University of Virginia Library

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.