University of Virginia Library

2. PART II
IN FRANCE AND EGYPT

II.1. CHAPTER I

OF THE KING'S BIRTH AND CORONATION, AND HOW THE COUNT OF BRITTANY AND THE BARONS OF FRANCE REBELLED AGAINST HIM.

IN the name of Almighty God, having heretofore written part of the good words and teachings of Saint Louis, our King, we will next begin upon his deeds, in the name of God and of himself.

He was born, as I have heard him say, on the day of Saint Mark the Evangelist, after Easter. On that day, in many places they carry the Cross in procession, and in France it is called " Black Cross Day," and this was, as it were, a foreshadowing of the great host of people who died on those two crusades: to wit, on the Egyptian crusade, and on that other, where he died at Carthage; for very great sorrowing there was in this world, and very great rejoicing there is in Heaven over those, who on those two pilgrimages died true crusaders.

He was crowned on the first Sunday in Advent. The mass for that Sunday begins: " To Thee have I lifted up my soul" and what follows after. In God he trusted firmly till his death; for at the point of death, with his last words he called on God and His Saints, especially upon my lord Saint James and my lady Saint Geneviève.

Great need had he in childhood that God should guard him; as by the good teachings of his mother, who taught him to love and believe in God, and set men of religion about him. Child as he was, she used to make him repeat his Hours and hear the lessons on Feast-days, and often told him as he recorded later, that she were rather he were dead than that he should commit a deadly sin.

Great need had he in his youth of God's aid; for his mother was from Spain, and had neither kindred nor friends in all the realm of France; and the barons of France, seeing the King but a child, and his mother a foreign woman, made the Count of Boulogne the King's uncle their leader, and looked upon him as actually their liege lord.

After the King was crowned, there were some of the barons who requested the Queen to grant them

certain large territories; and because she would do none of it, they gathered themselves together, all the barons, at Corbeuil. And the holy King told me, that he and his mother, who were at Montl'hery, durst not return to Paris until the men of Paris came under arms to fetch them. And he told me, how, all the way from Montl'hery to Paris, the road was thronged with people, armed and unarmed, all loudly praying Christ to give him health and long life, and to defend and keep him from his enemies.

At this parliament of the barons at Corbeuil, so it is said, those of them that were present decided, that the good knight Count Peter of Brittany should rebel against the King, and further, that when the king should summon them to march against the Count, they should attend in person and each bring only two knights with him; and this to see whether the Count of Brittany would be able to crush the Queen, she being but a foreign woman, as you have heard. And many people say, that the Count would have crushed the Queen and King too, if God had not come to the King's aid in this strait. But by God's grace, Count Tibald of Champagne, (the same who later

became King of Navarre) came to serve the King with three hundred knights, and by his aid, the Count of Brittany was brought to the King's mercy, so that, to make peace, he was obliged to relinquish to the King the county of Anjou (so it is said), and the county of Le Perche.

Now I must leave my subject for a while, in order to rehearse certain matters that you shall now learn. We will say therefor, that the good Count, Henry the Generous (of Champagne) had two sons by the Countess Mary, sister to the King of France and to Richard of England, of whom the eldest was named Henry, and the younger Tibald. This elder one, Henry, took the cross and went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, what time King Philip and King Richard besieged Acre and took it. So soon as Acre was taken, King Philip returned to France, for which he was much blamed; but King Richard stayed in the Holy Land, and did many great deeds, so that the Saracens feared him mightily: for it is written in the book of the Holy Land that when the Saracen children cried, the women would scold them, saying: " Hush! King Richard is coming! " to quiet them. And when the horses of

the Saracens or Bedouins shied at a bush, their riders would say: " Do you fancy that it is King Richard? "

This King Richard used his influence to give to Count Henry of Champagne, who had remained with him, the Queen of Jerusalem, who was direct heir to the kingdom. By the said Queen, Count Henry had two daughters, of whom the first was Queen of Cyprus, and the other was given to Lord Erard of Brienne, from whom has sprung a great lineage, as may be seen in France and Champagne. It is not of Lord Erard of Brienne's wife that I wish to speak now, but about the Queen of Cyprus.

After the King had crushed Count Peter of Brittany, all the barons of France were so stirred up against Count Tibald of Champagne, that they resolved to send for the Queen of Cyprus, she being daughter to the eldest son of the house of Champagne, in order to disinherit Count Tibal, he being son to the second son.

Some amongst them intervened to make peace between Count Peter and the said Count Tibald and the upshot of the negotiations was, that Count Tibald promised to take Count Peter's daughter

to wife. A day was fixed for the Count of Champagne to espouse the damsel; and they were to bring her for the wedding to a certain abbey at Prémoutré which is close to Chateau Thierry, and is called, I believe, Val Secret. The barons of France, who were nearly all of kin to Count Peter, took much trouble in escorting the damsel to Val Secret for the wedding, and sent word to the Count of Champagne who was at Chateau Thierry. But whilst the Count of Champagne was on his way to get married, there came to him my lord Geoffrey de la Chapelle from the King with a letter of credentials, and said as follows: "Sir Count, the King has heard, that you have covenanted with Count Peter of Brittany to take his daughter in marriage. Wherefor the King sends you word, that, unless you wish to lose whatever possessions you have in the realm of France, you will not do this thing; for you know that the Count of Brittany has used the King worse than any man alive." And the Count of Champagne, by the advice of those that were with him, turned back again to Chateau Thierry.

NOTE TO CHAPTER I

Louis was crowned a month after his accession by the Bishop of Soissons (the see of Rheims being vacant). His mother had the sole wardship of him, which roused the jealousy of the principal barons. Peter Mauclerc (Count of Brittany) and Hugh le Brun (Count of La Marche) were obliged to submit, after Tibald of Champagne had deserted them. When they marched the next year into Champagne to revenge themselves on Tibald, Matthew Paris says that their pretext was that Tibald had been guilty of high treason in being Queen Blanche's paramour, and conspiring with her to poison her husband, Louis VIII. (He certainly seems to have quarrelled with Louis VIII, for he left him and went home without leave just before Louis' death, during his crusade against the Albigenses.) Joinville gives no hint of this. Throughout his book he avoids scandal, and in any case could hardly have mentioned this in a book intended for the great-grandson of both Queen Blanche and Count Tibald.

Tibald IV was a posthumous child, and during the regency of his mother, Countess Blanche, the above-mentioned Erard of Brienne claimed the county in right of his wife Philippa, and waged war on Champagne, aided and abetted by Simon de Joinville, the father of the author. Tibald succeeded to the kingdom of Navarre on the death of his mother's brother, Sancho VI.

II.2. CHAPTER II

HOW THE BARONS OF FRANCE RAVAGED THE LANDS OF THE COUNT OF CHAMPAGNE, AND HOW THE KING MADE PEACE EPISODE OF COUNT HENRY THE GENEROUS.

WHEN Count Peter and the barons of France, who were waiting for him at Val Secret, heard what had happened, they were all as it were beside themselves at the slight he had put upon them; and now they sent for the Queen of Cyprus; and so soon as ever she was come, they agreed with common accord to muster all the men-at-arms they could, and to march into Brie and Champagne from the French side; and the Duke of Burgundy, who had Count Robert of Dreux' daughter to wife, was to enter the county of Champagne on the Burgundian side, and take the city of Troyes if possible.

The Duke summoned as many men as he could muster, and the barons likewise. The barons came through, burning and destroying on one side, the Duke on another, and the King of France on

another, seeking to come to battle with them. The Count of Champagne finding himself thus beset, began himself to fire his own towns before the approach of the barons, so that they might not find supplies in them. Amongst the other towns which the Count of Champagne burnt were Epernay, and Vertus, and Sézanne.

The burghers of Troyes, seeing themselves abandoned by their own lord, sent to Simon, lord of Joinville, (the father of the present lord) to come to their rescue. He, having summoned all his men-at-arms, set out from Joinville at nightfall, so soon as ever the tidings reached him, and came to Troyes before daybreak; and so the barons were disappointed in their hopes of taking Troyes, and passed by that city, and went and camped in the open, close to where the Duke of Burgundy lay.

The King of France, learning that they were there, marched straight to the place to give battle to them; and the barons sent to him begging that he would withdraw his person, and they would go and do battle with the Count of Champagne and the Duke of Lorraine and all the rest of his men, with three hundred knights less than the Count or

the Duke should have. And the King sent them word, that he would never fight against his own liegemen save in person. And they came again to him, and said: that they would willingly incline the Queen of Cyprus to peace, if so he pleased. And the King sent them word that he would hear of no peace, neither suffer the Count of Champagne to hear of any, until they should have evacuated the county of Champagne. And they did withdraw in so far as to leave Ylles where they were, and go and camp below Juylli; and the King lodged at Ylles whence he had driven them. And when they knew that the King was gone thither, they went and camped at Chaorse, and durst not abide the King's coming, but went and camped at Langres, which belonged to the Count of Nevers, who was of their party.

Thus the King accorded the Count of Champagne with the Queen of Cyprus, and peace was made after this wise: that the said Count gave to the Queen land worth about two thousand pounds a year, besides forty thousand pounds that the King paid for the Count of Champagne. And the Count sold to the King, in exchange for the forty thousand

pounds, the fiefs hereafter named: to wit, the fief of the county of Blois, the fief of the county of Chartres, the fief of the county of Sancerre, the fief of the vicounty of Chateaudun. There were people, indeed, who said that the King only held these aforesaid fiefs in pawn; but there is no truth in it, for I asked our holy King Louis about it whilst we were over seas.

The land which Count Tibald gave to the Queen of Cyprus is held by the present Count of Brienne and the Count of Joigny, because the Count of Brienne's grandmother was daughter to the Queen of Cyprus and wife to the great Count Walter of Brienne.

That you may know, how the Lord of Champagne came by those fiefs that he sold to the King, I must tell you, that the great Count Tibald, who sleeps at Lagny, had three sons: the first was named Henry; the second Tibald; the third Stephen. This same Henry was Count of Champagne and Brie, and was called, " Henry the Generous"; and rightly was he so called, for he was generous both towards God and the world: generous towards God, as appears by the church of

Saint Stephen of Troyes and by the other churches which he founded in Champagne; generous towards the world, as appeared in the case of Artauld of Nogent and on many other occasions which I would relate to you, if I were not afraid of hindering the course of my story.

Artauld of Nogent was the burgher whom the King most trusted, and he was so rich, that he built the castle of Nogent l'Artauld with his own money. Now it chanced that Count Henry came down out of his hall at Troyes to go and hear mass at Saint Stephen on the day of Pentecost; and at the foot of the steps there knelt a poor knight, who thus accosted him: " Sir, I beseech you for the love of God, to give me out of your wealth the wherewithal to marry my two daughters whom you see here." Artauld, who was walking behind him, said to the poor knight, " Sir Knight, it is not courteous in you to beg from my lord; for he has given away so much, that he has nothing left to give." The generous Count turned round to Artauld, and said to him: "Sir Villein, you speak untruly when you say, that I have nothing left to give, why, I have you yourself! Here, take

him, Sir Knight! for I give him to you, and will warrant him to you." The knight was in no wise abashed, but took him by the cape, and told him: That he would not let him go until he had come to terms with him; and before he could get away, Artauld had made fine with him for five hundred pounds.

Count Henry's second brother was named Tibald, and was Count of Blois; his third brother, named Stephen, was Count of Sancerre; and these two brothers held all their heritage with the two counties and their appurtenances in fee of Count Henry; and afterwards they held them of Count Henry's heirs who held Champagne, until the time when Count Tibald sold them to the King of France, as I told you above.

II.3. CHAPTER III

OF THE: FEAST THAT THE KING HELD AT SAUMUR; AND HOW THE KING OF ENGLAND AND THE COUNT OF LA MARCHE MADE WAR ON KING LOUIS.

LET US return to our story, and say as follows: that after these events, the King held a great court at Saumur in Anjou. I was there, and can bear you witness that it was the finest that ever I saw. For there ate at the King's table, beside him, the Count of Poitiers, whom he had newly knighted on a Saint John's Day; and next him sat Count John of Dreux, whom likewise he had newly knighted. Next to the Count of Dreux, sat the Count of La Marche, and next him, the good Count Peter of Brittany; and in front of the King's table, in a line with the Count of Dreux, sat my lord the King of Navarre, in a coat and mantle of samite, richly adorned with belt and clasp and circlet of gold; and I carved before him. Before the King, his brother the Count of Artois was trencher bearer,

and the good Count, John of Soissons, carved. To guard the table, there was my Lord Humbert of Beaujeu, (who afterwards became Constable of France), and my Lord Enguerrand of Coucy, and my Lord Archibald of Bourbon. Forming a bodyguard behind these three barons were a good thirty of their knights, in coats of cloth of silk, and behind the knights a great crowd of serjeants clad in taffety stamped with the Count of Poitier's arms. The King had donned a coat of sky-blue satin, and a surcoat and mantle of scarlet satin lined with ermine, and on his head a cotton bonnet, which became him very ill, he being in those days a young man.

The King held this feast in the halls of Saumur, which were built, they say, by the great King Henry of England, to hold his great feasts. The halls are built after the fashion of the cloisters of the White Monks; but I trow there are no others so large by far. I will tell you, why: for along the wall of the cloister where the King was dining, and he was surrounded by knights and serjeants who took up a great deal of room, there was a table at which were seated thirty other persons, bishops and

archbishops; and again, beyond the bishops and at the same table, was seated Blanche the Queen Mother, at the opposite end of the cloister to where the King sat. The Count of Boulogne, (who afterwards was King of Portugal) waited on the Queen, together with the good Count of St. Pol, and a German lad, eighteen years of age, who was said to be the son of Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia. It was said of him, that Queen Blanche used to kiss his forehead out of piety, because she heard that his mother had often kissed him there. At the end of the cloister, on the other side, were the kitchens, the butteries, the pantries, and the storerooms; and from this cloister they set bread and wine and meat before the King and Queen. And in all the other wings, and in the centre plot there feasted a vast number of knights, more than I can tell. Many people say, that they never saw before at any feast so many surcoats and other garments of cloth-of-gold as were there; and that there must have been full three thousand knights in the place.

After this feast, the King brought the Count of Poitiers to Poitiers, that he might take seizin of his fiefs, but when the King was come to Poitiers, he

would gladly have been back again in Paris; for he found that the Count of La Marche, who had eaten at his table on Saint John's day, had got together a number of men-at-arms at Lusignan by Poitiers. The King remained at Poitiers close on a fortnight, not daring to depart until he should be reconciled with the Count of La Marche. I know not how it came about, but I several times saw the Count of La Marche on his way from Lusignan to confer with the King at Poitiers; and he always brought with him his wife, the Queen of England, who was mother to the English king. And many people said, that the peace which the King and the Count of Poitiers made with the Count of La Marche was an unsound one.

No long while after the King had got back from Poitiers, the King of England came into Gascony to make war on the King of France. Our holy King, with as many men as he could raise, rode forth to give him battle. Thither came the King of England and the Count of La Marche to do battle before a castle called Taillebourg, which lies on a dangerous river named the Charente, where there is no crossing save by a very narrow

stone bridge. No sooner had the King reached Taillebourg, and the armies were face to face, than our men, (who had the castle on their side,) pushed on at great cost, and crossed over most hazardously by means of boats and the bridge, and rushed upon the English; and there began a general hand-to-hand engagement stiffly contested. The King perceiving this adventured himself into the thick of it along with the rest, for the English had four men for every one that the King had after he had crossed. Howsoever it so happened by God's will, that when the English saw the King cross over, they lost heart, and retired into the city of Saintes; and some of our men entered the city mixed up with them, and were taken prisoners.

Those of our people who were captured at Saintes related, that they heard a great quarrel arise between the King of England and the Count of La Marche, the King of England saying: That the Count of La Marche had sent for him to come over, and had assured him, that he would find plenty of support in France. That very evening, the King of England left Saintes, and drew off into Gascony.

The Count of La Marche, seeing that there was no help for it, yielded himself prisoner to the King, together with his wife and children; and so, when peace came to be made, the King got a great slice of the Count's lands; but I do not know how much, for I was not present at this affair, not having yet donned a hauberk; but I heard say, that, besides the land, the King carried off ten thousand pounds parisis that he had in his coffers, and every year as much again.

Whilst we were at Poitiers, I saw a knight, named Lord Geoffrey of Rançon, who, by reason, it was said, of a great outrage that the Count of La Marche had done him, had sworn by the holy relics, that he would never have his hair clipped in the fashion of knights, but would wear it long and parted as women do, until such time as he should see himself avenged on the Count, by his own hand, or by another. And when Lord Geoffrey saw the Count, his wife and his children, kneeling before the King, and suing for pardon, he there and then bade them bring him a stool, and had his long locks shorn off in the presence of the King and the Count of La Marche and the company.

Out of this campaign against the King of England and against the barons, the King made many handsome presents, as I learnt from people who had come from it. And for no gifts nor expenses that he was put to in this campaign, nor in any others on either side of the water, did the King ever request nor take from his barons, nor from his knights, nor from his liegemen, nor from his good towns any aids that could be complained of. And no wonder, for he acted by the advice of his good mother who was with him, whose precepts he carried out, and those that were handed on to him by the wise men of his father's and grandfather's times.

NOTE TO CHAPTER III

St. Louis' three brothers were

(1) Robert, whom he knighted in 1238, giving him the province of Artois, and Matilda of Brabant as wife.

(2) Alphonso, whom he knighted this year (1241), giving him Auvergne and Poitou and the lands belonging to the Albigenses, with Joanna, daughter of the Count of Toulouse, as wife.

(3) Charles, made knight and Count of Anjou and Maine in 1246. The year before he had married Beatrix of Provence, younger sister to Queen Margaret of France and to Eleonor, Queen to Henry III of England.

See the tables at the end.

II.4. CHAPTER IV

HOW THE KING TOOK THE CROSS THE EPISODE OF THE CLERK AND THE THREE ROBBERS JOINVILLE PREPARES TO GO ON CRUSADE.

