Page 400

400 A HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES I 
vengeful, and cruelly extortionate, and were hated by the people they had
originally been welcomed to defend. 
 The Turks made a second effort in 1 1 1 1. An offensive by Tancred caused
individuals from Aleppo, rather than the weak and suspi cious Ridvan, to
clamor for aid from both the sultan and the caliph in Baghdad. As a result
Maudüd assembled a new coalition of Iraqian princes, invaded the county
of Edessa, and then in August marched south to join Ridvan in a war against
Tancred. But Ridvan shut the gates of Aleppo. He feared the greed of the
Mesopotamian emirs more than that of Tancred. He cared nothing for the holy
war or Moslem unity, for as we have said he sym pathized with the esoteric
and heretical sect of Assassins. Accord ingly Ridvan's would-be deliverers
ravaged his lands for seven teen days, doubtless confirming him in his suspicions
of them. 
 Maudüd and his Iraqian allies marched farther south, early in September,
to join Tughtigin of Damascus, who desired an attack upon Tripoli. Tripoli
was the natural maritime outlet for Damas cus. But Maudüd's Mesopotamian
allies, tired of the long cam paign, balked at this and went home. Only the
zealous Maudüd remained with Tughtigin. 
 Meantime Tancred had taken alarm. He called for help, although he had been
unwilling to help others the year before. Baldwin of Jerusalem came, abandoning
the promising intrigue to gain Ascalon. Count Baldwin of Edessa and his vassal
Joscelin of Tell Bashir, Bertram of Tripoli, and a number of Armenian princes
also gathered at the meeting place, Chastel-Rouge, thirty miles south of
Antioch up the Orontes valley. There was a little skirmishing near Shaizar,
and then both sides warily withdrew and went home. 
 One may conclude in regard to the whole campaign of 1 1 1 1 that the splendid
prospects of the Turks were ruined by internal dis sensions, and that the
policy of unity and cooperation sponsored by king Baldwin in 1109 and 1110
was brilliantly justified. However it is a matter of irony that the selfish
Tancred was the principal beneficiary of this solidarity, and that king Baldwin,
who was re sponsible for it, lost a promising opportunity to gain Ascalon.
 In the years 1 1 1 1-1 1 12 Bertram and especially king Baldwin made another
contribution to the cause of Latin unity. The em peror Alexius, following
the death of Bohemond in Italy in 1111, again demanded Antioch of Tancred,
in accordance with Bohe mond's treaty of 1 108. Tancred rebuffed him. Alexius
then sent an envoy, Butumites, to bribe Bertram and king Baldwin into an
alliance against Tancred. Bertram dallied with the idea but Bald-