chap, iv.] ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM. 207

of his successors, and the cause of many of the dis-asters of the Latin kingdom. Terrible fights nearAntioch, against an irruption of Moslems fromMesopotamia. 1 A prince of Antioch fell in theplace called field of blood —very proper name fora battle. 2 That Baldwin’s first act as a sovereignwas to go there and gain a victory, was considereda good omen. And so it was, regarding what wasfought immediately after his return to his capital.But if scarcely one of the many conflicts in Pales-tine since Godfrey’s reign, had been without acorps of Hospitallers, “ who were the nerve of everyChristian army,’’ says the Moslem, 3 this of 1119, inthe sense of being their first pitched battle so nearJerusalem, may be called their first field; butcertainly in no other. The marshal that led themthat day was a noted warrior, who must haveacquired his experience in those more distant, andperhaps lesser actions that were very numerous,but all after the crusade, at which he could nothave been, without making him far too old; evendecrepid and above 106, which is not to be easilycredited. That day the Christians won a bloodyvictory, covering themselves with glory. But, in

1 Arab. Ckron., 39.

2 Michaud : Hist., ii. 60.

3 Arab. Chron., 116, Note 1.