Chapter XXVI: Appendix: No. 1.—Page 2, Vol. I (6)

The Crusaders from France experienced a nearly similar fate: a very slender portion of them returned: the rest either perished in the waves or became an object of speculation for two Marseilles merchants. Hugh Ferrers and William Porcus, so were they named, carried on a trade with the Saracens, of which the asle of young boys formed a considerable branch. No opportunity for an advantageous speculation could be more favourable; they offered to transport to the East all the pilgrims who arrived at Marseilles, without any kind of charge for the voyage; assigning piety as the motive for this act of generosity. This proposition was joyfully accepted; and seven vessels, laden with these pilgrims, set sail for the coast of Syria. At the end of two days, when the ships were off the isle of St. Peter, near the rock of the Recluse, a violent tempest arose, and the sea swallowed up two of them, with all the passengers on board. The other five arrived at Bugia and Alexandria, and the young Crusaders were all sold to the Saracens or to slave-merchants.[159] The caliph bought forty of them, all of whom were in orders, and caused them to be brought up with great care in a place set apart for the purpose: twelve of the others perished as martyrs, being unwilling to renounce their religion. None of the clerks purchased by the caliph, according to the account of one of them who afterwards obtained his liberty, embraced the worship of Mahomet: all faithful to the religion of their fathers, practised it constantly in tears and slavery. Hugh and William having at a later period formed the project of assassinating Frederick, were discovered, and perished in an ignominious manner, with three Saracens, their accomplices, receiving, in this miserable end, the wages due to their treachery.

Pope Gregory IX. afterwards caused a church to be built in the island of St. Peter, in honour of those who were shipwrecked, and instituted twelve canonships to provide for the duties of it. In the time of Alberic the spot was still pointed out where the bodies cast up by the waves were buried.

As for the Crusaders who survived so many calamities, and remained in Europe, with the exception of some old and infirm persons, the pope would not release them from their vows; they were obliged either to perform the pilgrimage at a maturer age, or to redeem it by alms.

Such was the issue of this crusade, so justly designated by two chronicles, _expeditio nugatoria, expeditio derisoria_.[160]

Two facts strike us as extraordinary in this account: the condition attached by the Old Man of the Mountain to the liberty of the clerk of whom Vincent of Beauvais speaks, and the trade in children carried on by the merchants of Marseilles.

Upon the first point we can offer nothing but the opinion received among the nations of the West. It was generally believed in the thirteenth century, that the Old Man of the Mountain kept up a connection with Christian Europe; several princes were even accused of having had recourse to the daggers of his assassins to get rid of their enemies. Frederick received ambassadors from him in Sicily.[161] Roger Bacon complains bitterly of the fascinations secretly employed by the Saracens to seduce the young servants of Christ;[162] the name of _Assassins_ had already passed into the vulgar tongue in the thirteenth century, and was the object of general terror. In spite, then, of the opinion of some critics, a more extended examination than comes within the scope of this letter is necessary, before we reject the account of Vincent of Bauvais.

As to the trade in young boys, that is not at all a new fact; many traces of it are to be found much anterior to this period. The Greeks and Venetians practised it openly enough. Pope Zacharias repurchased, in 748, many Christian slaves, who had been taken away from Rome by Venetian merchants; the people of Verdun, as witnessed by Lilprand, were about to sell to the Arabs of Spain some young boys they had mutilated, and who were to serve as guards to the women of seraglios.[163] Besides, the fate of the young Crusaders who embarked at Marseilles, and found degradation and slavery instead of the sacred soil promised to their blind zeal, is attested by two contemporary writers, worthy of perfect confidence: these are the illustrious Thomas de Champré[164] and Roger Bacon.[165] I do not then perceive any reasonable doubt that can be raised against this fact, but I find in it a fresh example of human cupidity, which sacrifices, in order to satisfy its cravings, that which nature and religion hold most sacred.—Receive, Monsieur, &c. &c.

_No. 29._

_A Letter from Pope Innocent III._[166]

