The castle had sufficient strength for their defence; but a suspicion
arising that the governor, who often went out, intended to betray them,
they one day refused him entrance. He complained to the sheriff of the
county, and the chiefs of the violent party, who stood deeply indebted
to the Jews, uniting with him, orders were issued to attack the castle.
The cruel multitude, united with the soldiery, felt such a desire of
slaughtering those they intended to despoil, that the sheriff, repenting
of the order, revoked it, but in vain; fanaticism and robbery once set
loose will satiate their appetency for blood and plunder. They solicited
the aid of the superior citizens, who, perhaps not owing quite so much
money to the Jews, humanely refused it; but having addressed the clergy
(the barbarous clergy of those days) were by them animated, conducted,
and blest.
The leader of this rabble was a canon regular, whose zeal was so fervent
that he stood by them in his surplice, which he considered as a coat of
mail, and reiteratedly exclaimed, "Destroy the enemies of Jesus!" This
spiritual laconism invigorated the arm of men who perhaps wanted no
other stimulative than the hope of obtaining the immense property of the
besieged. It is related of this canon, that every morning before he went
to assist in battering the walls he swallowed a consecrated wafer. One
day having approached too near, defended as he conceived by his
surplice, this church militant was crushed by a heavy fragment of the
wall, rolled from the battlement.
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