He is a God beside whom there is no God. He knows both what is visible and what is invisible.
Saladin heard these words. It is truth, he answered.
He died at the hour of morning prayer, leaving one daughter and seventeen sons. Al-Daulai, a theologian, washed the corpse. Beha al-Din was invited to observe the ceremony but had not strength enough. Many citizens of Damascus came to express their grief. None but important scholars and emirs were permitted to meet with his eldest son, al-Afdal. Orators and poets were excluded. At the hour of evening prayer they buried him with his sword in the western pavilion. Muslims claim he took his sword to Paradise.
They say he charged one of his retinue to go abroad with a length of cloth fastened to a lance. Thou who carried my banner in war, carry now the banner of my death, said he. Thou shalt ride through Damascus and cry aloud. Naught does Saladin take from the treasury save three ells of cloth for his winding sheet!
In his treasury they counted forty-seven Nacerite dirhems, one Syrian gold piece. He left neither houses nor goods nor plowed land, no appurtenance, no estate. Having coveted nothing, he left nothing. When he captured the city of Menbij here were costly items inscribed with the name Yusef, this being the son of the defeated sheik. My name is Yusef, Saladin declared, which was true enough, and shall have what was kept for me. But then, after enjoying his little joke, Saladin distributed these valuables among the conquered women and children. What shall a Christian make of this? Had he wearied of turpitude and the habits of men? They say that in Egypt he consulted a Muslim Jew from Spain, Maimonides, renowned among these people as a philosopher, rabbi, and physician. To what purpose? Does any man elude the hand of God?
Turks report that after he subjugated Caucab in the year 584, as they account such things, he wished to visit Ascalon and other cities along the coast to prepare them for defense. With him went Beha al-Din. It was winter and the sea foamed angrily. This was the first time ever I saw it, writes Beha al-Din, and not for the world would I venture one league upon it. Indeed, I consider those who embark upon the sea for gold and silver to be mad. But while I occupied myself with such thoughts the sultan spoke.
I will tell you what is in my heart, he said. When God has placed in my hands all the other Christian cities I will divide them among my children. Then after I have bade my children goodby I will embark on the sea to go and reduce those countries of the West. Nor will I put down my arms until no Christian is left on earth, not unless death prevents me.
These words so astonished Beha al-Din that he forgot what he had been thinking. But then he recalled how the waves terrified him. Nothing could be more praiseworthy than to exterminate the Franks, he said. Yet it would be enough to send your armies. You, yourself, ought to stay here and not jeopard your life since you are the hope of Islam.
Which is more commendable? Saladin asked.
Beha replied that without doubt it would be more glorious to die in the service of God.
Then I am right to desire this, Saladin answered.
That he was devout, that he prayed assiduously and often, is attested by divers narratives. If he chanced to be ill, which happened frequently because he endured numerous afflictions, he would call for an imam and get up from the sickbed to join him at prayer. While traveling he would dismount to pray when the hour came round. He did not tire of hearing the Koran recited and would question the imam to make certain of the text. At night sometimes he would awaken to ask that three or four suras be recited and would sob while listening, or when told of some edifying parable. Tears flowed down his beard. Once he overheard a child reciting the Koran, which so gratified him that he gave the child some of his food. Heretics, philosophers, or those who opposed the Muslim faith he despised, for which reason he ordered a certain mystic of Aleppo to be arrested and crucified. He left the corpse suspended three days. Even so, he accepted the teaching of Scripture and believed in resurrection, that the virtuous would find a reward in heaven while sinners raged and frothed in hell.
Lord Baldwin, having been captured at the battle of Marj Ayun, thought to ransom himself. Saladin refused. Little use have I for money, he said. Besides, much honor accrues from holding captive so valiant a knight. And yet, following some argument, Saladin named a figure. Two hundred thousand bezants. By no means could I levy that much, Baldwin answered. Though I dispose of all the land I own I could not pay one tenth of it. Then I will pull out every tooth in your mouth, Saladin replied. You may do that, said Baldwin. However, with two teeth drawn out of his head he begged for mercy and said he would arrange the matter somehow. It is related that he went off to visit Emperor Manuel in Constantinople, the wealthiest sovereign on earth. Manuel greeted him with joy and agreed to pay the ransom. A chair was placed in the middle of the room and Baldwin sat on the chair while gold hyperpyra were heaped around him to the top of his head. Baldwin thus resolved the matter. Saladin felt much annoyed, thinking nobody could pay so much.
