Albert of Aix: HISTORIA HIEROSOLYMITANAE EXPEDITIONIS

Accepta hac victoria in campo Antiochiae, magnae et regiae civitatis Syriae, episcopus Podiensis et caeteri principes, a fuga et caede exercitus Corbahan reversi in praefatae urbis moenia, basilicam B. Petri [0513B] apostoli, quam Turci suis sacrilegis ritibus profanaverant, ab omni inquinamento mundantes, altaria sancta, quae subversa erant, in omni honestate reaedificaverunt, imaginem vero Domini nostri Jesu Christi et figuras sanctorum, quas in modum viventis personae obcaecatas et obductas coemento obscuraverant, summa reverentia renovabant, cultores catholicos in exsequendis ibidem divinis mysteriis restituentes in omni clero tam Graecorum quam Latinorum. Deinde ex ostro purissimo et serico pretioso et reliquis ornamentis, quae in Antiochia sunt reperta, infulas, dalmaticas, cappas et omnem decorem ad usus ecclesiarum Dei vivi fieri constituerunt, quibus divina officia in templo B. Petri celebraturi sacerdotes et ministri ornarentur, vel [0513C] quando in processione Dominicarum dierum, aut in celebri festo, ad oratorium S. Mariae, matris Domini nostri Jesu Christi, in psalmis et hymnis migrarent. Hoc idem oratorium brevi intervallo distans ab ecclesia B. Petri, adhuc ab iisdem Turcis inviolatum et intactum permansit, et Christianis, inter se post sibi subjugatam urbem dono et licentia eorum commorantibus, solummodo concessum est.

With this victory gained in the field of Antioch, the great and royal city of Syria, the bishop of Podiensis and the other princes, having returned from the flight and slaughter of Corbahan to the walls of the aforesaid city, cleansed the basilica of B. Peter [0513B] the apostle, which the Turks had profaned with their sacrilegious rites, from every pollution; they restored in all decency the holy altars that had been overturned; and they renewed with the greatest reverence the image of our Lord Jesus Christ and the figures of the saints, which the Turks, as if to a living presence, had blinded and darkened with cement, restoring catholic worshippers there to the performance of the divine mysteries in every clerical office both of Greeks and of Latins. Then, out of the purest purple and precious silk and the other ornaments found in Antioch, they resolved to make infulae, dalmatics, copes, and every vestment for the uses of the churches of the living God, with which the priests and ministers who were to celebrate the divine offices in the temple of B. Peter would be adorned; or when in procession on Lord’s days, or on a solemn feast, they went in psalms and hymns to the oratory of S. Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. This same oratory, a short distance from the church of B. Peter, remained meanwhile unviolated and intact by those same Turks, and was granted only to Christians dwelling there among themselves by the gift and licence of those who had subjected the city to them.

Patriarcham vero urbis, virum clarissimum et Christianissimum, quem Turci, cum adhuc Christianorum obsidione circumdarentur, saepius funibus astrictum vivum ad moenia suspenderunt in oculis omnium, ad augendas Christiano populo molestias, et cujus pedes frequenter compedum laesione attriverant, decenter in cathedra sua relocaverunt, et principem Antiochiae cum omni [0513D] subjectione et religione praefecerunt.

They restored, however, the patriarch of the city, a most illustrious and most Christian man, whom the Turks, while the siege of the Christians yet encompassed them, had oft bound with ropes and suspended alive from the walls in the sight of all, to increase the afflictions of the Christian people, and whose feet they had frequently rubbed raw by the injury of the fetter, decorously re‑seated in his chair, and appointed him prince of Antioch with all [0513D] subjection and religious reverence.

CAP. II. - Quibus principibus subjecta sit Antiochia.

CHAPTER 2. - To which princes Antioch was subject.

His itaque divinis rebus praelatis et praeordinatis, Boemundum dominum et advocatum urbis constituerunt, eo quod multum in traditione urbis expendisset, plurimumque laboris pertulisset, ut custodias per turres et moenia adversus Turcorum insidias faceret. Boemundus assumpta potestate et dominio urbis, in praesidio quod in eminentiore loco in montanis habetur, sedem et custodiam suorum posuit, nulla illic Turcorum defensione sibi adversante. Nam audita fuga et contritione suorum, Sansadonias, et qui in arce erant, pariter etiam [0514A] ipsi per montana fugerunt, vacuum et immunitum relinquentes praesidium.

Therefore, these things being set before and preordained by divine affairs, they appointed Boemund lord and advocate of the city, because he had expended much in the tradition of the city and had borne very great labor to make watches along the towers and walls against the ambushes of the Turks. Boemund, having assumed the authority and dominion of the city, placed the seat and the guard of his men in the garrison that is held in a higher place among the mountains, with no Turkish defense opposing him there. For when the flight and crushing of his men, Sansadonias, and those who were in the citadel were heard, likewise they themselves fled through the mountains, leaving the garrison vacant and unprotected [0514A].

Verum Reymundus comes de regione Provinciae, semper insatiatus desiderio acquirendi, turrim eam, quae ponti Fernae imminet versus portum S. Simeonis, invadens, suo munivit satellitio, partemque hanc urbis suae ditioni subesse [0514B] coegit. Caeteri vero principes, Godefridus dux, Robertus Flandrensis, Robertus, princeps Northmannorum, cunctique qui non minus laboris circa urbem pertulerant, minime urbi praeesse, aut ejus redditus vel tributa sibi impertiri quaesiverunt, nolentes fidem et sacramentum, imperatori Constantinopolis factum, violare. Juraverant enim sibi, ut si caperetur Antiochia, quia de regno ejus erat, sicut Nicaea cum omnibus castellis et urbibus, ad regnum ejus pertinentibus, sibi reservarent, suaeque majestati restituerent.

But Count Reymundus of the region of Provence, always insatiate in the desire of acquiring, assaulting that tower which overhangs the bridge of Ferna toward the port of St. Simeon, fortified it with his retinue, and compelled this part to be subject to his dominion [0514B]. The other princes, however, Godfrey the duke, Robert of Flanders, Robert, prince of the Normans, and all who had borne no less labour about the city, sought by no means to preside over the city, nor to have its revenues or tributes imparted to them, unwilling to violate the faith and sacrament made to the emperor at Constantinople. For they had sworn that, if Antioch were taken, because it was of his kingdom, as Nicaea with all the castles and cities pertaining to his kingdom, they would reserve it to themselves and restore it to his majesty.

Ex tunc et deinceps Boemundus comiti Reymundo coepit invidere, sed tamen occulte.

From that time and thereafter Boemund began to envy Count Reymund, but nevertheless secretly.

CAP. III. - De duobus principibus directis, quorum unus periit, alter vix evasit.

CHAPTER 3. - On two princes appointed to command, of whom one perished, the other scarcely escaped.

[0514C] Praedicti vero principes, quibus curae erat fidem et jusjurandum servare, Baldewinum Hamaicorum comitem, una cum Hugone Magno, fratre regis Franciae, paulo post victoriam a Deo collatam direxerunt in legationem ad ipsum imperatorem Graecorum, ut causam ab eo investigarent, cur tam impie se gesserit erga populum Dei; et auxilium, quod pollicitus esset, cur in tanta necessitate exhibere neglexerit, cum in aliquo eos fallaces aut seductores adhuc invenire nequiverit. Injunctum est etiam illis ut eidem imperatori dicerent quomodo ab omni promissione et sacramento principes exercitus soluti haberentur, eo quod omnia quae promiserat auxilia ex timidorum et fugitivorum suggestione [0514D] mentitus esset. Sic quidem duo praedicti principes, assumpta sociorum confratrum legatione, ad ipsum imperatorem viam insistunt per mediam Romaniam.

[0514C] The aforesaid princes, to whom it was the care to preserve faith and sacrament, directed Baldwin, count of Hama, together with Hugh Magnus, brother of the king of the Franks, a little after the victory vouchsafed by God, in legation to the very emperor of the Greeks, that they might inquire of him the cause why he had so impiously conducted himself toward the people of God; and why he had neglected to furnish the aid which he had promised, when in no part could they find him false or a seducer. They were also charged to tell that same emperor how the princes of the host were to be held absolved from every promise and oath, because he had lied concerning all the aids he had promised by the suggestion of the timorous and fugitives [0514D]. Thus indeed the two aforesaid princes, having taken up the legation of their allied brethren, set their course to the emperor through the midst of Romania.