Now that motives more pressing than ever call Christians to the assistance of the Holy Land, and that we have reason to expect, from the present aid, more fortunate results than have been hitherto obtained, we again raise our voice, and make you to hear our cries in the name of Him who, when dying, cried with a loud voice from the cross, and who carried obedience towards God, his father, so far as to die upon the cross, crying in order to drag us from the torments of an eternal death; who cried also by himself, and said: “If any one desires to come with me, let him entirely renounce himself, let him take up his cross, and follow me.” This is as if he said in a more manifest manner, Let him who desires to follow me to the crown, follow me also to the fight, which is now proposed to all to serve as a trial. There is no doubt that the Omnipotent God was able, if it had been his will, to prevent this land falling into the hands of the enemies; he is able even now, if it were his will, to wrest it from them easily; since nothing can resist his will. But as iniquity was carried almost to its height, and as the zeal of charity was chilled in most, to arouse his faithful servants from the sleep of death, and to recall to them the desire of life, he offers this conflict to them, in order to prove their faith, like gold in the crucible; offering to them in this, an opportunity, nay more, an assured pledge of obtaining salvation. For this, they who shall have fought valiantly for him, shall obtain of him a crown of happiness; but they who, in such a pressing necessity, shall have drawn back from the service they owed to the glory of the Lord, will deserve to hear, at the great day of judgment, their just condemnation pronounced. What happy effects will this holy enterprise produce! How many, turning towards penitence, will range themselves under the standard of the cross, and will merit, by their efforts, a crown of glory, who perhaps would have perished in their iniquity, after having passed a life entirely consecrated to carnal voluptuousness and to the frivolities of this world. This is an old artifice of Jesus Christ, which he has deigned to repeat in our days for the salvation of his faithful servants. In fact, if any earthly monarch were driven by his enemies from his states, would not, when he should have recovered them, such of his vassals be condemned as infidels, and destined to all the punishments which the greatly guilty deserve, as had not exposed for his sake, not only their lives but their persons? In the same manner the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you a body and a soul, and all the other blessings you enjoy, will condemn you as guilty of black ingratitude, and of the crime of infidelity, if you fail to march to his succour at a time when he is in a manner driven from the kingdom he has acquired by his blood. Let whoever then shall refuse, in this pressing necessity, to hasten to the help of his Redeemer, know that he will exhibit a criminal hardness, and that he will be grievously guilty. If any one should be unjustly deprived of a portion, however small, of the heritage of his fathers, soon, according to the usages of the world, he would labour with all his strength to have this injustice repaired, and to repel this violence; and would spare neither his person nor his property, until he had succeeded in regaining all that he had lost. What excuse, then, can he bring who shall have declined some trifling labours to punish offences committed against his Redeemer, and avenge the outrages he has received; and who, by sparing his person and his goods, prevents the recovery of the places which witnessed the passion and the resurrection of our Lord, in which God, our king, deigned, some centuries ago, to operate, upon the earth, the salvation of men? How, also, according to the divine precept, can he love his neighbour as himself (as it is written), who knows that his brethren, Christians in belief and in name, are groaning in the prisons of the perfidious Saracens, and are suffering all the horrors of the hardest captivity, and shall refuse to labour in an effective manner for their deliverance, transgressing by this, this precept of the natural law, which God has made known in his Gospel: “Do unto other men that which you wish they should do unto you.” Are you ignorant, that among these people, many thousands of Christians groan in slavery and in chains, and are constantly subject to the most cruel tortures? All the provinces now in the power of the Saracens were inhabited by Christian nations till after the time of St. Gregory; but towards that period, there arose a child of perdition, a false prophet, named Mahomet, who, by the attractions of the joys of this world, and by the bait of carnal voluptuousness, found means to seduce a great number and turn them aside from the path of truth. Although his perfidy may have triumphed up to the present day, we place, nevertheless, our confidence in the Lord, who has hitherto so well inspired us, and we hope that we shall soon see the end of this beast, of which, according to the Apocalypse of St. John, “the number is included in six hundred and sixty-six.” He will soon end by the operation of the Holy Ghost, who will revive, with the fire of charity, the chilled hearts of the faithful; and of these years, nearly six hundred have already passed away. In addition to the other grave and considerable insults that the perfidious Saracens have inflicted on our Redeemer on account of our sins, lately, upon Mount Tabor, where he revealed to his disciples the image of future glory, these same perfidious Saracens have erected a fortress for the confusion of the Christian name. They hope, by means of this fortress, easily to obtain possession of the city of Acre, which is near to it, and afterwards invade, without the least obstacle, the rest of the Holy Land, almost entirely destitute of strength and means of defence. For this, then, my dear children in Christ, change into sentiments of peace and love your brotherly dissensions and discords, and let every one of you hasten to range himself under the standard of the cross, without hesitating to expose his person and his wealth for Him who offered up his soul for you, and shed his blood for you. March with security, upon this holy expedition, certain that if you are truly repentant, this short and transient labour will be for you a certain means of obtaining life eternal. For us, depositaries of the Divine mercy, and to whom has been transmitted the authority of the blessed St. Peter and St. Paul, according to the power which, although we were unworthy of it, God has given us to bind and unbind, we grant, to all who shall undertake in person and at their own expense this meritorious labour, the absolute pardon of their sins, after they shall heartily have repented of them, and shall have confessed them by word of mouth, and we give them the certain hope, by this means, of obtaining more easily life everlasting. As for those who, without assisting in person in the expedition, shall contribute to it by sending, according to their rank and their means, men fit for the purpose, in the same manner to those who shall go in person, although at the expense of others, we grant to all pardon for their sins. We grant the same pardon, in proportion with the extent of their sacrifices and the fervour of their devotion, to those who shall deprive themselves of a part of their worldly goods to provide for the expenses of the enterprise. We equally take under the protection of Saint Peter and of ourselves, the persons and the property of the faithful, from the moment they shall receive the sign of the cross; we place them under that of the archbishops and bishops, and all the prelates of the Church; and we declare that no infringement shall be made upon the possessions of the absent, until certain intelligence be obtained of their death or of their return. If any one shall make an attempt to do so, he shall be cited before the prelates of the Church, and shall be subjected to ecclesiastical censure. If it should happen, moreover, that any one of those who are disposed to set out for the Holy Land, should be obliged, by oath to pay