were held, in order to fix upon fome expedition worthy of fo puiffant a force, and of monarchs of fo diftinguifhed rank, and in fuch high esteem for their perfonal qualifications.

The fiege of Damafcus was at length refolved upon, as the reduction of that important place would be attended with great advantages to all the Chriftian princes in the eaft, it having proved long an equal curb on the king of Jerufalem, as well as the princes of Antioch and Tripoly. This city was held to be very strong, though without any fortifications, even according to the mode of these times; but being furrounded on all fides with gardens, and those well walled, and having a numerous garrifon, it was expected, and the event juftified their expectation, that it would make a very obftinate defence; but the gardens being gradually forced it must have fallen, if the oriental Chriftians had not most fcandaloufly entered into intrigues with the infidels, from an apprehenfion that, when taken, it would have been given to the count of Flanders. To prevent this, they altered the manner of the attack, fuffered convoys of provifions to be furprised, and in the end brought the army into fuch diftrefs, that the emperor and the king of France, detecting their perfidy, and defpairing of fuccefs, raised the fiege, and made the beft difpofitions they could for returning into their own domipions. The king, embarking at one of the ports of Syria, returned fafely to Calabria, and taking Rome in his way, that he might confer with the pope, came at length, after this difaftrous expedition, into his own dominions. His brother, the count de Dreux, arrived there a little before him, and had thrown out ftrong

infinuations, that the loffes fuftained abroad, and the difcredit reflected from thence on the armies of France, was chiefly owing to the king's incapacity; by which he meant to raise his own reputation, and not without fome view, as many have fufpected, upon the crown. But the abbot Suger, who had governed as wifely and happily at home as the king had done indifcreetly and unfortunately abroad, rendered thefe intrigues abortive; upon which the count de Dreux, on his brother's arrival, laboured all he could to render that great man suspected; but the king found his territories in fo good condition, and the general voice of the nation was fo loud in behalf of the minifter, that the king treated him with all the refpect and kindness imaginable, and afforded him 1149.

all the marks of esteem and confidence that his great merit deferved, who had preserved peace and plenty in his abfence, and prefented him with a full treasury at his return.

It had been happy for France if that excellent perfon had furvived longer; for fo long as he lived the king was prevailed upon to diffemble his difcontents with regard to the queen, and had even confented to a reconciliation. But after his deceafe, growing more and more diffatisfied with her conduct, he pretended to fcruples of confcience in regard to the lawfulness of their marriage; fubmitted the cafe to an affembly of his prelates; and, in confequence of their fentiments, repudiated that princess, who gave all the affiftance he could to the divorce, and reftored to her the dominions which he had acquired by their marriage. It has been furmised, and not without great probability, that, be

fore

count of Flanders was the most confiderable; who going, not long after, into the Holy Land, committed his fon and his dominions to the care of Henry, king of England, which was a new mortification to Lewis, who found himself in a manner blocked up on every fide by this too powerful neighbour; yet Henry omitted no arts to mitigate his jea. loufy and apprehenfions. His queen had fufficiently inftructed him in the temper of Lewis, and he managed him with fuch addrefs, that he had fcarce any pretence given him on which to found a quarrel; for Henry was continually writing to him, and fending him prefents; treated him with the highest marks of deference and esteem, and propofed a marriage between his fon Henry and the princess Margaret, the king's daughter by his fecond marriage, though they were but infants. But at length a rupture happened; for Henry, unfatisfied with the great dominions he already had, furmized that the county of Toulouse belonged of right to his wife, as being not given, but mortgaged only by a duke of Aquitaine to the ancestor of the then count: he offered therefore the fum that he fuppofed to be due, and that being refused, marched with a great army, compofed of all nations, and blocked up Toulouse. The place was not firong by fituation, nor was it fortified; but the count, brave in his perfon, and having a numerous army, made a gallant defence. He had married Conftance, the widow of Euftace, count of Bologne, and fifter to king Lewis, who immediately armed, in fupport of his brother-in-law; and having left a competent force, under the command of his brother the count de Dreux, on the frontiers of Normandy, marched