AFTER the events above narrated, it happened, by God's will, that a great sickness overtook the King at Paris; whereby he was brought so low, as he used to relate, that one of the ladies who were nursing him declared him to be dead, and was about to draw the sheet up over his face; but another lady, who was on the opposite side of the bed, would not permit it, but said that his soul was still in his body. When he heard the two ladies disputing, Our Lord worked in him, and presently sent him health, for he had been voiceless and could not speak. He desired, that they would give him the cross, and they did so.

When the Queen, his mother, heard that his speech had returned to him, nothing could surpass her rejoicings; but when, as himself used to relate,

she learnt, that he had taken the cross, she made as great mourning as though he lay dead before her eyes. After he had taken the cross, Robert, Count of Artois took it, and Alphonso, Count of Poitiers, and Charles, Count of Anjou, (who afterwards was King of Sicily) all three the King's brothers; and Hugh, Duke of Burgundy crossed himself, and William, Count of Flanders, brother to Count Guy of Flanders, who was newly dead; and Hugh, the good Count of St. Pol, and his nephew, my Lord Walter, who bore himself right well over seas, and would have been a man of great worth, if he had but lived. And the Count of La Marche was one of them, and my Lord Hugh le Brun, his son, and the Count of Sarrebrûck, and his son, my Lord Gilbert of Apremont, in whose company I, Lord of Joinville, crossed the sea in a ship which we hired, for we were cousins; and we crossed over twenty knights in all, of whom half were his, and half mine.

At Easter, in the year of Grace which was just striking 1248, I summoned my liegemen and my vassals to Joinville; and on the same Easter Eve,

when all whom I had summoned were come, was born my son, John, Lord of Acerville, the child of my first wife, who was sister to the Count of Grandpré.

All that week we feasted and danced; for my brother, the Lord of Vaucouleurs, and the other rich men who were there entertained the company in turn, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

On the Friday I said to them: " Sirs, I am going away over seas, and I know not whether I shall return. Now therefore, come forward; and if I have done any of you a wrong, I will right it, and will as my custom is redress in turn any grievances you may have against me or my servants." I put everything right with them as regards the public business of my estates, and in order that I might have no undue advantage, I left my seat on the council, and abode without dispute by their decisions.

Being unwilling to take any ill-gotten money with me, I went to Metz in Lorraine, and left a great quantity of my land there in pawn; and know, that on the day I left our country to go to the Holy Land, I was not possessed of one thousand

pounds of rent in land, for my Lady Mother was still alive. And so I set out, with nine other knights, myself the tenth, three of us being bannerets. And so you see, that if God had not been ever at my side, I could assuredly not have held out through those long six years that I spent in the Holy Land.

Whilst I was getting ready to start, John Lord of Apremont and Count of Sarrebrûck by right of his wife, sent me word, that he had made arrangements for going over seas at the head of ten knights, and that if I liked, we would hire a ship between us; and I consented; and his people and mine hired a ship at Marseilles.

The King summoned his barons to Paris, and made them take an oath, that they would keep faith and loyalty towards his children if anything should happen to him on the way. He desired me to do so; but I would take no oath, because I was not his man.

Whilst I was on the road, I came across three men, lying dead on a cart, whom a clerk had slain; and I was told, that they were being taken to the King. Thereupon I sent one of my squires after

them to learn what happened. The squire reported that the King, on leaving his chapel, went onto the steps to see the bodies, and asked the Provost of Paris: How it had occurred? And the Provost told him, that the dead men were three of his serjeants from the Châtelet, and that they used to go about robbing people on the high-roads; "and," said he to the King, "they fell in with this clerk, whom you see here, and stripped him of all his clothes. The clerk went off in his shirt to his house, and took his cross-bow, and made a child carry his falchion. Directly he saw the robbers, he shouted to them, and told them they should die on the spot. The clerk wound his cross-bow, and let fly a bolt, and pierced one of them through the heart; and the two others took to their heels. The clerk took the falchion that the child was holding, and followed them by the light of the moon, which was bright and clear. One of them thought to escape through a hedge into a garden; but the clerk struck him with the falchion, and clean cut off his leg so that it hung only by the boot, as you can see," said the Provost. "The clerk set off again in pursuit of the third, who thought to take refuge in a strange house, where the folks were not yet abed; but the clerk with his falchion struck him full on the head, so that he clove it to the teeth, as you may see, Sir" quoth the Provost to the King, "And, Sir, the clerk showed what he had done to the provost who lives hard-by the street, and then came and gave himself up in your gaol; and, Sir, I bring him to you, and here he is, that you may deal with him according to your pleasure." " Sir Clerk," said the King, " your prowess has lost you your priesthood; and for your prowess I retain you in my pay, and you shall accompany me over seas. I deal thus with you, in order that my followers may see that I will not uphold them in any of their wickedness." When the people that were assembled there heard this, they cried on Our Lord, beseeching God might grant the King a safe life and a long one, and bring him home in health and happiness.

After this, I returned into our country, and we arranged, the Count of Sarrebrûck and I, that we should send our baggage by carts to Auxonne, and thence by the river Saône as far as the Rhone. On the day that I left Joinville, I sent for the

Abbot of Cheminon, who was reputed the best man in the White Order. I heard one testimony borne him at Clairvaux, on the feast of Our Lady, when the holy King was there; for a monk pointed him out to me, and asked, whether I knew him? "Why do you ask?" said I; and he replied: " Because I believe that he is the best man of all the White Order. Know too," said he, " that I heard from a worthy man who used to lie in the same dormitory as the Abbot of Cheminon, that once the Abbot had bared his chest, because of the heat, and this good man, Lying in the same room where the Abbot was asleep, saw the Mother of God come to his bedside, and draw his gown across his chest lest the draught should hurt him."

So this Abbot of Cheminon gave me my scrip and staff, and thereupon, I departed from Joinville, and would not enter my castle any more, until I should come home again; and I set out on foot, barefooted, and in pilgrim's weeds, and visited Blechicourt and St. Urbans and other holy relics there; and all the while that I was on my way to Blechicourt and St. Urbans, I durst not cast my eyes back to Joinville, lest my heart should fail me

for the fair castle and the two children that I was leaving behind me.

I and my companions dined at Fontaine l'Archeveque, hard by Donjeux. And there Abbot Adam of St. Urbans God rest his soul! gave me and my knights a great quantity of fine jewels. Thence we came to Auxonne, and went on with all our baggage, (which we had had placed in boats) down the Saône, from Auxonne to Lyons; and they led our big chargers alongside the boats. At Lyons, we entered the Rhone, on our way to Arles le Blanc; and in the Rhone we came upon a castle called the Rock of Gluy, which the King had caused to be pulled down, because the hue and cry was out against Roger, the lord of the castle, for robbing pilgrims and merchants.

NOTE TO CHAPTER IV

Matthew Paris, " Chron. Maj, "

The Queen Mother and the Bishop of Paris (William of Auvergne), as well as many of the nobles, tried hard to persuade Louis to give up his proposed Crusade and apply to the Pope for a dispensation. The Bishop was most insistent, urging that when Louis took the Cross he was still weak from sickness and not in possession of his

faculties; he urged as political dangers the power of Emperor Frederick and the "deceitful coin " of the King of England, the treachery of the Poitevins, the heresies of the Albigenses: "Germany is disturbed; Italy is not at rest; in front the road to the Holy Land is blocked; behind is the inexorable hate of Frederick and the Pope; implacable feuds: to all this you leave us."

Said the Queen Mother: " Remember, my son, that God loves obedient children. Stay till thou canst go with a larger army; God is no caviller; thy excuse is that thy senses were dazed and thy wits wandering."

To this the King replied, " You say that weakness of wit was the cause of my taking the Cross; lo, then, since you desire it, here I lay down the Cross, I resign it to you," and putting his hand to his shoulder he tore off the badge and presented it to the Archbishop. At this there was a buzz of applause and congratulation from all who sat round. Then said the King, and his voice and face changed, " My friends, you agree now, do you not, that I am in full possession of my senses? that now at any rate I am sane in mind and body? Give me back then my Cross. For He who knows all things knows that no food shall pass my lips until my Cross is restored to me."

And when they that stood round heard this, they declared: " This was the finger of God."

On their way south, the King and his brothers went to Lyons to see Pope Innocent IV. King Louis strongly urged the Pope to put an end to the scandalous quarrel between him and Emperor Frederick. He was, however, unsuccessful in his attempted mediation; and after

commending France to the Pope's protection, and using some very plain speech: " Yours will be the blame if we are hindered in our mission," he came away directly he had received the Pope's blessing. It was on the way from Lyons that the King seized Roger's castle of the Rock of Gluy, and caused it to be partly pulled down, but restored it again to him on promise of good behaviour.

The King's stay at Marseilles was marked by a fight between his troops and the people of Avignon, who resented being called " Albigenses, traitors, and heretics." The barons urged Louis to take this opportunity of avenging his father's death; but the King said, "I am not leaving France in order to avenge my father, nor my mother, nor myself, but to avenge my Lord Jesus Christ."

He and the Counts of Artois and Anjou took ship at Aigues Mortes on 25 August; the Count of Poitiers stayed behind to collect the second army. The King's detachment reached Cyprus about the end of August, and spent the winter there, during which time King Henry of Cyprus caught the crusading fever and crossed himself, together with many of his nobles.

King Louis lost about 240 men at Cyprus, or on the road thither, including John, Earl of Montfort, the son of that Amaury who was captured at Gaza. (His uncle, the great Simon, had also crossed himself, but did not go, being busy in Gascony.) . . ; During their stay at Cyprus, the King and Legate employed themselves in reconciliug the quarrel between the Templars and Hospitallers and other disputes, both lay and clerical.

II.5. CHAPTER V

HOW THEY SAILED TO CYPRUS; OF THE MESSAGE FROM THE KING OF THE TARTARS; HOW THE SULTAN OF IIOMS POISONED THE SULTAN OF EGYPT.

IN the month of August, we entered into our ship at the Rock of Marseilles. On the same day that we went aboard, they opened the door of the ship, and all the horses that we were to take over seas with us were put inside, and they closed the door up again, and caulked it up well, just as in sinking a barrel, because when the ship is at sea the whole of the door is under water.

When the horses were inside, our master mariner shouted to his sailors who were in the prow of the ship; "Is all ready? then, Sir, let the clergy and the priests come forwards! " and when they were all assembled, " Strike up a chant, in God's name!" cried he. And they all sang aloud in unison: Veni Creator Spiritus.. And he shouted to his sailors: "Spread sail, in God's name! " and they

did so. And in a little while, the wind had caught the sail, and carried us beyond sight of land, and we saw nothing but water and sky; and every day, the wind carried us further away from the land where we were born. And hereby I would show you how foolhardy is he who adventures himself in such peril, if he be in debt to any man, or in deadly sin; for one goes to sleep at night never knowing whether one will awake at the bottom of the sea.

There befell us at sea a most wondrous thing. We sighted a mountain, perfectly round, which lies off Barbary. It was about the hour of Vespers when we sighted it; and we sailed all night, and thought to have made more than fifty leagues, but the next day we found ourselves off the very same mountain; and the same thing befell us twice or thrice. When the sailors saw this, they were all dismayed, and told us: that our ships were in great danger, for that we were off the territory belonging to the Saracens of Barbary.

Then a worthy priest, called the Dean of Malrut, told us: that they were never afflicted in his parish, either with want of water or with too much rain,

or any other affliction, but that, so soon as he had made three processions, three Saturdays running, God and His Mother delivered them from it.

This was a Saturday, and we made the first procession round the two masts of the ship. I myself was carried round by the arms, being grievous sick.

Thereafter we saw the mountain no more, and came to Cyprus on the third Saturday.

When we reached Cyprus, the King was already there; and we found a great plenty of the King's stores: to wit, store of wine and money and grain. The wine was stored in this manner: The King's people had heaped, right in the open by the sea shore, great mounds of wine-casks, that they had bought two years before the King's arrival; these were piled one on top of the other, so that, seen from the front, they looked just like barns. The wheat and barley they had stacked in heaps in the open fields, and to look at, they seemed to be hills; for the rain beating on the corn for a long time, had caused it to sprout, so that only the green blades were visible. And so it was, that when they wanted to remove it to Egypt, they pulled down the crust

of green corn on the top, and found the wheat and barley grain underneath as fresh as though it were newly threshed.

The King would gladly have pressed on into Egypt without stopping, so I heard him say, if it had not been for his barons, who urged him to stay and wait for the rest of his followers who had not yet all arrived.

Whilst the King was tarrying in Cyprus, the great King of the Tartars sent messengers to him, greeting him courteously, and bearing word, amongst other things, that he was ready to help him conquer the Holy Land and deliver Jerusalem out of the hand of the Saracens. The King received them most graciously, and sent in reply messengers of his own, who remained away two years, before they returned to him. Moreover the King sent to the King of the Tartars by the messengers a tent made in the style of a chapel, which cost a great deal, for it was made wholly of good fine scarlet cloth. And to entice them if possible into our faith, the King caused pictures to be inlaid in the said chapel, pourtraying the annunciation of Our Lady, and all the other points of the Creed. These things

he sent them by two Preaching Friars, who knew Arabic, in order to show and teach them what they ought to believe. The two friars got back to the King just when the King's brothers returned to France, and found the King at the time when he had left Acre (where his brothers parted from him,) and was at Cesarea, fortifying it, there being no peace nor truce with the Saracens.

How the King of France's messengers were received, I shall tell you, just as they told it them-selves to the King; and in their story you will hear many strange things, which I will not relate now, for it would break too much into the subject in hand, which is as follows:

I, who had not a thousand pounds' worth of rents, burdened myself, when I went over seas with nine other knights, of whom two were bannerets. And it so befell me, that when I landed at Cyprus, after paying for my ship, I had only twelve score pounds tournois left; whereupon, some of my knights sent me word, that, if I could not procure money, they should leave me. And God, who never failed me, supplied me in this way, that the King, who was at Nicosia, sent for me and retained me, and put

eight hundred pounds into my coffers; and then I had more money than I needed.

Whilst we were tarrying at Cyprus, the Empress of Constantinople sent me word that she had landed at Paphos, a city of Cyprus, and that I was to come and fetch her with Lord Erard of Brienne.

When we got there, we found, that a gale had snapped the ropes of her ship's anchors, and carried the ship to Acre; and she had nothing left of all her baggage, but the cloak that she was wearing and a pinafore. We brought her home, where the King and Queen and all the barons received her with great honours. On the morrow, I sent her some cloth and taffety to trim her dress. My Lord Philip of Nanteuil, that good knight, who was of the King's household, met my squire on his way to the Empress. When the gallant man saw what he was carrying, he went to the King, and told him: That I had put him and the other barons to shame with the dresses that I had sent her, for not having thought of it themselves before.

The Empress came to seek the King's help for her lord, who had stayed behind in Constantinople, and so far succeeded as to carry away with her

a couple of hundred letters or more, some from me, and some from her other friends there; in which letters we bound ourselves by oath, that, if the King or Legate would send three hundred knights to Constantinople, after the King should have left the Holy Land, we swore to go with them. And I, to acquit me of my oath, desired of the King, when we came away, in the presence of the Count (of Eu), whose testimony I have in writing, that if he was minded to send three hundred knights, that I might go, as I was sworn. The King answered: that he had not the means to do it; for that he must have touched the bottom of his wealth, however great it was.

After we had landed in Egypt, the Empress went on to France, taking with her my Lord John of Acre, her brother, whom she married to the Countess of Montfort.

At the time when we came to Cyprus, the Sultan of Iconium was the richest king in all pagandom. He had made a marvel; for he had caused a great part of his gold to be melted in earthenware jars, and then had the jars broken; and the shapes of solid gold stood exposed to full view in one of his

castles, so that everyone who came in could see and touch them. There must have been about six or seven of them. His great wealth might be seen by a pavilion that the King of Armenia sent to the King of France, which was worth full five hundred pounds; and the King of Armenia gave him to know, that it was a present from one of the ferashes of the Sultan of Iconium. A ferash is one who looks after the Sultan's pavilions, and cleans his houses.

The King of Armenia, hoping to shake off the yoke of the Sultan of Iconium, betook him to the King of the Tartars, and made himself their vassal, in order to have their assistance; and he brought away such a vast number of warriors that he was strong enough to give battle to the Sultan of Iconium. The battle lasted a great while, and the Tartars slew so many of the Sultan's men, that nothing more was heard of him.

There was great talk in Cyprus of the approaching battle; and at the rumour of it, many of our serjeants crossed over into Armenia, for the sake of the fighting and the booty —but none of them ever came back again.

The Sultan of Grand Cairo, who was expecting the King to come into Egypt with the beginning of spring, bethought him that he would go and confound the Sultan of Homs, who was his enemy, and he went and sat down before the city of Homs to besiege him. The Sultan of Homs was at his wits' end to rid himself of the Sultan of Grand Cairo, for he saw plainly that he would be his ruin, if he lived long enough. And he began to treat with the Sultan of Cairo's ferashes, and bargained with them to poison him. And this was the way he was poisoned:

The ferash noticed, that the Sultan, every day, on rising from table, used to go and play chess on the mats at the foot of his bed; and the mat on which he knew the Sultan always sat, that one he took and poisoned. So it chanced, that the Sultan, whose legs were bare, rubbed on a sore place that was on his leg, and forthwith the poison pierced him to the quick, and took from him all power of motion in that side of the body nearest the heart. He was full two days, and neither drank, nor ate, nor spoke. So they left the Sultan of Homs in peace, and his followers brought him back to Egypt.

NOTE TO CHAPTER V

According to Guillaume de Nangis, the Tartar messengers purported to bring a message from Iltchiktai, the great Khan's lieutenant in Asia Minor, in which he proposed that King Louis should land in Egypt, whilst he attacked Bagdad, so as to prevent the Saracens of Egypt and those of Syria from joining forces. King Louis, later on, much repented the distinction with which he had treated these emissaries; but at the time, they were made much of as interesting neophytes. On Christmas Day they went to Mass with the King, and afterwards dined at his table, where they showed that they knew how to "behave like Christians."

