Deus Lo Volt!

by Evan S. Connell

  Charlemagne might well gaze with pride upon a host of illustrious descendants, not least Duke Godfrey de Bouillon. This great lord was born in the province of Reims at Boulogne-sur-Mer next to the English sea. We are told by a monk of Wast that his mother Ida had been endowed with angelic grace, that she was assiduous in attending church, that she worshipped with extreme and devout humility. Hence we do not wonder if Duke Godfrey remained so long on his knees that mealtime often came and went, obliging those of his entourage to swallow cold food. Yet none spoke ill of him by reason of his perfect nature. Count Eustace, his father, wrought many notable deeds and to this day the mention of Count Eustace evokes favorable memories. He fought with great valor in that year of our Lord 1066 when Normans invaded England. They say he rescued the Conqueror at a moment of desperate peril, when his third horse was slain, therefore we see Count Eustace on the majestic tapestry at Bayeux alongside William.

  Thus, by virtue of lofty character and noble lineage, Godfrey de Bouillon was elected to defend and rule the Holy City of Jerusalem. This responsibility he accepted, but declined to wear a crown of gold in the city where Jesus Christ had worn a crown of thorns. The title he chose for himself was Advocate of the Holy Sepulcher.

  Very many tales are we told of Godfrey. How at one stroke he cut a Turk neatly in half, so the Muslim steed galloped off with only the legs and hips of its rider clinging to the saddle. Also, narratives speak of a Mahometan lord who arranged a truce in order to visit because he had heard of Godfrey’s matchless strength. He brought into Godfrey’s presence an enormous camel, beseeching him to smite off the creature’s head. They say Godfrey unsheathed his sword and lopped it off as easily as though the camel were a goose. Then the pagan stepped back, amazed, knowing the stories were true. And returning to his own land he proclaimed the mightiness of Godfrey, for he had witnessed it himself.

  Now here came anxious Turks riding down out of the mountains of Samaria with bread, figs, wine, raisins and other gifts, seeking Godfrey’s approval. These suppliants found him at rest on a bale of straw in his tent, the earth bare, without carpets. Nor were there guards to protect him from assassins, so they were dumb with astonishment. Why, they asked through interpreters, did a prince who seized a kingdom and caused the Orient to tremble sit thus ingloriously? Why did he not loll among tapestries and silk? Why was he not flattered by attendants? And when Godfrey understood what they were saying he replied that the earth would suffice as a seat for any man since after death it would be his abode forever. Then these misbelievers thought about his words and concluded that he was a man devoid of pride who knew the poverty of his nature. They were filled with admiration. When they departed they said he deserved to be lord of the Franks.

  Anon came word of an Egyptian host ten leagues distant. Al-Afdal, vizier of Babylon, overflowing with rage, vowed to kill every Christian male above the age of twenty, to seize every woman and child, giving the women to youths of his race. Nor was that all. He would proceed to Antioch and do likewise. Further, he meant to place upon his head the diadem of other cities, including Damascus. Nor was that enough. He blasphemed against God, claiming he would annihilate the place of our Lord’s nativity and Golgotha and the site of His burial and other sacred places, avowing he would tear these up by their roots from the earth, break them and cast their dust at the sea. And when he had done this the Franks would find no memorial to guide them.

  Such news having reached Jerusalem, the people huddled uneasily, citizens, clerics, princes. Around the Holy Sepulcher they marched, chanting psalms, beseeching God to deliver His children since the enemy host camped near Ascalon. Next the lords consulted among themselves, how best to defend the city, how to confront al-Afdal. Duke Godfrey with Count Robert of Flanders set out on the ninth day of August to observe these Babylonians and sent back word by the bishop of Martirano that so far as they could see the plains were spangled with tents.