After Count Hugh of Tiberias was taken captive Saladin promised to let him go on one stipulation, that he should impart and demonstrate the ceremony by which a Frank is knighted. To this Count Hugh agreed. So he dressed the beard and hair of Saladin and brought him to the lavatorium. Here is the bath of courtesy and honor, said Hugh, which recalls the baptism of an infant, from which you shall emerge cleansed of sin as does the child from the font. Next he brought Saladin to his bed, signifying the tranquility of Paradise that a knight must seek to achieve. Next, raising him up, Hugh arrayed the sultan in a white tunic to represent bodily cleanliness, throwing over this a red cloak to remind him that a knight must be prepared to shed blood in defense of the church. Brown hosiery representing the earth to which he must return. A white belt to girdle the lust of his loins. Gold spurs to show that a knight must be swift as a charger to follow the commandments of God. Last, a sword whose sharp edges bespeak chivalry, reminding the knight of his obligation to protect the helpless. Count Hugh then gave Saladin four precepts that bind a knight throughout his life. He must not conspire in false judgment, nor with treason. He must honor and come to the aid of women in adversity. He must, if possible, hear a mass each day. He must fast each Friday in remembrance of the Passion.
Forty-five Christians seized near Beyrouth were led into Saladin’s presence, among them a very old man with wobbly teeth, shuffling, decrepit. The sultan was astonished, wondering whence he came and what he wanted. The ancient replied that he had marched from his country in order to worship at the Holy Sepulcher. Saladin pitied him, lifted him up to the saddle of a horse and directed him to the Christian camp. That very same day, Beha al-Din reports, the sultan’s youngest children wished to behead a prisoner. The sultan would not consent. They are too young to know what is meant by infidel or faithful, said he. They are too young to trifle with other lives.
All who knew this strange prince agreed there was about him nothing low nor mean of spirit, nor was he tarnished with conceit. Throughout his life he exhibited that rare simplicity which marks those who do not feel compelled to inflate themselves. At some gathering of nobles he was overheard modestly asking for a sip of water, but no one troubled to fetch it. And not once during his life did he go on pilgrimage to Mecca, which seems unnatural since he was accounted most pious. Nor did fasting suit his temperament. How should such a riddle be chosen the instrument of God’s wrath?
According to the chronicle of Reims, there was a pagan lord imprisoned at Acre who claimed to be Saladin’s uncle, some old man with braided hair and a white beard hanging on his breast. King John ordered him up into the daylight and through an interpreter urged him to speak freely concerning the deeds of his nephew.
I will speak the truth, he answered. I will speak of a great marvel. My nephew pretended to be a Christian pilgrim with staff, wallet, and cloak that he might enter this hospital because he knew of its charity. Those who welcome sick folk laid him in bed, eased him, and asked what he would eat. Then did my nephew protest, saying that which he desired he could not have.
Nay, ask boldly, replied the Hospitaler, for we have such commiseration that never did any man come short of his desire. The right forefoot of Morel is my wish, Saladin answered. I would see it cut off before mine eyes to make a bowl of soup. But that I cannot have since Morel is the Grand Master’s favorite steed. Now have you listened to my folly.
Then went the Hospitaler to speak with the Grand Master, who pondered and turned things about in his mind. Go, said he at last. Fulfill this pilgrim’s wish since it is better that mine horse should die than any man.
Straightway they led the animal to Saladin’s bed, cast it to the ground, and there stood a knave with a sharp axe. Seeing it thus, Saladin lifted one hand. My desire turns to other flesh, said he. Now do I crave mutton to eat.