Ubi in confinio Nicaeae in insidias Turcopolorum forte inciderunt, non a dextris vel a sinistris declinare valentes. Turcopoli itaque, gens impia et dicta Christiana nomine non opere, qui et Turco patre et Graeca matre procreati, videntes viros sibi inter manus oblatos, subito irruerunt in eos, Baldewinumque, qui Hugonem aliquantulum praecesserat, ut aiunt, sagittis confixerunt; quidam vero asserunt quod vivum illum et captivum abduxerint; sed latet usque in hodiernum diem, quo fine tam nobilissimus [0515A] et Christianissimus princeps perierit. Hugo autem Magnus, qui modico intervallo viam post Baldewinum continuabat, cernens angustias animae illius, celeri cursu iter remensus est ad silvam quamdam, montibus contiguam, cujus absconsione protectus, manus impiorum invasit.

Where, on the border of Nicaea, they by chance fell into an ambush of Turcopoles, not able to turn either to the right or to the left. The Turcopoles therefore, an impious people called Christian by name but not by deed, born of a Turkish father and a Greek mother, seeing the men offered into their hands, suddenly rushed upon them, and Baldewin, who had gone a little before Hugh the Great, as they say, they pierced with arrows; others, however, assert that they led him away alive and captive; but it remains hidden even to this day by what end so most noble [0515A] and most Christian a prince perished. Hugh the Great, who was following the route a short way behind Baldewin, perceiving the peril of that man, retraced his march with swift running to a certain wood contiguous to the mountains, and, protected by its concealment, escaped the hands of the impious.

CAP. IV. - De plaga mortalitatis, quae facta est in populo Dei.

CHAPTER 4. - On the plague of mortality which came upon the people of God.

Post haec, ex omni parte crebro affluente navigio in cibariis ad portum S. Simeonis, et peregrinis in victoria Dei ab obsidione harbarorum liberatis, felici abundantia cibariorum, omniumque necessariorum fructibus, plaga maximae mortalitatis facta est intra urbem Antiochiam, qua plurima et innumerabilis multitudo Christiani exercitus tam nobilium [0515B] procerum quam humilis vulgi absumpta est. Hac clade mortifera primum venerabilis praesul de Podio percussus, vitam finivit Kal. Augusti: quem nimia lamentatione nobiles et ignobiles deflentes, in ipsa basilica S. Petri sepulturae contulerunt, in eodem loco quo lancea Dominica reperta est.

After these things, with ships frequently coming from every side bringing provisions to the port of St. Simeon, and with pilgrims freed by the victory of God from the siege of the barbarians, there was a most deadly plague within the city of Antioch, by which a very great and innumerable multitude of the Christian host, both of noble chiefs [0515B] and of the humble populace, was consumed. By this deadly pestilence the venerable prelate of Podio was first struck down; he ended his life on the Kalends of August: whom, the nobles and the common folk alike, bewailing with excessive lamentation, laid in burial in the very basilica of St. Peter, in the same place where the Lord’s spear was found.

Sepulto itaque tam venerabili sacerdote, amplior et gravior invaluit haec plaga saevissima, et morte minui adeo Christianorum coepit exercitus, ut per spatium ferme sex mensium vix aliqua oriretur dies, quin centum et quinquaginta vel triginta ad minus, tam nobiles quam ignobiles spiritum vitae exhalarent. Ejusdem cladis atrocitate Henricus de Ascha, miles nobilis genere, moriens occubuit in castello Turbaysel, illic catholice sepultus. Reinardus pariter de Hemersbach, [0515C] miles clarissimus opere et genere, vitam amisit, sepultus in atrio basilicae B. Petri apostolorum principis.

Therefore, with that so venerable priest buried, this most savage plague grew broader and more grievous, and the Christian host began to be so diminished by death that for the space of nearly six months scarcely any day arose without some one hundred and fifty, or at least thirty, both nobles and ignoble, exhaling the spirit of life. By the same atrocious calamity Henricus de Ascha, a knight noble by lineage, dying fell in the castle Turbaysel, there buried according to the Catholic rite. Reinard likewise of Hemersbach, [0515C] a knight most renowned in deed and birth, lost his life, buried in the atrium of the basilica of B. Peter, prince of the apostles.

Praeterea multi tam equites quam pedites, nobiles et ignobiles, monachi et clerici, parvi et magni, quin et sexus femineus, supra centum millia sine ferro morte vastati sunt.

Moreover many, both knights and foot-soldiers, nobles and commoners, monks and clerics, little and great, even of the female sex, more than one hundred thousand were cut down and slain without sword.

CAP. V. - De insidiis Turcorum, et de quodam Folkero et uxore ejus.

CHAPTER 5. - On the ambushes of the Turks, and concerning a certain Folkero and his wife.

Interea multi gaudentes pace et victoria, mortalitatemque hanc vitantes, et causa necessariorum dum viam frequenter Rohas insisterent, sperantes aliquid accipere de manu Baldewini, plurimas insidias et caedes a Turcis, qui habitabant in praesidio Hasart, patiebantur, et saepius capti aliqui abducebantur. [0515D] Quadam autem die quidam Folkerus, miles egregius, de castro Bullon ortus, dum cum uxore sua, quae erat formae elegantis, Rohas cum caeteris fratribus iter faceret, forte in Turcorum insidiantium manus incidit: qui illico cum caeteris, post multam defensionem victus ac decollatus est. Uxor vero illius quia multum prae honestate vultus sui placuit in oculis eorum, capta in praesidium Hasart abducta est.

Meanwhile many, rejoicing in peace and victory and shunning this mortality, and because of necessities while they frequently halted upon the road at Rohas, hoping to receive something from the hand of Baldwin, suffered very many ambushes and massacres from the Turks who dwelt in the garrison Hasart, and oftentimes some were captured and carried off. [0515D] But on a certain day a certain Folkerus, an outstanding soldier, sprung from the castle of Bullon, while he was making a journey with his wife, who was of elegant form, together with Rohas and the other brethren, by chance fell into the hands of the Turks lying in ambush: who at once, with the others, after much resistance were overcome and beheaded. His wife, however, because she greatly pleased their eyes by the beauty of her face, was taken captive and led away into the garrison Hasart.

Princeps ergo et dominus praesidii hanc honorifice tractari jussit, dum videret si in ejus redemptione aliquid magni pretii consequeretur. Nec diu post, quidam Turcorum miles illustrissimus, qui ad dominum praesidii Hasart in conventione solidorum venerat, in concupiscentia formae uxoris Folkeri captus, immoderato amore exarsit, ac [0516A] nimium pro eo dominum praesidii efflagitabat, ut eam dono ejus pro conventione solidorum in conjugium accipere mereretur. Quod et actum est.

The prince and lord of the garrison therefore ordered her to be treated honorably, that he might see whether anything of great price could be obtained for her redemption. And not long after, a certain most illustrious Turkish soldier, who had come to the lord of the garrison Hasart for the convention of solidi, seized by desire for the beauty of Folker’s wife, burned with immoderate love, and [0516A] too greatly implored the lord of the garrison on her behalf, that he might deserve to take her in marriage as a gift for the convention of solidi. Which was done.

CAP. VI. - De inimicitiis inter Brodoan de Alapia et principem Hasart.

CHAPTER 6. - On the enmities between Brodoan of Alapia and Prince Hasart.

Miles itaque Turcus nuptiis his laetatus, multo amplius quam solebat insidias et bellum hostibus domini Hasart inferebat; et praedam de Alapia civitate magna Brodoan, cujusdam principis Turcorum, saepius abduxit, insequentes ad excutienda spolia frequenter captivabat, aut victos detruncabat. Erant enim ad invicem, inter Brodoan de Alapia et principem de Hasart, odium et graves inimicitiae. Transactis dehinc aliquot diebus, Brodoan indignatus, quia miles praedictus manusque militum de Hasart [0516B] saepius sibi adversarentur, de universis partibus civitatis Alapiae Turcos suae ditionis collegit, ut die decreto, Hasart in manu valida obsidens, expugnaret.

Therefore the Turk soldier, rejoicing at these nuptials, brought far more ambushes and war upon the enemies of the lord Hasart than he was wont; and he often carried off the plunder from the great city of Alapia belonging to Brodoan, a certain prince of the Turks, pursuing to strip the spoils he frequently took captive, or cut down the conquered. For between Brodoan of Alapia and the prince of Hasart there was mutual hatred and grave enmities. After several days had passed, Brodoan, indignant because the aforesaid soldier and the bands of Hasart’s soldiers [0516B] were oft opposed to him, gathered Turks of his dominion from all parts of the city of Alapia, so that on the appointed day, besieging Hasart with a strong force at hand, he might capture him.

Hoc comperto, princeps Hasart anxie meditatur, qualiter vires auxiliares acciret, cum quibus occurrere congregatis tot millibus Brodoan valeret.

When this was learned, Prince Hasart anxiously ponders how to summon auxiliary forces, by which, with so many thousands gathered, he might be able to meet Brodoan.