any usurious amounts, we enjoin the prelates of the Church, to employ the same means to force their creditors to liberate them from their oath, and to desist from their usurious demands; and if it should happen that any one of these creditors should undertake to force his debtor to the payment of the usuries, let him incur the same censure, and be forced to make restitution. As for the Jews, we order that they be forced, by the secular power, to make remission of all usury to them who are going to the Holy Land; and, until they have made that remission, they shall be deprived, by means of excommunication, of all kinds of commerce with Christians. But in order that the succour furnished to the Holy Land should become less burdensome and more easy, from being levied upon a greater number, we beg all the faithful in general, and every one individually, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the only true, the only Eternal God, demanding in the name of Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ, of all archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priors; of all chapters of churches, whether cathedral or conventual; of all clerks, as well as of all cities, towns, and villages, to furnish each, according to their faculties, the required number of warriors, with everything necessary for their support for three years. If, for this purpose, each individual contribution should appear insufficient, several should be joined together; for we entertain no doubt that enough persons will present themselves, if the means be not wanting. We particularly request kings, princes, counts, barons, and other wealthy men who do not assist in the expedition in person, to contribute their part according to their means. As to maritime cities, we require of them the assistance of vessels. And for fear that we should appear to impose heavy and serious burdens upon others, which we are unwilling to put our hand to ourselves, we declare in our conscience, and before God, that all which we require of others we will eagerly do ourselves. We have thought it our duty to state, with respect to the clerks who shall form part of the expedition, that, all contestation ceasing, they may, to that effect, pledge the revenues of their benefices for three years. But as the succour which the Holy Land requires may meet with many obstacles and delays, if, before conferring the cross upon every one, it were necessary to stop to examine if he were capable of performing personally all the obligations imposed by such a vow, we consent that, regulars excepted, all who desire it shall take the cross; and that, if reasons of a pressing necessity, or of an evident utility require it, their vow may be, in virtue of an apostolic mandatory letter, changed, redeemed, or deferred; and, for the same reason, we revoke the pardons and indulgences granted by us, up to this day, to those who offered to march against the Moors in Spain, or against the heretics of Provence; particularly as they were granted to them for a time which is now entirely passed away, and for reasons which, in a great degree, have ceased to exist. For, with the grace of God, these affairs have so progressed, that they no longer require active measures; and if, by chance, they should again require them, we should take care quickly to turn our attention towards them. We grant, however, that the Provençals and Spaniards should still enjoy these indulgences. Moreover, as corsairs and pirates greatly impede the measures taken for the succour of the Holy Land, by seizing and plundering those who are going thither, we excommunicate them, as well as their principal accomplices and abettors; forbidding under pain of anathema, any person, wittingly, to treat with them for any sale or any purchase, and enjoining the governors of cities and places which they inhabit, to reclaim them from this trade of iniquity, and put an end to their brigandages. Besides, as not being willing to trouble the wicked is nothing else but encouraging them; and as this is not foreign to the manœuvres of a secret society which neglects to oppose these manifest crimes, we cannot refrain from employing ecclesiastical severity against the persons and the property of those who shall be in this condition; because they would become no less dangerous to the Christian name than the Saracens themselves. Moreover, we renew the sentence of excommunication, passed in the Council of the Lateran, against those who supply the Saracens with armour and weapons, or serve as pilots to the corsairs of those nations; we declare also that they shall be deprived of all they possess, and shall remain in slavery, if they chance to fall into it. We order that this sentence be published in all maritime cities, every Sunday and festival. But as we have much more to look for from divine clemency than from human power, we must, in such a conjuncture, contend less with corporeal arms than with spiritual arms; therefore we order and decree, that once in every month there shall be made, separately, a general procession of men, and in the same manner separately, as much as possible, one of women, during which, with minds filled with the spirit of humility, all will ask, with fervent prayers, that it may please the divine mercy to remove from us opprobrium and confusion, by delivering from the hands of pagans, that land upon which all the mysteries of our redemption were effected, and by restoring it, for the glory of the Omnipotent, to the Christian people. Care must always be taken, in these processions, to make a fervent exhortation to the people, and to repeat to them the name of the sign of our salvation. To prayer must be added fasting and charity, in order that they may be like wings to prayer, and carry it more easily and more promptly to the pious ears of the Eternal, who will listen to us with kindness in his own good time. Every day, likewise, at the solemn mass, after the kiss of peace, at the moment in which the salutary host, offered for the sins of the world, is upon the point of being consumed, all present, men as well as women, shall prostrate themselves humbly to the earth, and the clerks shall sing with a loud voice, the psalm, _Deus venerunt gentes in hæreditatem tuam_; to which they shall add: _Exurgat Deus et dissipentur inimici ejus; et fugiant à facie ejus qui oderunt eum_. Then the officiating priest shall sing with a loud voice upon the altar, the prayer, _Deus qui admirabile, &c._ In churches in which the general procession shall assemble, care shall be taken to place a _tronc_, which shall be fastened with three keys, one of which shall remain in the hands of an honest priest, another in those of a devout layman, and the third in those of a monk, that they may be faithfully taken care of. It is in these troncs that clerks, laymen, men, and women shall deposit the alms destined for the aid of the Holy Land, according to the dispositions of those to whom these cares shall have been confided. As to the departure and the voyage, which should be made with modesty and order, we will, as yet, state nothing regarding them until the army of the Lord shall have taken the cross. But as all the circumstances are now prepared for, we will make all the arrangements which may appear necessary, aided by the counsels of wise and prudent men. To this effect, we have chosen our beloved son De Sales, the late abbots of Novo Castro, C. dean of Spire, and the guardian of the Augustines, all men of probity and known fidelity, who, after having associated themselves with other worthy and honest men, shall regulate and dispose, in our name, all that they shall deem necessary for the success of this enterprise, causing their orders to be faithfully and carefully executed by men fit for the business and specially appointed to it. This, therefore, is why we pray you all, we supplicate and conjure you, in the name of the Lord, command you by this present apostolic letters, and enjoin you by the authority of the Holy Ghost, to take care to prove, on every occasion, to these legates of Jesus Christ, by your eagerness to furnish them with all things necessary, that they will find, by you and in you, the means of attaining the so much desired end.

