Guy of Lusignan

“ Guy de Lusignan, the poor creature whom Sybille, daughter of King Amaury, married and made king of Jerusalem, lost his kingdom fairly enough on the battle-field of Tiberias. To win his freedom from Saladin, moreover, he renounced his claims by a solemn oath and pledged himself to quit the soil of Palestine forever. But oaths were of small account with the Christian Crusaders, and with the priests who kept their consciences. Guy got easy absolution for the trifling perjury, and was a king once more,—waiting for the Crusaders to recover his kingdom. ”

“ Guy de Lusignan had been crowned at Jerusalem the year before Saladin's invasion, and when war broke out he was at feud with the Count of Tripoli. The imminence of the common danger brought about some semblance of cohesion among the nobles, who agreed to put every available man in the field. ”

“ Instead of feet to end our dumb, keen, futile questionings, to numb
The brain that binds us with the chain of kingdom go and kingdom come. [Pg 154]
One of our knights for plunder's sake undid us, roused the foe who brake
In through the pass of Banias, cutting our lands in two like cake.
The hour was here, but not the man. That murderer Guy de Lusignan
Was sent to head our fight for life. The craven took for talisman
Me and my hundred years, alas, a relic of the man I was. ”

“ Lusignan, Guy de, King of Jerusalem, Lusignan, Hugh de, Count de la Marche, engaged to Isabelle of Angoulême, takes part with Prince Arthur, imprisoned by King John, marries Isabelle after John’s death, Lusignan, de, legend of the house of, the family favored by Henry III., See Valence de. Lyons, council of, the English deputies at, deposes Frederick II., Macmorogh Dermod, King of Leinster, his outrage and reverses, gets assistance from Strongbow and others, Madoc, the story of, Mad Parliament, the, meeting of, at Oxford, its acts declared void by Louis IX., Magna Charta. ”

“ Lusignan, family of, 8 note 2 Lusignan, Geoffrey of, 15, 42-43, 74, 160, 191, 204 Lusignan, Guy of, see Guy Lusignan, Hugh of, 128 Lydda, 193 Malcolm IV, king of Scots, 107 Mandeville, William de, 79, 103, 112 Mans, Le, Henry’s flight from, 87, 88 Mantes attacked by Richard, 79 Marche, La, Adalbert, count of, 7, 27 Marche, La, county of, 4, 27, 43 Margarit, 127, 131 Markab, 148 Marshal, William, 79, 88, 92 “Mategriffon,” 131, 134, 156 Mercadier, 61; takes Issoudun, 304; captures the count of Auvergne, ib.; captures the bishop of Beauvais, 315 ”

“ De Lusignan left England in 1206, and by his discretion and valor, soon restored the revolted provinces to the sway of the line of Plantagenet. The intolerance of the king next aroused the animosity of the English barons, and to prevent a popular outbreak, he demanded their sons as hostages, under the plausible pretext of requiring the services of the youthful lords as pages for his queen, and companions of his infant son, Henry. ”

“ What can be more affecting than the royal martyr Lusignan, the upright and pious Nerestan, who, though in the fire of youth, has no heart for deeds of bloody enterprise except to redeem the associates of his faith? ”

“ Having carried Lusignan by assault, he summoned Poitiers on 4 Oct., and his summons being rejected stormed the town; his men made a great slaughter, sparing neither women nor children, and took so much rich booty that it was said that they made no account of any raiment save cloth of gold or silver and plumes. ”

“ He was the leader of the moderate Roman Catholic party, known as the Politiques, and after the death of Henry III. adhered to the cause of Henry IV., who on December 8th, 1593, created him Constable. He succeeded to the Dukedom of Montmorency on his brother’s death in 1579. He died in 1614.
16 The Castle of Lusignan was the original seat of the famous family of Lusignan, which gave kings to Jerusalem and Cyprus. In the keep of the château was a fountain, said to be haunted by the fairy Melusine, the ancestress and tutelary genius of the family. ”

“ John, finding his inability to pay, stirred up the people of Roussillon to revolt against French domination, whereupon Louis poured thirty thousand men into the country, and during fifteen years it underwent all the miseries of war. Perpignan capitulated in 1475, and Roussillon remained in the hands of the French till 1493, when the feeble Charles VIII restored it, along with the Cerdagne, to the King of Aragon. ”