When they went away, the King gave them, besides the tent-chapel, a bit of the wood of the true Cross, and the Legate gave them a letter, receiving the Tartar nation into the family of the Church.

II.6. CHAPTER VI

TELLS HOW THEY CAME TO EGYPT, OF THE LANDING, AND OF THE FIGHT ON THE BEACH; AND HOW THE TURKS ABANDONED DAMIETTA.

Now that March had set in, by the King's orders, he and the barons and the other pilgrims ordered their ships to be reloaded with wines and victuals, that they might start whenever the King should give the word. So when all was duly in order, the King and Queen went aboard their ship, ["La Monnaie,"] on the Friday before Pentecost; and the King bade his barons follow him in their ships, straight for Egypt. On the Saturday the King set sail, and all the other vessels likewise; which was a very fine sight to behold; for the whole sea, so far as the eye could reach, seemed to be covered with canvas from the sails of the ships, which were reckoned at eighteen hundred vessels, both large and small.

The King put in at a spit of land which is called the Point of Limasol, and all the rest of the fleet

lay round. On the day of Pentecost, the King went ashore, and after we had heard mass there arose a terrible strong wind, blowing from off Egypt; and it blew so hard, that of two thousand and eight hundred knights whom the King led into Egypt there were only seven hundred left him that were not scattered from the King's company and carried to Acre and other foreign places; whence they only rejoined the King long after.

By the next day the wind had dropped; and the King and we, who by God's will had kept with him, set sail forthwith, and fell in with the Prince of the Morea and the Duke of Burgundy, who had been sojourning in the Morea.

On the Thursday after Pentecost the King arrived off Damietta, and there found all the forces of the Sultan on the sea shore, very fine men to look at; for the Sultan's arms are of gold, and they glittered as they caught the sun. The noise that they made with their kettledrums and their Arabian horns was dreadful to hear.

The King summoned his barons to council, to advise what he should do. Many advised him to wait until his followers should get back, seeing

that he had not one third left; but he would not listen to them. The reason he gave was, that it would put heart into his enemies, and also, that there is no harbour, in the sea at Damietta, where he might await his followers, but that any strong wind might take and carry them on to other shores, as had happened to the rest at Pentecost.

It was agreed, that the King should land on the Friday before Trinity, and go and attack the Saracens, if he would not remain on the defensive.

The King ordered my Lord John of Beaumont to provide a galley for Lord Erard of Brienne and myself, to land us and our knights, because the big ships could not come close in along shore. But it pleased God, that when I got back to my ship, I found a small ship that my Lady of Beyrut had given me, (who was first cousin to the Count of Montbeliart and to ourselves) in which eight of my horses were. When the Friday came I and Lord Erard together went ready armed to the King to demand the galley; to which Lord John of Beaumont made answer that we should not have one.

When our men saw there was no getting a galley, they let themselves drop from the big ship into the

dinghy, helter-skelter each man for himself. The sailors, seeing the dinghy sinking lower and lower in the water, took refuge in the big ship, leaving my knights in the dinghy. I asked the master: how many there were more than her load; and then I asked, whether he could undertake to bring our men ashore, provided I unloaded so many at a time? He replied "Yes"; and I so arranged the loads, that he took them ashore in three trips in the ship in which my horses were.

Whilst I was disembarking his men, a knight belonging to Lord Erard of Brienne, named Plonquet, attempted to get down from the big ship into the dinghy, but the dinghy sheering off, he fell into the sea and was drowned.

On returning to my ship, I put into my small boat a squire whom I knighted, named Lord Hugh of Vaucouleurs, together with two very valiant bachelors, one of whom was named Lord Villain of Versey, and the other Lord William of Danmartin. These two had a fierce feud together, and no one was able to make peace between them, for in the Morea they had seized one another by the hair. But I made them forgo their ill-will, and kiss each

other, for I swore to them by all that was holy that we should not land while they were still at enmity.

Then we started to go ashore, and came up with the dinghy astern of the King's big ship; and his men began to shout to me, since I was getting ahead of them, to land alongside of the Banner of Saint Denis, which was going in front of the King in another vessel. But I paid no heed to them, but caused us to be landed opposite a big battalion of Turks, where there were about six thousand men on horseback.

So soon as they saw us touch they came spurring toward us. When we saw them coming, we stuck the points of our shields in the sand, and the staves of our lances in the sand with the points towards them; and when they saw that they could come no further without being run through the belly, they faced about and fled away.

My Lord Baldwin of Rheims, one of the paladins who had landed, sent his squire to bid me wait for him; and I returned word that I would gladly do so, for that a man such as he, was well worth waiting for at a pinch; which he remembered in my favour all his life. With him there joined us

a thousand knights; and I assure you, that when I landed I had no squire nor knight nor varlet whom I had brought with me out of my own country, and yet God did not fail to aid me.

The Count of Jaffa came ashore upon our left, who was cousin-german to the Count of Montbeliart, and of the lineage of Joinville. He it was who made the most noble show at landing; for his galley came up all painted above and below water with his escutcheons, the arms of which are "or with a cross gules patee." He had about three hundred oarsmen in his galley, and each oarsman bore a target with his arms, and to each target was attached a streamer with his arms embossed in gold. And their galley seemed to be flying, as they sped along, urged forwards by the oars of the sailors; and it was like thunder falling from the skies, to hear the noise of the streamers, and the din of the kettledrums and drums and Arabian horns that were in his galley. So soon as the galley was beached as high up as they could bring her, he and his knights leaped out, finely armed and accoutred, and came and formed up alongside us.

I was forgetting to say, that when the Count

I of Jaffa had landed, he caused his tents to be pitched; and so soon as the Saracens saw them pitched, they all collected together in front of us, and returned, spurring on as though to charge us; but when they saw that we gave no sign of flight, they promptly retired again.

On our right, full a good cross-bow's range away, came up the galley which carried the Banner of Saint Denis; and there was a Saracen who, so soon as they landed, dashed into the midst of them, either because he could not hold his horse, or imagining that the rest would follow him; but he was cut all to pieces.

When the King heard say that the Banner of Saint Denis was ashore he came hurrying across his vessel at a great pace, and despite the Legate who was with him, he would not be stayed, but sprang into the sea, up to his armpits in water, and waded, with his shield round his neck, and his helmet on his head, and his spear in his hand, to join his followers on the beach. When he got to land and discerned the Saracens, he asked: What people those were? and they told him:

They were Saracens; and he tucked his spear

under his arm, put his shield In front of him, and would have rushed upon them, if his paladins who were about him would have allowed it.

The Saracens thrice sent word to the Sultan by carrier-pigeons that the King had landed, without getting any answer, for the Sultan was in his sickness; so they concluded that the Sultan must be dead, and abandoned Damietta. The King sent on a knight as scout to learn the truth; this knight came back to the King, I and said that he had been inside the Sultan's I houses, and that it was quite true. Thereupon the King sent for the Legate and all the prelates of the army, and they solemnly sang the " Te Deum."

Then the King and we all got on horseback, and went and camped by Damietta.

The Turks made a blunder in leaving Damietta, without cutting the bridge of boats, which would have put us to great inconvenience. They did us much harm, however, when they went away, by setting fire to the bazaar, where all the merchandise and raw goods were; the result of which was much the same as though some one to-day should set fire which God forbid! to the Little Bridge at Paris.

Let us say then, that Almighty God showed us great favour in defending us from death and danger at our landing; we landing on foot, and attacking mounted foes.

NOTE TO CHAPTER VI [1]

King Louis had considerable difficulty in procuring vessels to carry his forces from Cyprus to Egypt. The three shipbuilding communities who supplied transport for crusades the Genoese, Pisans, and Venetians had each quarrelled with somebody. A quarrel had been "stirred up by the devil " between the Viscount of Beaumont and his Genoese crew, which so upset the Viscourt, that he was scarcely prevented from breaking up the camp and betaking himself with his friends and followers to Acre. The Genoese and Pisans were squabbling with each other, and demanded exorbitant prices for ship hire; and the Venetians had quarrelled with the King of Cyprus' bailiff. King Louis was obliged to send twice over to Acre, and the second time such important persons as the Patriarch, the Constable, and the Bishop of Soissons, in order to pacify these quarrels and procure ships. For landing and river transport he had lighters built in Cyprus itself.

Moreover, some of the stores amassed in Cyprus ran short, and Louis was obliged to apply to the Venetians for provisions; and gratefully received a consignment which the Emperor Frederick sent him.

Of the landing at Damietta there is a very interesting

and well-written account from a certain Guy (a knight in the household of the Viscount of Melun) to a student brother in Paris; part of which much abbreviated runs as follows:

" The Saracens heard from their spies that we intended to attack Alexandria. They therefore drew off their men from Cairo and Damietta, and waited for us at Alexandria, thinking to fall upon us when we arrived weary, and put us to the sword. Now one morning the wind and waves went down, and our scattered vessels drew together. We sent a pilot up into the rigging to discover our whereabouts. After careful study he exclaimed, 'God help us! We are off Damietta!' The look-out on the other ships confirmed this. We all collected together, and the King standing up m the midst powerfully exhorted us. 'Friends and followers,' said he, 'we are unconquerable if we are undivided. The divine will has brought us hither; let us land, be the enemy's forces what it may. It is not I that am King of France, not I that am Holy Church: it is you yourselves, united, that are Church and King.... In us Christ shall triumph, giving glory, honour, and blessing not to us, but to His own Holy Name.'

" Meanwhile those that dwelt in the town and along the shore could see our fleet approaching, fifteen hundred ships. They wondered and were astounded, and sent four of their best galleys, as scouts, to inquire who we were and what we wanted; who when they approached and saw our flags, hesitated, and slackened speed, and made as if to go back. . . . We shot fiery darts at them, and stones from the mangonels, and flasks of quick-lime which broke and blinded them. Three of the galleys sank at once; the fourth got off. We saved some of the crews from drowning,

and put them to well-devised tortures, to extract the truth; and learnt, that we were expected at Alexandria and that Damietta was empty. Those that escaped (carried the tidings to those on shore) . . . and the whole host of them dashed towards us furious, ready and burning to fight on land or water....

" After the fight some of the slaves and captive Christians in Damietta burst their chains, and came running forth to meet us with shouting and rejoicings, crying, ' Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! "

As soon as the Crusaders were assured of the town, the basilica which already in the ebb and flow of the Crusades had undergone several similar transmutations was repurified and rededicated to the Virgin; and the King and army, entering in procession barefoot, heard Mass, and took possession of the place. The Queen and other ladies were quartered in the Sultan's palace and other principal houses; but the King with the Legate and the bulk of the army camped in the fields outside the town, in the same island of the Delta on which they had landed, which is called Maalot, and is separated by a branch of the river from Damietta. This arrangement led to some inconvenience; for the army suffered greatly from heat and flies and the fleas that came out of the sand, and was continually harassed by the pilferings and nightly murders committed by the Bedouin Arabs of the neighbourhood, who even dug up buried corpses, in order to get the Sultan's reward of six besants for every Christian's head.

The Prince of the Morea mentioned in this chapter was William of Villehardouin, great-nephew to that Geoffrey who chronicled the fourth Crusade.

II.7. CHAPTER VII

"TELLS HOW DAMIETTA WAS OCCUPIED."

GREAT favour the Lord showed us, in delivering Damietta into our hands; for we could never have taken it without much toil and trouble, as we can plainly see, from the trouble King John [of Brienne] had to take it in the time of our fathers. Our Lord may say of us, as He did of the children of Israel: " Et pro nihilo habuerunt terram desiderabilem." And what says He after? He says, that they forgot God, who had saved them. And how we forgot Him, I will tell you presently.

I will deal first with the King, who summoned his barons both clerics and laymen, and begged, that they would help him to consider, how the booty should be divided which had been found in the town.

The Patriarch was the first to speak, and said thus: " Sir, it seems to me, that you will do well to keep the wheat and barley and rice, and all the

necessaries of life, to stock the town; and let it be cried throughout the camp, that all the rest of the spoil must be brought to the Legate's dwelling, on pain of excommunication." All the other barons were of the same opinion. Now as it turned out, all the spoil that was brought to the Legate's house only amounted to six thousand pounds.

When this was done, the King and barons sent for my Lord John of Valery the paladin, and spoke to him as follows: " My lord of Valery," said the King, "we have agreed that the Legate shall deliver these six thousand pounds to you, to distribute as you shall think best." "Sir," said the paladin, "you do me great honour, and I thank you; but this honour and this offer that you make me, please God, I shall not accept; for I should be breaking the good customs of the Holy Land, which are these: that when any of the enemies' cities is taken, the King should have one third, and the pilgrims two thirds of the goods that may be found in it. Now King John kept this custom when he took Damietta, and so the ancients say the Kings of Jerusalem before King John kept it; and if it please you to hand over to me two thirds of the

wheat and barley and rice, I will willingly undertake to distribute them among the pilgrims."

The King was not minded to do this; and so the matter stayed as it was; whence many people thought themselves aggrieved, in that the King had broken the good old customs.

The King's followers, who should have had the good grace to hold back, hired booths and sold their wares as dear, it was said, as they could; and this was noised about in foreign countries, so that many merchants desisted from coming to the camp.

The barons, who should have kept theirs against a time and place when they might spend it to good purpose, took to giving great feasts with extravagant dishes.

The common people took up with lewd women; on which account the King dismissed a whole quantity of his followers when we got back from prison. I asked him, why he had done so; and he told me that he had found out for certain that those he had dismissed were carrying on their orgies within a short stone's throw of his own pavilion, and that at the time when matters were at their worst with the army.

Now let us return to our subject, and tell how, shortly after we had taken Damietta, all the chivalry of the Sultan assembled before the camp, and besieged us on the land side. The King and all his knights armed themselves; and I went ready armed to the King, and found him armed and sitting on a bench, and with him certain paladins of his battalion, all armed. I desired of him, that I and my followers might draw off just outside the camp, in order that the Saracens might not set upon us in our quarters. When Lord John of Beaumont heard my request, he stormed at me, and ordered me, in the King's name, not to stir out of my quarters, until such time as the King should order me to do so.

I have mentioned the knights-paladins who were with the King, because there were eight of them, all good men, who had carried off prizes of arms both at home and abroad, and such knights they used to

call "paladins." The names of those who were knights of the King's household were: Lord Geoffrey of Sargines; Lord Matthew of Marly; Lord Philip of Nanteuil; and Lord Humbert of Beaujeu, Constable of France, who was not there

at that time, for he was outside the camp, between the camp and the captain of the cross -bowmen, with most of the King's serjeants-at-arms, keeping watch, lest the Turks should do the camp a mischief.

Now it happened that Lord Walter of Autreche had himself armed at all points within his pavilion; and when he was mounted on his horse, with his shield about his neck and his helmet on his head, he bade lift up the tent-flaps, and pricked out against the Turks; and as he started off alone from his pavilion his servants all set up a cry of "Châtillon! " Now it so chanced, that before ever he reached the Turks, he fell; and his stallion passed on over his body, and rushed, laden with his arms, into the ranks of the enemy, (for most of the Saracens were mounted on mares, which attracted the horse.)

And those who saw it told us, that four Saracens came by Lord Walter while he was lying on the ground; and as they passed by him, they struck him heavily with their clubs as he lay there. Then the Constable of France came to his rescue with some of the King's serjeants, and carried him back

by the arms to his pavilion. When he got there he could not speak. Several of the army surgeons and doctors went to him, and, judging that there was no danger of death, they bled him in both arms. Quite late in the evening, Lord Albert of Narcy proposed to me, that we should go and visit him; for we had not seen him, and he was a man of great renown and velour. We came into his tent, and his chamberlain met us, and bade us tread softly and not waken his master. We found him lying on rugs of minnever, and went very quietly up to him, and found him dead. When it was told to the King, he replied, that he should be sorry to have a thousand like him, since they would disobey orders as he had done.

Every night, the Saracens used to steal on foot into the camp, and kill people wherever they found them asleep. Thus it befell, that they slew my Lord of Courtenay's sentry, and left him Lying on a table, and cut off his head, and carried it away with them; and this they did because the Sultan used to give a golden besant for every Christian's head. This came from the battalions keeping guard in the camp night and night about on horseback. For

when the Saracens wished to enter the camp, they used to wait until the jingling of the bridles and armour had gone by, and then slip into the camp in the rear of the horses, and get out again before daybreak. Wherefor the King gave orders that the battalions who used to patrol on horseback should patrol on foot; so that the whole army rested secure in the guards, they being spread out in such a way that each was in touch with the next.

When this was done, the King decided not to leave Damietta until his brother, the Count of Poitiers, should arrive, who was bringing up the second detachment from France; and in order that the Saracens might not break into the camp on horseback, the King caused the whole of it to be surrounded with deep trenches; and cross-bowmen and serjeants used to keep guard over the trenches every night and at the entrances to the camp as well.

When the feast of Saint Remy had gone by, and there were still no tidings of the Count of Poitiers, the King and all in the camp were very uneasy, for they feared that some mishap had befallen him. Then I mentioned to the Legate how the Dean of

Malrut had made three processions for us at sea, three Saturdays running, and how, before the third Saturday, we had reached Cyprus. The Legate listened to me, and made proclamation through the camp of three processions on three Saturdays. The first procession started from the Legate's house, and proceeded to the minster of Our Lady in the town; which minster had been built by the Saracens for the worship of Mahound, and the Legate had consecrated it to the Mother of God. The Legate preached the sermon on two Saturdays; and the King and rich men of the army were present, to whom the Legate dispensed a general pardon.

Within the third Saturday the Count of Poitiers arrived; and it was just as well that he had not come sooner; for between the first and third Saturday there was such a storm in the sea off Damietta, that full twelve score vessels big and little were wrecked and cast away, with all the people on board them drowned and lost. So that, if the Count of Poitiers had come sooner, he and his followers would all have perished.

NOTE TO CHAPTER VII

This storm raged all along the coast about the third week of October. The Count of Poitiers and his fleet escaped it by being in the harbour of Lymasol at the time. He brought with him the Countess of Artois, who, being with child, had been left behind when her husband sailed in the spring.