with the reft directly to Toulouse, where, having forced one of the pofts of the befiegers, he threw himself into the place with the flower of his troops. Henry, perceiving it would be very difficult, if not impracticable, to carry the town, fent a compliment to the king, importing, that he would not commit hoftilities against any whom he had undertaken to protect, and thereupon raifed the fiege. This, however, did not put an end to the war, which continued two years longer, and then ended in a peace, on terms that were tolerably equal. Henry did homage to the king for his duchy of Normandy; his fon Henry did the like for the counties of Anjou and Maine; and it was agreed, that his fecond fon Richard, already contracted to the daughter of the count of Barcelona, fhould quit her, espouse one of the king's daughters, and have the duchy of Guienne. In this peace the count of Touloufe was included, but without any difcuffion of the point upon which the war began; for peace was neceffary to Lewis, and Henry was refolved to keep his old claim in referve.

1160.

The fame year died the queen Donna Conftantia; and the nobility being very urgent with the king to marry again, as he had only two daughters by her, he accordingly efpoufed Adelaide, the daughter of Thibaut, earl of Champagne, by which alliance he gained all the princes of her family. At this juncture, a fchifm in the church was very near plunging the most confiderable powers in Europe into a war. The kings of France and England fupported Alexander III. the emperor Frederick maintained the cause of

Victor IV. went fo far as to arm on

the young king, pretending that he thought his perfon in danger, fled privately out of England into France, and was received with open arms by Lewis, who was now grown as thorough a politician as Henry, and believed the time was now come, in which he might revenge himself for all paft affronts. He knew the pope was angry with the king of England; and that he was alfo odious to a great part of his fubjects, on account of the affaffination of archbishop Becket: he farther knew that the king was much feared by his neighbours, and that the difputes ran high in his family; fo that he flattered himself that he fhould gain equal advantages by fraud, and by force. The young king Henry, who ferved him zealously, drew his two brothers, Richard and Geoffrey, into the confederacy against their father; and, which is almoft incredible, embarked his mother queen Eleanor in the fame scheme. At the fame time the king of Scots was in motion, and rebels and malecontents ftarted up in almost all parts of the king of England's dominions. Henry, being furprized at this, offered fair terms; but, finding this rejected, raised an army, and quickly reftored his affairs at home and abroad. All this time he amufed the king of France with negotiations, and at length confented to a peace, but it was upon his own terms; and tho' these were, in appearance, honourable enough for king Lewis, and very advantageous for the princes who had put themselves under his protection, yet the king of Scots, the earl of Leicefter, and the earl of Chofter, who had been made prifoners, being left to his mercy, fhewed plainly that he was victor over this formidable league.

Both kings were now thoroughly weary of war; Lewis was afraid of fuffering by that good fortune which conftantly attended his rival, and Henry had fo much reafon to fear his own family at home, that he had no ftomach to quarrels abroad. Lewis, however, conceived in his own mind, that he had good grounds to be offended with the conduc of the monarch of England, on account of his daughter Alice, whom the king retained at his court without marrying her to his fon Richard. In order to obtain fatisfaction, he applied himself to the pope; and his legate having expoftulated with Henry, that prince very roundly declared he would have caufed the marriage to be celebrated, but that Lewis had promised to give the city of Bourges in dowry with his daughter, as he had likewife promifed the French Vexin, when the princess Margaret efpoufed the young king Henry. As the facts were controverted by Lewis, the decifion of their difference was left to the pope. In the mean time all the antient treaties were renewed; and the two kings, to fhew their cordial affection for each other, undertook to make a croifade together, the preparations for which were likewise fettled, notwithstanding which neither of them went; Lewis being strongly diffuaded by his confert, and by the principal nobility; and Henry finding his affairs still so embarraffed, that his prefence was more neceffary than ever in his own dominions. Some have attributed the making and the breaking this treaty to policy; but it is more probable that Lewis was very fincere, and made the firft propofition of it to Henry, who could not but give his confent, having entered into an engagement

1177.