“ It is a fortress of considerable strength, five miles from Poitiers, and being built on a rock is not easily accessible.16 The siege of Lusignan will give Mont13pensier’s army occupation for some time, and though less important places like these may be easily recovered by the King, at any rate the reduction of Montauban, Nismes, Rochelle, and other towns, which still hold out, will prove a more difficult task. But who can say what may happen in the meanwhile? Time brings about many a surprise, and the result may turn out far other than what it is expected to be. ”

“ Great preparations were under way to honor the young prince, the present padre, when he should take the throne. Great Britain promised him unlimited support. His father's enemies, even, swore allegiance to him. All looked forward to a reign of prosperity and peace.
"Lusciano, always of strongly religious bent, refused the honor; turned his back on the world and became a Franciscan novice in Goa. The people begged him to remain with the principality, but he persisted in his chosen course. ”

“ But it was not enough that he had saved Lusignan from transportation, it was necessary to restore his honor, and to our young adventurer, in whom our readers will doubtless have recognised the celebrated privateersman, Paul Jones, it was a more easy matter than to any other person; for having letters of marque from Louis XVI., against the English, he had to repair to Versailles to give an account of his cruize. ”

“ Loiseau, under pretence of stretching his legs, went out to see if he could sell wine to the country dealers. The count and the manufacturer began to talk politics. They forecast the future of France. One believed in the Orleans dynasty, the other in an unknown savior—a hero who should rise up in the last extremity: a Du Guesclin, perhaps a Joan of Arc? or another Napoleon the First? Ah! if only the Prince Imperial were not so young! Cornudet, listening to them, smiled like a man who holds the keys of destiny in his hands. His pipe perfumed the whole kitchen. ”

“ The French king seems to have discovered the negotiations of the Lusignans with his rival, and to have been so much alarmed at the prospect of a reconciliation which would deprive him of his best helpers in Aquitaine that he tried to prevent it by offering a son of his own as bridegroom for little Joan ”

“ I, even I, the scorned and condemned renegado, can do more to replace De Lusignan on the throne of Jerusalem than the lances of ten thousand crusaders—ay,141 than the boasted prowess of Cœur de Lion, or the myriads of France and Austria! All this will I do for him—all this, and more—if he but grants me life. I cannot—I dare not die!—What said I?—I a Falkenhorst, and dare not!”
“Thy life is forfeit,” replied the unmoved priest; “thy life is forfeit, and thy words are folly. For who would trust a traitor to his liege lord, a deserter of his banner, and a denier of his faith? ”

“ He had years of strength before him. He would rise. He would not easily be satisfied. The times were troubled, opportunities many, fools many; bold men with brains and hands few.
At the same time he knew that he could be sure of nothing until Lusigny was actually his, and he spent the next few days in considerable suspense. But no hitch occurred. The Vicomte made the necessary communications to him; and men in his own pay informed him of dispositions, ordered by the governor of Lusigny, which left him in no doubt that the loser intended to pay his debt. ”

“ Lousteau hurried to the Palais Royal to gamble with his remaining nine francs. The great man unknown to fame, though he had a divine mistress, must needs hie him to a low haunt of vice to wallow in perilous pleasure. Vignon betook himself to the Rocher de Cancale to drown memory and thought in a couple of bottles of Bordeaux; Lucien parted company with him on the threshold, declining to share that supper. ”

“ After this bloody consummation of his victory, Saladin entered the tent where Lusignan and his companions expected a similar fate: but Saladin, thirsty himself, called for iced sherbet, and having drank, handed the cup to the fallen monarch, a sure pledge that his life was secure. Lusignan in turn passed it to Renaul of Chatillon, [633] but the sultaun, starting up, exclaimed, “No hospitality for the breaker of all engagements!” [634] and before Chatillon could drink, with [Pg 234] one blow of his scimitar, Saladin severed his head from his body. ”

“ THE SOUL OF THE MAN WHO SANK THE LUSITANIA
The crowning horror of Germany's barbarities came with the sinking of the Lusitania. Perhaps nothing less shocking could have made us see how much less cruel Nature is at her worst than man in his madness may be. ”