_No. 30._

_Poetry of the Troubadours for the Crusades._

See how great is the folly of him who remains here! Does not Jesus command his apostles to follow him, and that he who should follow him should leave his friends and his wealthy abode? The time is come to obey this order: he who dies beyond the seas is more happy than if he lived; and he who lives on this side of them is more unfortunate than if he died. What is a cowardly, shameful life worth? Ah! he who dies generously triumphs over death itself, and lives again in felicity.

* * * * *

Let him cease to boast of being brave, the knight who does not arm to succour both the cross and the sacred tomb! Yes, with rich equipments, with valour, with courtesy, and with all that is fair and irreproachable, we cannot obtain glory and happiness in paradise. What more could counts and kings require, if, by honourable deeds, they could redeem themselves from hell and from fire eternal, in which so many wretches would live tormented for ever?

Whoever is forced by old age or sickness to remain at home, let him give his money to those who are willing to take arms: it is a good deed to send another in your place; particularly when you are not kept back by cowardice. Ah! at the day of judgment, what will they answer who have remained at home? God will appear, and will say: “False men! men full of cowardice! for your sakes I died, for your sakes I was scourged.” Then, the just man himself, will he be without fear?—(Pons de Capducil: _Er nos sia_.)

I would that the king of France and the king of England were at peace! Certes, God would greatly honour him of the two who should consent the first, and would never forget his merits. Yes, that king would be crowned in heaven. Ah! why are the king of Apulia and the emperor not friends and brothers, until the holy tomb be recovered? Are they ignorant that the pardon they grant here, they themselves shall obtain at the day of the great judgment?—(Pons de Capducil: _En honor_.)

What mourning! what despair! what tears! when God shall say, “Go, wretches, go into hell, where you shall be tormented for ever in tortures, in agonies. This is your punishment for not having believed that I underwent a cruel passion: I died for you, and you have forgotten it.” But they who, in the crusade, shall meet with death, will be able to say, “And we, Lord, we died for thee.”—(Folquet de Romans: _Quan lo dous_.)

To-day will the brave, the gallant, and the courageous show themselves; it will be their audacity and their bravery that will distinguish them: this is the moment to display skill and valour. God calls, he himself calls, he chooses true knights, he who knows them, and he rejects the base who are wanting in courage and faith: it is the valiant alone whom his mercy will distinguish.—(Pierre d’Auvergne: _Lo Senhor_.)

The time is come, the day is arrived, in which it will be put to the test who are the men worthy of serving the Eternal: he calls, but he only calls upon the gallant and the brave. They shall be ever his, who, knowing faithfully how to suffer, devote themselves, and fight, shall be full of frankness, generosity, courtesy, and loyalty. Let the cowardly and the avaricious remain where they are; God only wants the good: he is willing that they should save themselves by their own high deeds. What a worthy and glorious salvation!

If ever William Malespine appeared brave among us, he has now furnished God himself with the proof of it; he took the cross the first, he took the cross voluntarily, to deliver the holy sepulchre and the sacred heritage. What shame! how wrong it is of the kings and the emperor that they do not deign to conclude treaties and truces with one another, in order to be able to succour the kingdom of the law, the holy light, and the tomb and the cross which the Turks have so long retained. The repetition alone of this disaster overwhelms us with profound sadness—(Aimerie de Peguilhan: _Evas pana_.)