II.8. CHAPTER VIII

HOW THE KING SET OUT TO MARCH ON GRAND CAIRO, AND CAMPED BETWEEN TWO OUTLETS OF THE NILE OF THE RIVER NILE AND ITS SOURCE.

WHEN the Count of Poitiers had arrived, the King summoned all the barons of the army to know, which road he should take, whether to Alexandria, or to Grand Cairo. And it so happened that the good Count, Peter of Brittany, and most of the barons agreed that the King ought to go and lay siege to Alexandria; for there was a good harbour by the town, where the ships put in that bring provisions for the army. The Count of Artois opposed this, and said, that he would never consent to go anywhere except to Grand Cairo, because that was the capital of all Egypt; saying, that if you wished to kill a snake, you must begin by crushing its head. The King neglected the opinion of all the rest of his barons, and followed his brother's advice.

At the beginning of Advent, the King and the army bestirred themselves to march on Grand Cairo, as the Count of Artois advised. Quite close to Damietta, we came to a stream which runs out of the main river; and it was decided to halt the army for a day, in order to build a dam across this arm of the river, so as to cross over. It was easily enough accomplished, for they dammed this arm along the line of the main river.

The Sultan sent five hundred knights, the best mounted to be found in his army, to harass the King's army at the passage, and so delay our march.

On Saint Nicholas' day, the King ordered us to make ready to ride, and forbade that any man should venture to sally from the ranks to fight with the Saracens that were gathered there.

Now, it came to pass, that when the army began their march, and the Saracens saw that we would not leave our ranks to fight with them, and learnt through their spies that the King had forbidden it, that they grew bolder, and engaged with the Templars, who formed the van. And one of the Turks bore down a Knight Templar, right under the feet of Brother Reynold of Bichier's horse, (he

being at that time Marshall of the Temple,) whereupon he cried to his brother Templars, "Now, have at them, in God's name! for I can endure no longer. "

He spurred forwards, and the whole army after him. Our men's horses were fresh, and the Saracens' horses were foundered; so that as I was informed, not one escaped, but all perished, and some of them fled into the river and were drowned.

Before going further, we must speak of that river which flows out of the Earthly Paradise and through Egypt; which things I must mention, in order that you may understand other matters connected with my story.

This river differs from all others; for the farther down other rivers go, the more little streams and brooks flow into them; but into this river there flows none; but it moves along in a single channel until it reaches Egypt, and then it throws out those branches which spread over Egypt. And after Saint Remy's day, the seven streams spread themselves out over the country, and cover all the flat lands. And when the waters have retired, the husbandmen come forth each to till his land, using

ploughs without wheels, with which they turn into the soil wheat and barley and cummin and rice and these thrive so well that they could not be bettered; and nobody knows how such a crop comes, unless by the will of God. But for this, there would be no crops in the country at all, by reason of the great heat of the sun which burns up everything, for in that country it never rains.

The river is always muddy; and so the natives, when they want it for drinking, draw it in the evening, and squeeze into it four almonds or four beans; and the next day, it is as good to drink as could be wished.

Before the river reaches Egypt, men who are practiced in it cast their nets loose into the stream at nightfall, and when morning comes, they find In their nets such raw goods as are imported into this country; to wit, ginger, rhubarb, aloes and cinnamon. And it is said, that these things are washed down from the Earthly Paradise; that the wind blows down the trees of Eden just as the wind in this country blows down the dry wood; and that what the merchants sell to us in this country, is the dry wood that falls into the river there.

The nature of this river's water is such, that when we hung it up from our tent-ropes in white earthenware jars, such as are made there, the water, in the heat of the day, used to become as cold as though it were drawn from a spring.

The people of the country said that the Sultan had often attempted to find the source of the river, and sent men to search for it. They took with them a kind of bread-rolls, which are called "biscuits" because they are twice baked, and on this bread they lived until they got back to the Sultan. They reported, that they had explored the river until they came to a great pile of hewn rocks which it was impossible for any man to climb. Over this wall of rock the river fell, and it seemed to them that there was a great quantity of trees growing up above on the mountain. They said also that they had found marvellous strange wild beasts of divers kinds, lions and serpents and elephants, that came and gazed at them from the water below, as they went climbing upwards along the river bank.

Now we must go back to what we were first speaking about, and say, that when the river

reaches Egypt, it spreads out its branches, (as indeed I said before). One of its branches goes to Damietta, the other to Alexandria, the third to Tanis, the fourth to Raxi; and to that branch which goes to Raxi came the King of France with all his host, and camped between the streams of Damietta and of Raxi. And all the forces of the Sultan camped over against us, on the farther side of the stream of Raxi, to defend the passage; which was an easy matter for them, for nobody could cross over the water to their side, unless indeed we had swum it.

II.9. CHAPTER IX

HOW THE CHRISTIANS TRIED TO BUILD A CAUSEWAY OVER THE STREAM OF RAXI THE ADVENTURE OF THE TORTOISE-TOWERS.

THE King decided to build a causeway across the stream, by which to pass over to the Saracens. And in order to protect those who were working at the causeway, he caused two turrets to be built, called " tortoise-towers," for there were two towers in front of the tortoises, and two outworks behind the towers, to shelter those on guard from the shots from the Turkish engines; for they had sixteen engines, all fixed.

So soon as we arrived, the King had eighteen engines constructed, of which Jocelyn of Cornaut was the chief engineer.

Our engines used to fling at theirs, and theirs used to fling back at ours; but I never heard it said, that ours did much damage.

The King's brothers kept guard by day, and we

other knights used to watch the tortoises by night; so we reached the week before Christmas.

Now that the tortoises were made, they set to work to build the causeway; for the King would not have it begun sooner, lest the Saracens should injure those who were carrying the earth; for they could pick us off by sight as we worked in the river. The King and barons were blind when they attempted to make this causeway, imagining, because they had dammed one arm of the river, (which was easy to do, because they made the dam where it separates off from the main bed) that therefor they would be able to dam the stream of Raxi a good elf-league below where it leaves the main river.

I Moreover, in order to spoil the dam that the King was making, the Saracens used to scoop hollows in the ground, on the side of their camp; and as fast as the stream found its way into the hollows it spread itself out in them, and made a broad new channel. So it would come to pass, that what we had taken three weeks to do, they would undo in a single day; for as fast as we dammed up the stream on our side, they would enlarge it on theirs, by means of these hollows that they dug.

The Sultan having died from the sickness that he took before the city of Homs, they had chosen as captain a Saracen whose name was Scecedin, the son of Seik. He was said to have been knighted by the Emperor Frederick.

This man sent orders to a number of his followers to come and attack us on the Damietta side, which they did, for they crossed over at a town on the stream of Raxi called Sormesac. On Christmas Day, I and my knights were dining with Lord Peter of Avalon, and whilst we were at table, they came spurring right up to the camp, and killed several poor people, who had gone afoot into the fields. We went to arm ourselves, but for all the haste we made we had not got back before Lord Peter, our host, whose quarters were outside the camp, was off in pursuit of the Saracens. We galloped after him, and rescued him from the Turks, who had got him down onto the ground; and we brought him and his brother, the Lord of Le Val, back into the camp. The Templars, who had hastened up at our shouts, defended our rear well and bravely; but the Turks hung on us and worried us right back into camp.

After this, the King ordered the camp to be

surrounded with trenches on the Damietta side, as far as the stream of Raxi.

Scecedin, which as I told you before was the name of the Turkish captain, had distinguished himself above all the rest of pagandom. He bore on his banners the arms of the Emperor who had knighted him. His banner was "bendy," and on one of the bends was the Emperor's arms; on another were the arms of the Sultan of Harapha, and on the other, those of the Sultan of Grand Cairo. His name was Scecedin the son of Seik, which is as much as to say: "The Ancient Son of the Ancient," which means a great deal in pagandom, for they are the people of all others who most honour the ancient, since God has preserved them from shame unto old age.

Scecedin, this vile Turk, boasted that on Saint Sebastian's day he would eat in the King's pavilions.

The King, knowing all this, arranged his camp in such wise that the Count of Artois, his brother, should keep guard over the tortoises and engines; the King and the Count of Anjou (who afterwards was King of Sicily) were appointed to guard the

camp on the side towards Grand Cairo; whilst the Count of Poitiers and we of Champagne were to guard it on the Damietta side.

Now it came to pass, that the aforesaid Prince of the Turks crossed his men over into the island which lies between the streams of Damietta and Raxi, where our camp lay, and drew up his ranks reaching from one stream to the other.

The King of Sicily engaged with this party and routed them. Numbers were drowned in both rivers, but still there remained a great number, with whom they dared not engage, because of the Saracen engines, whose shot ranged over both rivers.

In the engagement between the King of Sicily and the Turks, Count Guy of Forez cut his way on horseback through the ranks of the Turks, and he and his knights engaged a troop of Turkish serjeants, who pulled him down off his horse, and he got his leg broken, and two of his knights carried him back by the arms. With great exertions they extricated the King of Sicily from the danger he was in; and this day's work was much praised.

The Turks came to the Count of Poitiers and us, and we charged them, and drove them before

us a good way. A few of their men were slain, and we returned without loss.

It happened one night, whilst we were keeping night-watch over the tortoise-towers, that they brought up against us an engine called a perronel, (which they had not done before) and filled the sling of the engine with Greek fire. When that good knight, Lord Walter of Cureil, who was with me, saw this, he spoke to us as follows: "Sirs, we are in the greatest peril that we have ever yet been in. For, if they set fire to our turrets and shelters, we are lost and burnt; and if, again, we desert our defences which have been entrusted to us, we are disgraced; so none can deliver us from this peril save God alone. My opinion and advice therefor is: that every time they hurl the fire at us, we go down on our elbows and knees, and beseech Our Lord to save us from this danger."

So soon as they flung the first shot, we went down on our elbows and knees, as he had instructed us; and their first shot passed between the two turrets, and lodged just in front of us, where they had been raising the dam. Our firemen were all ready to put out the fire; and the Saracens, not

being able to aim straight at them, on account of the two pent-house wings which the King had made, shot straight up into the clouds, so that the fire-darts fell right on top of them.

This was the fashion of the Greek fire: it came on as broad in front as a vinegar cask, and the tail of fire that trailed behind it was as big as a great spear; and it made such a noise as it came, that it sounded like the thunder of heaven. It looked like a dragon flying through the air. Such a bright light did it cast, that one could see all over the camp as though it were day, by reason of the great mass of fire, and the brilliance of the light that it shed.

Thrice that night they hurled the Greek fire at us, and four times shot it from the tourniquet cross-bow.

Every time that our holy King heard that they were throwing Greek fire at us, he draped his sheet round him, and stretched out his hands to our Lord, and said weeping: " Oh! fair Lord God, protect my people! " And truly, I think his prayers did us good service in our need. At night, every time after the fire had fallen, he used to send one of his

chamberlains to us, to ask us how we did, and whether the fire had not done us any harm.

Once when they flung it at us, it fell close beside the tortoise-tower that my Lord of Courtenay's men were guarding, and buried itself in the river bank. And presently comes a knight, named " the Albigensis," and: "Sir," says he to me, "unless you help us, we are all burnt; for the Saracens have let fly so many of their fire-darts, that it is just like a great hedge all ablaze bearing down on our turret." We jumped up, and hurried to the spot, and found that he had spoken the truth. We put out the fire, and before we had got it under, we were covered from head to foot with the fire-darts that the Saracens shot across the river.

The King's brothers used to keep guard up in the turrets of the tortoises, so that they might shoot quarrels from the cross-bows right into the Saracen camp. Now the King had arranged, that when the King of Sicily watched the tortoise-towers in the day-time, we were to watch them by night. When the day came that the King had day watch and it was to be our turn at night, we were very uneasy, for our tortoise -towers had been quite

shattered by the Saracens. On that day they brought up their perronel in broad daylight, which so far they had only done at night, and flung the Greek fire into our tortoise-towers; and their engines had got the range so accurately onto the finished part of the causeway that no one durst go to the tortoise-towers because of the huge stones that the engines threw, which were falling all over the road. So it came to pass that our two turrets were burnt, whereat the King of Sicily was so beside himself, that he wanted to rush into the flames to put them out. But if he was furious, I and my knights praised God, for had we kept watch that night, we should all have been burnt up.

When the King saw this, he sent for all the barons, and begged them each to give him some timber from their ships to make a tortoise to dam the river; and he pointed out, that, as they could see for themselves, there was no wood to make it with, unless it were the timber of the ships that had brought our baggage up the stream. They gave him as much as each chose; and when this tortoise was finished, the timber was valued at over ten thousand pounds.

The King saw too, that the tortoise should not be pushed along the causeway, until it came to the King of Sicily's day for being on guard, so that he might wipe out the disaster of the other turrets, that were burnt during his watch. And it was done just as had been planned, for no sooner did the King of Sicily's turn on guard come round, than he had the tortoise pushed forward to the same spot where the other tortoise-towers had been burnt. When the Saracens saw this, they directed the shots from all their sixteen engines onto the causeway along which the tortoise had come; and when they saw that our men were afraid to go to the tortoise, because of the falling stones, they brought up the perronel, and flung Greek fire at the tortoise, and burnt it to the ground.

This great favour did God show to me and my knights; for our watch that night would have been as dangerous as it would have been on that other occasion of which I spoke before.

The King, seeing how things were, summoned all his barons to ask their advice. And they all agreed that they would never be able to build a causeway to cross over to the Saracens, since our

men could not possibly dam up this side as fast as they dug out the other.

Then the Constable, my Lord Humbert of Beaujeu, said to the King that there was a Bedouin come, who told him that he would show a good ford, but that they must give him five hundred besants.

The King said: he would consent to pay him, provided he honestly performed what he promised. The Constable spoke with the Bedouin, and he said that he would never show a ford, unless they gave him the money beforehand. It was agreed to give him the money, and he received it.

The King arranged that the Duke of Burgundy and the rich men of the country who were in the camp should stay and guard the camp, so that no harm might come to it; whilst the King and his three brothers should ford the river at the spot the Bedouin was to show them.

The first day of Lent was appointed for this undertaking, and on that day we came to the Bedouin's ford.

II.10. CHAPTER X

THE BATTLE OF MANSOORA.

AT the first peep of day, we accoutred ourselves at all points; and so soon as we were ready, we went down into the river, and our horses swam in. When we had got half-way across stream we touched bottom, and our horses found their feet. On the bank of the river we found full three hundred Turks, all mounted on horseback. Then I said to my followers: "Sirs, look out on the left! Every one is making for that side, the banks are all spongy, and their horses are rolling over onto them and drowning them." (And true it is that there were men drowned in the crossing, and among others my Lord John of Orleans, who bore a banner "wavey.")

With one accord we all turned our horses' heads up stream and found the foothold washed away, and got over somehow, thank God! without any of

us falling. And now that we were across, the Turks fled.

It had been arranged, that the Templars should form the advance-guard, and that the Count of Artois should lead the second detachment, next to the Templars. Now, as it happened, the Count of Artois had no sooner crossed the river, than he and all his followers made a dash at the Turks, who were fleeing before them. The Templars sent him a message, that he was insulting them shamefully by going on ahead, when he ought to be following behind them; and they begged that he would allow them to lead, as the King had given them leave.

Now it so happened that the Count of Artois durst not answer, because of Lord Foucault of Le Merle, who was holding his rein, and this Foucault of Le Merle, who was a very good knight, heard never a word that the Templars said to the Count, because he was deaf; and he kept shouting: " At them! At them! " Thereupon the Templars thought that they would be disgraced if they let the Count of Artois go in front of them; so they spurred on, helter-skelter, each trying to outdo the

other, and driving the Turks, who fled before them, right through the town of Mansoora and out into the fields on the side towards Grand Cairo. But when they tried to return, the Turks flung logs and timber in their way across the streets, which were narrow.

There died the Count of Artois, and the Lord of Coucy whom they called Ralph, and as many as three hundred other knights at a guess, the Templars, so I was told, lost fourteen score men there, all armed and mounted.

I and my knights agreed that we would attack some Turks who were loading up their baggage to the left of their camp, and we charged upon them. Whilst we were hunting them through the camp, I saw a Saracen who was getting on his horse, while one of his knights held the bridle for him. Just as he had got his two hands on the saddle to mount, I drove at him with my spear below the armpits, and flung him dead. His knight seeing this, left his lord and the horse, and, as I passed on, he pinned me down with his spear between the shoulder-blades, and stretched me along my horse's neck, and held me so tightly pressed down that I

could not draw the sword round my waist; so I had to draw the sword that was hung to my horse, and when he saw that I had got my sword out, he drew back his spear, and left me.

When I and my knights had got through the Saracens' camp, we found some six thousand Turks, (at a guess) who had abandoned their quarters and drawn off into the fields. When they saw us, they came charging down on us, and slew Lord Hugh of Trichâtel, Lord of Conflans, who carried his banner with me.

I and my knights clapped spurs to the rescue of Lord Ralph of Wanon, who was with me, whom they had pulled to earth; and whilst I was on my way back, the Turks pinned me down with their spears. My horse, feeling the weight, fell on his knees, and I passed on between his ears, and picked myself up with my shield round my neck and my sword in my hand. Lord Erard of Syverey, God rest his soul! who was of my company, came up to me, and said, that we had best draw off to a ruined house, and wait there until the King should come. And as we were going along on foot and horseback, a great horde of Turks broke upon us,

and bore me down, and passed over me, and snatched my shield from my neck; and when they were gone by, Lord Erard of Syverey came back to me, and led me along, till we reached the walls of the ruined house; and there Lord Hugh of Scots rejoined us, with Lord Frederick of Loupey, and Lord Reynold of Menoncourt.

There the Turks attacked us on all sides. Part of them got into the ruins, and thrust at us with their spears from above. Then my knights desired me to take hold of their horses' bridles, which I did, to prevent the horses from stampeding; and they warded off the Turks so vigorously, that they were praised by all the champions of the army, both by those who saw the deed, and those who only heard it told.

