This Turkish horde came next to Acre and threatened to ravage the gardens unless they got fifty thousand gold bezants. The lord of Arsuf, who was constable, answered that he would give them none. So they arrayed themselves to prepare a siege. Forth came the lord of Arsuf and took his position on Mount Saint John by the cemetery of Saint Nicholas to defend the gardens. Foot sergeants also ventured from the city to harass the Turks with bows and crossbows, but did not adequately consider the situation. The lord of Arsuf therefore directed a Genoese knight called Giannone to recall them. He was herding them toward safety when a Turk cried out in Saracenic, offering to joust with him, had he courage enough. Sir Giannone answered that quite willingly would he take the challenge. But as he was riding against this enemy he saw to his left a troop of eight or nine who had paused to watch the joust. He swerved toward them and skewered one. Another struck his steel cap a huge blow with a mace, whereupon Giannone drew his sword and there went the Saracen’s turban flying off his head. Another Turk he slashed backhand so the enemy’s spear flew off into the field. Then he brought back the imperiled sergeants. These fine strokes were observed by the lord of Arsuf, by important citizens, and by women who gathered on the walls to watch.
Next the infidels marched toward Saida, which they heard was poorly fortified. Lord Simon de Montbéliard, who had charge of his majesty’s crossbowmen, retreated into the castle because he could not oppose such a multitude. We were told that he admitted to safety as many citizens as he could. The Turks got into Saida, butchered every inhabitant, and made off to Damascus with plunder. King Louis had wished to fortify some hillock that was a stronghold of Maccabees in ancient times, but hearing this sad news, hearing the barons argue against restoring a crumbled ruin, he decided we should go to Saida. Accordingly we broke camp on the feast day of Peter and Paul and some days afterward came to the sands of Acre. While we were bivouacked a troop of Armenians showed up. They had with them an interpreter so we learned they were en route to Jerusalem, having paid the Turks heavy tribute. They wanted a good look at our king. I therefore went and found him in a pavilion sitting on the sand without a carpet beneath his rump, resting his back against the pole. I explained about the Armenians waiting outside, how they besought me to let them glimpse our pious leader. For myself, I said, I have no desire to kiss your bones. He began to laugh and told me to bring them in, which I did. When they had their fill of gazing at King Louis they commended him to God. He, with inherent grace, returned the blessing.
Next night we camped by a ford with excellent water. People of that region use it to nourish sugar plants. Next we camped by Es Sur, which the Bible calls Tyre, and King Louis asked if we should capture the city of Banyas before continuing to Saida. The barons liked this idea but none wanted the king himself to join such a dangerous expedition. Only after much argument could he be dissuaded. Knights of the Temple and Hospital were chosen, along with the Comte d’Eu, Philippe de Montfort, Gilles le Brun, myself, and various others. We rode all night and got to Banyas just before dawn. Ancients called this place Caesarea Philippi. A spring rising within the city is known as the Jor. Another beautiful spring rising from the plain outside is called Dan. The river Jordan is formed where these two intermingle. Here was our Savior baptized.