CAP. VII. - Consilium Turci Christianae mariti de adipiscenda Christianorum amicitia.

CHAPTER 7. - The Turk’s plan concerning the Christian husband for acquiring the friendship of the Christians.

Ad haec inter diversa colloquia quae fiebant, miles Turcus, qui Christianam duxerat uxorem, instinctu ejusdem conjugis sic principem Hasart adhortatur, dicens: «An vides, quomodo Brodoan undique Turcorum manum contrahat et vires, atque in multis millibus te et praesidium quod habes, vallare, et expugnare disponit? Nunc, si meo vis credere consilio, [0516C] Godefridum, ducem Christiani exercitus, qui Antiochiam, fugato Corbahan, potenter obtinet, amicum, datis dextris, tibi facere non tardabis, et sic universam Christianorum opem et comitatum in hac instante necessitate scias te adepturum. Nosti enim quod haec gens Christiana cuncta gentibus militari actu et audacia praefertur, et nulli eis fide et honore comparantur.

To these things, amid the various conversations that were taking place, a Turk soldier, who had taken a Christian as his wife, at the instigation of that same wife thus exhorts Prince Hasart, saying: “Do you see how Brodoan draws the hand of the Turks together on every side and marshals forces, and with many thousands sets out to besiege and take by storm you and the garrison you have? Now, if you will trust my counsel, [0516C] you will not be slow to make Godefrid, the leader of the Christian army who, having routed Corbahan, holds Antioch strongly, your friend by the giving of right hands; and so you will know that in this pressing necessity you will obtain the whole aid and following of the Christians. For you know that this Christian nation is preferred to all peoples in military deed and daring, and to none are they comparable in fidelity and honour.

Unde nequaquam consilium hoc parvipendas, sed sine dilatione ejus tibi amicitiam apprehendas; et sic eo foederato, universos Christianos ad omne tibi scias auxilium voluntarios.» Hic vero princeps, sciens hoc sanum esse consilium, seque Brodoan ejusque copiis innumeris sic posse resistere, nuntium Christianae professionis, genere Syrum, hominem mire discretum, Godefrido duci [0516D] Antiochiam misit, in haec verba loquentem:

Wherefore do not at all regard this counsel as of small weight, but without delay secure his friendship for yourself; and thus, having him as ally, know that all Christians will be voluntary helpers to you for every need.» The prince, knowing this to be a sound counsel, and that he and Brodoan with his innumerable forces could thus make resistance, sent to Godefrid, duke of Antioch, a messenger of the Christian profession, by birth a Syrian, a man wondrously discreet, [0516D] speaking in these words:

CAP. VIII. - Legatio principis Hasart ad Godefridum ducem, et quomodo dux haesitat cum Turcis foedus inire.

CHAPTER 8. - The embassy of Prince Hasart to Duke Godefrid, and how the duke hesitates to enter into a treaty with the Turks.

«Princeps Hasart, Godefrido magno principi ac duci Christianorum, salutem, et omne quod melius optari potest. Consilio nostrorum ad te direximus, pacem et concordiam inter nos componere, fidem et amicitiam statuere, atque ad omnem bellicam necessitatem arma nostra esse communia. Comperimus enim quomodo vir et princeps potens es viribus, et quod auxilium ferre vales tibi confoederatis, et nulla levitate a fidei tuae vinculo poteris resolvi.

«Prince Hasart, to Godefrid, great prince and leader of the Christians, greeting, and every good thing that can be wished. By the counsel of our men we have directed (this) to you: to compose peace and concord between us, to establish faith and friendship, and that in every warlike necessity our arms be common. For we have learned how you are a man and prince powerful in strength, and that you are able to bear aid to your confederates, and by no levity can you be loosed from the bond of your fidelity.

Unde prae omnibus te elegimus, te convenimus, opem a te [0517A] quaerimus, foedus percutimus, fiducia hac qua certus nostrae fidei semper habearis. Brodoan de civitate Alapia nobis factus inimicus, Turcorum undique contraxit auxilia, in brevi ad praesidium nostrum Hasart in virtute magna et copioso exercitu perventurus. Cui non in alio auxilio Turcorum principum occurrere et resistere decrevi, sed in manu tua, si credere mihi et succurrere non recuses.» Godefridus dux, audita hac legatione, consilio suorum habito, fiduciam statuendae pacis requirit, haesitans ne Turcorum perfidia sibi suisque aliquo iniquo machinamento obesse possit, corrupto foedere sub aliqua pravae occasionis industria.

Wherefore above all we have chosen you, we have come to you, we seek aid from you [0517A], we strike a foedus, by this confidence that you may always be reckoned certain of our fidelity. Brodoan of the city of Alapia, made our enemy, has drawn together Turk auxiliaries on every side, and shortly, with great force and a plentiful army, will come to our garrison Hasart. For him I have resolved not to meet and resist with the aid of other Turkish princes, but in your hand, if you will not refuse to believe me and to succour us. Duke Godefridus, this legation heard, after holding counsel with his men, seeks assurance for the peace to be established, hesitating that the perfidy of the Turks might in some unjust contrivance be harmful to him and his, the foedus corrupted by some artifice of a perverse opportunity.

CAP. IX. - Mahumet, filius principis, duci Godefrido datur obses: columbae foederis nuntiae emittuntur.

CHAPTER 9. - Mahumet, the son of the prince, is given to Duke Godefrid as a hostage: doves, messengers of the treaty, are sent forth.

[0517B] Audiens vero princeps de Hasart ex legati sui relatione, quia dux et sui de hac concordia haesitarent, et non multum in Turcorum promissis confiderent, duci filium suum, Mahumet nomine, quem tenere diligebat, obsidem misit, ut certior inter se statuendae pacis ac foederis abhinc et deinceps redderetur. Dux, filio illius obside accepto, fidem et amicitiam cum illo pepigit, et se ad omnia adversantia sibi auxiliari et nunquam deficere, stabili juramento promisit. His ita promissis, diem certam statuit, qua ad auxilium contra Brodoan Christianum conduceret exercitum, et Turcorum legiones ab obsidione Hasart, Domino Deo suo Jesu Christo auxiliante, effugaret.

[0517B] Now when the prince heard from his legate concerning Hasart that the duke and his men hesitated about this concord, and did not place much confidence in the Turks’ promises, he sent his son to the duke as a hostage, named Mahumet, whom he loved to keep, so that he might be made more certain concerning the peace and foedus to be agreed between them henceforth and thereafter. The duke, having received that son as hostage, pledged faith and friendship with him, and by a firm oath promised to assist him in all adversities and never to fail. These promises having been so made, he set a certain day on which he would lead an army to the aid against the Christian Brodoan, and, the Lord God Jesus Christ assisting him, would drive the Turkish legions from the siege of Hasart.

Haec dux dum constanter pollicetur, legati de praesidio Hasart vehementer jucundati [0517C] et laetati sunt; et sine mora columbas duas, aves gratas ac domitas, secum allatas eduxerunt a sinu suo, ac charta, ducis responsis promissisque fidelibus inscripta, caudis illarum filo innodata, e manibus suis has ad ferenda laeta nuntia emiserunt. Dux et universi, qui cum eo aderant, de hac avium emissione mirantur. Sed illico, cur per aves haec fiant nuntia, illis a legatis responsum est: «Non dominus noster dux, ejusque fideles super emissis mirentur columbis, quas non pueriliter, non frustra, praemisimus; sed hac de causa praemissae sunt, ut rapido et incessabili volatu legationem fidei, quam erga eum habes, accelerent, et de auxilio tuo certificent, qualiscunque nobis in via fortuna vel impedimentum occurrerit.

While the duke thus steadfastly promised, the envoys at the garrison of Hasart were exceedingly pleased and glad [0517C]; and without delay they led out two doves, birds pleasing and tame, which they had brought with them from their bosoms, and a paper, inscribed with the duke’s faithful replies and promises, being tied by thread to the tails of those birds, they sent them forth from their hands as bearers of these joyful messages. The duke and all who were with him marvel at this sending of the birds. But immediately, when they asked why these messages were sent by birds, the envoys answered them: “Neither our lord the duke nor his faithful followers should marvel at the released doves, which we sent not childishly, not in vain; but they were sent for this reason: that by rapid and unceasing flight they might hasten the legation of fidelity which you bear toward him, and certify about your aid, whatever fortune or impediment may meet us on the way.

Est et aliud quare hae aves cum chartulis praemittuntur, [0517D] ne si in sinu nostro repertae fuerint ab aliquibus fratribus nostris Turcis, rei morti damnemur.» Jam cum chartis sibi commissis aves avolaverunt, in solium et mensam ducis Hasart fideliter reversae. Princeps autem de Hasart ex more solito aves domesticas pie suscipiens, chartas intitulatas a caudis earum solvit, secreta ducis Godefridi perlegit, diem adventus sui ad auxilium, et in quantis millibus Christiani exercitus subveniret, pernoscit.