So the Grand Master felt right glad, for he dearly loved this horse Morel. They gave the sick man what he wanted. Three days after, he called for his staff and cloak and took leave. Back went he to our people, but did not forget the good things that were done. He caused a charter to be drawn, sealed with his seal, which decreed that one thousand gold bezants each year should be left to the hospital for sheets and coverings to cover the sick, which should be taken in perpetuity from the revenues of Babylon. And each year from that day forward did the hospital receive one thousand gold bezants on Saint John’s Day.
More would I tell you of my nephew Yusuf, the old Saracen continued. One matter doth vex me. When he perceived that he must die he sent for a basin of water and asked that he be lifted until he was sitting. With his right hand he made the sign of the cross above the water. And having touched the basin in four places he spoke as follows. So far is it from this place unto this as from this unto this. After which he poured water on his head, uttering three words in the Frankish tongue that none of us understood. Thus he departed, the finest prince of our land, who was my nephew, and lies next to his mother. Above them stands a tower wherein a lamp filled with olive oil doth burn night and day.
So much is told by Robert, chronicler of Reims. Just as the carbuncle shining in darkness throws light upon dark places, does this cast light upon counterfeit faith. Yet the supremacy of God shall determine the good, judge the wicked. I have heard that pilgrims across the Holy Land lamented Saladin’s pagan birth and thought him almost worthy of conversion and wagged their heads and exclaimed. O God! What a Christian knight would he have made!
Saracens honor a custom not unlike our own whereby the patriarch of Jerusalem anoints and crowns each king. They appoint some high lord to march ahead of the man who will become sultan. He carries an embroidered saddlecloth that he displays, meanwhile instructing people to gaze upon their sovereign. That is what Malik did when Saladin was dead. Behold! Malik cried as he walked before the eldest son of Saladin, al-Afdal. Behold the sultan of Damascus!
Yet, as Saladin prophesied, Malik wished to acquire the kingdom for himself. So when he and al-Afdal returned to the palace he requested an apple. He took from his belt a knife with a poisoned tip and cut a slice for himself with the blade, and cut another that he held out to his nephew on the point. No more did al-Afdal eat what his uncle offered than he could feel poison lacerating his body and knew he would die. Then Malik rode away from Damascus as fast as he could and went to Tekrit in the land of Medes where he summoned a vast army of Kurds and others. When he reappeared with soldiers at his back he was hastily acclaimed by the citizens of Damascus. That is how he got what he wanted. Concerning Saladin’s other children, I am told that al-Aziz who governed Egypt tumbled from his mount while chasing jackals near the pyramids and soon expired, a judgment proceeding from the severity of God. As to those others, our Lord by the ineffable strength of His hand brought to nothing the plans their malignity imagined.
Now when King Richard embarked for England he left behind a meager and threatened enclave along the shore. Still, it provided access to the sea. And soon enough here came merchants like dogs at the heels of war, sniffing the value of precious stuff. Traders from Genoa, Pisa, Venice, Marseille, and other cities, all intent on establishing principalities. Nor did the Church forget her mission. While decadent Romans gratified a taste for luxury in the mysterious lure of silk and took to bathing with aromatic oils as pagans do, His Holiness Innocent III renewed the urgent call. Some would charge that the pontiff slept, awakening to his obligation only because of a vulgar curate at Neuilly between Paris and Lagny-sur-Marne, by name Fulk. This curate spoke on God with assuredness, in a loud voice. Usury and lechery maddened him. Ardent, confident, he indicted clerics who kept whores in parish churches and pointed to strumpets in the crowd until those that listened to him preach did not know what to do. You must go and hear Fulk, they exclaimed. Listen to Fulk because he is another Paul! It is said he redeemed women as did Peter the hermit a hundred years before and got them settled at the convent of Saint Anthony, or got husbands for them, and dowries. Wherever he paused to storm at turpitude, penitents gathered. He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, movement to the lame. Those who were sick traveled long distances to wait in his path and touch his cloak, as happens today.