When the Turks inside Banyas realized that our sergeants were breaking through the walls they lost heart. They fled toward the castle of Subeibah half a league up the mountain where the slope was strewn with rocks as big as hutches. I was directed to occupy a position on the slope but a troop of Germans belonging to the Comte d’Eu, seeing these Turks retreat, came flying past me to go after them. I called out that they were exceeding orders but they ignored me. Soon enough they saw they had made a mistake and turned back, whereupon the enemy regained courage, attacking with arrows and maces. My sergeants did not like the look of this because they were afoot. I said if they gave up our position they would be dismissed from the king’s service. They pointed out that it was easy for me to talk, considering that I was on horseback. Very well, I said, if that troubles you, and dismounted and sent my horse to the Templars. A little while afterward one of my knights, Jean de Bussey, was struck in the throat by a Turkish quarrel. He dropped at my feet. His uncle, Hugues d’Escot, asked me to help carry Jean’s body down the slope but I was angry with all who disobeyed orders. Bad luck to you and to anybody who helps you, I said, because you deserve it. I then added that he might lug his nephew’s corpse to the dungheap by himself but as for me I would not move. I was told afterward that the barons of Languedoc had been informed of my perilous situation and urged to rescue me, but Guillaume de Beaumont said there was little sense worrying because I already was killed. I do not know who told him this. In any event, they decided to find out if I was on my back or on my feet so they could report to the king. Olivier de Termes, Jean de Valenciennes, and others came riding along the slope and I think were surprised to find me upright. Olivier explained what I knew quite well, that it would be a good idea to get out of there, but I did not see how, since the Turks above us would come rolling down like an avalanche if we turned our backs. Olivier replied that he had a plan. All right, I said, tell us what to do. He said we should ride along as if we were going to Damascus so the Turks would think we meant to attack from the opposite side. Then after we got down on the plain we should cross the brook and do them some damage by setting fire to the corn in the fields. It did not sound like a good plan but I had no better idea. So, having got myself another mount, we did as he suggested and with the help of Almighty God made it to the cornfields. There at Olivier’s direction we took hollow canes of the sort used in flutes, stuffed them with live coals and went around burning heaps of threshed corn. Some time later when we got back to camp, grateful to be alive, we learned that nobody had given us a thought.
Next day we continued to Saida where the king was. We were told that he personally supervised the burial of citizens murdered by Turks and helped carry putrid bodies to the trench, but did not hold his nose as others did. By the time we arrived he was meting out sites where we would camp. I had been given space not far from the youthful and spirited Comte d’Eu, which pleased me because I enjoyed his company. He reveled in pranks. I had my tent pitched in such a way that while at table we might take advantage of light through the aperture and he would often watch us. He constructed a tiny machine like a petrary from which he let fly pebbles, breaking several jugs and tumblers. Someone gave him a bear cub that he turned loose among my chickens. The poultry woman flogged the bear with her distaff but it killed a dozen before my men arrived and put a stop to the business.
We were busy fortifying Saida when some merchants appeared at our camp with news that a Tartar host had captured Baghdad. This was accomplished through treachery. After the city had been surrounded the Tartar chief sent to the caliph, saying he would like to arrange marriage between their children. The caliph agreed, however reluctantly, because he did not think Baghdad was strong enough to withstand a siege. The Tartars asked him to send forty members of his council who would swear to this marriage. He complied. Then he was asked to send forty notable citizens who would stand surety. This, too, he did. Now the Tartars would have forty more, chosen from among the wisest men at court. Again the caliph did as they requested. And the Tartar chief, having got all these important men in his grasp, lopped off their heads. Next he assaulted and took the city because he knew that without their leaders the people would not put up much resistance. We were told that he held the foolish caliph in an iron cage and for a long time gave him almost nothing to eat. Then he asked if the caliph was hungry. The caliph replied that he was nearly dead of starvation. The Tartar placed before him a gold dish full of jewels and asked if he recognized them. I do, said the caliph, because they were mine. Do you prize them? asked the Tartar. I do, said the caliph. Eat them, the Tartar said. They are not food, said the caliph. Now listen to me, said the Tartar. Had you bestowed this useless treasure upon your men they would have given their lives
to defend you.
So much did these merchants allege. What became of the caliph, they did not seem to know. God affright misbelievers.
One morning the king asked me to go for a ride with him. While crossing a field we rode past a little church and since the doors were open we could hear a priest chanting mass. The king said this church was built to honor a miracle performed by our Lord. Then he said he would like to attend mass, if I did not mind. I told him that would be a good thing. We dismounted and went inside. The cleric who assisted the priest had a black and shaggy look and I could not help thinking he might be one of the Assassins, therefore when it came time to offer us the pax I took it from the cleric and brought it myself to his majesty. Afterward we continued riding and chanced upon the legate. His majesty complained of my behavior so I explained to the legate that I felt anxious for the king’s safety because I mistrusted the cleric. The legate said I had acted properly. He did not, retorted the king. There in the field they took to arguing while I kept silent. This happened because the king was unable to imagine men less honorable than himself.