* * * * *

It will soon be known what gallant men entertain the noble ambition of meriting the glory of this world and the glory of God. Yes, they may obtain the one and the other, they who devote themselves to the pious pilgrimage to deliver the holy tomb. Great God, what grief! the Turks have assailed and profaned it! Let us be sensible, even to the depths of our hearts, of this mortal disgrace; let us clothe ourselves with the sign of the Crusaders, let us pass over the seas; we have a safe and courageous guide, the sovereign pontiff Innocent himself.

Yes, every one is invited thither, every one is required; let every one march forward and cross himself in the name of that God who was crucified between two thieves, when he was so unjustly condemned by the Jews. If we still set a value on loyalty and bravery, we must fear the opprobrium of leaving Christ thus disinherited; but we love, we wish for that which is evil, and despise that which would be good and useful. But what! life, in our countries, is for us, nothing but a continual danger; and death, in the Holy Land, is for us eternal happiness.

Ah! ought we to hesitate to suffer death in the service of God, of that God who deigned to suffer for our deliverance! Yes, they shall be saved with St. Andrew, they who shall march towards Mount Tabor: let no one feel dread in the passage of this fleshly death. That which is to be feared is spiritual death, which delivers us up to the place where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, as St. Matthew shows and assures us.

Signor, saciez-tu or ne s’en ira
En cele terre u diex fu mors et vis,
Et ki la crois d’outre mer ne prendra
A paines mais ira en Paradis:
Ki a en soi pitié et ramembrance
Au haut Seignor, doit guerre sa vengeance,
Et delivrer sa terre et son pays....
Or s’en iront cil vaillant bacheler
Ki aiment Dieu et l’oneur de cest mont
Ki sagement voilent à Dieu aler,
Et li morveux, li cendreus demourront:
Avugle sunt, de ce ne dont je mie,
Ki au secours ne font Dieu en sa vie
Et por si poc pert la gloire del mont.
Diex se laissa per nos en crois pener;
Et nous dira au jour où tuit venront:
“Vos, ki ma crois m’aidâtes à porfer,
Vos en irez là où li angele sont;
Là me verrez, et ma Mère Marie;
Et vos, par qui je n’oi onques aie,
Descendez tuit en enfer le parfont.”[167]

—Thibault, king of Navarre. He took the cross in 1236; he set out from Marseilles in the month of August, 1238 or 1239.

_No. 31._

_Upon the Funeral Ceremonies of the Prussians._

When a man, particularly a noble, died, he was placed upon a seat in the midst of his family and his friends, who said to him, “Hilloa! hadst thou not a comfortable house and a handsome wife, why didst thou die? Hadst thou not large flocks, horses of speed, and dogs of sure scent? What has driven thee from the world?” They then spread out the riches of the dead man, asking him the same questions; and as he made them no answer, those who were present charged him with messages to their deceased friends and relations.[168] They made the defunct funeral presents: for the men, this was a sword, to defend them against their enemies; for the women, it was a needle and thread, with which they might mend their clothes during their long voyage. The poor were buried, the rich were consumed upon a funeral pile.[169] The relations accompanied the convoy on horseback, sword in hand, uttering cries to drive away evil spirits. When arrived at the place of the ceremony, the cortège went three times round the pile, repeating these words: “Hilloa! why hast thou quitted life?” With the dead they burnt household goods, horses, dogs, falcons, everything which had ministered to the wants or pleasures of the deceased upon earth; sometimes even the wives, and the slaves who were attached to him, were cast into the lighted pile. Panegyrists, whom they called _talissons_[170] and _ligastons_, pronounced the eulogy of the dead; and whilst the flames ascended towards the heavens, they fancied they beheld him in the clouds, mounted upon a white horse, clad in brilliant armour, holding three stars in the right hand, a falcon on the left hand, and advancing towards another world in all the splendour of power and glory.

_No. 32._

_Letter from the Count of Artois upon the taking of Damietta._

To his very excellent and very dear mother, Blanche, by the grace of God, illustrious queen of France, Robert, Count d’Artois, her devoted son, salutation, filial piety, and a will always obedient to hers. As you take much interest in our prosperity, in that of ours and of the Christian people, when you shall learn them with certainty, your excellence will no doubt rejoice to know that the lord, our brother and king, the queen and her sister, and ourselves also, are enjoying, thanks to God, perfect health. We ardently desire that you may be in the enjoyment of the like. Our dear brother, the Count of Anjou, is still afflicted with his quartan fever, but it is less violent than it was. The lord, our brother, with the barons and pilgrims who passed the winter in the isle of Cyprus, assembled on board their vessels, at the port of Limisso, on the evening of the Ascension, in order to proceed against the enemies of the Christian faith. After much labour, and much opposition on the part of the winds, they arrived, under the guardianship of God, on the Friday after Trinity, and towards mid-day, upon the coast, where, having cast anchor, they assembled in the king’s vessel, to deliberate upon what was to be done. As they saw before them Damietta, and the port guarded by a great multitude of barbarians, on horseback as well as on foot, and the mouth of the river covered with a great number of armed vessels, it was resolved that on the following day, all should land with our lord the king.