There is also another reason why these birds are sent ahead with little papers, [0517D] namely lest, if found on our bosom by any of our Turkish brethren, we be harmed to death in the matter. Now, the birds having flown away with the entrusted papers, faithfully returned to the seat and table of Duke Hasart. The prince, however, receiving the domestic birds piously in the customary manner, untied the papers titled from their tails, read over the secrets of Duke Godefrid, learned the day of his coming for aid and in what numbers of thousands the Christian army would come to assist.

CAP. X. - Brodoan Hasart obsidet, Christianorum supervenit exercitus.

CHAPTER 10. - Brodoan besieges Hasart, the Christian army comes up.

His perlectis et agnitis, et Godefridi certus amicitiae et fidei, praesidium Hasart plurimis militum munivit armis et copiis Turcorum sibi auxiliantium, [0518A] quas e diversis accivit locis. Et ecce Brodoan in manu forti et numero quadraginta millium virorum Turcorum descendit in campos Hasart, sedemque in circuitu murorum illius fixis tentoriis locavit, gravi assultu moenia et turres de die in diem oppugnans. Vix quinque sederat diebus, et ecce dux Godefridus in fortitudine multa ab Antiochia est egressus in vexillis mirae pulchritudinis, in loricis et galeis, in sagittis equitum et peditum, spatio dierum trium iter faciens.

These things read and recognized, and Godefrid assured of the friendship and fidelity, fortified the garrison of Hasart with very many soldiers, with arms and the forces of Turks aiding him, [0518A] which he had gathered from diverse places. And behold Brodoan, with a strong hand and in the number of forty thousand Turkic men, descended upon the fields of Hasart, and fixed his seat about its walls by setting up tents, assaulting the walls and towers with grievous attack day by day. He had scarcely sat five days, when behold Duke Godefrid, in great strength, issued forth from Antioch under standards of wondrous beauty, clad in loricae and helmets, with horse- and foot-archers, making the march in the space of three days.

Peracta via unius diei, Baldewinus, frater ipsius, a Rohas proficiscens cum tribus millibus virorum pugnatorum, occurrit in vexillis per aerem coruscantibus, ex ducis legatione accitus. At Boemundus et Reymundus vehementi invidia indignati sunt, quod ipse princeps de Hasart primum [0518B] ad Godefridum mittens, foedus inierit, filiumque suum sibi obsidem mutuae fidei dederit: et ideo omnino se in hanc ducis expeditionem proficisci recusarunt.

After the completion of a one‑day march, Baldwin, his brother, setting out from Rohas with three thousand fighting men, encountered troops with standards flashing through the air, summoned by the duke’s legation. But Bohemond and Raymond, inflamed with bitter envy, were angry that the prince himself, first sending from Hasart to Godfrey, had entered into a treaty [0518B] and had given his son to him as a hostage of mutual faith; and therefore they altogether refused to set out on this duke’s expedition.

CAP. XI. - Boemundus et Reymundus duci Godefrido associantur: obsidio solvitur, sed per insidias quidam de Christianis occiduntur.

CHAPTER 11. - Boemund and Reymund join themselves to Duke Godefrid: the siege is lifted, but by treachery some of the Christians are slain.

Dux, jam itinere unius diei expleto, videns quod principes hi prae invidia remanserant, nec blandis monitis nec humili prece flecti poterant ut venirent, iterato eis legationem misit, in hunc modum locutus: «Non decet vos, qui estis columnae et ductores Christiani exercitus, ut vos fratres vestros conchristianos auxilii vestri immunes relinquatis, occasionem falsam adversum nos sumentes, cum [0518C] adhuc in nulla angustia vel necessitate vobis defuerimus; sed semper in via hac etiam pro vobis mori parati fuerimus. Credite procul dubio quod si hodie remanseritis, nec opem nobis ad id negotium tuleritis, hostes vestri erimus, nec ad ullam causam ad vos pertinentem ultra pes noster movebitur.» Boemundus et Reymundus videntes quod manus universa Christianorum ad vocem ducis Godefridi viam Hasart insistebat, et quod dux caeterique confratres eis in ira loquerentur, recordati sunt quod injuste egissent erga fratres suos; ac compuncti, sociis suis tam equitum quam peditum circiter quatuor millia adunatis, Godefridum via regia secuti, in regione Hasart associati sunt. Erat numerus congregatorum principum et eorum exercitus triginta [0518D] millia virorum pugnatorum.

The duke, a single day’s journey now completed, seeing that these princes had remained behind through envy, and that they could be moved neither by gentle admonitions nor by humble prayers to come, sent them a legation again, having spoken to them in this manner: «It is not fitting for you, who are the columns and leaders of the Christian host, that you leave your brothers, your fellow-Christians, exempt from your aid, taking a false occasion against us, when [0518C] hitherto we have failed you in no strait or necessity; but always on this road we would even be ready to die for you. Believe without doubt that if you remain today, and do not bring us aid for this enterprise, you will be our enemies, and our foot will no longer be moved to any cause that pertains to you.» Boemund and Reymund, seeing that the whole force of the Christians at Duke Godefrid’s voice pressed forward upon the way to Hasart, and that the duke and the other brethren spoke to them in anger, remembered that they had acted unjustly toward their brothers; and, pricked with remorse, having gathered about four thousand of their allies, both horse and foot, they followed Godefrid by the royal road and were joined with him in the region Hasart. The number of the assembled princes and their army was thirty [0518D] thousand fighting men.

Brodoan et qui cum eo in obsidione Hasart convenerant, cognoscentes quia agmina Christianorum campos vicinos introissent, a longe e castris eorum ignes in nocte relucere, et nebulam fumorum ascendere intuentes, ex consilio et pari mente castra ab obsidione moverunt, scientes quod tot millibus resistere minime valerent. Ex his ad decem millia in circuitu longae remotione viae per notas semitas et montana gradientes, tardatos et subsequentes peregrinos ac postremos exercitus sagittis a tergo incurrerunt, et sexcentos subito expugnatos et exterritos, clam duce et eis, qui longo spatio duorum milliarium praecesserant, in ore gladii percusserunt.

Brodoan and those who had met with him in the siege of Hasart, perceiving that the masses of the Christians had entered the neighboring fields, and seeing from afar their fires gleaming by night from their camp and a cloud of smoke rising, by common counsel and like mind removed their camp from the siege, knowing that they could in no wise resist so many thousands. Of these, about ten thousand, going round by a long detour of the road along known paths and mountains, fell upon the slow and lagging pilgrims and the rearguard of the army with arrows from the rear, and six hundred, suddenly assaulted and terrified, they cut down; with a shout they fell upon the duke and those who had gone ahead by a long space of two miles, and smote them with the sword.

CAP. XII. - A principe Hasart cum magna gratiarum actione suscipitur dux Godefridus: foedus renovatur. [0519A]

CHAPTER 12. - Duke Godefridus is received by Prince Hasart with great thanksgiving: the treaty is renewed. [0519A]

Hanc famam crudelem dux et sui comperientes, equorum velocitate invecti, Turcis a caede hac revertentibus in valle montium regionis Hasart properata via occurrerunt, non modicam stragem illorum lanceis et gladiis illic facientes. His attritis, et fuga per montana et veprium condensa dilapsis, dux et caeteri comprimores ad praesidium Hasart applicuerunt. Quibus princeps illius cum trecentis, galea et lorica fulgenti opertis, occurrit, multas gratiarum actiones referens duci super omnibus quae ejus auxilio adversus inimicorum vires victrices illis contigerunt.

Having learned this cruel report, the duke and his men, mounted with the speed of horses, met on a hastened road the Turks returning from that slaughter in a valley of the mountains of the region Hasart, making there no small carnage of them with lances and swords. These having been wearied, and, scattered in flight through the mountains and bramble-thick thickets, the duke and his fellow-companions made for the stronghold of Hasart. To them their prince met with 300, helmets and gleaming cuirasses donned, rendering many thanks to the duke for all the victories which, by his aid against the forces of the enemy, had befallen them.

Moxque renovato foedere, amiticia duci [0519B] inviolabili conjunctus est in aspectu omnium qui aderant, promittens se stabilem et nunquam alienari a societate ipsius ducis et Christianorum familiaritate ac dilectione. Dux ex consilio suorum viro sibi confoederato galeam, auro et argento mire insertam, et loricam magnae honestatis contulit, qua Herebrandus de Bullon, miles nobilis et bellico actu insignis, praelia commissurus semper induebatur. Brodoan igitur ab obsidione Hasart fugato, et principe ejusdem praesidii a duce et omnibus primoribus benigne commendato, ac pacifice in sua relato, exercitus Antiochiam repedavit, et in victoria ac pace magna universi principes in ea consederunt.

