University of Virginia Library

II.15. CHAPTER XV

HOW THE SULTAN WAS MURDERED THE CHRISTIANS SUFFER MANY ALARMS AT THE HANDS OF THE SARACENS; BUT IN THE END THE TREATY IS SIGNED.

THEN the Sultan placed the rich men in four galleys, in order to conduct them to Damietta. In the galley into which I was put were placed the good Count Peter of Brittany, Count William of Flanders, the good Count John of Soissons, my Lord Humbert of Beaujeu, Constable of France, and the good knight Lord John of Ibelin, with Lord Guy, his brother.

Those who escorted us in the galley brought us to, in front of a rest-house which the Sultan had had erected on the river, in the fashion you shall hear. In the front there was a tower made of fir-trunks covered round with dyed cloth, and this was the gateway of the rest-house. Inside this gateway there was pitched a pavilion, where the Emirs left their swords and armour when they went to speak

with the Sultan. Beyond this pavilion again there was another gateway like the first, and through this one passed into a big pavilion which was the Sultan's hall. Beyond the hall there was just such another tower, through which one entered the Sultan's bed-chamber. Beyond the Sultan's bed-chamber there was a meadow; and in the midst of the meadow was a tower higher than all the rest, where the Sultan used to go to survey all the country and the camp. From the meadow a covered pathway ran down to the river, where the Sultan had caused a pavilion to be pitched in the water, for bathing. The whole place was fenced in with a wooden trellis-work, and the trellis-work was covered on the outside with blue cloth, so that those who were without might not see in. Moreover, all four towers were covered with cloth.

On the Thursday before Ascension-day we came to the place where this rest-house was pitched. The four galleys amongst which we prisoners were distributed, were anchored in front of the Sultan's rest-house; and they brought the King ashore into a pavilion near it. The Sultan had arranged, that on the Saturday before Ascension, Damietta should

be delivered up to him, and he should deliver up the King.

Those Emirs whom the Sultan had dismissed from his council, in order to fill their places with his own followers whom he had brought from foreign parts, took council together; and a certain wise old Saracen spoke as follows: " Sirs! you see the shame and disgrace which the Sultan has put upon us, in removing us from the dignity to which his father had raised us. Hence we may be sure that, if once he finds himself inside the stronghold of Damietta, he will have us seized and thrown into his prison to die, even as his grandfather did to those Emirs who captured the Count of Bar and the Count of Montfort. Now therefore it is better, methinks, that we should have him put to death before he slips through our hands."

They went to the men of the Halka, and desired them that they would slay the Sultan at the end of a feast to which the Sultan had invited them.

Now it befell, that when they had feasted, and the Sultan was on his way to his bed-chamber, and had taken leave of his Emirs, one of the knights of the Halka the same who carried the Sultan's

sword, smote the Sultan with that very sword through the hand between the four fingers and clove the hand right to the arm. Thereupon the Sultan went back to his Emirs who were the cause of it all, and said to them: "Sirs, I appeal to you against the men of the Halka, who have tried to kill me, as you can see." Then the knights of the Halka with one voice made answer to the Sultan, saying: " Since thou sayest that we wish to slay thee; it is better for us that we should slay thee than that thou shouldst slay us."

Then they caused the instruments to be sounded, and all the army came to inquire what the Sultan wanted. And they told them, that Damietta had been taken, and that the Sultan was on his way thither, and had left word that they were to follow him. Everyone armed, and galloped off in the direction of Damietta; and when we saw that they were taking the Damietta road, we were in great grief of heart, for we deemed that the city had fallen.

The Sultan, who was young and nimble, took refuge in the tower that he had built, together with three of his bishops, who had been dining with him.

The tower was behind his bed-chamber, as you have already heard. The men of the Halka five hundred on horseback tore down the Sultan's pavilions, and besieged him all round about within his tower, together with those three bishops: and they shouted to him to come down.

To this he replied that he would do so, but that they must first promise that he should be safe. And they replied; that they would bring him down by force: and that he was not inside Damietta. They hurled Greek fire at him and set light to the tower which was made of fir-planks and cotton-cloth. The tower kindled rapidly, indeed I never saw such a splendid fire nor such a pillar of flame. Seeing this, the Sultan hastily descended, and came fleeing towards the river, all along the path of which I told you. The men of the Halka had hacked the passage through with their swords; and as the Sultan rushed through on his way to the river, one of them thrust him with a spear between the ribs, and the Sultan fled into the river, trailing the spear, and they swam right in after him, and caught him up, and killed him in the stream, not far from our galley, where we were One of the

knights named Faracataye ripped him open with his sword and tore the heart out of his body; and then went straight to the King with his hand all bloody, and said to him: "What wilt thou give me? for I have slain shine enemy, who would have been the death of thee, had he lived." And the King answered him never a word.

