^™ 1 ' " produced a clamour that resounded through the plain, and would Α. η. list, have drowned even the thunder of heaven. The engagement commenced with the left wing of the Hospitallers, and the victory of the Christians was mainly owing to the personal prowess of King Richard. Amid the disorder of his troops, Saladin remained on the plain without lowering his standard or suspending the sound of his brazen kettle-drums, he rallied his forces, retired upon llamlch, and prepared to defend the road leading to Jerusalem. The Templars and Hospitallers, when the battle was over, went in search of Jacques d'Asvesnes, one of the most valiant of King Richard's knights, whose dead body, placed on their spears, they brought into the camp amid the tears and lamentations of their brethren.* The Templars, on one of their foraging expeditions, were surrounded by a superior force of four thousand Moslem cavalry ; the Earl of Leicester, with a chosen body of English, was sent by Cœur de Lion to their assistance, bnt the whole party was over powered and in danger of being cut to pieces, when Richard himself hurried to the scene of action with his famous battle-axe, and rescued the Templars from their perilous situation.-f- By the valour and exertions of the lion-hearted king, the city of Gaza, the ancient fortress of the order, which had been taken by Saladin soon after the battle of Tiberias, was recovered to the christian arms, the fortifications were repaired, and the place was restored to the Knights Templars, who again garrisoned it with their soldiers. • Vmisatlf, cap. «ti. p. 360. liohadin, cap. oil. t Expedite desoenderttnt (Templarii) cx equis saie, et doisa staguli dotsis sociorum habentes hterentia, facie Tersa ia hostes, sese Yuiliter defendere cceperunt. Ibi videri fuit pugnam ocerrimarn, ictus validissimos, tiuniunt galea: α pcreutieutium collisione giadicTum, ignea: oxsiliunt scintilla;, crepitant arma tumultuautium, perstrepunt voces ; Turci se viriliter ingerunt, Templari! strenuisûme dcfendunt,—lb. cap, xxx, p. 366, 367,