  On the tenth of August, beseeching God’s mercy, Count Raymond set forth accompanied by the duke of Normandy, Robert Curthose. They came to a river where they saw a great many Arabs tending herds of cattle, sheep, and camels, which made them think the army of al-Afdal must be near. Two hundred knights rode ahead prepared for combat. When the Arabs saw these knights they deserted their animals and fled. Had God regarded them as He regarded us, said the chaplain Raymond d’Agiles, they should have fought, since they were three thousand armed men. Some few herdsmen these knights slew, others caught and forced to divulge information. So the Franks learned that al-Afdal was encamped not five leagues distant. Therefore, confessing their sins and negligence, persuading themselves that the enemy must be timid as hinds, docile as sheep, certain that God would deal with unbelievers on His own account, they passed the night wakefully.

  Horns and trumpets announced the dawn. God multiplied this army, said chaplain Raymond, so its numbers did not seem inferior. Animals came to join these pilgrims, miraculously forming herds albeit no one drove them, halting if the army halted, advancing when it advanced.

  Al-Afdal’s soldiers loitered in camp, having been informed that the Christians were few, wretchedly armed, riding feeble horses. Also, stargazers and soothsayers admonished them not to move until the seventh day of the week. Such was the hubris of these infidels that when the battle commenced each hung a water bottle around his neck so he might slake his thirst while pursuing Christians.

  But what they envisioned proved false. Tancred, whose name terrified misbelievers throughout the Holy Land, burst into their camp and sent many flying. Count Robert, seeing al-Afdal’s standard adorned with a gold apple on the tip of a silver lance, rode furiously against the bearer and struck him down. Blinded by terror, stupefied, Satan’s troops looked with vacant eyes at these knights of Jesus Christ. Horrified, fearing to advance, some in the excess of fright climbed trees. Others groveled on the earth to be speared like fish. Others crouched, pretending to hide. Many rushed to a sycamore grove, which the Franks set afire, so they were all burned. Others scattered and fled toward the sea, dashed into the waves. On every side they were butchered, drowned, burned. Voices of corruption silenced.

  Al-Afdal, distraught with grief, watched what happened. He asked himself if ever such a thing had occurred since the world began. How is this? he asked. We are destroyed by a regiment of Christians that I might crush in the hollow of my hand. I have brought every manner of instrument and weapon and machine. Here I have assembled two hundred thousand Islamic knights, yet with loose bridles they flee down the road. Alas, I am ruined by a poor and beggarly race. Alas, it will be told throughout the land. Whereupon al-Afdal escaped the wreckage, leaving a field strewn with bucklers, daggers, shields, quivers, lances, arrows, to say nothing of innumerable proud and wicked soldiers whose tainted blood discolored the earth, whose black souls plunged screeching into eternal night.

  His fanciful painted tent, his jeweled sword, his concubines, all were seized by the living host. For twenty silver marks Duke Robert Curthose bought the vainglorious standard. Truly this battle attested the power of divine intervention since the Cross of our Lord, mighty against enemies, accompanied these Franks. Therefore the pomp of Egypt could not prevail.

  Archbishop Daimbert, Duke Godfrey, and Count Raymond, laboring as one, composed a message to His Holiness. They described how a vast Christian army marched upon Antioch, how this army was so immense that it might have covered all of Romania and drunk up all the rivers and eaten every growing thing. And although the Saracens resisted, they were easily defeated. Yet some in the army being puffed with conceit neglected to thank God, for which reason He detained the army for nine months beneath the walls of Antioch and so humbled it that nearly all the good horses died. And when Antioch succumbed there were many who did not worthily magnify Him but attributed victory to their own strength. Therefore came such a multitude of Turks that none dared venture outside the walls. And hunger weakened them. But God, having chastised them, mercifully consoled and fortified them and revealed the Lance th
at had lain buried since the time of the apostles, so they were able to overcome the enemy and proceed into Syria where they captured many strongholds. Yet they suffered again from lack of food and were obliged to eat the bodies of heathen. And they suffered grievously for lack of water during the siege of Jerusalem, but God delivered up the city on the day when the Dispersion of Apostles is celebrated. And should His Holiness wish to know what was done to these unbelievers, know that in Solomon’s Porch the knights rode through Saracen blood as high as the knees of horses. But while they considered who ought to hold the city they learned that the King of Babylon with a host of soldiers encamped before Ascalon, whose purpose was to lead the Franks into captivity. Therefore the army of God went out to meet him. And God was present. Christian soldiers rushed against the infidels with such alacrity that one might have taken them for a herd of deer rushing to quench their thirst in water. So all the treasure belonging to the King of Babylon was seized while one hundred thousand Moors perished by the sword. Those drowned in the sea surpassed counting. Likewise, many were slain among thickets of thorns. Nor should it be omitted that on the day preceding this battle the army captured untold thousands of camels, oxen, and sheep, which were divided among the pilgrims. And when the army proceeded, glorious to relate, these animals organized themselves into squadrons to accompany the soldiers, and halted or charged as did the host. Meanwhile the clouds overhead protected and sheltered these soldiers from the heat of the sun. And when the victory had been celebrated the army returned in triumph to Jerusalem. Therefore all those of the catholic Church of Christ and of the Latin church should exult in the bravery and devotion of their brethren. May they sit down at the right hand of God who lives and reigns eternally.

