Even this wish he generously
consented to forego. The chests were left in the keeping of the
patriarch, and the price put upon them, fifty-two thousand golden
bezants, was paid by Richard of England.
Conrad still held out in Tyre, nor was he induced to surrender even
when Saladin himself assailed its walls. The siege was raised; and the
next personage to appear before its gates was Guy of Lusignan, who,
having regained his freedom, insisted on being admitted as lord of the
city. The grand master of the Templars seconded his demand. The reply
was short and decisive. The people would own no other master than the
gallant knight who had so nobly defended them. But the escape of Tyre
had no effect on the general issue of the war. Town after town
submitted to Saladin; and the long series of his triumphs closed when
he entered the gates of Antioch.
Eighty-eight years had passed away since the crusaders of Godfrey and
Tancred had stood triumphant on the walls of the Holy City; and during
all those years the Latin kingdom had seldom rested from wars and
forays, from feuds and dissensions of every kind. From the first it
displayed no characteristics which could give it any stability; from
the first it exhibited signs which foreboded its certain downfall.
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