacy, the counts of Edessa and Tripoli owned themselves the vassals of the king of Jerusalem: the Latins reigned beyond the Euphrates; and the four cities of Hems, Hamah, Damascus, and Aleppo, were the only relics of the Mahometan conquests in Syria. ^122 The laws and language, the manners and titles, of the French nation and Latin church, were introduced into these transmarine colonies. According to the feudal jurisprudence, the principal states and subordinate baronies descended in the line of male and female succession: ^123 but the children of the first conquerors, ^124 a motley and degenerate race, were dissolved by the luxury of the climate; the arrival of new crusaders from Europe was a doubtful hope and a casual event. The service of the feudal tenures ^125 was performed by six hundred and sixty-six