  This letter they despatched to His Holiness Paschal, who became pontiff at the demise of His Holiness Urban II, following the memorable victory of Ascalon.

  How is it that we know the beginning of things but not their end? Less than one year after Jerusalem was liberated Duke Godfrey fell ill at Caesarea, having attended a banquet given by the emir. Some think he ate poisoned fruit. Whatever the truth, he continued to Joppa but there his spirit failed. He asked to be carried to the Holy City. In the pleasant shadows of Jerusalem he improved, if not much. Remedies were sought far and wide, to no advantage. On the eighteenth day of July in the year of our Savior 1100 he went the way of all flesh to accept perpetual life. He was buried at the entrance to the chapel of Adam near the foot of Golgotha. So passed from view the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem.

  For three months the throne stood vacant. At length, perhaps by agreement among certain lords, or in deference to Godfrey’s last wish, his brother Baldwin was elected. The bishop of Ramlah with an escort of knights rode hastily to Edessa but did not find Baldwin. They were told he had set out to rescue Lord Bohemond who was captured by Turks.

  It so happened that Armenians in the city of Melitene greatly dreaded an attack by the emir Malik Ghazi and appealed to Bohemond for help. Since he had numerous Armenian friends such as the bishops of Marash and Antioch, he responded gladly. With three hundred knights he went marching up the river Euphrates toward Melitene. By all accounts he marched inattentively through the hills. Malik Ghazi caught him unaware, massacred the reckless knights. Bohemond himself, seeing no escape, cut off a lock of his hair, entrusting it to a sergeant who slipped away and got to Edessa. In that way Baldwin learned what happened. And there was Bohemond’s yellow hair to prove his sergeant spoke the truth.

  Malik Ghazi large with success rode to the very walls of Melitene where he shouted insults and displayed bloody Frankish heads. But when he found out that Baldwin was en route he withdrew toward the mountains. Baldwin followed Malik Ghazi for three days. Then, not liking the look of things, and because he doubted Bohemond could be saved, he turned around. By this time, say Arab chronicles, Bohemond dressed in chains was on his way to the distant castle of Niksar.

  So it was not until Lord Baldwin got back to Edessa that he learned his brother Godfrey was dead and he, himself, would be king of Jerusalem.

  September passed arranging for this new estate, deputizing a cousin to act as regent of Edessa. In October, grieving somewhat upon his brother’s death, all the same rejoicing at such good luck, he set out for Jerusalem. From Antioch he sent his wife with her ladies by sea to Joppa.

  Fulcher de Chartres relates that two leagues above Beyrouth they came to a narrow place in the public road, no more than a ledge on the cliff. One hundred thousand soldiers could not get through, he writes, if sixty armed men resolutely blocked the way. From ancient times this has been a famous passage. Every general who forced it has left some inscription on the cliff. Here may be seen the writing of Pharaoh Ramses, Nebuchadnezzar, Septimius Severus, and others. Lord Baldwin proceeded cautiously. What lay in wait but a great many Arabs and Turks commanded by Ginanhadoles and Ducath. We pretended one thing and thought another, says Fulcher. We feigned boldness but feared death. I very much wished to be in Chartres or Orléans, as did everyone else.

