CHAP. I ]

ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

137

pulchre, with the most horrid scoffs, and commit-ting enormities in the Cathedral of Bethlehem thatI durst not mention; but impieties far moreatrocious than any ever perpetrated by theSaracens. All our military orders, and nobility,and proprietors, as well as our Moslem allies, metthe savages and those of Egypt, on the vigil of St.Luke, in a great battle, which was lost, by faultof the Moslems, who ran away, and most of ourchiefs and soldiers were slain or taken. The re-mainder of the Hospitallers, having got into thecitadel of Ascalon, are besieged there by theSaracens, so we do not know what to do, unlessyou succour us. We have implored the King ofCyprus and the Prince of Antioch, but what availthey to protect us? Yours, or Palestine has nohuman aid. Come to us in March next, or the HolyLand is desolate, and the Hospitallers to a man,and Templars, and all of us, are cut to pieces; orwhat is much worse, led off into slavery.” 1

1 Bosio.—Yertot, iii. 486.