BATTLE OF THE FIRST FRIDAY IN LENT

It took him till mid-day to order these things; and then he caused the drums called nacaires to be beaten; and ther they charged us, foot and horse. And first I will tell you oJ the King of Sicily who was then Count of Anjou because he was first on the side towards Babylon. The foe came against him as men play chess, for they first caused him to be attacked by their foot-men, and the foot-men assailed him with Greek fire; and the men, mounted and dis mounted, pressed upon our people so sore that they discomfited the King of Sicily, who was on foot, among his knights.

And they came to the king, and told him of the great jeopardy in which liis brother stood. And when the king heard this, he rode spurring amidst his brother’s men, with his sword in his fist, and dashed so far among the Turks that they burnt the crupper of his horse with Greek fire. And by this charge that the king made he succoured the King of Sicily and his men, and drove the Turks from the camp.

Troops came the troops

After the troops of the King of Sicily came the troops of the barons oversea, of whom the Lord Guy of Ibelin and Lord Baldwin his brother were the chiefs. After their troops came the troops of my Lord Walter of Chatillon, full of right worthy men, and of good chivalry. These two divisions defended themselves so vigorously that the Turks were never able to pierce through them or drive them back.

After the troops of my Lord Walter came brother William Sonnac, Master of the Temple, with the few brethren that remained to him after the battle of Tuesday. He had caused a work of defense to be erected in front of him with the engines that we had taken from the Saracens. When the Saracens came to attack him they threw Greek fire on to the hoardings he had erected, and these took fire easily, for the Templars had put into them a great quantity of pinewood planks.

And you must know that the Turks did not wait till the fire had burned itself out, but ran in upon the Templars through the flumes. In this battle brother William, the Master of the Temple, lost an eye, and the other he had lost on Shrove Tuesday; and he died thereof, the said lord on whom God have mercy! And you must know that behind the place where the Templars stood there was a space, the size of a journeyman’s labour, so thickly covered with the Saracens’ darts that the earth could not be seen by reason they were so many.

TEE DEVOTIONS OF ST. LEWIS HOW HE DID JUSTICE IN HIS LAND

The rule of his land was so arranged that every day he heard the hours sung, and a Requiem mass wijjiout song; and then, if it was convenient, the mass of the day, or of the saint, with song. Every day he rested in his bed after having eaten, and when he had slept and rested, he said, privily in his chamber he and one of his chaplains together the office for the dead; and after he heard vespers. At night he heard compline’s.

A gray-friar (Franciscan) came to him at the castle of Hydros, there where we disembarked; and said in his sermon, for the king’s instruction, that he had read the Bible, and the books pertaining to heathen princes, and that he had never found, either among believers or misbelievers, that a kingdom had been lost, or had changed lords, save there had first been failure of justice. “ Therefore let the king, who is going into France, take good heed,” said he, “ that he do justice well and speedily among his people, so that our Lord suffer his kingdom to remain in peace all the days of his life.” It is said that the right worthy man who thus instructed the king, lies buried at Marseilles, where our Lord, for his sake, per forms many a fine miracle. He would never consent to remain with the king, however much the king might urge it, for more than a single day.

Gate of Requests

The king forgat not the teaching of the friar, but ruled his land very loyally and godly, as you shall hear. He had so arranged that my Lord of Nesle, and the good Count of Soissons, and all of us who were about him, should go, after we had heard our masses, and hear the pleadings at the gate which is now called the gate of Requests.

And when he came back from church, he would send for us and sit at the foot of his bed, and make us all sit round him, and ask if there were any whose cases could not be settled save by himself in person. And we named the litigants; and re would then send for such and ask: “ Why do you not accept what our people offer? ” And they would make reply, “ Sire, because they offer us very little.” Then would le say, “ You would do well to accept what is proposed, as aura people desire.” And the saintly man endeavored thus, with all his power, to bring them into a straight path and a reasonable.

Ofttimes it happened that he would go, after his mass, and leapt himself in the wood of Vincennes, and lean against an and make us sit round him. And all those who had any muse in hand came and spoke to him, without hindrance of usher, or of any other person. ThIs there any one who has a cause in hand? ”fond those who had a cause in hand stood up. Then would he say, “ Keep silence all, and you shall be heard in turn, one after the other.” Then he would call my Lord Peter of Fontaines and my Lord Geosry of Villette, and say to one of them, “ Settle me this cause. customized guided tour”

And when he saw that there was anything to amend in the words of those who spoke on his behalf, or in the words of those who spoke on behalf of any other person, he would himself, out of his own mouth, amend what they had said. Sometimes have I seen him, in summer, go to do justice among his people in the garden of Paris, clothed in a tunic of camlet, a surcoat of tartan without sleeves, and a mantle of black taffeta about his neck, his hair well combed, no cap, and a hat of white peaock’s feathers upon his head. And he would cause a carpet to be laid down, so that we might sit round him, and all the people who had any cause to bring before him stood around. And then would he have their causes settled, as I have told you afore he was wont to do in the wood of Vincennes.