And soon, the pact having been renewed, he was joined to the duke by an inviolable friendship [0519B] in the sight of all who were present, promising that he would be steadfast and never alienated from the companionship of that duke and from the familiarity and affection of the Christians. The duke, by the counsel of his men, bestowed upon the man allied to him a helmet with gold and silver wondrously inlaid, and a cuirass of great honour, which Herebrandus of Bullon, a noble knight and notable in martial deed, was always wont to don when about to enter into battles. Therefore Brodoan, the siege of Hasart being routed, and its garrison-prince kindly commended by the duke and all the chiefs, and having returned peaceably to his own, led the army back to Antioch, and in the great victory and peace all the princes there took their seats.

CAP. XIII. - Dux, invalescente pestilentia, coactus necessitate temporis, recessit ab Antiochia.

CHAPTER 13. - The duke, the pestilence growing strong, compelled by the necessity of the time, withdrew from Antioch.

[0519C] Post haec, praedictae pestilentiae tempestate amplius et validius ingruente, multisque principibus cum plebeia manu morientibus, dux Godefridus, memor quomodo persimili clade olim est Romae tactus in expeditione quam egit cum Henrico, rege quarto, imperatore Romanorum tertio; et quomodo illic in pestifero mense Augusto quingenti fortissimi milites pluresque nobiles obierint, et plures exterriti, cum ipso Caesare ab urbe recesserint, nunc idem malum metuens, ab Antiochia recedens, secessit versus montana Pancratii et Corovassilii; et habitavit in urbibus Ravenel et Turbaysel, a fratre Baldewino ante obsidionem Antiochiae subjugatis, et post transmigrationem suam in Rohas eidem fratri et duci relictis.

[0519C] After these things, with the aforesaid pestilence pressing in more strongly, and many princes dying with plebeian hands, Duke Godefridus, mindful how by a very similar plague he had once been struck at Rome on the expedition he made with Henry, the fourth king, the third emperor of the Romans; and how there in the pestilential month of August five hundred very brave soldiers and many nobles died, and many, terrified, with the emperor himself withdrew from the city, now fearing the same evil, withdrawing from Antioch, retired toward the mountains of Pancratius and Corovassilius; and he took up residence in the towns Ravenel and Turbaysel, which had been subdued by his brother Baldwin before the siege of Antioch, and, after his own removal, left at Rohas to that same brother and duke.

CAP. XIV. - Dux ipse cum paucis Christianis praesidia inimica subvertit. [0519D]

CHAPTER 14. - The duke himself, with a few Christians, overturned hostile garrisons. [0519D]

In eisdem siquidem praesidiis quidam Armenii fratres, monachico habitu Deo servientes, multas passi calumnias a militibus Pancratii habitantibus in praesidio, praefatis locis Ravenel et Turbaysel contermino, ipsum ducem, videntes virum esse pacificum et amatorem justitiae, sunt aggressi, querimoniam super illatis sibi injuriis facientes, et super arce Pancratii semper eisdem castellis eorumque habitatoribus infesta. Dux vero Christianissimus querimoniis pauperum Christi pulsatus, et harum injuriarum non immemor, quas sibi idem Pancratius fecerat, cum adhuc a Christianis obsidio circa muros Antiochiae [0520A] fieret, moleste tulit, omnibus modis de his ultionem sumere meditans. Spoliaverat enim Pancratius legatos Baldewini, fratris ejusdem ducis, magnis et honorificis donis tam pecuniae quam caeterarum rerum, dum iter per terram et patriam ejus agerent, quae omnia Boemundo principi ad componendam cum eo amicitiam mittere non expavit.

In those same garrisons certain Armenian brethren, serving God in monachic habit, having suffered many calumnies from the soldiers of Pancratius dwelling in the garrison, contiguous to the aforesaid places Ravenel and Turbaysel, attacked the duke himself, seeing him to be a peaceful man and a lover of justice, and laid complaint concerning the injuries done to them, and that Pancratius’s citadel and his same castles and their inhabitants were hostile to them. The duke, most Christian, smitten by the complaints of the poor of Christ, and not forgetful of those injuries which the same Pancratius had done to him, while still a siege by the Christians about the walls of Antioch [0520A] was being carried on, took it grievously, pondering by every means to take vengeance for these matters. For Pancratius had despoiled the legates of Baldwin, the brother of that same duke, of large and honorific gifts both of money and of other things while they journeyed through his land and country, and he did not shrink from sending all these to Prince Boemund to compose a friendship with him.

His itaque injuriis et pauperum querimoniis, nunc dux commotus, quinquaginta milites suorum sequacium eligens, in loricis, clypeis et lanceis, in balistis et lanceis Armeniacis profectus est ad vicinam arcem, in qua noxii praedones Pancratii morabantur. Hanc omni virtute instans, oppugnat repentino assultu, expugnatam flamma et igne humi cogit procumbere, viginti ex militibus, quos in ea reperit, ejus jussu [0520B] excaecatis in retributionem et vindictam superbiae et injuriarum quas Pancratius sibi Christique pauperibus inferre praesumpsit. Similiter arx et praesidium Corrovassilii assultu et virtute militum ducis, ex diversis calumniis et injuriis, quas Christianis intulerat, crematum, expugnatum, humique prostratum est.

Moved therefore by these injuries and the complaints of the poor, now the duke, choosing fifty of his own followers, in cuirasses, with shields and spears, setting forth with balistae and Armenian lances, advanced to the neighboring citadel in which the guilty marauders of Pancratius were lodged. Pressing upon it with all vigour, he assaulted it by sudden onslaught; when it was taken he drove them to the ground with flame and fire, and twenty of the soldiers whom he found there, by his command, were blinded [0520B] in retribution and vengeance for the pride and injuries which Pancratius had presumed to inflict upon him and upon Christ’s poor. Likewise the citadel and garrison of Corrovassilius, by assault and the valour of the duke’s soldiers, on account of the various calumnies and injuries which they had inflicted on Christians, was burned, captured, and laid low to the ground.

CAP. XV. - Baldewinus confluentes ad se Christianos donis plurimis munerat, Turcos edomat.

CHAPTER 15. - Baldwin, having bestowed very many gifts upon the Christians flocking to him, subdued the Turks.

Duce itaque Godefrido ab Hasart in Antiochiam reverso, dehinc obside Mahumet in manu et custodia suorum Antiochiae relicto, Turbaysel et Ravenel profecto, Baldewino vero ab Hasart cum suis Rohas reverso, plurimi de exercitu viri nobiles et ignobiles, Drogo de Nahella, Reinardus de Tul, Gastus [0520C] de Berdeiz, Folkerus Carnutensis, caeterique primates et commilitones per centenos et quinquagenos alii equo, alii pede, venerunt ad civitatem Rohas, ut a Baldewino, duce et principe in civitate et regione facto, pro obsequio militari praemia mererentur, moram aliquam apud eum facientes. Erant enim summa necessitate gravati, et longa expeditione rebus exhausti necessariis. Affluebant autem et accrescebant singulis diebus in numero et virtute, dum fere tota civitas obsessa a Gallis, et eorum hospitalitate occupata est.

When therefore Godfrey, having returned from Hasart to Antioch, and thereafter, Mahumet being left in Antioch in the hand and custody of his own men, Turbaysel and Ravenel indeed, and Baldwin having returned from Hasart to Rohas with his men, very many men of the army, noble and ignoble — Drogo of Nahella, Reinard of Tul, Gastus of Berdeiz, Folkerus of Chartres, and the other chiefs and comrades in hundreds and fifties, some on horse, some on foot — came to the city Rohas, so that from Baldwin, made duke and prince in the city and region, they might earn rewards for military service, making a certain stay with him. For they were weighed down by great need, and worn out of necessities by the long expedition. They moreover flowed in and increased in number and strength day by day, while almost the whole city was besieged by the Franks and taken up with their hospitality.

Baldewinus singulis de die in diem in byzantiis auri, in talentis et vasis argenteis dona plurima conferebat; regiones et cuncta sibi adversantia congressione belli edomabat, Turcos et omnes in circuitu subjugabat, donec foedus [0520D] nobiliores et praepotentes terrae cum eo percusserunt.

Baldwin, day by day, bestowed very many gifts in byzantiis of gold, in talents and in silver vessels; he subdued regions and all things opposing him by meeting them in battle, and he subjugated the Turks and all in the surrounding region, until a foedus [0520D] the more noble and most powerful men of the land struck with him.

CAP. XVI. - Baldewinus conspirantes adversus se proscribit, et custodiae mancipat.