Anon, Queen Marguerite arrived by sea from Joppa where she had lately given birth to the Lady Blanche. I went to greet her and escorted her with the infant and her son Jean Tristram to the castle, after which I went looking for his majesty. I found him at prayer in the chapel. He inquired about them and I replied that all seemed in good health. This was the first time in five years he had spoken of them. Whether he talked about his family with others, I do not know. Nor do I understand how a man could be so distant from his wife and children. To me it does not seem right.
I asked his majesty if I might go on pilgrimage to the shrine of our Lady of Tortosa where numerous miracles had occurred. For instance, while we were in Egypt a man possessed by the Devil was brought to the shrine. As friends prayed to restore his health the Devil’s voice could be heard from inside his body. She is not here! the Devil shrieked. Our Lady is in Egypt aiding the king of France! And the date of this was written down, the document later shown to the legate. He, himself, told me about it. Nor can the miracle be doubted since on that very day she helped our cause. She might have come yet more strongly to our aid, had we not angered her and the Lord Jesus. Be this as it may, King Louis gave me leave to go and he commissioned me to buy a hundred lengths of camlet in divers colors, saying he would give it to the Franciscans when we got back to France. At these words I knew we would not stay much longer oversea.
While we were in Tripoli and I had bought the camlet my knights began to jest, wondering what I would do with so much fabric. I returned them good measure. Perhaps, I said, I have stolen it and mean to earn a profit. We were nobly entertained by the prince of that city. He honored us and wished to give us valuable presents, but we accepted only a few relics in his majesty’s name.
When we got back I instructed one of my knights to deliver four lengths of cloth to Queen Marguerite while I took the rest to King Louis. Later I was told that no sooner did my knight enter her majesty’s chamber carrying a linen bundle than she mistook it for a packet of holy articles and knelt. My lady, he said, these are not relics but cloth sent by my lord of Joinville. At this she and her attendants began to laugh and she wished me the worst of luck for having made her kneel before my fabric.
While we were yet engaged at repairing the fortifications of Saida his majesty received a wonderful gift, a stone that could be split into flakes, over and over again. If one of these flakes or scales was lifted there could be seen a fish made entirely of stone, eyes, bones, tail, everything stone. We were amazed and swore these little fishes must have been alive. His majesty gave me a fragment containing a tench, brown in color, each aspect of a tench just as it ought to be.
Here at Saida in the year of our Lord 1253 we were notified of the Queen Mother’s ascent to glory. The news was a long time coming, she departed six months previous. King Louis did not speak for two days. I was then told he wished to see me. When I came into his presence he stretched out both arms. Seneschal, I have lost my mother, he said. I replied that it must happen. Yet I wonder at this display of grief, I went on. As you know, Sire, a wise man long ago remarked that what pain a man feels in his heart should not be visible on his face, lest it delight his enemies and trouble his friends.
I believe the king scarcely knew his father. Louis VIII was by all accounts a vigorous young sovereign when he resolved to campaign against heretics in Languedoc and died unexpectedly at Montpensier. Most thought him poisoned. However it was, Queen Blanche thenceforth guided young Louis. He must listen to the hours of the Office each day. He must listen to sermons on feast days. I myself think, and heard it said, that she would rather her son incur temporal death than by any mortal sin displease the Lord.
As we later found out, in November of the previous year she retired to the Cistercian abbey of Maubuisson and devoted her last days to spiritual exercise while clothed in the habit of a nun. According to his majesty’s brother Charles, when she felt death forthcoming she lost the ability to speak. Priests and clerics hesitated, uncertain what to do. But all at once she herself began to intone Subvenite Sancti Dei, muttering the prayer between her teeth, yielding her soul little by little as though reluctant to concede.