There Lord Hugh of Scots was wounded with three spear-wounds in his face, and Lord Ralph too; and Lord Frederick of Loupey was wounded with a spear between his shoulders, and the gash was so wide, that the blood spurted out of his body as through the tap of a cask. Lord Erard of Syverey got such a sword-cut across his face that his nose hung down onto his lip.

Then I bethought me of Our Lord Saint James: "Fair Lord Saint James," I prayed, " Help and save me in this need! " No sooner had I made my prayer, than Lord Erard said to me: " Sir, if you thought it would be no reproach to me and my heirs, I would go and fetch you help from the Count of Anjou, whom I see yonder in the fields." And I said to him: "Sir Erard, methinks it would be greatly to your honour, if you were to fetch us aid to save our lives, for truly your own life is in danger." (And indeed I spoke the truth, for he died of that wound.) He asked the opinion of all my knights who were there, and they took the same view as I did; and thereupon he asked me to let go his horse whom I was holding by the bridle along with the rest, and I did so. He came to the Count of Anjou, and begged him to come to the assistance of me and my knights. A rich man who was with him would have dissuaded him, but the Count of Anjou said he should do what my knight asked him; and he turned rein to come and help us, and several of his serjeants spurred on ahead; and when the Saracens saw them coming they let us be. In front of these serjeants rode Lord Peter of Alberive, sword in

hand, and when he saw that the Saracens had left us, he charged a whole heap of Saracens who had got hold of Lord Ralph of Wanon, and rescued him, sorely wounded.

As I stood there on foot among my knights, all wounded as you have heard, the King came up with his whole battalion, with a great noise and din of trumpets and kettledrums, and halted on a raised path. Never did I see him so finely accoutred, for he towered head and shoulders above his followers, with a gilded helmet on his head, and a German sword in his hand. He came to a halt in this place; and those champion knights of his battalion, whose names I told you, hurled themselves among the Turks, together with several brave knights of the King's battalion. And I would have you know, that it was a very fine feat of arms; for there was no shooting with bows or cross -bows, but the striking on both sides was all with clubs and swords, the Turks and our men being all mixed up together. One of my squires, who had fled with my banner, but had come back, brought me a pony of mine, which I mounted, and riding up to the King placed myself at his side.

Whilst we were so stationed, Lord John of Valery, the paladin, came to the King, and said he advised him to draw off to the right, down to the river, in order to have the support of the Duke of Burgundy and of the others whom we had left guarding the camp, and also that his serjeants might get something to drink, for the heat was at its height. The King bade his serjeants go and fetch those champion knights of his council who were attached to his person, naming them by name. The serjeants went to seek them in the ranks, where the fight was raging between them and the Turks. They came to the King, who asked their opinion, and they said that Lord John of Valery's advice was good. Thereupon, the King commanded the standard of Saint Denis and his own banners to draw off to the right towards the river; and as his army began to move, there was again a great noise of trumpets and Arabian horns. He had hardly gone any distance, when he got several messengers from his brother, the Count of Poitiers, and from the Count of Flanders, and other rich men whose detachments were in that place, begging him not to stir, for they were so hard-pressed by the Turks that they could

not follow him. The King recalled all the paladins of his council, and they all advised him to wait; but shortly afterwards Lord John of Valery came back again and blamed the King and his council for delaying; and his council advised him after all to draw off to the river, as Lord John of Valery advised. Now came the Constable, Lord Humbert of Beaujeu, to him, and told him that his brother, the Count of Artois, was defending himself in a house in Mansoora, and that he must go to his assistance. The King replied: " Constable, go you on in front, and I will follow you."

I told the Constable, I would be his knight, and he thanked me much, and we took the road to Mansoora.

Then there came a mace-serjeant, all scared, to the Constable, and told him, that the King had halted, and that the Turks had got between him and us. We turned round, and saw that there were a good thousand and more between him and us, and we were only six. Then said I to the Constable: "Sir, it is impossible for us to get to the King through these fellows; let us rather go on up stream, and put this ditch, that you see before

you, betwixt us and them; and in this way we shall be able to rejoin the King. The Constable followed my advice; and know, that if they had observed us, we should all have been dead men; but their attention was fixed on the King, and on the other big detachments, and so they took us for some of their own people.

Whilst we were coming back down stream along the river bank, between the brook and the river, we saw that the King had reached the river and that the Saracens were driving back the rest of the King's battalions, striking and hitting with clubs and swords, and crowding the other detachments with the King's battalions back onto the river.

There the rout was so great, that some of our people took into their heads to try and swim across the river to the Duke of Burgundy; which they could not achieve, for the horses were tired, and the day had grown sultry; and we could see whilst we were coming down that the river was covered with lances and shields and horses and men, drowning and perishing.

We came to a little bridge over the brook, and I proposed to the Constable, that we should stay

and guard this bridge: " For, if we leave it, they will come down on the King from this quarter; and if our people are attacked on both sides, they are likely to lose heavily." Accordingly we did so. And people say, that that day's work would have been the end of us all, if the King had not been there in person. For the Lord of Courtenay, and my Lord John of Saillenay told me, that six Turks had seized the King's bridle and were leading him away prisoner; and he, single-handed, delivered himself from them with great blows of his sword. And when his followers saw the King showing fight, they took heart, and left off trying to cross the river, and gathered round the King to help him.

Count Peter of Brittany came straight towards us, coming straight from the direction of Mansoora. He had a sword-gash across his face so that the blood was trickling into his mouth. He was seated on a little horse smartly harnessed. He had thrown his reins onto his saddle-bow, and was holding on with both hands, so that his followers behind, who were crowding on him, might not jostle him off the path. He seemed to set small store by them, for

spitting the blood from his mouth he said: "Just look! God's head! did you ever see such a rabble?"

At the tail of his detachment came the Count of Soissons and my Lord Peter of Noville, whom they use to call "Cater," who had suffered many hard knocks that day. After they had passed over and the Turks found that we were guarding the bridge, they left them alone, directly they saw us face round.

I went up to the Count of Soissons, whose first cousin I had married, and said to him: " Sir, I think you would do well to stop behind and guard this bridge; for if we leave the bridge, these Turks here in front will certainly rush across it, and thus the King will be attacked both before and behind." He asked, whether, if he stayed, I would stay? and I answered: " Yes, right willingly." Thereupon the Constable bade me not stir thence until he should return, and he would go and fetch help.

So there I stayed, mounted on my pony; and the Count of Soissons stayed beside me on my right, and Lord Peter of Noville on my left. And lo and behold! a Turk, who was coming from the side

where the King's troops were, and was behind us; and he struck Lord Peter of Noville from behind with a club, and with the blow stretched him along his horse's neck, and then dashed on over the bridge and rushed in among his own people.

When the Turks saw that we had no intention of leaving the bridge they crossed over the brook and placed themselves between the brook and the river, just as we had done coming down, and we spread ourselves out between them, in such a fashion that we were all ready to charge them, whether they tried to pass us from the King's side, or whether they tried to cross the bridge.

In front of us were two of the King's serjeants, one of whom was named William of Boon, and the other John of Gamaches. Those Turks who were between the brook and the river brought up peasants on foot, who pelted these two serjeants with clods of earth; but they could never get them to attack us ourselves. Finally, they brought up a peasant, who threw Greek fire at them thrice. Once William of Boon caught the vessel of Greek fire on his buckler, for if it had set light to anything on him, he would have been burnt. We were all

covered with the fire-darts that missed the serjeants. By good luck, I found a Saracen's oakum tunic; and I turned the split side towards me, and made a shield of the tunic, which served me in good stead, for their fire-darts only wounded me in five places and my pony in fifteen. It chanced too, that one of my burghers from Joinville brought me a banner with an iron spear-head; and every time that we saw them crowding on the serjeants, we charged them, and they fled. By this time the good Count of Soissons was beginning to joke with me and to say: "Seneschal, let these hounds yelp; for, by God's head cloth! (which was his favourite oath) we shall yet talk over this day in the ladies' bowers."

In the evening, just as the sun was setting, the Constable brought us the King's cross-bowmen on foot, and they ranged themselves in front of us; and when the Saracens saw our feet in the stirrups of the cross-bows, they fled.

Then said the Constable to me: "Well done! Seneschal. Now get you hence to the King, and leave him no more, until he shall have alighted in his own pavilion."

I had just joined the King, when Lord John

of Valery came to him and said: "Sir, my Lord of Châtillon begs you to grant him the rearguard," which the King did very gladly, and then started on the road. As we were going along, I made him take off his helmet, and presented him my iron cap that he might get the air.

And then there came to him Brother Henry of Ronnay, who had crossed the river, and kissed his mailed hand, and asked him, if he had no tidings of the Count of Artois his brother? And the King replied: That indeed he had tidings of him, for he knew for certain that his brother, the Count of Artois, was in Paradise. "Ah, Sir, you have much to console you; for never did such great honour kill to any King of France as has fallen to you; for to fight your enemies you have swum a river, and have discomfited and driven them from the field; and have got possession of their engines and their quarters, and shall lie in them yourself this very night."

The King replied, that: God be praised for all is mercies! and then great tears began to fall from his eyes.

When we reached our lodging we found that

some Saracens on foot had struck a tent, and were tugging at it on one side whilst our camp-followers were tugging it on the other. We charged them, the Master of the Temple and I, and they ran away, leaving the tent in the hands of our people.

In this battle, there were many people who made a very fine show, but ran away most disgracefully from the fight, and fled in a panic over the little bridge of which I spoke; and not one of them could we persuade to make a stand beside us. I could very well tell you some of their names; but I shall refrain, because they are dead.

However, I need not refrain from mentioning Lord Guy Malvoisin, for he came away from Mansoora in all honour; and indeed he came down the very way that the Constable and I went up. And just as the Turks hung upon Count Peter of Brittany and his troop, so they hung upon Lord Guy of Malvoisin and his men; and they lost heavily, he and his followers, in that day's work. And it was no wonder if he and his men acquitted themselves nobly on that day, for people, who knew his affairs well, told me, that all his battalion,

with scarcely any exception, were knights of his lineage, or knights who were his liege-men.

NOTE TO CHAPTER X
THE BATTLE OF MANSOORA

So far as can be gathered from contemporary Christian accounts, the events of this famous Shrove Tuesday were as follows:

On quitting the camp on the north side of the river (in which was left all the baggage under the guard of the Duke of Burgundy and a sufficiency of mounted and foot soldiers) the King had put his forces into regular formation, and given strict orders that the lines were to be kept; and that each detachment after crossing the ford was to draw up and wait for the others. The ford proved much worse than was expected and threw the troops into disorder.

The Count of Artois and the others who were first across, disregarding orders, turned to the right and rode up stream long the bank of the river of Raxi (or of Tanis, as most narrators call it), until they came opposite their own old camp, and into that of the Saracens. There, taking the Saracens by surprise while most of them were still asleep, they fell upon them, and cut to pieces every living thing in the camp, giving no quarter to man, woman, or child.

The butchery even made an impression on Jean Pierre Sarrasin, who, after describing it, says, " A very piteous thing it was to see such a quantity of dead bodies, and such an outpouring of blood that is, if they had not been enemies of the Christian faith."

After this, a great dispute arose between William of Sonnac, Master of the Temple, and Robert of Artois. There was always very bad feeling and considerable jealousy between the men " from home " and the " colonial " barons, which the Count of Artois seems to have exasperated on every possible occasion. The Master of the Temple was for staying and securing their position and guarding the Saracen engines which were left in their hands. The Count of Artois and his followers were for pushing on and attacking the stronghold of Mansoora, which lay a little further up, at the dividing of the Nile and the stream of Tanis. One of them actually accused the Templars and Hospitallers of treachery, saying that but for them the country would have been conquered long ago; and the Count of Artois told the Master to " stay behind if he were afraid," to which the Master replied, " Sir, I and my brethren are not afraid. We will go with you; but doubt whether either of us will return." The whole arty then galloped forward, disregarding another special message from the King desiring his brother to go no further; drove the Saracens before them through the town f Mansoora; and then tried to return, but found the beets barricaded and themselves in a trap. Almost the hole of the Templars were cut to pieces in the hand-hand fighting that followed. Robert of Artois tried to scape by swimming the river and was drowned, with

many others. William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, the famous grandson of King Henry and Fair Rosamund, refused to fly, and was literally cut to pieces, after performing wonders of velour equal to those of the ancient paladins. His defence and death raised him to a national hero almost a saint. His mother Ela, in her English nunnery, on the night after his death, saw him in a vision ascending to heaven in full armour, and on learning of his fate received the news with such joy and resignation that all were astonished. His virtue is made manifest even to the Saracens by the light that proceeds from his bones; and a future Sultan offers to give them to King Louis as a valuable Christian relic.

Whilst the Count of Artois and the rest of the advance guard were pursuing the Turks into Mansoora, the rest of the army and the King finished crossing the river and arched on towards the Saracen camp in good order. recently they were met by the Saracens, coming from Mansooraa flushed with their victory and slaughter of the Christians. The King's troops were forced back onto the river of Tanis, just opposite their old camp on the other bank; and despite the King's personal bravery they would eve been destroyed, had not the Duke of Burgundy and he men in the old camp hastily constructed a floating bridge of timber, on which they got over to their assistnce. The King was at a disadvantage from want of cross-bowmen, most of whom had perished with the advance guard.

It is difficult quite to understand the lie of the land in Joinville's scene of action. The annexed map gives a plausible idea of it.

Longsword's death became an epic subject for chroniclers and ballad-makers. Matthew Paris gives a moving prose account [1] of it:

" Said Robert of Artois: 'Oh William! God fights against us we can no longer hold out I advise you, save yourself alive, if you can, by flight, whilst your horse has strength to carry you, lest when you wish to "you no longer can.'

To whom William replied curtly, as the tumult permitted.

'Please God, the son of my father shall never fly for any Saracen. I would rather die a good death than live a base life.'

Then the Count of Artois fled to the river and was drowned, and the French were scattered and slain.

When William, on whom the Saracens turned their attack, saw this, he knew that his life was forfeit. Manfully he bore up against all assailants, and cutting in pieces many, sent their souls to Hell. Yet though his horse had succumbed and his own feet were cut off still he continued to lop off the hands, heads, and feet, of such as attacked him.

And then, after sustaining many blows and wounds, with blood gushing out, and overwhelmed by the stones of his assailants, he, a most glorious martyr, breathed out his soul, that sped forth to assume its crown. And with him (died) his Standard Bearer, Robert de Vere, an excellent knight, and many other English, who had followed in his tracks, guided by the trail he left behind him."

There was between William Longsword and Robert of Artois an old-standing quarrel. While the army was at Damietta, the Earl had actually retired with his followers to Acre in consequence of the insults he had received from the King's brothers; and it was only by King Louis' efforts that they were reconciled. It is said that Robert of Artois' only remark when he heard of Longsword's defection, was: " Thank God, we are rid of those tailed monkeys!"

The author of a Norman-English poem 1 on the battle of Mansoora (who seems to have cordially entered into the feud, and sends the souls of French and Saracen alike unhesitatingly to hell) gives a detailed account of the fight in the streets and Longsword's death; which may be pure fiction, or may be genuine details gathered from an eyewitness, or tradition. It is sufficiently interesting for a few stanzas to be quoted.

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Here follow the exploits of his five followers: Wymond of Ascalon, Robert of Widel, Ralph of Henfield, Alexander Giffard, and John of Bretain.

Longsword begs Giffard if he escapes to execute his will and take charge of his possessions. A Norman knight urges him to escape by the river: Longsword replies—

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A Saracen Emir tries to persuade him to surrender, but in vain, and he goes on fighting furiously.

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He prays to Christ that he may he avenged on this hatefu! race, and goes on fighting with his left hand.

The Alexander Giffard mentioned in the poem as Longsword's confidant did escape, wounded in five places. In the next generation his family is found intermarried with the Longswords.

II.11. CHAPTER XI

DISCOURSES OF THE BEDOUINS.

AFTER we had routed the Turks and driven them from their quarters, and during the time that the Saracens' camp was left empty by our people, the Bedouins, who were a very numerous race, broke into it. Not a single thing did they leave in the camp, but carried off everything that the Saracens had left behind. Yet I never heard it said, that the Bedouins, who were subject to the Saracens, suffered any discredit for anything they had taken or stolen from them; for such is their custom and practice, ever to attack the losing side.

Since it has to do with the subject, I will tell you, what manner of people the Bedouins are.

The Bedouins do not believe in Mahomet, but they follow the law of Ali, who was Mahomet's uncle, and so obey the Old Man of the Mountain, the same who maintains the Assassins. They

believe, that when a man dies for his lord, or for any good purpose, that his body passes into a better way of life and a happier than before. And this is why the Assassins offer no resistance if they are slain while carrying out the orders of the Old Man of the Mountain. Of the Old Man of the Mountain we will say no more at present, but will speak about the Bedouins.

The Bedouins dwell neither in towns nor cities nor castles, but lie always in the open fields; and in the evening their servants, wives and children creep for the night, or by day when the weather is bad into a sort of shelter that they make out of the hoops of casks lashed to poles; just like the [Sedan] chairs of these ladies here; and over these hoops they throw sheepskins, called "Damascus hides," cured with alum. The Bedouins themselves have great pelisses of these skins, which cover their whole body, legs and feet and all. When the evening is rainy or the weather bad at night, they wrap themselves up inside their pelisses, and take off their horses' bridles and let them graze beside them; and when morning comes, they spread out their pelisses again in the sun, and dress them,

and there is not a trace to be seen of their night's wetting.

The Bedouins' creed is this: That no man can die, save on his appointed day; and for this reason they will not wear armour; and when they curse their children they say: " Mayst thou be accurst, even as the Frank who arms himself for fear of Death!" In battle they carry nothing but sword and spear. Nearly all of them are clad in surplices, like priests. They wear napkins twisted round their heads and passing under their chins, so that they are loathly people and hideous to behold, for the hair of their heads and beards is all black. They live on the milk of their flocks and herds, and purchase from the wealthy men the grazing of the prairies, which feeds their beasts.