On the morrow, the Christian army, leaving the large vessels, descended into the galleys and small boats. Full of confidence in the mercy of God, and in the succour of the holy cross, which the legate carried near the king, they directed their course towards the shore and against the enemy, who launched a great number of arrows against them. Nevertheless, as the small boats, on account of the too great depth of the sea, could not gain the shore, the Christian army, leaving their boats to the care of Providence, threw themselves into the sea, and gained land, although loaded with their armour. Although a multitude of Turks defended the shores against the Christians, nevertheless, thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, the latter made themselves masters of it without loss, and killed a great number of the horse and foot soldiers, and some, as we hear, of great name. The Saracens retreated into the city, which was well fortified by the river, its walls and strong towers; but the All-Powerful Lord gave it up, on the next day, which was the octave of the Trinity, to the Christian army; the Saracens flying away, after having abandoned it. This was done by the favour of God alone. Know that these same Saracens have left the city full of provisions of all kinds, and of machines of war. The Christian army, after having fully supplied itself, left half for the provisioning of the city. The king, our lord, has sojourned there with his army, and, during his sojourn, has caused to be brought from the vessels all he requires. We have thought it best to remain here till the retreat of the waters of the Nile, which will, as we hear, inundate the country, and would cause great losses in the Christian army.

The countess of Anjou was confined in the isle of Cyprus, of a fine well-made boy, whom she has left at nurse there. Given at the camp of _Jamas_, in the year of our Lord 1249, in the month of June, and on the eve of St. John the Baptist.

_No. 33._

_Letter of St. Louis upon his Captivity and Deliverance._

Louis, by the grace of God, king of the French, to his beloved and faithful prelates, barons, warriors, citizens, burgesses, and all the other inhabitants of his kingdom, to whom these present letters may come, salutation!

For the honour and glory of the name of God, desiring, with all our soul, to pursue the enterprise of the crusade, we have thought proper to inform you all that after the taking of Damietta, which our Lord Jesus Christ, by his ineffable mercy, as by miracle, gave up to the power of the Christians, as you have no doubt learnt, by the advice of our council, we set out from that city the 20th day of the month of November last. Our armies of land and sea were united; we marched against that of the Saracens, which was gathered together, and encamped in a place vulgarly called Mansourah. During our march, we sustained the attack of the enemy, who constantly experienced considerable loss. Upon one day among others, many men belonging to the Egyptian army, who came to attack ours, were killed. We learnt by the way that the Sultan of Cairo had just terminated his unhappy life; that before dying he sent for his son, who was in the eastern provinces, and made all the officers of his army take the oath of fidelity to this prince; and that he had left the command of all his troops to one of his emirs, named Fakr-eddin. Upon our arrival at the spot I have named, we found the news true. It was on the Thursday before the festival of Christmas that we arrived there; but we were not able to approach the Saracens, on account of a stream of water, which was between the two armies, called the river Thanis, a stream which separates itself at this spot from the great river of the Nile. We placed our camp between these two rivers, and it extended from the greater to the lesser one. We had there some engagements with the Saracens, who had many of their men killed by the swords of ours, but a great number of them were drowned in the waters. As the Thanis was not fordable, on account of the deepness of its waters, and the height of its banks, we began to throw a causeway across it, in order to open a passage for the Christian army; we worked at it for many days with great labour, dangers, and expense. The Saracens opposed all the efforts of our toil: they built machines to act against our machines; and they broke to pieces with stones, and burned with their Greek fire the towers and timbers which we placed upon the causeway. We had almost lost all hope of passing over by means of the causeway, when a Saracen fugitive informed us of a ford by which the Christian army might cross the river. Having called together our barons, and the principal leaders of the army, on the Monday before Ash-Wednesday, it was resolved that on the following day, that is to say, the day of Carême penant (three days before Lent), we should repair early in the morning to the place pointed out for crossing the river, leaving a small part of the army to guard the camp. The next day, having ranged our troops in order of battle, we proceeded to the ford, and crossed the river, not without