There came full thirty of them to our galley, with their naked swords in their hands and their Danish axes.

I asked Lord Baldwin of Ibelin, who knew Arabic well, what these fellows were saying, and he answered: That they were saying, they had come to cut off our heads. There were a whole lot of people confessing themselves to a Brother of the Trinity who belonged to Count William of Flanders. But for my part I could recall never a sin that I had committed; only I reflected that the more I resisted and the more I tried to avoid the stroke, the worse it would be for me; so I crossed myself, and knelt down at the feet of a fellow who was carrying a Danish axe like a carpenter's, and said: " So died St. Agnes! "

Sir Guy of I belie, the Constable of Cyprus, knelt down beside me and confessed himself to me, and I said to him: " I absolve you, in so far as God gives me power." But when I rose up thence, I recollected not a thing that he had said nor told me.

They made us leave the place where we were, and shut us up in the hold of the galley; and many of our people thought that they had done so, because they were unwilling to attack us in a body, and preferred to despatch us one by one. There we lay all that night in this sorry plight, and so closely packed, that my feet were touching the good Count Peter of Brittany's face, and his were touching mine.

On the morrow, the Emirs had us drawn forth from our prison; and-their messengers told us, that we were to go and speak with the Emirs, for the renewing of the treaty that had been made between us and the Sultan. Moreover they told us: that we might be certain, if the Sultan had lived, that he would have had the King's head cut off, and all our heads besides.

So those who were able to walk went to them; and the Count of Brittany, and the Constable and I, who were grievous sick, stayed behind. The Count of

Flanders, Count John of Soissons, the two brothers of Ibelin, and any others who could shift for themselves, went to them.

They made terms with the Emirs as follows: That as soon as Damietta should have been handed over to them, they should hand over the King and the other rich men there. As for the common people, they had been all carried away to Babylon by the Sultan's orders; such of them that is as had not been killed. And this he had done contrary to his covenant with the King; for which reason it seems very probable that he would have put us also to death, when once he had got Damietta. Moreover the King must swear to make them a present of two hundred thousand pounds before he left the river and of two hundred thousand pounds at Acre.

The Saracens, according to their compact with the King, were to preserve the sick who were in Damietta, as well as the workshops of cross-bow-makers and armourers, and the stores of salted meat; until such time as the King should send to fetch them away.

The oaths were devised that the Emirs were to make to the King, and were as follows: If they did

not keep faith with the King, might they be put to shame even as he who for his sin goes bareheaded on pilgrimage to Mahomet at Mecca; and as he who should abandon his wife and afterwards take her back again. And the third oath was this: If they did not keep faith with the King, might they be put to shame even as a Turk who eats swine's flesh.

The King accepted the aforesaid oaths from the Emirs, because Master Nicholas of Acre, who knew Arabic, told him that their creed forbade them to take stronger ones.

After the Emirs had sworn, they had the oath written down which they wished the King to take, and devised it as follows by the advice of those renegade priests who had joined them. The writing ran thus: If the King did not keep faith with the Emirs, might he be put to shame even as the Christian who abjures God and His Mother and the company of His twelve apostles, and all the saints, male and female. To this the King was quite agreeable. The last clause of the oath was as follows: If he did not keep faith with the Emirs, might he be put to shame even as the Christian who

should deny God and His law, and in contempt of God should spit and trample on the Cross.

When the King heard this, he said that: Please God, he would never take that oath. The Emirs sent Master Nicholas, who knew Arabic, to the King, who spoke to the King thus: " Sir, the Emirs are very indignant, inasmuch as they took whatever oath you required of them, but that you will not take the oath they require of you; and you may be sure, that unless you take it, they will have you beheaded you and all your followers."

The King replied, that they might do as they pleased in the matter, for that he preferred to die as a good Christian, rather than live under the wrath of God and His Mother.

The Patriarch of Jerusalem, an aged man, eighty years old, had procured a safe-conduct from the Saracens, and had come to the King, to assist him in obtaining his liberty.

