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felf to cleanse the place, and he was followed in this act of piety by the principal officers of his army; and it was in this place that the first mofque was erected at Jerufa❤ lem. Sophronius the patriarch (9) faid upon Omar's taking poffeffion of the city, This is of a truth the abomination of defolation fpoken of by Daniel the prophet ftanding in the holy place.' Omar the conqueror of Jerufalem is by fome authors faid alfo to have died there, being ftabbed by a flave at morning prayers in the mofque which he had erected. Abdolmelik the fon of Merwan, the twelfth caliph, (1) inlarged the mosque at Jerufalem, and ordered the people to go thither on pilgrimage inftead of Mecca, which was then in the hands of the rebel Abdollah: and afterwards (2) when the pilgrimage to Mecca was by any accident interrupted, the Muffelmen ufed to repair to Jerufalem for the fame purposes of devotion.

In this manner the holy city was transferred from the poffeffion of the Greek Chriftians into the dominion of the Arabian Muffelmen, and continued in fubjection to the caliphs till the latter part of the eleventh century, that is above 400 years. At that time (3) the Turks of the Selzuccian race had made themfelves mafters of Perfia, had ufurped the government, but fubmitted to the religion of the country; and. being firmly feated there, they extended their conquefts as far as Jerufalem, and farther. They drove out the Arabians, and also defpoiled the caliphs of their power over it; and they kept poffeffion of it, till being weakened by divifions among themselves, they were ejected by the caliph of Egypt. The caliph of Egypt, perceiving the divifions and weakness of the Turks, advanced to Jerufalem with a great army; and the Turks expecting no fuccour, prefently furrendered it to him. But though it thus changed mafters, and paffed from the Arabians to the Turks, and from the Turks to the Egyptians, yet

(9) Theophanes p. 281. Edit. Paris. P. 224. Edit. Venet. Bafnage, ibid. Ockley, p. 249.

(1) Elmacin. Hift. Sar. Lib. 1. p. 58. Ockley, Vol. 2. p. 299.

(2) Herbelot Bib. Orient. p. 270. (3) Elmacini Hift. Saracen. Lib. 3. 267-287. Abul Pharajii Hift. Dyn. 2. p. 243. Verf. Pocockii. Herbelot Bib. Orient. p. 269.

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eligion profeffed there was ftill the fame, the Monedan being authorized, and established, and the tian only tolerated upon payment of tribute. e Egyptians enjoyed their conquefts but a little ; for in (4) the fame year that they took poffeffion they were difpoffeffed again by the Franks as they enerally denominated, or the Latin Chriftians. Peter ermit of Amiens in France went on a pilgrimage leftine, and there having feen and fhared in the fes and miferies of the Chriftians, he reprefented at his return in fuch pathetic terms, that by his hing and inftigation, and by the authority of pope II. and the Council of Clermont, the weft was I up against the east, Europe against Afia, the. ians against the Muffelmen, for the retaking of lem, and for the recovery of the holy land out hands of the infidels. It was the epidemic madf the time; and old and young, men and women, and foldiers, monks and merchants, peasants and anics, all were eager to affume the crofs, and to fet r what they thought the holy wars. Some affert The number of thofe who went out on this expedimounted to above a million. They who make the computation affirm, that there were at leaft three ed thoufand fighting men. After fome loffes and victories the army fat down before Jerufalem, and a fiege of five weeks took it by ftorm, on the fifof July in the year of Chrift 1099; and all, who not Chriftians, they put to the fword. They mafabove feventy thoufand Muffulmen; and all the in the place they gathered and burnt together; e fpoil that they found in the mofques was of inble value. Godfrey of Boulogne, the general, ofen king; and there reigned nine kings in fuc; and the kingdom fubfifted eighty-eight years, e year of Chrift 1187, when the Mutfulmen re

bul Pharajii Hist. Dyn. 9. Knolles and Ricaut. Vol. 1. p. 12, &c.

gained their former dominion, and with fcarce any interruption have retained it ever fince.

At that time the famous Saladin, having fubverted the government of the caliphs, had caufed himfelf to be proclaimed fultan of Egypt. Having alfo fubdued Syria and Arabia, he formed the (5) defign of befieging Jerufalem, and of putting an end to that kingdom. He marched against it with a powerful and victorious army, and took it by capitulation on Friday the 2d of October, after a fiege of fourteen days. He compelled the Chriftians to redeem their lives at the price of ten pieces of gold for a man, five for a woman, and two for a boy or girl. He restored to the oriental Chriftians the church of the holy fepulchre; but forced the Franks or weftern Chriftians to depart to Tyre or other places, which were in the poffeffion of their countrymen. But though the city was in the hands of the Muffulmen, yet the Chriftians had still their nominal king of Jerufalem; and for fome time Richard I. of England, who was one of the moft renowned crufaders, and had eminently diftinguifhed himfelf in the holy wars, gloried in the empty title. The city however (6) did not remain fo affured to the family of Saladin, but thirty years after his nephew Al Moadham, fultan of Damafcus, was obliged to demolish the walls, not being able to keep it himself, and fearing left the Franks, who were then again become formidable in thofe parts, thould eftablish themfelves again in a place of fuch ftrength. Afterwards in the year 1228, (7) another of Saladin's family, Al Kamel, the fultan of Egypt, who after the death of his kinfman Al Moadham enjoyed part of his eftates, to fecure his own kingdom, · made a treaty with the Franks, and yielded up Jerufalem to the emperor Frederic II. upon condition that he fhould not rebuild the walls, and that the mofques should be referved for the devotions of the Muffulmen. Fre-.