  Baldwin retreated a little. Next morning a little further. Enemies of Christ followed. But when the passage narrowed he turned swiftly to attack and by nightfall had sent them flying. Many in despair hurled themselves from rocky crags into the sea. Others met the point of the sword. Others dispersed quicker than rabbits bounding away to the mountains or scurrying to safety behind the walls of Beyrouth. After this Baldwin was not molested.

  When he approached the Holy City all came forth to honor him. Greeks, Syrians, many bearing crosses and lighted candles. They escorted him to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and with ringing voices praised God.

  Lord Baldwin rested six days in Jerusalem after which he set out to explore his kingdom, albeit he was not yet crowned. The domain was small and menaced by pagan hordes from Syria to Egypt, but he thought a display of spirit might intimidate them. After posting three hundred knights to guard the city he rode forth and pressed on to a wide country through villages whose terrified inhabitants hid themselves in caves. But the Franks would light a fire in front of each cave, which brought up the Saracens gasping and coughing and choking. Among them were Syrian Christians who pointed out brigands responsible for murdering pilgrims along the Jerusalem road. According to Fulcher, nearly one hundred of these malefactors were beheaded as soon as they emerged. Afterward, thinking the Syrians could be murdered in reprisal, Lord Baldwin had them escorted to Ascalon.

  Next he resolved to visit Syria. Therefore the Franks crossed the hills of Judea at Hebron, visiting a mosque built over the cave of Machpelah. Here lie entombed the earthly remnants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Sarah, and Rebecca. Thence to the valley where Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed by flame. Here is a vast lake called the Dead Sea because it does not move, although some call it Asphaltite because now and again asphalt floats to the surface. Sodom and Gomorrah are thought to be submerged in its depths. The length of this accursed lake is five hundred and eighty stades. No animals come to drink, nor any bird. Fulcher asserts that he made a trial of the water, getting down from his mule to cup a little in his hand, finding it bitter as hellebore. The Jordan empties into this lake. Next to it rises a mountain white as snow from which rocks made of salt break off and tumble to the base. Rainfall streaming through ravines carries this salt into the lake. Or perhaps there exists some channel underground by which the salt sea enters. The truth is not known.

  Close by is the village of Segor, happily situated, abounding in palm fruit that is sweet to taste. Baldwin’s army spent a day eating this fruit because they could find little else, the Saracens having all vanished except some people dark as soot who harvested seaweed from the lake. Here the Franks encountered another fruit with a thick rind or husk, but when the shell was broken they saw nothing inside, nothing save black dust. Some construed this as a warning.

  Next they rode through the valley where Moses twice struck a rock and brought forth good water, enough to supply Israel. On a summit where the oracles of God wer
e given to our fathers stands a church. Baldwin entered to pray and his army drank from the fountain of refutation. Beyond, as far as Babylon, this land is said to be uncultivated and desolate. Baldwin decided he had seen enough. Passing by that lifeless sea and the tombs of patriarchs, by the tomb where Rachel lies, he returned to Jerusalem on the exact day of the winter solstice.

  Latin documents assert that when Baldwin was a youth he nourished his spirit on liberal arts. He became a cleric, holding prebends in churches of Cambrai, Liège, and Reims. Later, troubled at heart, he became a soldier. Anon he married the English lady Godehilde and with her at his side he chose to follow his brothers Godfrey and Eustace. He is alleged to have been tall and dignified, larger of frame than Godfrey, serious in aspect, oddly pale, with a reddish beard. He lived splendorously and had a gold shield with the image of an eagle borne ahead of him as though he were some infidel potentate. If he entered a village there were knights to blow trumpets in front of his chariot. He wore a mantle or toga, making him resemble a bishop more than a soldier, and took his meals seated on a rug while accepting homage from admirers. Yet he inherited the curse of Adam, struggling mightily against cravings of the flesh. Withal, none but a few servants understood the frequency of his habit for he was most circumspect. Should one seek to excuse King Baldwin’s lechery, as certain narratives do, justification mayhap is possible, if not at the bench of our strictest Judge.