Their number is past reckoning, for one finds them in the realm of Egypt, and in the realm of Jerusalem, and in all other countries that belong to the Saracens and Infidels, to whom they pay heavy tributes every year.

I have seen in our own country, since I returned from beyond seas, certain disloyal Christians, who held the faith of the Bedouins, and said that no man

could die, save at his appointed hour. Their belief is so disloyal, that it is as much as saying, that God has no power to help us. For we should be mad, who serve God, if we did not believe that He has power to prolong our lives and to keep us from harm and mishap; and in Him we ought to believe, that He has power to do all things.

II.12. CHAPTER XII

THE SARACENS ATTACK THE CAMP THE PRIEST'S FEAT OF ARMS THE FIGHTING AT THE BARRIERS.

LET US now proceed with our tale. At nightfall we returned, the King and we, from the perilous battle above narrated, and lodged in the place whence we had driven our enemies. My people, who had remained behind in the camp we had quitted, brought me a tent that the Templars had given me, and pitched it for me in front of the engines that we had won from the Saracens; and the King had serjeants appointed to guard the engines.

I lay down in my bed, where I had great need to rest on account of the wounds I had gotten during the day, but chance served me otherwise; for, before it was quite light, the cry arose in our camp: " To arms! to arms! " I roused my chamberlain, who was sleeping at my feet, and bade him go and

see what was the matter. He-came back to me in great alarm, and said to me: " Up, Sir! Up! for here are the Saracens, come on foot and horseback, and they have routed the King's serjeants that were guarding the engines, and have driven them in among our lines." I got up, and slipped a tunic over my shoulders, and clapped an iron cap on my head, and cried to our serjeants: " By Saint Nicholas! they shall not stay here!"

My knights joined me, all wounded as they were; and we drove the Saracen serjeants out from among the engines, and back onto a large squadron of mounted Turks, who were close to the engines we had captured. I sent to the King asking for help, for neither I nor my knights were able to put on hauberks, because of the wounds we had received; and the King sent us my Lord Walter of Châtillon, who placed himself in front, between us and the Turks.

When the Lord of Châtillon had repulsed the Saracen foot-serjeants, they fell back on a large squadron of Turks on horseback who were drawn up in front of our camp, to prevent us surprising the Saracen camp, which lay behind them.

Out of this company of mounted Turks, eight of their captains had alighted, all remarkably well armed, and had made a barricade of hewn stones, so that our cross-bowmen might not wound them; and these eight Saracens kept shooting flights of arrows into our camp, and wounded several of our men and horses. I and my knights laid our heads together, and agreed, that when night came, we would carry away the stones with which they were barricaded. A priest of mine, whose name was Lord John of Voyssey, had made up his own mind and was less patient. He set off from the camp all by himself in the direction of the Saracens, clad in his tunic, with his iron cap on his head, and his spear trailing under his arm, point downwards, so that the Saracens might not catch sight of it. When he got close to the Saracens, who, seeing him all alone, never troubled their heads about him, he caught his spear up under his arm, and charged on them. Not one of the eight made any attempt at defence, but they all turned and fled. When those on horseback saw their leaders running away, they spurred out to their rescue; whilst on our side about fifty

serjeants sprang out. The horsemen came spurring on and durst not engage with our footmen, but swerved aside. When they had repeated this two or three times, one of our serjeants took his spear by the middle, and hurled it at one of the mounted Turks, and let him have it between the ribs. After this, the Turks durst not stir again, and our serjeants carried away the stones. From that time forth, my priest was a noted man throughout the army, and they used to point him out one to another, and say, "there goes my Lord of Joinville's priest, who routed the eight Saracens."

These things took place on the first day of Lent. On that same day, a valiant Saracen whom the enemy had made captain instead of Scecedin the son of Seic, whom they had lost in the battle of Shrove Tuesday, took the coat belonging to the Count of Artois, who had died in that battle, and showed it to all the host of the Saracens, and told them: It was the King's coat-of-arms and that he was dead. " And this I show you " said he, " because a body without a head is in no wise to be feared, neither a people without a King. Therefor, if so please you, we will attack them on Friday; and you

should agree to this methinks, since we cannot fail to capture them all, now that they have lost their leader." And they all agreed that they would come and attack us on Friday.

The King's spies that were in the Saracen camp, brought tidings of this to the King; and thereupon the King commanded all the leaders of battalions to have their followers under arms by midnight and draw off from the tents to the barriers, which were made with long palings to prevent the Saracens from breaking into the camp, and were fixed in the ground in such a manner that a man on foot could pass between them. And it was done as the King commanded.

At sunrise, this Saracen whom they had made their leader, brought up without delay four thousand mounted Turks, and spread them out all round, with our camp and himself in the centre, from the river which comes from Grand Cairo, to the stream which flowed from our camp to a town called Risil. [Raxi?] When this was done, they further led up such a vast number of Saracens on foot as to make a second ring of them all round our camp, as had been done with the horsemen. Behind these two lines of battle

that I am telling you about, they drew up all the forces of the Sultan of Cairo, as a reserve, if it should be needed.

When this was done, the captain rode out on a pony to survey the disposition of our camp, and according as he saw that our divisions were more massed in one part than in another, he went back, and fetched up more men to strengthen the ranks opposed to ours.

Next, he sent the Bedouins, about three thousand of them, across the two rivers, thinking that the King would send some of his men to the Duke to reinforce him against the Bedouins, and so weaken his own camp. It took him till noon to make all his dispositions, and then he bade sound his drums, which they call " nacara," and they fell upon us, horse and foot. First of all I will tell you about the King of Sicily, for he came first on the side towards Grand Cairo. They moved against him just as one opens in chess, for they attacked him first with their footmen, the footmen pelting him with Greek fire. And both horse and foot pressed him so hard that they routed the King of Sicily, who was on foot among his

knights. Someone came to the King and told him of the evil plight his brother was in, and thereupon he spurred in among his brother's ranks, sword in hand, and pushed his way so far in among the Turks that their Greek fire set light to his horse's crupper. And by this sally the King saved the King of Sicily and his men, and they drove the Turks out of their camp.

Next to the King of Sicily's battalion came the battalion of the Oversea Barons, led by Sir Guy of Ibelin and Sir Baldwin his brother. Next to theirs came the battalion of my Lord Walter of Châtillon, full of champion knights and good fighters. These two battalions defended themselves so fiercely that the Turks were never able to break through them nor drive them back.

Next to my Lord Walter of Châtillon's battalion came Brother William of Sonnac, Master of the Temple, with the handful of brethren who were left him from the Tuesday's battle. He had fortified aposition hard by the engines which we had taken from the Saracens. The Saracens in attacking them threw Greek fire into the barricade which they had erected, and it caught easily, for the Templars had

built great planks of pitch pine into it; and know, that the Turks did not even wait for the fire to have burnt out, but charged at the Templars through the flames. In this fight, Brother William lost one of his eyes; the other he had lost on Shrove Tuesday; and he died of it, did that lord, God rest his soul! And know, that there was a patch of ground behind the Templars, the size of a day's work, so covered with the darts that the Saracens had thrown, that the soil could not be seen for the density of them.

Next to the Templars, came the battalion of Lord Guy Malvoisin, which battalion the Turks were never able to overcome. However, they succeeded by chance in covering Lord Guy with Greek fire, which his followers had great difficulty in putting out.

From Lord Guy Malvoisin's division, the barrier turned in a good stone's throw towards the river, and thence it bent straight again along Count William's camp, and ran down to the river on the side towards the sea. Close to the river, on the up-stream side from Lord Guy Malvoisin, was our detachment; and because they had Count William of Flanders' division facing them, they did not dare

approach us; wherein God showed us great kindness, for neither I nor my knights had hauberks nor shields, being all wounded from the battle of Shrove Tuesday.

The Count of Flanders they attacked savagely and vigorously with horse and foot. Seeing which, I ordered our cross-bowmen to shoot at those on horseback. When the horsemen saw that they were being wounded from our quarter, they fled, those of them that were mounted; and thereupon the Count's men left their camp, and scrambled over the barrier, and charged the Saracen footmen, and routed them. Many of them were slain and many had their bucklers taken. In this affair, Walter of the Horgne acquitted himself manfully; he it was who was standard-bearer to the Lord of Apremont.

Next to the Count of Flanders' battalion, came that of the Count of Poitiers, the King's brother; which battalion was on foot; only the Count himself being mounted. This detachment, the Turks utterly routed, and were leading the Count away prisoner; but when the butchers and the other camp followers, and the pedlar women got wind of it, they raised the hue and cry through the camp,

and, by God's aid, rescued the Count, and drove the Turks out of his camp.

Next to the Count of Poitier's detachment, came that of Lord Jocerand of Brançon, who had accompanied the Count into Egypt and was one of the best knights in the army. He had so arrayed his men that all his knights were on foot. He himself was on horseback with his son Lord Henry and the son of my Lord Jocerand of Nantum, and these he kept mounted because they were children. Several times the Turks got the best of his men, but every time that he saw them worsted, he galloped down on the Turks and took them in the rear, so that time after time the Turks left his followers to attack himself. Still, it would have availed them nothing, and they would all have been slain on the spot by the Turks, had it not been for my Lord Henry of Coonne, who was in the Duke of Burgundy's camp a wise knight, gallant and full of forethought. Every time that he saw the Turks about to attack my Lord of Brançon, he made the King's cross-bowmen shoot at the Turks from across the river. Nevertheless the Lord of Brançon escaped from that day's mishaps with the loss of

twelve knights out of the twenty that formed his company, not counting the other men-at-arms, and he himself was so roughly handled that he never after stood upon his feet, and died of that wound in the service of God.

I will tell you about the Lord of Brançon. He had been, when he died, in thirty-six battles and hand-to-hand fights in which he had carried off the prize of arms. I saw him once in an expedition of the Count of Châlons, whose cousin he was. He came to me and my brother, it was a Good Friday, and said to us: " Nephews, come and help me, you and your men; for the Germans are destroying the abbey." We went with him, and charged them with drawn swords, and with great difficulty and a violent scuffle we drove them out of the abbey. This done, the gallant gentleman knelt down before the altar, and cried aloud to Our Lord, "Lord, I beseech Thee, have pity on me, and take from these wars between Christians, wherein I have lived so long; and vouchsafe me to die in Thy service, and so win Thy kingdom of Heaven!"

These things I have recorded, because I believe that God granted his request, as you have seen.

II.13. CHAPTER XIII

DIGRESSION ON THE SULTAN'S BODYGUARD THE PESTILENCE IN THE CAMP THE KING RE-CROSSES THE RIVER, AND TREATS WITH THE SARACENS THE EPISODE OF THE SIX IMPIOUS KNIGHTS.

AFTER the battle, which was on the first Friday of Lent, the King summoned all his barons before him, and spoke as follows: " Great thanksgiving," said he, "do we owe Our Lord, in that He hath conferred on us two such favours in this week, that on Shrove Tuesday we drove them from these quarters where we are now lodged, and on this Friday just past, we have repelled them, we on foot and they on horseback." And many other fine words did he speak to put heart into them.

In order to pursue our story we must first digress from it a little, to explain the system and footing on which the Sultans maintained their followers. Truly the greater part of their chivalry was composed of foreigners, whom the merchants procured

in foreign lands for sale, and the Sultans bought them eagerly and at high prices. These people whom they brought into Egypt were procured in the East; for whenever one of the kings of the East had subdued another, he used to take the poor people whom he had conquered, and sell them to the merchants, and the merchants returned into Egypt to sell them. The system was as follows: the Sultan used to bring up the children in his own house, until such time as their beards began to grow. And according to their capacity, the Sultan had bows made to fit them; and as they grew stronger, they laid their bows aside in the Sultan's arsenal, and his Master of Ordnance provided them with bows as stiff as they could draw. The Sultan's arms were of gold, and these youths bore the same arms as he did, and they were called Baharis. When their beards began to grow, the Sultan knighted them, and they used to bear the Sultan's arms with some slight difference: such as crimson devices, roses, or crimson bends, or birds, or some other device according to their fancy, on arms of gold. And these men of whom I am speaking were said to be "of the Halka" [Bodyguard], for the Baharis lay in the Sultan's tents.

Whenever the Sultan was in the camp, the men of the Halka were quartered all round his lodging, and appointed to guard his person. At the door of the Sultan's lodging there was a little tent for the Sultan's door-keepers, and for his musicians, who had Arabian horns and drums and kettledrums; and they used to make such a din at daybreak and at nightfall that people near them could not hear one another speak, and that they could be heard plainly all through the camp. The musicians never dared sound their instruments in the daytime unless by the order of the Chief of the Halka. Thus it was, that whenever the Sultan had a proclamation to make he used to send for the Chief of the Halka, and give him the order; and then the Chief would cause all the Sultan's instruments to be sounded; and thereupon all the host would come to hear the Sultan's commands. The Chief of the Halka uttered them, and all the host obeyed them.

When the Sultan went to war he would make the Knights of the Halka Emirs, according to their achievements in battle, and would give them

two or three hundred knights for their company, and the better they did the more the Sultan gave them.

This price indeed they pay for their honours: that when they attain to such wealth and distinction as to be independent, and the Sultan begins to be afraid they may kill or depose him, he then has them taken and thrown into prison to die, and strips their wives of all they have. This the Sultan did to those who captured the Counts of Montfort and of Bar. Even so Bondocdar dealt with those who had overthrown the King of Armenia; for they, thinking to be well received, alighted, and went on foot to greet him where he was hunting wild beasts. But he answered them: "I give you no greeting!" because they had interrupted his chase; and he caused their heads to be struck off.

Let us now return to our subject. The Sultan who was dead had a son, twenty-five years of age, wise and quick and cunning; and the Sultan, fearing lest he should dethrone him, gave him a kingdom that he owned in the East. Now that the Sultan was dead, the Emirs sent for him; and no sooner was he come to Egypt, than he dismissed

his father's Seneschal, his Constable and his Mar shall, and deprived them of their golden rods, and gave them to those who had come with him from the East.

At this they were very indignant, as well as all the rest of his father's council, because of the slight he had put upon them. Moreover they feared, that he would deal with them as his grandfather had dealt with those who had captured the Count of Montfort and the Count of Bar; and they made interest with the men of the Halka, whose duty it was, as I told you, to guard the Sultan's person, so far as to make a bargain with them to put the Sultan to death whenever they requested.

After the two battles already narrated the army's troubles began in earnest. For, at the end of nine days, the bodies of our men whom they had slain rose to the surface of the water (they say it was because their galls had rotted) and came floating down as far as the bridge that joined the two camps, and could not get by, because the bridge was flush with the water. A great mass of them there was, so that the stream was choked with corpses from one bank to the other, and they

reached a short stone's throw up the river. The King had hired a hundred common labourers, who were busied at it for quite a week. The bodies of the Saracens, which were circumcised, they flung over to the other side of the bridge, and let them drift down the river. The Christians were laid all together in great trenches. I saw the Count of Artois' chamberlains there, and many others, seeking their friends among the dead; but I never heard of any one being recognised.

We ate no fish in the camp all Lent, save mudeels; and the eels, being greedy fish, used to feed on the dead bodies. And from this misfortune, together with the unhealthiness of the country, where there never falls a drop of rain, we were stricken with the " camp-sickness," which was such that the flesh of our limbs all shrivelled up, and the skin of our legs became all blotched with black, mouldy patches, like an old jack-boot, and proud flesh came upon the gums of those of us who had the sickness, and none escaped from this sickness save through the jaws of death. The signal was this: when the nose began to bleed, then death was at hand.

A fortnight later, the Turks, intending to starve

us out, to the great astonishment of many people, took several of their galleys that were above the camp, and had them dragged over land to the river, a good league below our camp, on the way from Damietta. And these galleys caused a famine; for none of our side dared come from Damietta to bring us provisions up stream, because of their galleys. We never got any news of these things, until one day when a little vessel belonging to the Count of Flanders, which had forced its way through them, told us about it, and that the Sultan's galleys had captured about eighty of our galleys on their way up from Damietta, and killed the men in them.

From this cause there arose such a dearth in the camp, that by the time Easter had come an ox was worth in the camp eighty pounds, a sheep thirty pounds, a pig thirty pounds, an egg twelve pence, and a hogshead of wine ten pounds.

Seeing these things, the King and the barons decided that he should remove his camp on the Cairo side across to the Duke of Burgundy's camp, which was on the river leading to Damietta. In order to withdraw his men with greater

security, the King had a barbican constructed in front of the bridge that joined the two camps, and so made, that one could enter the barbican from either side on horseback. When the barbican was ready, the King put all the camp under arms, and the Turks made a general onslaught on the King's camp. Nevertheless, neither camp nor men budged, until all the baggage had been carried over; and then the King went across and his battalion after him, and afterwards all the rest of the barons, except my Lord Walter of Châtillon, who formed the rearguard. At the entrance to the barbican, my Lord Erard of Valery rescued Lord John his brother, whom the Turks were leading away prisoner.

When all the army had crossed through, those who remained in the barbican were in an evil plight; for the barbican was not high and the Turks could see to aim at them from horseback, while the Turks on foot threw clods of earth in their faces. They were all lost men, had it not been for the Count of Anjou (afterwards King of Sicily), who went to their rescue, and brought them off safe. My Lord Geoffrey of Mussanburg

carried off the prize of that day, the prize of all those who were in the barbican.

On the eve of Shrove Tuesday I witnessed a marvel that I will relate to you. For on that same day, we laid in the earth Lord Hugh of Landricourt, who carried his banner in my company. There as he lay upon the bier in my chapel, there were six of my knights lolling upon some sacks of barley. And because they were talking noisily in my chapel and disturbing the priest, I went up to them and bade them be quiet, telling them that it was a disgraceful thing for knights and gentlemen to talk whilst mass was being sung. Thereupon they began to laugh in my face, and told me laughing, that they would have the remarrying of his wife; and I rated them and told them that such words were neither right nor seemly, and that they had quickly forgotten their comrade. And thus did God take vengeance on them: that on the morrow was the great battle of Shrove Tuesday, wherein they were either slain or wounded to death, so that their wives had to be remarried, all six of them.