incurring great dangers; for the ford was deeper and more difficult than it had been represented to us. Our horses were obliged to swim, and it was not easy to get out of the river, on account of the elevation of the banks, which were besides very muddy. When we had crossed the river, we arrived at the place where the Saracens had raised machines in face of our causeway. Our vanguard, attacking the enemy, killed a vast many people, and spared neither sex nor age. Among the number, the Saracens lost a general and several emirs. Our troops having afterwards dispersed themselves over the country, some of our soldiers passed through the camp of the enemy, and arrived at the village named Mansourah, killing all they met with; but the Saracens perceiving the imprudence of our men, resumed their courage, and fell upon them, surrounding them on all sides, and overwhelming them with numbers. A great carnage ensued of our barons and warriors, ecclesiastics as well as others, whom we have with reason deplored, and whose loss we still continue to deplore. There we lost also our brave and illustrious brother, the count d’Artois, worthy of eternal remembrance. It is with bitterness of heart we recall the memory of that painful loss, although we ought to rejoice at it; for we believe and hope that having received the crown of martyrdom, he is gone into the heavenly country, and that he there enjoys the reward accorded to holy martyrs. On that day the Saracens pouring down upon us from all parts, and piercing our troops with showers of arrows, we withstood their fierce assaults till the ninth hour, although we were entirely without the assistance of our cross-bowmen.[171] In the end, after having a great number of our warriors and horses killed and wounded, with the help of our Lord, we preserved our position, and having rallied, we went that same day and pitched our tents close to the machines of the Saracens. We remained there with a small number of our people, and made a bridge of boats, that those who were on the other side of the river might come to us. The next day many of them crossed, and encamped near us. Then the machines of the Saracens being destroyed, our soldiers were able to go and come freely, and safely, from one army to the other, over the bridge of boats. On the following Friday, the children of perdition having collected their forces from all parts, with the intention of exterminating the Christian army, came to attack our lines, with much audacity, and with infinite numbers. The shock was so terrible on both sides, that it is said never was such a one beheld on these shores. With the help of God, we stood our ground on all sides; we repulsed the enemy, and made a great number of them fall beneath our blows. At the end of a few days, the son of the late Sultan, returning from the eastern provinces, arrived at Mansourah. The Egyptians received him as their master, and with transports of joy. His arrival redoubled their courage; but from that moment, we know not by what judgment of God, everything on our side went contrary to our desires. A contagious disease broke out in our army, and carried off men and animals, in such a manner that there were very few who had not to regret companions or attend upon the sick. The Christian army was, in a very short time, much diminished. There was such a scarcity of food, that many died of want and hunger; for the boats of Damietta could not bring to the army the provisions embarked upon the river, because the vessels of pirates and of the enemy cut off the passage. They even captured many of our boats, and afterwards took, successively, two caravans, which were bringing us provisions, and killed a great number of sailors and others who formed part of it. The extreme scarcity of food and forage spread desolation and terror throughout the army, and with the losses we had experienced, forced us to quit our position, and to return to Damietta, if it were the will of God; but _as the ways of man are not within himself, but in Him who directs his steps, and disposes all things according to his will_, whilst we were on the road, that is to say, the 5th of the month of April, the Saracens, having got together all their forces, attacked the Christian army, and by the permission of God, and on account of our sins, we fell into the power of the enemy. We and our dear brothers, the counts of Anjou and Poictiers, and the others who were returning with us by land, were all taken prisoners. The greater part of those who were returning by the river were, in the same manner, either taken prisoners or killed. The vessels on which they were aboard were mostly burnt with the sick who were in them. Some days after our captivity, the sultan proposed a truce to us; he demanded earnestly, but without threats, that Damietta and all that it contained should be given up to him without delay; and that he should be indemnified for all the losses and all the expenses he had incurred up to that day, from the moment the Christians entered Damietta. After many conferences, we concluded a truce with him for ten years, on the following conditions:—