ST. LEWIS REFUSES AN UNJUST DEMAND MADE BY THE BISHOPS

Smilingly whomsoever it could be shown to him that the excommunicate persons were in the wrong. The bishops said they would accept this condition at no price whatever, as they untested his jurisdiction in their causes. Then the king :old them he would do no other; for it would be against God and reason if he constrained people to seek absolution when he clergy were doing them wrong. “ And of this,” said the ring, “ I will give you an example, viz., that of the Count of Brittany, who, for seven years long, being excommunicated, ^leaded against the prelates of Brittany, and carried his amuse so far that the Apostle (the Pope) condemned them all. Wherefore, if I had constrained the Count of Brittany, at :he end of the first year, to get himself absolved, I should lave sinned against God and against him.” Then the preates resigned themselves; nor did I ever hear tell that any further steps were taken in the aforesaid matters.

THE CRUSADERS DEFY THE EMPERORS

For this embassage were chosen Conon of Bethune and Geoffry of Villehardouin, the Marshal of Champagne, and Miles the Brabant of Provins; and the Doge also sent three chief men of his council. So these envoys mounted their horses, and, with swords girt, rode together till thev came to the palace of Blachernse. And be it known to you that, by reason of the treachery of the Greeks, they went in great peril, and on a hard adventure.

They dismounted at the gate and entered the palace, and found the Emperor Alexius and the Emperor Isaac seated on two thrones, side by side. And near them was seated the empress, who was the wife of the father, and stepmother of the son, and sister to the King of Hungary a lady both fair and good. And there were with them a great company of people of note and rank, so that well did the court seem the- court of a rich and mighty prince.

By desire of the other envoys Conon of Bethune, who was very wise and eloquent of speech, acted as spokesman: “ Sire, we have come to thee on the part of the barons of the host and of the Doge of Venice. They would put thee in mind of the great service they have done to thee a service known to the people and manifest to all men. Thou hast sworn, thou and thy father, to fulfil the promised covenants, and they have your charters in hand. But you have not fulfilled those covenants well, as you should have done.

Many times have they called upon you to do so, and now again we call upon you, in the presence of all your barons, to fulfil the covenants that are between you and them. Should you do so, it shall be well. If not, be it known to you that from this day forth they will not hold you as lord or friend, but will endeavor to obtain their due by all the means in their power. And of this they now give you warning, seeing that they would not injure you, nor any one, without first de fiancé given; for never have they acted treacherously, nor in their land is it customary to do so. You have heard what we have said. It is for you to take counsel thereon according to your pleasure.”

Greeks amazed and greatly outraged

Much were the Greeks amazed and greatly outraged by this open defiance; and they said that never had any one been so hardy as to dare defy the Emperor of Constantinople in his own hall. Very evil were the looks now cast on the envoys by the Emperor Alexius and by all the Greeks, who aforetime were wont to regard them very favourably.

Great was the tumult there within, and the envoys turned about and came to the gate and mounted their horses. When they got outside the gate, there was not one of them but felt glad at heart; nor is that to be marvelled at, for they had escaped from very great peril, and it held to very little that they were not all killed or taken. So they returned to the camp, and told the barons how they had fared.

Marquis of Montferrat

At this time all the barons had not yet arrived. Thus the Marquis of Montferrat had remained behind for some business that detained him. And Stephen of the Perche had remained at Venice sick, and Matthew of Montmorency. When they were healed of their sickness Matthew of Montmorency came to rejoin the host at Zara; but Stephen of the Perche dealt less worthily, for he abandoned the host, and

went to sojourn in Apulia. With him went Rotrou of Mont* fort and Ives of the Jaille, and many others, who were much blamed therein; and they journeyed to Syria in the following spring.1

THE HABITANTS OF ZARA OFFER TO CAPITULATE, AND THEN DRAW BACK ZARA IS TAKEN

On the day following the feast of St. Martin, certain of the people of Zara came forth, and spoke to the Doge of Venice, who was in his pavilion, and said to him that they would vied up the city and all their goods their lives being spared to his mercy. And the Doge replied that he would not accept these conditions, nor any conditions, save by con sent of the counts and barons, with whom he would go and confer.

While he went to confer with the counts and barons, that party, of whom you have already heard, who wished to dis perse the host, spoke to the envoys and said, “ Why should you surrender your city? The pilgrims will not attack you have no care of them. If you can defend yourselves against the Venetians, you will be safe enough.” And they chose one of themselves, whose name was Robert of Boves, who went to the walls of the city, and spoke the same words. Therefore the envoys returned to the city, and the negotiations were broken off.