Toward young Queen Marguerite she behaved with uncommon harshness. Indeed, she would try to prevent the king from seeing his consort. The palace his majesty most enjoyed was at Pointoise, mayhap because his wife’s chamber was beneath his own, the two connected by a winding staircase so they could meet without interference. They directed ushers to knock on the door with rods if the Queen Mother approached, whereupon the king would hurry up to his quarters. Once while Marguerite lay near death after childbirth the Queen Mother took his majesty by the hand and told him to come away because he was doing no good. At this Marguerite cried out and fainted. Only then did King Louis summon strength enough to withdraw from his imperious mother.
Soon after I had spoken with the king about his mother’s death I was approached by Madame de Vertus asking me to go and comfort Queen Marguerite who was prostrate with grief. I found her weeping, which astonished me. My lady, I said, he who first observed that a man cannot know how a woman will respond spoke truly. The Queen Mother detested you. Now she is dead. Why do you grieve?
Not for her do I grieve, she answered, but that my husband should feel such loss.
His majesty held more than one office for the deceased queen and he sent to France a trunk full of letters addressed to all the churches, requesting prayers for her soul.
Now with Saida almost rebuilt he ordered processions through the camp, after each of which the legate exhorted us to pray that King Louis should do whatever most pleased God, whether he remained in the Holy Land or embarked to France. Later I was summoned to a courtyard where the legate ceremoniously informed me that King Louis was pleased with my service. Further, said he, I am to tell you that the king will return to France this coming Easter.
May it be so, I replied.
The legate asked me to his quarters. He led me to an empty room, shut the door, took my hands and began weeping. When he had recovered he told me how glad he was that we would soon escape this diabolic land. For myself, he went on, the thought of leaving such honorable company fills me with regret since I must go back to Rome and conduct myself as best I can among those treacherous people.
It seemed to me that our companions were less honorable than he thought. I had on one occasion told him of sins committed in the city of Acre as they were related to me by a priest and he responded that none knew better than himself what deplorable acts were done. It behooves God to avenge them, he had said, in such wise that the streets will be washed by the blood of citizens and others come to take their place. The legate prophesied much too well.
At the beginning of Lent we returned to Acre and King Louis supervised preparations for the voyage. His fleet consisted of thirteen galleys and sailing ships. All had been made ready in time for the king and his consort to embark o
n the vigil of Saint Mark.
Next morning the wind rose fair. His majesty told me that he was born on Saint Mark’s Day, to which I answered that he might call himself reborn if one took into account what we had been through.
Saturday we came in view of Cyprus and the mountain that is known as Mountain of the Cross. Unluckily a mist blew down from the island, so we did not know how close we were and fetched a sandbank. Up went a huge cry with mariners shouting and wringing their hands in terror of being drowned. It happened I was in bed when we struck. I therefore got up and went on deck. Just as I reached the forecastle I heard Brother Raymond, who was a Templar in charge of the crew, order one of his people to throw the lead. Almost at once a sailor cried for mercy since we were aground. Brother Raymond howled that we were lost and clawed his beard and tore his garment. Now here came one of my knights, Jean de Monson, with a lined surcoat to put around my shoulders because I wore only a tunic. I demanded to know what use I had of a surcoat if we were going to drown, but he said he did not want me to catch a chill. The mariners shouted for a galley to rescue the king, but not one drew near. Later I understood the wisdom of this. We had eight hundred people aboard who would have hopped from our vessel like rats to save their lives and a galley would capsize.
By God’s grace we drifted off the sandbank, although we did not realize this until the lead was thrown a second time. Brother Raymond went to inform his majesty and found him supine on deck before the altar, arms outstretched to form a cross, barefoot and hair uncombed, ready to be drowned.
Next morning we understood how fortunate we were to scrape ourselves on the sandbank, for beyond it was a rock.
Deus Lo Volt! Page 47