PROGRESS OF THE SELJUKS. 39

far different from the undisciplined hordes which Peter the Hermit had accompanied. The religions zeal of the Cru- saders was at its best. Priests went daily through the host, urging the warriors to obedience, to prayer, and to courage. This mass of warriors," says Baudri,' " was the image of tlie Church of God, and Solomon could have said on seeinir them,

• How beautiful art thou, O my well beloved! how like to

a tabernacle of cedar!'" "The two armies," says Sie2:e and -««-i r t^ -i ^ t > ^ ^ J captme of JMatthcw of Ldcssa, " attacked with equal fury ; the horses shrank from the clash of arms, from the whiz- zing of arrows; the plain was covered with javelins and the debris of wMr." As the siege progressed both parties became more bitter in their liostility. The Crusaders imitated the Moslems in barbarism. Christian knights cut off the heads of their enemies, and tied them to their saddles. A thousand of these heads were hurled by the besieging machinery of the Crusaders into the city. Another thousand were sent as a trophy to Alexis in Constantinople. On the other side, the besieged threw down boiling oil on the besiegers, and defeat- ed many attempts made to destroy the walls. The breaches made during the day were repaired during the night. To prevent the Turks from receiving provisions by the lake, the Crusaders, in the seventh week of the siege, transported a considerable number of boats overland from Civitot, the mod- ern Guemlik, into the lake. The besieged were at once aston- ished and discouraged by this manoeuvre, while the besiegers pressed on the siege with renewed vigor. Ko part of the walls was left unassailed. A breach was at lengtli effected, and one of the strongest towers was undermined and fell. The day after, the wife of the sultan, with her two children, in endeavoring to escape by the lake, fell into the hands of the Christians. On every side were indications that the city must shortly surrender. The surprise of the Crusaders was therefore great when, one morning at dawn, they saw the standard of Alexis, the Emperor of Rome, flying trium- phantly above the walls. ^ "Biblioth^que des Croisades," t. i.