CHAPTER 16. - Baldwin proscribes those conspiring against him, and consigns them to custody.

Hanc Francorum gentem ab Antiochia et e cunctis locis sic ebullire et praevalere in omni actu et arte, duodecim principes et indigenae civitatis Rohas vel Edessae intuentes, eorumque consilia suis praeponi, et cum eis de omni re et negotio terrae Baldewinum agere, eosque et eorum decreta plus solito negligere, vehementi indignatione adversus eum suosque exarserunt. Et omnino ab his exterminari metuentes, nimium poenituit eos quod Baldewinum ducem ac dominum civitati praefecissent. Unde facta clam [0521A] conspiratione et missa turcis legatione, traditionem adversus Baldewinum machinabantur, qualiter cum suis aut occidi aut ab urbe posset depelli.

Seeing that this Frankish people from Antioch and from all places thus boiled up and prevailed in every deed and art, twelve princes and the natives of the city Rohas or Edessa, perceiving that their counsels were set before their own, and that Baldwin dealt with them about every matter and business of the land, and that they and their decrees were neglected more than usual, flamed up with vehement indignation against him and his. And, altogether fearing to be exterminated by these, they sorely repented that they had appointed Baldwin leader and lord of the city. Wherefore, a secret conspiracy having been made [0521A] and a legation sent to the Turks, they plotted a handing‑over against Baldwin — how he with his men might either be slain or driven from the city.

Quod dum inter se frequenti et secreto conventu aptarent, quidam ex eis, Enxhu nomine, fidem puram intimo corde et mente erga Baldewinum servans, fraudis adinventores et consentaneos sibi ex ordine aperuit, ideoque se suosque et civitatis introitus nocte et die ab illorum traditione necesse esse tueri, ne improvisos et incautos Turcorum vires et insidiae reperire possent. Baldewinus talem tantamque perfidiam eos machinari nunc veraci relatione, nunc tristis vultus illorum immutatione expertus, missa familiari et devota sibi manu Gallorum, universos jussit teneri et carceris custodiae mancipari; omnem vero substantiam [0521B] et pecuniam illorum inauditam suo inferri palatio, quam non parce suis sequacibus pro militari obsequio expendit.

While they were fitting this out among themselves in frequent and secret assembly, one of them, named Enxhu, keeping pure faith in his inward heart and mind toward Baldwin, openly disclosed to the inventors of the fraud and to those of their order who were consociated with him, and therefore that he and his men and the city's entrances must necessarily be guarded by night and by day against their treachery, lest they should find the Turks’ forces and ambushes unawares and unwary. Baldwin, having learned that they contrived such a great perfidy — now by a truthful report, now by the change of their sad countenances — and having sent a familiar and devout band of Gauls to him, ordered that all be held and bound in prison custody; and that all their substance [0521B] and money be brought unheard into his palace, which he did not sparingly expend on his followers for military service.

CAP. XVII. - Baldewinus nimia datione exhaustus, pro redemptione captivorum munera suscipit, quosdam excruciat, et urbe depellit.

CHAPTER 17. - Baldewinus, exhausted by excessive munificence, accepts gifts for the redemption of captives, tortures some, and expels them from the city.

Deinde pluribus diebus evolutis, et multum illis pro vita et membrorum salute precantibus, plurimumque se excusantibus, dona vero non modica per exoratores pro sua redemptione offerentibus, Baldewinus suorum semper consilio ad altiora tendebat, sciens ex ore delatorum quod per vicina castella et munitiones thesauros ampliores, quodque pretiosius habebant, a facie Christiani exercitus absconderant. Postremo ex nimia datione et solidorum conventione, [0521C] et magnitudine donorum, quae non solum Gallorum primatibus, sed et inferiori manui contulerat, Baldewinus exhaustus, munera pro redemptione captivorum suscipienda concessit. Duorum tantum munera recusavit, quos nimium culpatos et reos traditionis jussit excaecari.

Then, after several days had run their course, and with them greatly entreating for life and the health of their limbs, and much excusing themselves, and indeed offering not insignificant gifts through suppliants for their ransom, Baldewinus, by the counsel of his own men always striving for loftier things, knowing from the mouths of the informers that through nearby castles and fortifications they had concealed larger treasuries, and those things which they held more precious, from the face of the Christian army. Finally, through excessive giving and the collection of solidi, [0521C] and by the magnitude of the gifts, which he had bestowed not only on the Frankish magnates but also on the lower band, Baldewinus, exhausted, permitted that gifts be received for the redemption of the captives. He refused only two gifts, and ordered those two—deemed too culpable and guilty of the betrayal—to be blinded.

Plures vero vulgi consocios sceleris, amputatis naribus, manibus aut pedibus, condemnatos urbe jussit expelli. Non minus a singulis redemptis quam viginti millia byzantiorum aut triginta aut sexaginta in aerarium ducis Baldewini illata sunt, praeter mulos et equos, vasa argentea plurimaque ornamenta pretiosa. Ab illo die et deinceps dux Baldewinus in civitate Rohas factus est metuendus et nomen ejus usque ad extremum [0521D] terrae divulgatum est virtute praeclarus existens.

He ordered that several associates of the rabble in the crime, condemned and with noses, hands, or feet amputated, be expelled from the city. No less than 20,000 Byzantine gold coins, or 30 or 60, were brought into Duke Baldwin’s treasury from each of the ransomed, besides mules and horses, many silver vessels and very many precious ornaments. From that day forward Duke Baldwin became feared in the city of Rohas, and his name was spread to the farthest [0521D] parts of the land, he being illustrious in virtue.

CAP. XVIII. - De socero Baldewini et de dolo Balas in praesidio Amacha.

CHAPTER 18. - Of Baldwin’s father-in-law and of Balas’s deceit at the garrison Amacha.

Socer autem Baldewini, Taphnuz nomine, videns quia sic de viris perfidiae ultionem sumpsit, eosque damnis rerum et tormentis membrorum afflixit, occasione assumpta in munitiones suas in montana perterritus fugit, nec ultra revocari potuit, metuens ne pro pecunia, quam adhuc debebat, capitalem subiret sententiam. Balas quoque de Sororgia civitate, spe recuperandae civitatis frustratus de manu Baldewini vel quidquam accipiendi propter affluentiam Gallorum, et quia cor illius omnino ad eos intendebat dolos, in secreto cordis sui aptare coepit qualiter [0522A] Baldewinum ad interitum callido consilio perduceret. Tandem via reperta iniquae fraudis, qua eum decipere aut perdere posset, die quadam, ac si in puritate fidei, eum circumveniens, sic locutus est: «Scio quia vir magnae potentiae es et industriae, et non parce eos remuneras, qui tibi in obsequio militari voluntarii habentur.

But Baldwin’s father-in-law, named Taphnuz, seeing that thus he had exacted vengeance upon men of perfidy, and had afflicted them with losses of goods and tortures of limbs, seized by the occasion fled terrified into his fortifications in the mountains, nor could he be called back, fearing lest for the money which he still owed he suffer a capital sentence. Balas likewise, of the city Sororgia, frustrated in the hope of recovering the city from Baldwin’s hand or of receiving anything because of the affluence of the Franks, and because his heart entirely inclined to their deceits, began in the secrecy of his heart to fit how [0522A] he might conduct Baldwin to destruction by a crafty counsel. At last, a way of unjust fraud having been found, by which he could deceive or ruin him, on a certain day, approaching him as if in purity of faith, he spoke thus: “I know that you are a man of great power and industry, and you do not spare to reward those who are held to be volunteers in military service to you.

Unde devovi tacite mecum ut non solum me, filiosque et uxorem meam in manu tua commendem, sed et praesidium meum Amacha, quo terram plurimam subjugare potes, tibi tradam die quam melius aptam ad id suscipiendum elegeris.» Baldewinus vero tam benigne et sibi fideliter loquenti, gavisus de susceptione praesidii, apprime credidit; et diem statuit, qua secundum verbum Balas sibi traditio praesidii sine aliquo fieret impedimento.

“Wherefore I silently vowed within myself that I would not only commit myself, my sons, and my wife into your hand, but also my garrison Amacha, by which you are able to subjugate very much land, I will deliver to you on the day which you shall choose as best suited to undertake this.” Baldewinus, however, hearing him speak so kindly and loyally to him, rejoicing at the reception of the garrison, most readily believed; and he fixed the day on which, according to Balas’s word, the handing over of the garrison to him would be effected without any impediment.