(5) Elmacin. ibid. p. 293. Abul. Pharaj. ibid. p. 273, 274. Herbelot ibid. p. 269 et 743. Knolles and Savage, p. 54. Voltaire ibid. Blair's Chronol. Tables.

(6) Herbelot ibid., p. 269. Knolles 6

and Savage p. 74. Voltaire ibid.

(7) Abul-Pharaji ibid. p. 305. Herbelot ibid. p. 269 et 745. Knolles and Savage p. 81. Voltaire ibid. and Annals of the Empire. Ann. 1229.

derick

deric was accordingly crowned king there, but foon returned into Europe. Not many years intervened before (8) the Chriftians broke the truce; and Melecfalah, fultan of Egypt, being greatly offended, marched directly towards Jerufalem, put all the Franks therein to the fword, demolished the caftle which they had built, facked and rafed the city, not even fparing the fepulchre of our Saviour, which till that time had never been violated or defiled; and (9) before the end of the fame century, the crufaders or European Chriftians were totally extirpated out of the holy land, having loft in their eastern expeditions, according to fome accounts, above two millions of perfons.

Before this time the Mainalucs or the foreign flaves to the Egyptian fultans had ufurped the government from their mafters: and foon after this (1) Kazan the chan of the Mogul-Tartars made an irruption into Syria, routed Al Nafer the Sultan of Egypt, had Damafcus furrendered to him, and ordered Jerufalem to be repaired and fortified. But being recalled by great troubles in Perfia, he was obliged to quit his new conquefts, and the Mamaluc fultan of Egypt foon took poffeffion of them again. In like manner (2) when the great Timur or Tamerlane, like a mighty torrent, overwhelmed Afia, and vanquished both the Turkish and Egyptian fultans, he went twice in paffing and repaffing to vifit the holy city, gave many prefents to the religious perfons, and freed the inhabitants from fubfidies and garrifons. But the ebb was almoft as fudden as the flood. He died within a few years, and his fons and grandfons quarreling about the fucceffion, his vaft empire in a little time mouldered away; and Jerufalem with the neighbouring countries reverted to the obedience of the Mamalucs again. It was indeed in a ruined. and defolate state, as Chalcocondylas (3) defcribes it, and

(8) Herbelot ibid. p. 269. Knolles and Savage, p. 83.

(9) Knolles and Savage, p. 95. Voltaire, ibid.

(1) Pocockii Supplem, ab AbulPharaj. p. 2. Knolles and Savage, p. 96. (2) Chalcocondylas de rebus Turc. Lib. 3. Herbelot, p. 877, &c. Knolles

and Savage, p. 138, &c.

(3) Τον δὲ ταφον Ιησε κ. τ. λ. Sepul chrum Jefu fub poteftate iftius regis in Palestina fitum eft, unde plurimum lucri ei accidit.-Situm in urbe Hierufalem, quæ devaftata eft cum maritimis regionibus. Chalcocond. ibid. p. 75Edit. Paris. p. 59. Edit. Venet. F 2

the

the Chriftians paid large tribute to the fultans of Egypt for access to the fepulchre of Jefus. And in the fame ftate it continued, with little variation, under the dominion of the Mamalucs, for the pace of above 260 years, till at length this with the other territories of the Mamalucs fell a prey to the arms of the Turks of the Othman

race.

It was about the year 1516 that (4) Selim the ninth emperor of the Turks turned his arms against Egypt.; and having conquered one fultan, and hanged another, he annexed Syria, Egypt, and all the dominions of the Mamalucs to the Othman empire. In his way to Egypt, he did as Kazan and Tamerlane had done before him; he (5) went to vifit the holy city, the feat of fo many prophets, and,the fcene of fo many miracles. It lay at that time miferably deformed and ruined, according to the (6) account of a contemporary hiftorian, not inhabited by the Jews who were banifhed into all the world, but by a few Chriftians who paid large tribute to the Egyptian fultans for the poffeflion of the holy fepulchre. Selim offered up his devotions at the monuments of the old prophets, and prefented the Christian priefts with as much money as was fufficient to buy them provifions for fix months; and having stayed there one night, he went to join his army at Gaza. From that time to this the Othman emperors have (7) poffeffed it under the title of Hami, that is of protectors, and not of mafters; though they are more properly tyrants and oppreffors. Turks, Arabians, and Chriftians of various fects and nations dwell there out of reverence to the place; but very few Jews; and of thofe the greatest part,

(4) Pocockii Supplem. ad AbulPharaj. p. 29, 30, 49. Herbelot Bib. Orient. p. 802. Knolles and Savage, p. 240, &c. Prince Cantemir's Hift. of the Othman empire, in Selim I.

(5) Pauli Jovii Hift. Lib. 17. Herbelot ibid. Knolles and Savage, p. 243. Prince Cantemir ibid. Sect. 21. p. 163.

(6) Paulis Jovius ibid. Ea tunc miferabili faciarum ruinarum deformitate inculta atque deferta, non a Judæis veteribus incolis, qui tunc toto

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