The Origin of Freemasonry and Knights Templar ... - Lodge Prudentia

FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLARmating the soldiers by his presence. Both the attackand defense were much greater than the daysbefore.Among those who fell on the field of battle,there were seven Moslems forone Christian; butthe Moslems could repair their losses; those of theChristians were irreparable. With ever-increasingvehemence the Moslems leveled their destroying enginesagainst the tottering walls and towers of thecity.At last an important defense, known by thename of the Cursed Tower, yielded to the assailants,and went down with a crash. The breachthus effected in the defenses opened into the heartof the city. The Templars formed, a rash resolutionof making a sortie, and attacking the camp ofthe Moslems; they found the enemies drawn up inorder of battle. After a bloody conflict the Templarswere repulsed and pursued to the foot of the ramparts.The Grand Master of the Templars, Williamde Beaujeu, one of the bravest of the brave, wasstruck by an arrow and fell in the midst of hisKnights. The Grand Master of the Hospitallersat the same time received a wound which disabledhim. The rout then became general, and all hopeof saving the city was lost. In poured the savagetides of victorious Islam, hungry for blood and revenge.It was then a death-pall seemed stretchedover the whole city of Acre; there was not a streetthat did not become the theater of carnage a battle;was fought for every tower, for every palace, andat the entrance of every public building; and in allthese combats so many men were killed, that, accordingto the report of an historian, "they walkedupon the dead as upon a bridge." A violent storm,accompanied by hail and rain, burst over the city;148