CAP. XIX. - Quomodo quidam viri sensati Baldewinum contra perfidiam Turci muniunt. [0522B]

CHAPTER 19. - How certain sensible men fortify Baldewin against the perfidy of the Turk. [0522B]

Jam die appropinquante, Balas doli sui non immemor, Turcos centum armis et loricis munitos castro Amacha induxit et per mansiunculas praesidii hac et illac insidias inclusit, ut sic Baldewinum cum suis ingredientem vivum comprehenderent, suaeque ditioni submitterent. Baldewinus fraudis hujus nescius, sumptis ducentis militibus strenuis ad omne belli opus, usque ad praesidium Amacha profectus est, et Balam, juxta quod promiserat, paratum ad reddendum praesidium invenit. Balam vero multum rogantem, et in dolo mellito ore adulantem, ut cum aliquibus de societate electis praesidium intraret ac [0522C] susciperet, et in ejus custodia fideliores, quos vellet, relinquere ordinaret, ille fere audivit et credidit; sociosque secum ascensuros et intraturos jam assumere parabat, et qui extra remanerent disponebat.

Now with the day approaching, Balas, not forgetful of his guile, led a hundred Turks armed and in loricae into the castrum Amacha and, through the small dwellings of the praesidium, enclosed ambushes here and there, so that thus they might seize Baldewin as he entered with his men alive, and subject him to his dominion. Baldewin, ignorant of this fraud, having taken two hundred vigorous soldiers for every need of war, advanced as far as the praesidium Amacha, and found Balas, according to what he had promised, ready to surrender the garrison. Balas, however, much entreating and flattering with a honeyed tongue in deceit, that he enter and receive the garrison with some chosen men of the fellowship, and that he order to be left in its custody the more faithful whom he wished, Baldewin almost heard and believed; and he was preparing already to take on board and admit the partners who would embark with him, and he was arranging those who would remain outside. [0522C]

Sed ecce quidam viri sensati Gallorum nihil fidei in hujus verbis et promissis esse astruentes, Baldewinum seorsim ducunt et vehementer arguunt quod verbis hujus Turci gentilis tam subito crediderit, et sine obside fiducialiter ejus praesidium cum modica manu intrare concesserit.

But behold, certain sensible men of the French, asserting that there was no faith in this man’s words and promises, led Baldewin aside and vehemently rebuked him that he had so quickly believed the words of this gentile Turk, and had, without a hostage, trustfully permitted him to enter his garrison with a small band.

CAP. XX. - Quomodo Baldewinus perfidiam Turci in captione suorum experitur.

CHAPTER 20. - How Baldewinus experiences the perfidy of the Turk in the capture of his men.

Tandem de hoc diu dubitantibus plurimumque consilii habentibus, et Baldewinum ab ingressu praesidii [0522D] ex toto avertentibus, decretum est utrinque ut Baldewinus cum sociis in valle praestolaretur, et duodecim ex sociis, in quibus confideret, ad arcem suscipiendam praemitteret, qui eam suae ditioni, clavibus serisque sumptis, potenter subjicerent. Nec mora, viri duodecim ad arcem suscipiendam electi, armis et loricis induti, praesidium et turrim Amacha intraverunt. Qui mox ut mediis insidiis astiterunt, centum Turci ex mansiunculis in impetu exsilientes, viros armis et sagittis circumdederunt, et parum adversus tantos in defensione valentes comprehenderunt.

At last, with many still hesitating about this and holding much counsel, and with those wholly deterring Baldewin from entering the garrison [0522D], it was decreed on both sides that Baldewin should wait with his companions in the valley, and that twelve of his companions, in whom he trusted, should be sent ahead to take charge of the citadel, who, taking keys and locks, would firmly subject it to his dominion. Nor was there delay: twelve men chosen to take the citadel, clad in arms and lorics, entered the garrison and the tower called Amacha. Those men, as soon as they stood in the midst as an ambush, one hundred Turks leaping forth from the little houses in a rush surrounded the men with weapons and arrows, and, being little able in defense against so many, they were seized.

Duo solummodo ex duodecim se virili et multa repugnatione a manibus hostium extorquentes, subito in solium, quod fenestratum in vallem respiciebat, evaserunt, gladiis eductis se ab insequentibus [0523A] hostibus valide adeo defendentes, dum caput a fenestris exerentes, Baldewinum ad radicem montis cum suis stantem admonuerunt ut se a dolis observaret, asserentes decem in fide falsa captos, et se in periculo mortis evidenter constitutos.

Only two of the twelve, wresting themselves by manly and great resistance from the hands of the enemy, suddenly escaped to the seat which was windowed toward the valley, drawing their swords and so stoutly defending themselves from the pursuing hosts, and, while thrusting their heads out of the windows, warned Baldewin standing at the root of the mountain with his men to beware of deceit, asserting that ten had been taken in false faith and were manifestly placed in danger of death.

CAP. XXI. - Baldewinus graviter torquetur de captione suorum militum.

CHAPTER 21. - Baldewinus is grievously tormented over the capture of his soldiers.

Baldewinus, intelligens ex illorum anxia vociferatione rem universam in adversitate positam, et dolos Balas manifestos, magnis doloribus de captivitate suorum torquetur. Sed quid ageret aut quid insisteret ad liberandos viros nullo consilio invenire potuit. Erat enim praesidium situm in excelso rupium humanis ingeniis aut viribus insuperabile.

Baldewinus, perceiving from their anxious shouting that the whole affair stood in adversity, and that Balas’ deceits were manifest, was grievously tormented with great pains over the captivity of his men. But what he should do or where he should take a stand to liberate the men he could not find by any counsel. For the garrison was set upon a lofty rock, insuperable by human engineering or force.

Tandem Baldewinus de infortunio tam egregiorum [0523B] virorum condolens, Balam multum de iniqua fraude redarguit, de jurejurando admonet, et quatenus captos suos restituat, pondus auri et byzantiorum pro eorum redemptione recipiat. Sed is omnia refutat, et solam Sororgiam civitatem requirit. Baldewinus nequaquam civitatem sibi reddere in Deo jurat, etiamsi membratim in conspectu ejus omnes, quos ceperat, detruncaret.

At last Baldewinus, grieving over the misfortune of such eminent [0523B] men, severely reproached Balas for the unjust fraud, admonished him concerning his oath, and proposed that insofar as he should restore his captives, he should receive a weight of gold and of Byzantines for their ransom. But he rejected everything, and demanded only the city of Sororgiam. Baldewinus by no means swore to give the city to him in God’s name, even if he were to hew to pieces, limb by limb, before his eyes all whom he had taken.

Sic nequaquam Balas Baldewini preces et admonitiones audiente, nec ejus munera curante, praeter Sororgiam, Baldewinus moestus et graviter conquerens de captivis suis, Rohas reversus est. Ab eo die Turcos eorumque consilium et auxilium ac frequentationes vehementi odio habere coepit.

Thus Balas, by no means hearing Baldwin’s prayers and admonitions, nor attending to his gifts, save for Sororgia, Baldwin, sorrowful and grievously lamenting over his captives, returned to Rohas. From that day he began to hold the Turks, and their counsel and aid and assemblies, in vehement hatred.

CAP. XXII. - Balduc capite truncatur; sex de sociis Baldewini restituuntur. [0523C]

CHAPTER 22. - Balduc is beheaded; six of Baldwin's companions are restored. [0523C]

Post haec non multi praeteriere dies, cum Balduc de Samusart, qui uxorem et filios Baldewino obsides daturus erat, sed plurimis diebus in dolo distulerat, palatium Baldewini in adulatione ingressus, jussu ejus a Gallis tentus ac capite truncatus est. Baldewinus in civitate Sororgiae Folkerum Carnutensem cum centum probis et bello assuetis militibus constituit, ut semper Amacha vexarent assultu, et Balae in ultionem captivorum suorum fratrum dignam vicem rependere conarentur. Die ergo quadam Folkerus cum suis egressus est ad capiendas praedas in Amacha terra.

After these things not many days passed, when Balduc of Samusart, who was to give his wife and sons as hostages to Baldewinus, but had put it off for very many days by deceit, having entered Baldewinus’s palace with flattery, was seized by the Franks at his order and beheaded. Baldewinus stationed in the city of Sororgia Folkerus of the Carnutes with one hundred brave and war‑seasoned soldiers, that they might continually harass Amacha by assault, and might endeavour to repay the Balae with a worthy vengeance for their captive brothers. Therefore on a certain day Folkerus with his men went forth to seize spoils in the land of Amacha.

Qui, praemissis aliquibus sociis, Turcos ab arce usque ad locum, ubi Folkeri erant insidiae, pertraxerunt. Tum commisso praelio, sex [0523D] ex Turcis et militibus Balas capti et abducti sunt. His captis et abductis, Balas sex de sociis Baldewini in redemptione suorum restituit; sex usque ad diem illius in Jerusalem in sua retinuit custodia.