Signors

The Doge of Venice, when he came to the counts and barons, said to them: “ Signors, the people who are therein desire to yield the city to my mercy, on condition only that their lives are spared. But 1 will enter into no agreement with them neither this nor any other save with your con sent.” And the barons answered: “ Sire, we advise you to . accept these conditions, and we even beg of you so to do.” He said he would do so; and they all returned together to the pavilion of the Doge to make the agreement, and found that the envoys had gone away by the advice of those who wished to disperse the host.

Then rose the abbot of Vaux, of the order of the Cistercians, and said to them: “ Lords, I forbid you. on the part of the Pope of Rome, to attack this city, for those within it

Literally, “ in the passage of March,’ Among the pilgrims who periodically started for the Holy Land in March.

Are Christians, and you are pilgrims.” When the Doge heard this, he was very wroth, and much disturbed, and he said to the counts and barons: “ Signors, I had this city, by their own agreement, at my mercy, and your people have broken that agreement; you have covenanted to help me to conquer it, and I summon you to do so.”

Jerusalem was Heraclius’s last moment of glory

The trip to Jerusalem was Heraclius’s last moment of glory. He fell ill soon afterward; and in the field in the 630s he was represented by other generals, who saw his most important frontiers collapse.

The future lay to the south. Muhammad died in 632, leaving behind a whirlwind prepared to move north, east, and west. The pummeling that Byzantine and Persian forces gave each other and the relative detachment of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt from Byzantine control gave the men of the desert their chance. Just as the northern barbarians had found their strength shadowing the empire they admired, so the Arabs of the desert marches had grown in strength and confidence and were prepared to seize an opportunity. If it was not divine providence that brought them to this moment, they seized it as though it were.

Defeated Theodore

In 634 the Arab armies invaded Syria and defeated Theodore, the emperor’s brother, in a string of battles. Heraclius raised a large army that attacked the Arabs near the Yarmuk River, a tributary of the Jordan, in the fall of 636. After a successful beginning, the larger Byzantine army was defeated and put to flight. Roman Syria was easily taken at that point. The Arabs capitalized on Persia’s disarray by quickly taking the whole of the frontier lands (including Mesopotamia and Armenia) and then Egypt not long afterward. Alexandria fell in 640 after a siege that lasted more than a year. At that time, Muhammad had been dead less than a decade.

What was left for ancient empire? The Balkans, the suburbs of Constantinople, most of Asia Minor, and the African outpost around Carthage that Justinian had seized at such cost. Italy remained, with as much cost as benefit, but the African base would support Constantinople for the sixty years remaining before the Arabs seized it at the turn of the eighth century. (Sicily remained Byzantine much longer: without it, the whole of Byzantine pretension might have fallen.) By the end of the seventh century, the economics of empire had caught up with Constantinople and the city population collapsed.

Heraclius died on February 11, 641, his empire fully and finally in tatters. His two sons failed to establish themselves, and it was his grandson Constans II who became emperor later that year at age eleven, at the onset of what would be a long and pointless reign. Irony alone would accompany him as he visited Rome in 663, the first emperor seen there in two centuries. He was assassinated in his bath in 668, and his successors forgot the west.

Eventually Slavic

The first monks and in many ways the real monks were eastern, whether they spoke Greek, Syriac, Coptic, or, eventually, Slavic. That eastern monasticism is what we find east of the Adriatic to this day, most notably in the ancient communities of Mount Athos in Greece, a whole landscape of celibate communities. Western monasticism was different.

Desert before

Westerners heard about the monastic founders of the desert before they met any of them or their followers. Here and there imitation broke out, but it was not until long after our period that there were any appreciable numbers of western monks. “Desert” in the west didn’t mean a barren landscape so much as it meant a remote wasteland, and the earliest houses were forest hermitages and huts, well away from towns and cities. The most austere landscapes of the eastern monastic desert were often (as in Egypt and around Jerusalem) only a few miles from bright lights and big cities. In the west, monks were more likely to be in genuinely remote locations.

Until the turn of the fifth century, there were few communities, and there was not much excitement outside their walls. Augustine called the household he led at Hippo a monastery, and his sister led a house of religious women there, though they didn’t always get along well. The reputation of the eastern desert came west, inspiring deeds and words. The former soldier Martin drew a small community around him in the last years of the fourth century near Tours in central Gaul. When he was gone, Sulpicius Severus, a writer who had never met him, told his story of piety and power in a book that made him out as a western rival and worthy competitor of the legends of the east. If you think, Sulpicius’s argument ran, that there are holy men in the east, well, we have our own, and here are astonishing stories to prove it. Those stories never really found a readership or a reputation until more than a century later, when the Frankish kings began to present Martin, for their own political reasons, as a locally grown saint and sage.