Foundations and Locations

Abstract

It is clear from this comment by the pilgrim Saewulf, who visited Jerusalem three or four years after the city had been captured by the crusaders, that the establishment of Western rule in parts of Syria had brought little security for those travelling in the Holy Land. The risks faced by pilgrims were also stressed by the Russian abbot Daniel of Kiev, who went to Syria a few years later and who described how the Muslims used Ascalon as a base from which to launch attacks on those journeying from the coast to Jerusalem. It was to provide necessary protection for such pilgrims that a group of Westerners formed themselves into a religious community in Jerusalem about the year 1120. Their leader was Hugh of Payns, who came from Champagne and who is thought to have been related to the ruling house of the county and to St Bernard of Clairvaux.

We travelled from Joppa to the city of Jerusalem, two days’ journey, by a mountainous route which is very difficult and dangerous, as the Saracens are always seeking to ambush the Christians: they lie concealed in the caverns of the mountains and the caves of the rocks, on the lookout night and day for anyone they can easily attack, either pilgrims travelling in small bands or exhausted stragglers separated from their companions.¹