“ This sketch was taken from the open field in the rear, looking north.
** The Duke de Lauzun was an accomplished, but exceedingly voluptuous and unprincipled man. His personal beauty, talents, wit, wealth, and bravery were passports to the friendship of men who abhorred his profligacy. Why he espoused the cause of the Americans it is not easy to determine, unless, surfeited with sensual indulgences, he was desirous of engaging in new excitements, where he might regain the waning vigor of his body. ”

“ He died at night, and the Queen Mother was so upset by his death that the next day she fancied she saw him bidding her farewell, and could hear him saying ‘Adieu, madame; adieu, madame.’ She tried to point him out to those who were with her.48
Whilst I was writing, news came that Lusignan had surrendered to Montpensier. The garrison are to be allowed to retire to Bouteville and Pons with their arms and property. I hear also that the siege of Livron has been raised; the attacking force is broken up ”

“ While flatterers and sycophants surround and blockade a throne, it must not be expected that truth, sincerity, or friendship, can there be found;—no! they are quite unknown within the stately precincts of a court! But still there was one found, and one worthy of the royal trust—the Count de Lauzun, a noble, brave, and generous Frenchman; and to this nobleman the king intrusted his queen and infant son, to assist them in conducting them in safety to France, aloof from all the enemies of the royal James. ”

“ His forces [660] gradually increased till they became immense; and, owing to the skill of those by whom he was accompanied, rather than his own, the camp of Lusignan was fortified in such a manner that no efforts of the Saracens could penetrate its lines. Saladin pitched his tents on the mountains to the south, not long after the Christians had undertaken the siege, and innumerable battles in the open field succeeded, in which neither army gained any material advantage that was not compensated by some following reverse. ”

“ The match-cord used for firing cannon.
Lusitania. A district of ancient Hispania, considered in its original meaning as the country of the Lusitani. It now comprises Portugal south of the river Douro, and a large number of provinces in Spain. The Lusitanians, especially those that inhabited the mountains, were much addicted to plunder, were the bravest of all the Iberians, and offered most resistance to the Romans.
Lustration (Lat. lustratio) . Sacrifices or ceremonies by which the ancients purified their cities, fields, armies, or people, defiled by any crime or impurity. ”

“ From this time forth [384] the army of the King was simply a disorderly mass of men. Famine and fever so reduced it that the duke of Anjou was not able to defend himself, let alone invading the enemy’s territory. To increase his forces, he put arms in the hands of the peasantry of Limousin, with the result that a local jacquerie prevailed in the province. Lansac was repulsed in assaulting La Charité; Châtellerault (July 12) and Lusignan (July 20) were taken by the Huguenots. [1352] The Catholics failed before Niort, to whose relief the brilliant La Noue came after his own seizure of Luçon. ”

“ THE WORLD-WIDE INDICTMENT OF GERMANY FOR THE LUSITANIA ATROCITY VIEWS OF COLONEL ROOSEVELT, UNITED STATES SENATORS AND OTHER PROMINENT MEN—OPINIONS OF THE NEWSPAPERS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA — VIEWS OF PROMINENT CANADIANS.
Not even the invasion of peaceful Belgium, nor any of the other atrocities charged to the belligerent nations in the great war, stirred such universal and emphatic condemnation as the destruction of the Lusitania and over half its human freight of human lives. From all quarters of the globe the cry of amazement, indignation and outrage arose. ”

“ Every evil which they have suffered from their acquirements arose, as shall be hereafter demonstrated, from their general ignorance, which rendered them unable to investigate or apprehend even the first principles of civil and commercial philosophy. And what other than the total eclipse of their glory could be expected from a nobility, rude and unlettered as those of Portugal are described by the author of the Lusiad—a court and nobility who sealed the truth of all his complaints against them by suffering that great man, the light of their age, to die in an almshouse! ”

“ On the anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania it is natural and fitting that Americans should review all that has happened since a wanton murder first brought to this side of the Atlantic a nascent realization of the issue that was being decided on a world battlefield.
There will be no anger and no passion in American minds. We have never asked, never desired, that the slaughter should be avenged. ”