It was not always thus. Old histories say that Fulk had scant learning, was coarse and depraved, unfit to be curate. His parishioners at Neuilly jeered. He therefore enrolled at the University of Paris and was tutored by Peter le Chantre and with much effort got his degree. Yet when he came back to Neuilly he found the congregation rude. For two years they interrupted the sermons, hurled insults. Then all at once he received the gift of influencing souls. Like sharp arrows his words pierced the hearts of men, driving them to their knees, weeping, repentant. Peter le Chantre brought the university masters to hear him preach at Saint-Séverin. He was urged to speak not only in Paris but throughout Flanders, Brabant, Picardy, Champagne, or where the spirit moved him. He performed miraculous conversions. A certain usurer, repenting, confessed where his treasure was hidden, but when they went to the place of concealment here were snakes. Also, a rich man invited Fulk to supper but when the covers were lifted from dishes, platters of toads.
Once he undertook to upbraid King Richard, exhorting him to disinherit his three daughters. To which Richard answered that he had no daughters.
Nay, said Fulk. Thou hast three. Pride. Gluttony. Sensuality.
Ah, said Richard, whose tongue was quick. I bequeath pride to the Templars, gluttony to the Cistercians, sensuality to the clerics.
His Holiness Innocent, told of Franks clamoring for this curate’s message, despatched an ambassador from Rome authorizing Fulk to preach a new crusade, authorizing him to enlist both white and black monks. Further, His Holiness provided an indulgence offering remission of sin for those who took the cross.
In the year of our Lord 1199, on the twenty-eighth of November, an illustrious crowd of nobles assembled at the tourney of Écri-sur-Aisne. They meant to exploit their courage in front of the ladies, to enjoy feasting, minstrelsy, and other delights. Tapestries draped the route of procession, standards unfurled in the breeze. Pennons fluttered from the tips of lances, argent, sable, purpure, vert, gules. Trumpets blared. But suddenly, with all prepared to joust, here came a priest into the lists and preached such a sermon that one by one the knights laid down their weapons, removed their helms of state. One by one they knelt before this curate Fulk and took the cross. Among these were Comte Tibald de Champagne, Comte Louis de Blois, and my father’s brother, Geoffrey de Joinville. With such men of rank committed, enthusiasm mounted like waves heralding a storm.
Some felt reluctant to make the journey for lack of funds. Yet is it not better to follow Jesus Christ despoiled than go upon Satan’s track with a mighty household? Some hesitated through precarious health, or fear. Some like domestic fowl preferred the roost at night. Some like fat palfreys wished to spend their lives at the stable. Others like Flemish cattle, each with a rope about its neck, would stand patiently beside the shed. Again, some were like river fish that turn back when they sniff the open sea, which is vast and fails to compromise. Yet be it said that each t
rue knight looks toward the Holy Land as home, does not hesitate to leave wife and children for the sake of Christ. Is not His cross the wood of life?
All wondered how this expedition would face the sea. Lord Geoffrey de Villehardouin, Marshal of Champagne, was appointed to negotiate with Venice. So there he and his companions traveled by way of Mont Cenis pass, through the marquisate of Montferrat, through Piacenza, across the Lombard plain. During the first week of Lent they arrived to consult the venerable doge, Enrico Dandolo, who was by most accounts ninety years old and blind, or nearly so, requiring a groom to lead his horse. Some think he got his wound in a youthful brawl. Others say that when he visited Constantinople the Greeks put out his eyes with a burning glass. No matter that it happened fifty years ago, Venetians knew how Enrico Dandolo despised and hated Byzantium.
He greeted the Franks while seated on a throne draped with gold, a parasol overhead. The Franks offered letters of credence that authorized them to commit their principals. Enrico Dandolo instructed them to return in four days.
Anon the envoys stood before him and his Small Council, a council of six. My Lord, said the Franks, on behalf of those who have taken the cross, we come to you. In the name of God, consider the shame done to Jesus Christ in the land oversea. Whereupon they submitted to the doge and his council a request. Vessels adequate to transport four thousand five hundred knights with their chargers, nine thousand equerries, twenty thousand foot soldiers.
Enrico Dandolo replied that it was a serious matter needing much thought.
Eight days later he told them he would provide naves and usserii, these being ships for transporting men and horses, as well as supplies for one year. In exchange, ninety-four thousand marks. Also, Venice would provide fifty war galleys in exchange for one-half of what the Franks and Venetians together should gain through conquest. The fleet would prepare to sail on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. These conditions seemed reasonable to the Franks.
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