The sultan will deliver from prison, and allow to go whither we will, ourselves and all that have been made prisoners since our arrival in Egypt, and all other Christians, of whatever country they may be, who have been made prisoners since the sultan Kamel, grandfather of the present sultan, made a truce with the emperor; the Christians retaining in peace all the lands they possessed in the kingdom of Jerusalem, at the time of our arrival. On our part, we consent to give up Damietta, with eight hundred thousand Saracen byzants, for the liberty of the prisoners, and for the losses and expenses of which we have just spoken (we have already paid four hundred), and to deliver all Saracen prisoners which the Christians have made since we have been in Egypt, as well as those who had been made captives in the kingdom of Jerusalem, since the truce concluded between the aforesaid sultan and the aforesaid emperor. All our household goods, and those of all others who were at Damietta, shall be, after our departure, placed under the care of the sultan, and be transported into the country of the Christians when an opportunity shall offer itself. All the Christian sick, and those who shall remain at Damietta to sell what they possess there, shall be in equal safety, and shall depart either by land or by sea, when they shall please, without obstacle or molestation.—The sultan was bound to give safe conduct to the countries of the Christians to those who should wish to depart by land.

This truce, concluded with the sultan, had just been sworn to on both sides, and the sultan had already set forward on his march to go with his army to Damietta, and fulfil the conditions which had been stipulated, when, by a judgment of God, some Saracen warriors, doubtless with the connivance of the greater part of the army, rushed upon the sultan at the moment he was rising from table, and wounded him severely. The sultan, in spite of this, came out of his tent, hoping to be able to escape by flight; but he was killed by sword-cuts, in presence of almost all the emirs, and of a multitude of other Saracens. After this many Saracens, in the first moments of their fury, came with arms in their hands to our tent, as if they wished, and as many among us feared, to slay both us and the other Christians; but divine clemency having calmed their fury, they pressed us to execute the conditions of the truce. Their words and their requests were, however, mingled with terrible threats: at last, by the will of God, who is the father of mercies, the consoler of the afflicted, and who listens to the lamentations of his servants, we confirmed by a new oath the truce which we had made with the sultan. We received from all, and from each one in particular of them, a similar oath, sworn according to their law, to observe the conditions of the truce. The time was fixed for the giving up of the prisoners and the city of Damietta. It had not been without difficulty that we agreed with the sultan for the giving up of that place; it was not without difficulty again that we agreed afresh with the emirs. As we could have no hopes of holding it, after what we were told by those who came back from Damietta, and who knew the true state of things; by the advice of the barons of France, and of many others, we judged it would be better for Christendom, that we and the other prisoners should be delivered by means of a truce, than to retain that city with the remains of the Christians that were in it, ourselves and the others remaining prisoners, exposed to all the dangers of such a captivity. For this reason, on the day fixed, the emirs received the city of Damietta, after which they set us at liberty, ourselves, our brothers, the counts of Flanders, Brittany, and Soissons, and many other barons and warriors of the kingdoms of France, Jerusalem, and Cyprus. We had then a firm hope that they would render up and deliver all the other Christians, and that, according to the tenor of the treaty, they would keep their oaths.

This done, we quitted Egypt; after having left the persons charged to receive the prisoners from the hands of the Saracens, and to take care of the things we could not bring away, for want of vessels to convey them in. Upon our arrival here, we sent vessels and commissaries into Egypt, to bring away the prisoners; for the deliverance of these prisoners is the object of all our solicitude; and the other things which we had left behind, such as the machines, arms, tents, a certain number of horses, and several other articles; but the emirs detained our commissaries a long time at Cairo, to whom they have, at length, only delivered four hundred prisoners out of twelve thousand that there are in Egypt. Some of these were only liberated upon the payment of money. As to the other things, the emirs would restore nothing; but what is most odious, after the truce concluded and sworn to, according to the account of our commissaries and captives worthy of credit, who have returned from that country, they have chosen from among their prisoners some young men, whom they have forced, the sword held over their heads, to abjure the Catholic faith, and embrace the law of Mahomet, which many have had the weakness to do; but others, like courageous athletes, rooted in their faith, and constantly persisting in their firm resolution, have not been moved by either the threats or the blows of the enemies, and have received the crown of martyrdom. Their blood, we do not doubt, cries to the Lord for the Christian people; they will be, in the heavenly court, our advocates before the Sovereign Judge; and they will be more useful to us in that country than if we had been able to keep them upon earth. The Mussulmans likewise slaughtered many Christians who were left sick in Damietta. Although we should have observed the conditions of the treaty that we have made with them, and were always ready to observe them, we had no certainty of seeing the Christian prisoners delivered, or of having that restored which belonged to us. When the truce was concluded, and our deliverance had taken place, we had a firm confidence that the country beyond the sea, occupied by the Christians, would remain in a state of peace until the expiration of the truce; and we had both the desire and the intention to return to France. We were already making preparations for our passage; but when we clearly perceived, by that which we have just related, that the emirs were openly violating the truce, and, in contempt of their oath, did not fear to make a sport of us and Christendom, we assembled the barons of France, the prelates, the knights of the Temple, of the Hospital, of the Teutonic order, and the barons of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and we consulted with them upon what was best to be done. The greater number were of opinion that if we were to return at this moment, and abandon this country, which we were upon the point of losing, it would be exposing it entirely to the attacks of the Saracens, particularly in the state of misery and weakness to which it was reduced, and we might consider the deliverance of the Christian prisoners now in the power of the enemy, as lost and hopeless. If, on the contrary, we remained, we had hopes that time would bring about something favourable, such as the deliverance of the captives, the preservation of the castles, and the fortresses of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and other advantages for Christendom; particularly as discord had sprung up between the sultan of Aleppo and those who governed at Cairo. The sultan has already, after gathering together his armies, got possession of Damascus, and some castles belonging to the sovereign of Cairo. It is said he is about to come into Egypt, to avenge the death of the sultan, whom the emirs killed, and to make himself master, if he can, of all the country. In consequence of these considerations and compassionating the miseries and degradation of the Holy Land, we who came to succour it, pitying the captivity and the sorrows of our prisoners, although many dissuade us from remaining longer beyond the seas, we have preferred putting off our passage, and continuing still some time in Syria, to abandoning entirely the cause of Christ, and leaving our prisoners exposed to so many and such great dangers. But we have determined upon sending back into France our dear brothers, the counts of Poictiers and Anjou, for the consolation of our dear lady and mother, and of the whole kingdom. As all those who bear the name of Christian ought to be filled with zeal for the enterprise we have formed, and you in particular, who are descended from the blood of those whom the Lord chose as a privileged people, for the conquest of the Holy Land, which you ought to look upon as your property, we invite you all to serve Him who served you upon the cross, shedding his blood for your salvation; for this criminal nation, in addition to the blasphemies they vomited in the presence of Christian people against the Creator, beat the cross with rods, spat upon it, and trampled it under-foot, in hatred of the Christian faith.