Owing to the wounds that I got on Shrove

Tuesday, the camp-sickness seized me in my mouth and legs, together with a double tertian fever, and such a violent rheum in my head, that the rheum streamed out of my head through my nostrils; and by reason of these maladies, I took to my bed in mid-Lent.

Now it so chanced, that my priest was singing mass by my bedside in my pavilion, and he had the same malady that I had. And it came to pass, that in the midst of performing the Sacrament he fainted. When I saw him tottering, I leapt from my bed, with my coat on, but all barefoot, and clasped him in my arms, and bade him finish his Sacrament fairly and forthwith; telling him, I would not leave go of him until he should have completed it. He pulled himself together, and performed the Sacrament, and sang his mass all through, and never sang service again.

After these events the King's council and the Sultan's council fixed a day to make terms; and the terms of the agreement were these: that Damietta was to be restored to the Sultan, and that the Sultan was to restore to the King the kingdom of Jerusalem. Moreover, the Sultan was to take care

of all the sick that were in Damietta, and of the salted meat (since they ate no pork), and of the King's engines, until such time as the King should be able to send and fetch all these things.

They asked the King's council what surety they would give, that they should recover Damietta. The King's council offered them one of the King's brothers, to be detained until they should receive Damietta, either the Count of Anjou, or the Count of Poitiers. The Saracens refused to have anything to do with it, unless the King's own person were left in pawn; whereupon the good knight, my Lord Geoffrey of Sargines, said, that he would rather the Saracens had them all dead or prisoners, than that they should incur the reproach of having left the King in pawn.

The sickness began to increase at such a rate in the camp, and so much dead flesh came upon the gums of our people, that the barbers were obliged to remove it, to enable them to chew their food and to swallow. A most piteous thing it was to hear through the camp the screams of the people from whom they were cutting the dead flesh, for they screamed just like women labouring with child.

NOTE TO CHAPTER XIII

Jean Pierre Sarrasin, the King's Chamberlain, gives a vivid account of the sufferings in the camp. He says, that twenty or thirty men died every day of pestilence or hunger; and that throughout the camp there was not a man but was mourning for some friend, and himself in hourly expectation of death. Those that were whole went about wearing white badges to warn off the infected.

Food and fodder were alike exhausted. The horses perished with the men. The carcass of a mule or horse when it was to be got was a dainty; and soon a chance dog or cat was the occasion for a feast. The greatest men would go anywhere, uninvited, to get a meal.

The camp was full of grumbling and suspicion. Even those who kept their health were sick of the business, and put no heart into their work. It was murmured: that numbers of Christians were deserting to the Saracen camp; that the King was going bankrupt; and that the flower of the army had perished with the Count of Artois.

All the while, the Saracens never ceased harassing the unfortunate soldiers of the Cross, and they lived in terror of an assault which should carry their defences and put them all to the sword.

II.14. CHAPTER XIV

HOW THE KING AND ALL HIS MEN FELL INTO THE HANDS OF THESARACENSS THE MASSACRE OF THE SICK, AND THE CAPTURE OF THE FUGITIVES IN THE BOATS.

WHEN the King saw that he should die, he and his people, if they stayed in that place any longer, he gave his orders, and made all ready for removing thence at nightfall on the evening of Tuesday after the octave of Easter, and returning to Damietta

The King ordered Jocelin of Cornaut with his brothers and the other engineers to cut the ropes that held the bridge between us and the Saracens; but they never did it.

On the Tuesday we went on board on rising from dinner, with two knights whom I had left of my household; and when the time came that it began to grow dark, I told my sailors to weigh anchor and let us drift down stream. They replied, that they durst not do so, for that the Sultan's galleys, which were between us and Damietta would kill us.

The sailors had made great fires to receive the sick into their galleys, and the sick men had crawled down to the river bank. While I was imploring my sailors to loose-off, the Saracens entered the camp; and I saw by the light of the fire, that they were slaughtering the sick men on the bank.

Whilst my sailors were hauling at their anchor, the sailors whose duty it was to bring off the sick, cut their anchor-ropes and the painters of their galleys, and came dashing in among our small craft, and so jammed us on all sides that we narrowly missed being swamped. When we had got free from this danger, and were going on down stream, the King who had the camp-sickness and dysentery very badly could quite well have found a safe refuge in the galleys, had he been so minded. But he said, that; "Please God, he would never desert his people." That evening he fainted several times. They called out to us who were drifting on the water, to wait for the King; and when we were unwilling to wait for him, they shot quarrels at us, so that we were obliged to stay until they should give us leave to go on.

Now I will tell you how the King was taken

prisoner just as he told it me himself. He told me, that he had quitted his own battalion, and placed himself with my Lord Geoffrey of Sargines in the battalion of Lord Walter of Châtillon which was forming the rearguard. And the King told me, that he was mounted on a little pony with silken trappings, and that behind him of all the knights and serjeants there only remained my Lord Geoffrey of Sargines, who escorted the King as far as the hamlet where the King was taken prisoner. And truly, so the King told me, Lord Geoffrey protected him from the Saracens just as a good servant protects his master's cup from flies; for whenever the Saracens tried to get near him, Lord Geoffrey would take his sword, which he had placed between himself and the saddle-bow, and put it under his arm, and turn round and make a dash at them, and drive them away from the King. And so he brought the King to the hamlet, and they got him off his horse and into a house, and laid him for dead in the lap of a woman of Paris, and thought that he would never see the evening.

Thither came my Lord Philip of Montfort, and told the King, that he saw the Emir with whom he

had negotiated the truce; and that with his leave, he would go to him, and have the truce patched up on the Saracen's terms. The King gave him leave and begged him to go. Lord Philip went to the Saracen, and the Saracen had taken the turban from his head and the ring from his finger, to certify that he would keep the truce, when in the middle, a terrible mishap befel1 our people; for a traitor serjeant, named Marcel, began to shout to our men: " Surrender, Sir Knights! An order has come from the King. Surrender! Or else the King will be killed! " Everyone thought that the order came from the King, and they yielded up their swords to the Saracens. The Emir, seeing the Saracens leading away our people prisoners, told Lord Philip, that there was no question of a truce with our people, for it was plain they were prisoners. And so it chanced that Lord Philip had the luck not to be made prisoner, when all the rest of our people were taken, because he was a messenger. There is, by the way, an evil custom in pagan countries, that when the King sends his messengers to the Sultan, or the Sultan to the King, and the King or Sultan dies before the messengers return, those messengers become captives and slaves, to whichever side they belong, whether Christians or Saracens.

At the same time that our men on land were captured, we suffered the same disaster, for we were taken on the water, as you shall hear presently. For the wind blew against us from Damietta, so that we lost the benefit of the current. Moreover the knights, whom the King had put into his cruisers to defend our sick, fled.

Our sailors missed the course of the stream and got into a backwater, so that we had to turn round again towards the Saracens. When they had brought us back out of that arm of the river into which they had run us, we met with the King's cruisers, the same that he had told off to defend our sick, coming fleeing towards Damietta. Then there arose a wind which blew so hard up stream that it took the current from us. Travelling thus by water, we came a little before daybreak to the strait where lay the Sultan's galleys, which had intercepted our supplies from Damietta. At this place there was a fierce struggle, for they shot at us and at those of our men who were riding along the

bank such a quantity of arrows with Greek fire, that it looked as though the stars were falling from heaven. On either bank of the river there were ever so many of our people's vessels, which had been unable to proceed down stream, and which the Saracens had captured and made fast. They were killing the men and tossing them into the water, and dragging out the chests and baggage from the ships.

The mounted Saracens on the bank shot arrows at us because we would not come to them. My people had dressed me in a jousting hauberk, which I had put on so that the arrows which fell into our vessel should not wound me. At this point, those of my people who were in the prow of the boat facing down stream, cried out to me: " Sir! Sir! Your sailors are trying to run you ashore, because the Saracens are threatening them." All feeble as I was, I made them raise me by the arms, and drew my sword on the sailors, and told them I would murder them if they ran me ashore. They answered, that I might choose which I liked either they would run me ashore, or they would anchor me in mid-stream until such time as the wind should

drop. And I told them I would rather they should anchor me in the middle of the stream, than take me ashore, where I saw death awaiting us. So they anchored.

It was no long while before we saw four of the Sultan's galleys approaching, with full a thousand men in them. Thereupon I called my knights and my men, and asked them what they wished us to do whether to surrender to the Sultan's galleys, or to surrender to those on land. We all agreed, that we would rather surrender to the Sultan's galleys, because they would keep us together, than surrender to those on land, who would scatter us and sell us to the Bedouins. Then said a cellarer of mine, a native of Doulevent: " Sir, I am not of this opinion." I asked him what his opinion was, and he said to me: " My opinion is, that we should all let ourselves be killed, and then we shall all go to heaven." However, we did not listen to him.

When I saw that we were bound to be taken, I took my cash-box and my jewels, and threw them into the river, and my relics as well. Then said one of my sailors to me: " Sir, unless you let me say that you are the King's cousin, they will kill

you and us along with you." I told him that for my part he might say what he liked. The first galley was bearing down on us to ram us on the beam; but when they heard what he said they cast anchor alongside our vessel.

Then God sent a Saracen from the Emperor's country, and he came swimming up to our vessel, and threw his arms round my waist, and said: "Sir, you are lost, unless you keep your wits about you. You must jump from your vessel onto the cutwater of the galley. You may jump without their noticing you, for they are intent on looting your vessel." They threw me a rope from the galley, and I sprang, by God's grace, onto the beak of the cutwater. And know, that I tottered, and should have fallen into the water, had he not leapt after me to hold me up.

They placed me in the galley, where there were about four score of their people, and he kept his arms all the time about me. After that they bore me down, and leapt upon my body to cut my throat, for each would have prided himself on being the one to kill me. And this Saracen held his arms round me all the time, and kept calling out: " The

King's cousin! " In this way they got me down twice, and once onto my knees and that time I felt the knife at my throat. Out of this press God saved me by means of the Saracen, who brought me through to the round-house where the Saracen knights were. When I came amongst them, they took my hauberk off me, and for the compassion they bore me, they cast round me one of my coverlets of scarlet cloth lined with minnever, which my lady mother had given me. And another brought me a white leather belt, and I strapped it over my coverlet, in which I had made a hole and put it on; and another brought me a cap which I placed on my head. And then by reason of the fear I was in, and the sickness as well, I began to tremble very violently. Then I asked for something to drink, and they brought me water in a jar, but I had no sooner taken it into my mouth to swallow it, than it poured out again through my nostrils. When I saw this, I sent for my people, and told them I was as good as dead, for that I had the tumour in my throat. They asked me, how I knew it; and presently they saw that the water poured from my throat and nostrils, and they began to weep. When the Saracen knights who were there, saw my followers weeping, they asked the Saracen who had saved us: Why they wept? He replied that he understood me to have the tumour in my throat, so that there was no hope for me. Thereupon one of the Saracen knights told him who had protected us, to bid us be of good cheer, for that he would give me something to drink which would cure me within two days; and so he did.

Lord Ralph of Wanon, who was of my house-hold, had been hamstrung in the great battle of Shrove Tuesday, and could not stand upright upon his feet; and know, that an old Saracen knight who was in the galley used to carry him about pick-a-back.

The chief Emir of the galleys sent for me, and asked me, if I were the King's cousin? adding, that I had acted very prudently. I told him, No; and related how and why the sailor had said that I was the King's cousin; for otherwise we should all have been dead men. And he asked me, whether I were not connected in some way with the Emperor Frederic of Germany, who was then living. I replied, that I understood my lady mother to be his

first cousin; and he told me that he liked me all the better for it.

Whilst we were at table, he sent for a burgher of Paris to come before us. The burgher being come said to me: " Sir, what are you doing?" "Why, what am I doing? " quoth I. " In God's name! " quoth he, "you are eating flesh on a Friday! " When I heard this, I pushed my plate away. The Emir asked my Saracen why I had done so; and he told him; and the Emir replied, that God would surely never be displeased with me, seeing that I had done it unwittingly. And know, that the Legate made me this very answer, after we came out of prison; but for all that, I did not fail to fast on bread and water every Friday in Lent afterwards; and this made the Legate very angry with me, because there were no other rich men left with the King, except me.

On the following Sunday, the Emir made me and all the other prisoners who had been taken on the water land on the river bank.

Whilst they were dragging my good priest, Lord John, out of the hold of the galley he fainted; and they killed him, and threw him into the river. As

for his clerk, who likewise fainted from the camp-sickness, they flung a mortar onto his head, and cast him into the river. All the time they were bringing ashore the rest of the sick from the galleys where they had been imprisoned, there were men of the Saracens standing ready with drawn swords, and all those who fell they slew, and cast into the river. I told them through my Saracen, that methought it was ill done; inasmuch as it was contrary to the teaching of Saladin, who said that one ought not to slay any man who has once tasted our bread and salt. He replied, that they were not to be accounted men, who were good for nothing, being disabled by disease. He had my sailors led up before me, and told me, that they had all abjured their faith; and I bade him put no trust in them, for that just as they had deserted us, so they would desert them, as soon as they found a good time and place. The Emir replied to the effect: that he agreed with me; for that Saladin used to say that one never met with a good Saracen Christian, nor a good Christian Saracen.

After these things, he made me mount a palfrey and led me along beside him; and we crossed

over a bridge of boats and went to Mansourah, where the King and his followers were confined. And we came to the entrance of a great pavilion, where were the Sultan's scribes, and there they had my name to be written down. Then said my Saracen to me: " Sir, I shall follow you no further, for I am not able; but, for this child, Sir, that you have with you, I beg that you will always keep fast hold of him by the wrist, that the Saracens may not steal him from you." Now this child was named Bertlemin, and was a bastard son of the Lord of Montfaucon.

When my name had been put in writing, the Emir led me into the pavilion in which were the barons and more than ten thousand persons besides. When I entered the place, the barons all made such rejoicing, that it was impossible to hear a thing, and praised our Lord for it, and said that they thought they had lost me.

We had scarcely been there any time, when they made one of the principal men there rise, and led us into another pavilion. Many knights and other people were kept shut up by the Saracens in a yard surrounded by a mud wall. From this enclosure

where they had put them, they led them out one by one, and asked them " Will you abjure?" Those who would not abjure were placed on one side and had their heads cut off, and those who abjured on another side.

Here the Sultan sent his councillors to speak with us. They asked to whom they should deliver the Sultan's message, and we bade them deliver it to the good Count Peter of Brittany.

There were some people there who knew both Arabic and French, whom they call "dragomans," and they translated the Arabic into the Romance tongue for Count Peter. And this was the purport of the words: " Sir, the Sultan sends us to you to learn whether you would like to be set free? " The Count answered: " Yes! " "And what you would give to the Sultan for your freedom? " " Whatever we may do and bear in reason," said the Count. "And would not you give for your liberty," said they, "some one or other of the castles belonging to the Oversea Barons? " The Count replied: That it was not in his power to do so; for that they were held of the Emperor of Germany (who was then living). They asked: Whether we would

not surrender, for our freedom, some one or other of the castles belonging to the Temple, or the Hospital? And the Count replied: That it could not be; for that, when the chatelains were placed in them, they were made to swear on the holy relics, not to surrender any of the castles for the deliverance of any man's person. They answered us, that it seemed we had no great desire to be set free, and that they would go away, and send those to us who would show us some sword-play, as they had done to the rest. And they went off.

When they were gone, there rushed presently into our pavilion a great swarm of young Saracens, girt with swords, bringing with them a man of great age, all hoary, who bade ask us: If it was true that we believed in a God who for our sakes was wounded and died for us, and the third day rose again? And we answered " Yes." Thereupon he told us that we ought not to lose heart though we had suffered these persecutions for His sake: " For, as yet," said he, " you have not died for Him, as He died for you; and if He had power to raise Himself from the dead, be assured that He will deliver you, when it shall please Him."

Then he went away, and all the other young men after him, whereat I was very glad, for I thought for certain that they had come to cut off our heads. And it was not long before the Sultan's people came, and told us that the King had procured our deliverance.

After the departure of the old man, who had put heart into us, the Sultan's councillors returned, and told us that the King had procured our deliverance, and that we were to send four of our party to him, to learn what he had done. We sent thither my Lord John of Valery, the Paladin, my Lord Philip of Montfort, my Lord Baldwin of Ibelin, the Seneschal of Cyprus, and my Lord Guy of Ibelin, the Constable of Cyprus, who had the greatest reputation of any knight I ever met, and was the most friendly to the people of this country.

These four brought us back word how the King had purchased our liberty, which was as follows.

The Sultan's councillors tested the King in the same way they had tested us, to see whether he would not promise to surrender some of the castles held by the Temple or the Hospital, or some of those belonging to the barons of the country.

And, by God's will, the King gave the very same answer that we had given them. Then they threatened him, and said, that since he would not do it, they would have him put in the barnacles. The barnacles are the worst torture that one can undergo. They are two pliable pieces of wood, notched at the apex with corresponding teeth fitting into one another, and firmly bound together with thongs of ox-hide. When they want to put anyone into them, they lay them on their side, and put their legs in across the ankles then they make a man sit on the wooden planks; till there is not half a foot of bone left whole that is not all smashed to pieces. And to do their very worst, at the end of three days, when the legs are inflamed, they put them into the barnacles once more and crush them all over again. To these threats the King replied: That he was their prisoner and they could do what they pleased with him.

When they saw that they could not overcome the good King by threats, they came back again to him, and asked: How much money he would be willing to give the Sultan, besides surrendering Damietta? The King replied: That if the Sultan

would accept a reasonable sum of money from him, he would desire the Queen to pay it for their ransom. " How! " said they, " will you not give us your word to do this? " And the King replied, that he did not know whether the Queen would be willing to do it, for that she was his lady.

Then the councillors withdrew again to talk to the Sultan, and brought back answer to the King: That if the Queen would pay a million gold besants (which were worth five hundred thousand pounds), that they would set the King free.

The King asked them on their oath; whether the Sultan would set them free for that sum, provided the Queen would pay it? And they went away again to speak to the Sultan, and on their return, took an oath to the King, that they would set him free on these terms.