Now it is the custom between the Christians and Saracens, that when the King or the Sultan dies, those who are on an embassy (whether in pagandom or Christendom) become prisoners and slaves; and since the Sultan who had given him the passport

was dead, the Patriarch was a prisoner like the rest of us.

When the King had given his answer, one of the Emirs said, that it was the Patriarch who had given him this advice, and he said to the pagans: "If you will be guided by me, I will make the King take the oath, for I will send the Patriarch's head flying into his lap."

They would not do as he said; but they seized the Patriarch, where he was sitting with the King, and brought him away, and tied him to a tent-pole, with his hands behind his back, so tightly, that his hands swelled up as big as his head and the blood spurted out from them. The Patriarch cried to the King: " Sir, swear with a good conscience, for I take on my own soul the guilt of the oath you shall swear, since you honestly mean to keep it."

I do not know how the oath was settled, but the Emirs were quite satisfied with the oaths of the King and the other rich men who were there.

Directly the Sultan was dead, they had his musical instruments brought in front of the King's tent; and it was told the King that the Emirs had had a great debate about making him Sultan of

Egypt. He asked me, whether I thought that he would have accepted the kingdom of Egypt, had It been offered. I told him that it would have been very foolish of him to do so, seeing that they had murdered their lord; and he told me, that he would most certainly not have refused it. And know, that there was only one thing that hindered it, and that was, that they said the King was the most determined Christian to be found anywhere. And they cited this as an instance: that whenever he quitted his quarters, he stretched himself crosswise on the ground, and made the sign all over his body. And they said, that if Mahomet had allowed such disasters to befall them, they would never have believed in him. They said, too, that if this nation were to make him their Sultan, they would either have to turn Christians or he would put them all to death.

NOTE TO CHAPTERS XIV AND XV

The Patriarch gives an interesting account of his own experiences during the eventful week of April 4th-11th, In a letter written to the College of Cardinals from Acre in May. He and the Legate were in the van of the

retreating land-forces, and appear to have got separated from the rest in the confusion. After riding all night along the river bank, they found themselves on Wednesday morning alone without any attendants, and exhausted with the journey and the weight of their armour. Providentially (as the Patriarch says) they came upon a little boat moored to the bank, and rowed, or drifted, on all day down stream, thinking (he says) that the King had outstripped them, and that they would pick up the camp with their attendants and baggage near Damietta. In the evening they were joined by some other fugitives in boats who had escaped the general massacre; and who reported that the King and rest of the land-army were in a walled village called Sarensa, holding out against a vast horde of Turks. Presently they saw the river ablaze behind them with the burning galleys, and concluded to push on to Damietta, which they reached about sunset on Thursday evening. All that night those in Damietta waited without any tidings, and on Friday by the Queen's and Legate's orders ten galleys with a flotilla of small boats carrying armed men were despatched up stream to the King's assistance.

They reached the stronghold of Sarensa, but could learn no tidings. Thereupon some of the men landed to explore, and pushing on beyond the walls came on a spot strewn like a shambles with the bodies of slaughtered men, headless and stripped, together with a quantity of butchered horses.

The flotilla then turned back to tell the tale at Damietta.

On the following day (Sunday) news arrived that the Turks had defeated the Christian land-army in a great battle on the Wednesday; that the King and his brothers,

with all the leading men, were prisoners and shut up in Mansoora; and that every single man of the land-army was dead or taken. Envoys arrived presently from the King to the Queen and Legate informing them of his treaty with the Sultan and requesting the Legate and Patriarch to come to him to assist with their advice.

The Patriarch confesses that they were very much afraid to go; and that it was only under a sense of duty that they set off, escorted by a certain Emir. They rejoined the King on May 1st presumably in his pavilion by the rest-house. The whole of that day was spent in discussing the terms of the treaty; and on the following morning the Sultan was murdered.

Seeing the detail with which the Patriarch narrates his flight to Damietta, and the stress he lays on his fatigues and the loss of his baggage, it is curious that he says little about subsequent events, and makes no special mention of his personal ill-usage by the Turks. See "Annals of Burton." (Annales Monastici.)

The Christians' chief fear was lest the king should be poisoned in prison. For two days he refused all food Later, his own servants were allowed to wait on him, and his devoted attendant Isembard cooked foodfoad. He owed his life, however, to the treatment of the Saracen doctors, who cured his disorder.

The captives' fear lest Damietta should fall, while the treaty was still pending, was not groundless. A force of Saracens had already tried to enter the city, disguised in Christian arms. Their irregular marching order discovered them to the garrison just in time.