And now that they had sworn, the King said and promised the Emirs, that he would gladly pay the five hundred thousand pounds as ransom for his followers and Damietta for his own ransom; for it was not fitting that he should barter himself for money.

When the Sultan heard this: " By my faith,"

said he, " this Frank is an open-handed man, since I he does not haggle over such a large sum of money. Go, now, and tell him" quoth he "that I give him one hundred thousand pounds towards payment of the ransom."

NOTE TO CHAPTER XIV

During these months of disaster the most extraordinary lies on most authentic information were being circulated In Europe as to the Crusaders' successes. In May a letter was going about from the Order of St. John, giving a detailed account of how Cairo had been betrayed into the hands of King Louis, and how he had utterly defeated the Sultan in a great battle; even numbers and dates being specified. This must have made the shock still greater, when the news of the final disaster arrived.

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.

II.16. CHAPTER XVI

DAMIETTA IS SURRENDERED TO THE TURKS, AND AFTER MANY PERILS THE CHRISTIANS ARE SET FREE SOME OF THE RICH MEN SAIL FOR HOME HOW THE FIRST HALF OF THE RANSOM IS PAID, AND JOINVILLE ROBS THE TEMPLARS' BANK BY FORCE OF ARMS.

AFTER the terms had been agreed and sworn to by the King and the Emirs, it was agreed that they should set us free on Ascension day, and that directly Damietta should have been made over to the Emirs, they should deliver the person of the King and the rich men with him, as said before.

On the Thursday evening, the escorts of our four galleys brought them to anchor in mid-stream opposite the bridge of Damietta; and they caused a pavilion to be pitched by the bridge, to receive the King on landing.

At sunrise, my lord Geoffrey of Sargines went into the town, and delivered it over to the Emirs. They hoisted the Sultan's ensigns on the towers.

The Saracen knights took possession of the town,

and began to drink the wines; and soon they were all drunk: so much so, that one of them came to our galley, and drew out his sword all bloody, and said that, for his part, he had killed six of our people.

Before Damietta was yielded up, the Queen had been received on board our ships, together with all our people who were in the town, except those that ere sick, who were left behind. The Saracens ere bound by their oaths to take care of them, and they killed them all.

The King's engines, which they were also to eve taken care of, these they chopped in pieces. and the salted pork, which they were to have kept, because they eat no pork, instead of taking care of it, they made one pile of bacon, and another pile of dead bodies, and set fire to them; and they made such a huge bonfire that it lasted through the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

As for the King and us, whom they ought to have set free at sunrise, they kept us until sunset; and we had nothing to eat the whole time, nor the Emirs neither, for they were disputing among themselves the whole day. One Emir, speaking

on behalf of his party, said: "Sirs, if you will listen to me and those of my party here, we shall kill the King, and these rich men here, and then, for forty years to come we shall be free from anxiety; for their children are young, and we have Damietta on our side, so that we can do it with all the more security." Another Saracen, named Sebreci' who was a native of Morocco, opposed this, and said as follows: " If we kill the King, after having killed the Sultan, it will be said that the Egyptians are the wickedest and most treacherous race on earth." And he who was for putting us to death, made answer, " It is only too true that we have rid ourselves of our Sultan by murder, in a very evil way; for we have broken the commandment of Mahomet, who commands us to guard our lord as the apple of our eye. See here, in this book is the commandment written. Now hearken," said he, "to the other commandment of Mahomet, which follows after." (He turned over a page of the book that he was holding, and showed them the next commandment which was like this) "In the assurance of the faith, slay the enemy of the law." See, therefore, how we have sinned against the commandments of Mahomet, in that we have killed our lord; and now we shall do still worse, if we do not kill the King, notwithstanding any assurance we may have given him; for he is the most powerful enemy that the pagan religion has."

Our death was almost agreed upon; so much so, that an Emir who was hostile to us, thinking that we were all to be put to death, came down to the river-bank, and began shouting in Arabic to those In charge of the galleys, and took off his turban and signalled to them with it. Thereupon they weighed anchor again, and brought us back a good league In the direction of Cairo. Then we gave ourselves all up for lost, and many tears were shed.

However, as it pleased God, who does not forget His own, it was decided, about the time of sunset, that we were to be set free; so they brought us back, and ran our four galleys ashore. We besought them to let us depart. They replied, that they would not do so until we should have eaten; " For it would be a disgrace to the Emirs, if you were to leave our prisons fasting." Then we desired that they would give us the food, and we would eat;

and they told us that it was being fetched from the camp.

The food that they gave us, was cheese fritters, cooked in the sun, to prevent maggots getting into them; and eggs hard-boiled for four or five days; and, in our honour, they had been painted outside with various colours.

We were put ashore, and went to meet the King, whom they were bringing down from the pavilion on the bank where they had kept him; and about twenty thousand Saracens, girt with swords, were following him on foot.

In front of the King, in the river, there was a galley full of Genoese, though only one man was visible above board. As soon as he saw the King at the water's edge, he blew a whistle; and at the sound of the whistle, there leaped up from the bilge of the galley a good four score crossbowmen ready-equipped, their cross-bows wound up, and in a twinkling each quarrel was notched; and the moment the Saracens caught sight of them, they turned tail like a flock of sheep; and none of them all save two or three were left beside the King.

A plank was run ashore to bring aboard the King, with his brother the Count of Anjou, Lord Geoffrey of Sargines, Lord Philip of Annemos [Nemours], the Marshall of France whom they called Du Meis, and the Master of the Trinity and myself.

The Count of Poitiers they kept in prison, until such time as the King should have paid them the two hundred thousand pounds, that he was bound to pay them as ransom before he quitted the river.

On the Saturday before Ascension day (which Saturday is the morrow of the day on which we were set free), the Count of Flanders, and the Count of Soissons, came to take leave of the King, together with many of the other rich men who had been imprisoned in the galleys.

The King spoke to them to this effect: that it seemed to him they would do well to wait until his brother, the Count of Poitiers, should be released. And they said: that it was out of their power, for the galleys were all ready and fitted out. Into their galleys they got, and tried them away to France, taking along with them the good Count Peter of

Brittany, who was so ill that he only lived three weeks longer, and died at sea.

They began to make the payment on Saturday morning, and took all Saturday over it and all day Sunday until dusk; for they paid by weight, and weighed out ten thousand pounds at a time.

When it came to Vespers on the Sunday, the King's men who were making the payment, sent word to the King that they were about thirty thousand pounds short.

Now there were with the King only the King of Sicily and the Marshall of France, the Master of the Trinity and myself; all the rest were watching the weighing. So I said to the King, that it would be well to send for the Commander and Marshall of the Temple (for the Master was dead), and to desire them to lend him thirty thousand pounds to ransom his brother.

The King sent for them, and told me to speak to them. When I had had my say, Brother Stephen of Otricourt, who was Commander of the Temple, answered me thus: " Sir de Joinville, this advice of yours is neither good nor reasonable; for you know that we receive our trusts in such a way, that we

cannot by our oaths resign them to anyone except to those from whom we have received them." Plenty of strong language and hard names passed between him and me; and then Brother Reynold of Vichiers, who was Marshall of the Temple, took up the word and said, " Sir, have done with the squabble between the Lord of Joinville and our Commander; for, as our Commander says, we can give you nothing, without perjuring ourselves. And since the Seneschal is urging you to take it, if we will not lend it well, there is nothing very monstrous in that; and you can do as you like about it. If you do take some of our money, we have surely enough of yours at Acre to make good the loss."

I told the King, that I would go, if he wished and he ordered me to do so. I went off in one of the Templars' galleys to their chief galley; and when I was about to go down into the hold of the galley, where the treasure was, I requested the Commander of the Temple to come and see what I took; but he would not condescend to come. The Marshall said, he would come and see what force I would use. As soon as I got down below where

the treasure was, I desired the Treasurer of the Temple, who was there, to hand over to me the keys of a locker which was in front of me. And he seeing me lean and wasted with the sickness, and in the dress that I had been wearing in prison said, that he should do nothing of the sort. I caught sight of a hatchet that was Iying there; and picking it up, said it should serve as the King's key. The Marshall seeing this, caught me by the wrist, and said, " Sir, it is quite clear that you are using force on us, and we will let you have the keys."

Then he ordered the Treasurer to let me have them. And when the Marshall told the Treasurer who I was, he was very much astounded.

I found that this coffer which I opened, belonged to Nicholas of Choisy one of the King's sergeants. I threw out what money I found in it; and then they left me on the prow of the boat that had brought us. I took the Marshall of France and left him beside the money, and on the deck of the galley I put the Master of the Trinity. The Marshall passed up the money to the Master, and the Master handed it across to me in the vessel where I was.

When we drew near the King's galley I began to shout to the King, " Sir! Sir! look what I have got! " and the holy man was right glad and joyful to see me.

We handed over what I had brought to those who were weighing the ransom.

When the weighing was ended, the King's council, who had been employed on it, came to him, and told him that the Saracens refused to set free his brother, until they should have the money actually before them.

There were some among the council who would have dissuaded the King from paying over the money until he should have his brother back. But the King replied, that he should pay it over, for it was in his agreement; and let them in return keep their part of the bargain, if they were honestly minded.

Then Lord Philip of Annemoes told the King, that they had done the Saracens out of a ten thousand pounds' weight; whereupon the King became violently angry, and said that he insisted on the ten thousand pounds being restored to them, since he had agreed to pay them two hundred

thousand pounds before leaving the river. Then I trod on Lord Philip's foot, and told the King not to pay any heed to him, for he was not speaking the truth, for that the Saracens would out-cheat anybody in the world. And Lord Philip said, that what I said was true, for he had only said it in jest. And the King said that: That kind of jest came to grief. "And I command you," said the King to Lord Philip, " by the faith you owe me, and as my vassal that you are, that if those ten thousand pounds have not been paid, you will have them paid."

Many people had urged the King to withdraw into his ship that was awaiting him at sea, in order to put him beyond the Saracens' reach. But the King would listen to never a one of them, saying on the contrary that, according to his agreement, he should not leave the river until he had paid them two hundred thousand pounds. Directly the payment was made, the King, without anyone urging him, told us that henceforth his oath was fulfilled, and that we were to quit that place and go on board the ship which lay out at sea. Thereupon, our galley started, and we journeyed fully

a good league, before any of us spoke to another, so uneasy were we about the Count of Poitiers. Then came Lord Philip of Montfort in a galleon, and cried to the King, " Sir, sir, speak to your brother, the Count of Poitiers, who is in this other boat." Then the King cried, " Show a light! Show a light! " and they did so. Then was there great joy amongst us, such as could not be surpassed.

II.17. CHAPTER XVII

ANECDOTES OF THE RETREAT — "CHATILLON, CHEVALIERS!" — DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF SOISSONS A RENEGADE HOW THE QUEEN FARED IN DAMIETTA — THE VOYAGE TO ACRE.

I MUST not forget certain matters that occurred in Egypt whilst we were there.

First of all I will tell you about my Lord Walter of Châtillon: how a knight named Lord John of Monson, told me that he saw my lord of Châtillon in the walled village where the King was taken. A street ran straight through the village, so that one could see the fields on either side. In this street was my Lord Walter of Châtillon with his naked sword in his hand. As often as he saw the Turks entering this street, he charged upon them, sword in hand, and hustled them out of the place; and whilst the Turks were fleeing before him, they (who shoot as well backwards as forwards) would cover him with darts. When he had driven them out of the village,

he would pick out the darts that were sticking all over him; and put on his coat-of-arms again; stand up in his stirrups, and brandishing his sword at arm's length cry, "Châtillon! knights! where are my paladins? " Then, turning round, and seeing that the Turks had come in at the other end of the street, he would charge them again, sword in hand, and drive them out. And this he did about three times in the manner I have described.

After the Emir of the Galleys had brought me to those who were captured on land, I made inquiries of such as belonged to Lord Walter's household, but I never found anyone who could tell me how he was taken. Only Lord John Frumons, that good knight, told me that, when they were leading him away prisoner to Mansoora, he met a Turk who was riding Lord Walter of Châtillon's horse, and the horse's crupper was all bloody. And he asked the Turk what he had done with him whose horse it was; and the Turk answered, that he had cut his throat on horseback, as might be seen from the crupper that was all covered with the blood.

There was a very brave man in the army, named

Lord James of Châtel, the Bishop of Soissons. When he saw our men in retreat to Damietta, he, who had a great longing to be with God, would not return to the land where he was born, but chose rather to hasten his journey to God. So he clapped spurs to his horse, and engaged single-handed with the Turks, who with their swords slew him, and sent him into God's presence, among the ranks of the martyrs.

Whilst the King was waiting for his servants to finish paying the Turks in order that his brother might be set free, a Saracen, very well dressed, and a very honest fellow by his looks, came to the King, and offered him milk in jars and flowers of divers kinds, on the part of the children of the Nasac, the whilom Sultan of Egypt; and he made the offering in French. The King asked him: where he had learnt French? and he replied, that he had once been a Christian. And the King said to him: "Get you hence; for I have no more to say to you."

I drew the man aside and questioned him about his affairs; and he told me, that he was born in Provence, and had come to Egypt with King John,

and that he was married in Egypt and a rich and powerful man.

I said to him: " Surely you know very well, that if you were to die in this state, you would go to hell? " " Yes," said he (for he was sure there was no religion so good as the Christian), " but I dread the poverty in which I should find myself, were I to go over to your side, and the shame. Not a day would pass, but I should hear them say: 'There goes the renegade'; and so I prefer to live rich and comfortable, rather than put myself in such a position as I foresee."

And I told him: that on the day of judgment, when his sin would be seen of all men, the shame would be much greater than what he was describing. Many good words I said to him, with very little effect. So he left me, and I never saw him again. You have already heard the great tribulations which the King and we suffered. The Queen, too, did not escape them, as you shall hear presently. For, three days before she was brought to bed, she got the news that the King was a prisoner.

This news terrified her so much, that every time she fell asleep in her bed, she fancied that her room

was all filled with Saracens, and she would scream out, "Help! help!" And for fear lest it should kill the child she was carrying, she made an aged knight eighty years old sleep beside her bed, who held her hand; and whenever the Queen cried out, he would say, " Lady, do not be afraid, for I am here."

Before she was brought to bed, she turned every one out of her room, except this knight; and she knelt down before him, and begged him to grant her a boon. The knight promised it on his oath; and she said: " I desire you " said she " by the troth you have pledged me, that if the Saracens take this town, you will cut off my head before they take me." The knight answered, " Rest assured I will readily do so. For I always meant to kill you, before we should fall into their hands."

The Queen was delivered of a son, who was named John, and whom they called Tristan, because of the great sorrow in which he was born.

On the same day that she was brought to bed, she was told that the settlers from Pisa, Genoa, and the other republics, were bent upon leaving the town. The next day she summoned them all to

her bedside, so that the whole room was packed: "Sirs," said she, " for God's sake do not abandon this town. For, look you, my lord the King would be lost, and all those who are prisoners, if this town were lost. And if you must go yet take pity on this poor woman lying here, and wait at least until I am recovered."

And they answered: " Lady, how can we do so? for we shall die of hunger in this town."

Then she told them, that they should not go for fear of famine, at least. " For I will have all the victuals in the town bought up, and retain you all henceforth at the King's expense."

They consulted together, and came back to her, and consented to remain. And the Queen God rest her soul! caused all the food in the town to be bought in, which cost her three hundred and sixty thousand pounds and more.

She was obliged to get up before her time, on account of surrendering the city to the Saracens. To Acre went the Queen, to await the King.

Whilst the King was waiting for his brother to be set free, he sent Brother Ralph, the preaching friar, to an Emir named Faracataye, one of the

most upright Saracens that I ever met, with this message: That he marvelled much how he and the other Emirs could permit their treaty with him to be so disgracefully broken; for they had killed his sick men, whom they were specially bound to protect; and had used the timber of his engines to burn their bodies and the salted pork which they had also promised to keep.

Faracataye answered Brother Ralph: " Brother Ralph " said he " tell the King, that, by my faith, I cannot help it, and it grieves me; and tell him, from me, that he must show no signs of annoyance so long as he is in our hands, or he is a dead man." And he advised him to remember it as soon as he should be in Acre.

When the King reached his ship, he found that his people had got nothing ready for him neither bedding, nor clothes; and so, until we came to Acre, he was obliged to lie on the mattresses with which the Sultan had supplied him. And he wore the clothes which the Sultan had supplied and had made for him, which were of black samite trimmed with beaver and squirrels' fur, with a mass of tassels, all of gold.

During our six days' voyage, I, being ill, sat always at the King's side; and he then told me how he had been taken prisoner, and how he had obtained his ransom and ours, by God's assistance; and he-made me relate how I had been taken on the water. And afterwards he said to me: that I ought to be very grateful to our Lord, since he had delivered me out of such great dangers.

Much did he lament the death of his brother the Count of Artois; and said that he would hardly have been withheld from visiting him, like the Count of Poitiers, but that he would have come to see him in the galleys.

Of the Count of Anjou, too, who was in his ship, he used to complain to me, that he never kept him company. One day he asked, what the Count of Anjou was doing, and was told, that he was playing at tables with my Lord Walter of Annemoes. And he walked up to them, staggering with weakness from his malady, and took the dice and the tables and flung them into the sea; and was very wroth with his brother for so soon taking to dice-playing. But my Lord Walter got the best of it, for the King flung all the money that was on the cloth (of

which there was a great quantity) into his lap, and he carried it off.

Hereafter you shall hear of divers trials and tribulations that befell me in Acre; from which God in whom I trusted and still trust delivered me. And these matters I shall have written, so that they who hear them may put their trust in God in their sufferings, and He will aid them as He did me.

NOTE TO CHAPTER XVII

With regard to the Bishop of Soissons, whose death is here narrated; at the time of the retreat, when the men in the galleys were refusing to wait for the Ring, and the Legate and Patriarch were thinking only of their own safety, the Bishop of Soissons refused to leave the King's side, and remained with him all through the night's disasters.