Who, having sent forward some companions, drew the Turks from the citadel all the way to the place where Folker lay in ambush. Then, when the battle was joined, six [0523D] of the Turks and of Balas’s soldiers were captured and taken away. With these captured and taken, Balas restored six of Baldwin’s companions in redemption of his own; he retained six in his custody in Jerusalem until that day.

Post haec quatuor evaserunt ob negligentiam et prae longo taedio custodum. Balas vero Gerhardum, privatum et secretarium Baldewini, una cum Piscello, filio sororis Ubelhardi, praeclari militis et nobilissimi de Wizam, decollari jussit.

After these things four escaped through negligence and because of the long weariness of the guards. Balas, however, ordered Gerhard, a privatus and secretary of Baldewin, together with Piscellus, son of Ubelhard’s sister, a distinguished soldier and most noble of Wizam, to be beheaded.

CAP. XXIII. - Multitudo Teutonicorum superveniens praedicta mortalitate consumitur.

CHAPTER 23. - A multitude of Teutons, arriving, is consumed by the aforesaid mortality.

Godefrido ob cladem diffusam tam gravi mortalitate per Antiochiam, in Ravenel et Turbaysel moram faciente, eodem tempore pestifero mille et [0524A] quingenti viri de gente Teutonicorum ex Regnesburg, civitate fluvii Danubii, et ex aliis civitatibus Rheni fluminis, conspirati et electi, ad urbem Antiochiam navigio maris advecti, ad portum S. Simeonis descenderunt ut Christianorum turmis in Jerusalem ituris solatio et auxilio augerentur. Sed sic illa cohors recenter victoriosis peregrinis in Augusto mense admista eadem mortalitatis clade consumpta et devastata est, ut de mille et quingentis nec unus quidem superesse uspiam videretur.

Because of the rout suffered under Godefrid with so grievous a mortality spreading through Antioch, while he was delaying at Ravenel and Turbaysel, at the same pestilent time one thousand and [0524A] five hundred men of the nation of the Teutons from Regnesburg, a city on the river Danube, and from other cities of the river Rhine, assembled and chosen, were conveyed by sea-vessel to the city of Antioch and descended at the port of St. Simeon so as to be increased in solace and succour for the throngs of Christians bound for Jerusalem. But that cohort, newly joined to the victorious pilgrims in the month of August, was consumed and devastated by the same plague, so that of the one thousand and five hundred not even one anywhere seemed to have survived.

CAP. XXIV. - Sansadonias matrem cum filiis redimit; Winemarus reducitur; Mahumet obses diligenter custoditur; navigia reparantur.

CHAPTER 24. - Sansadonias redeems his mother with her sons; Winemarus is brought back; Mahumet, a hostage, is diligently guarded; the ships are repaired.

Eodem tempore post victoriam Christianorum, Sansadonias, filius Darsiani regis Antiochiae, matrem [0524B] suam cum duobus filiis redemit pretio trium millium byzantiorum de manu Willehelmi, viri nobilissimi, commilitonis et compatriotae comitis Reymundi de Provincia, quos idem Willehelmus in prima invasione et ingressione Antiochiae sopore gravatos primo diluculo captivavit. Eodem tempore de terra Buloniae Winemarus, Laodiceae captus a Turcopolis regis Graecorum, rogatu ducis Godefridi post longa vincula, et diutinas carceris moras, absolutus, sed gravi poena afflictus, Antiochiam reversus est. Puer autem Mahumet, filius principis de Hasart, obses Godefrido datus, sub diligenti custodia tam servorum suorum duodecim quam sub solerti cura clientelae Godefridi Antiochiae remansit, cui nihil necessariorum de domo ducis ullis horis deficiebat.

At the same time after the victory of the Christians, Sansadonias, son of Darsianus, king of Antioch, ransomed his mother [0524B] with two sons for the price of three thousand Byzantine coins from the hand of William, a most noble man, a comrade-in-arms and compatriot of Count Reymundus of Provincia, whom that same William, in the first invasion and entry of Antioch, at first dawn, had taken captive, overcome by sleep. At the same time Winemarus of the land of Boulogne, taken at Laodicea by Turcopolis, general of the Greek king, was, at the request of Duke Godefrid, after long bonds and protracted imprisonments, released but afflicted with a heavy penalty, and returned to Antioch. The boy Mahumet, son of the prince of Hasart, given as a hostage to Godefrid, remained in Antioch under the diligent custody both of his twelve servants and under the watchful care of Godefrid’s clientèle, to whom no necessities from the duke’s house at any hour were lacking.

[0524C] Jam enim quamplures, ducem et caeteros potentes per loca ab Antiochia ob imminentem cladem migrasse videntes, alii ex loci infirmitate, alii ex mense pestifero Augusto hanc mortalitatem asserentes, mense Septembri inchoante ad portum praefati Simeonis causa morandi profecti sunt. Ubi nautae post Turcorum stragem et fugam Corbahan, navigium iterabant, vitae necessaria afferentes et indigentibus omnia sufficienter vendentes.

[0524C] Now indeed, when very many, seeing that the duke and the other potentates had withdrawn from Antioch because of the impending calamity, some alleging this from the weakness of the place, others from the pestilential month August, at the beginning of September set out for the port for the sake of delaying, as aforesaid, Simeon. There the sailors, after the slaughter of the Turks and the flight of Corbahan, were refitting the ship, bringing necessities of life and selling everything sufficiently to those in need.

CAP. XXV. - De prodigio coelitus ostenso, et de variis super hoc conjecturis.

CHAPTER 25. - On the prodigy displayed from the heavens, and on the various conjectures concerning it.

Mediato deinde mense in silentio cujusdam noctis, quando omnia somni requie solent refoveri, cunctis qui aderant in custodia vigiliarum visio mirifica in coeli culmine ostensa est, quasi ex omni coelo stellae [0524D] in unum collectae, strictimque densatae, in spatio latitudinis unius atrii tria jugera continentis, igneo fulgore, sicut prunae in camino ardentes et in globo contractae scintillabant; et post hanc diutinam et terribilem flagrantiam rarescentes, in modum coronae cinxerunt polum sub spatio civitatis munitae; diuque sic in gyro persistentes indivisae, aditum ad ultimum et viam in uno latere sui circuli scissae exhibuerunt. Hujus signi ostensione vigiles Christianorum exterriti, tumultuosa vociferatione universos sopore depressos suscitant ad videndum portenti hujus indicium. Universi sunt mirati, et quid portendat diversas protulere sententias.

Then, in the middle of the month, in the silence of a certain night, when all things are wont to be refreshed by the repose of sleep, a wondrous vision was shown on the summit of the sky to all who were on guard: as if stars from every quarter of heaven had been gathered into one and closely condensed, occupying a space whose breadth of one atrium would contain three jugera [0524D], with a fiery brightness, sparkling like embers burning in a hearth and gathered into a globe; and after this long and terrible blazing, as they grew thin they girded the pole like a crown beneath the extent of the walled city; and long thus remaining in a single unbroken circle, they displayed an approach and a road rent open on one side of their circle to the outermost part. At the sight of this sign the Christian sentinels, struck with terror, by clamorous shouting roused all those weighed down by sleep to see the portent’s indication. All were amazed, and they put forward diverse conjectures as to what it portended.

Alii civitatem Jerusalem Turcorum gentilium turmis densatam portendere [0525A] asserebant, et eam a suis viribus et densitate sic rarescere et attenuari, ut aditum tandem Christianis exhibere filiis videretur. Alii Christianum exercitum, adhuc in virtute sua conglobatum divinaeque devotionis ardore flagrantem asserebant, et tandem divisum per terram et civitates, a gentibus injuste possessas, in circuitu Jerusalem et Antiochiae potenter praevalere et dominari. Quidam vero dicebant significare hanc praesentem mortalitatem et populum copiosum peregrinorum, qui in unum ut nubes densata attenuaretur minuereturque.

Some maintained that the city Jerusalem, densely thronged with the Turkish gentiles, was portended [0525A], and that it would from its own forces and density thus grow rarefied and attenuated, so that at last it would seem to afford an approach to the Christian sons. Others declared a Christian army, still conglobated in its strength and burning with the ardor of divine devotion, and finally scattered through the land and the cities unjustly possessed by the gentiles, would prevail powerfully and rule around Jerusalem and Antioch. Yet some said it signified this present mortality and the abundant multitudes of pilgrims, which, gathered into one like a cloud, would be thinned and diminished.

Et sic in diversas contendebant sententias. Sed Deo volente, ut aiunt, in melius mutata est sententia visionis. Nam cum duce Godefrido cunctisque Christianis consociis de universis locis accitus et regressus [0525B] Antiochiam in mense Octobri, caloribus Augusti temperatis, comes Reymundus, Robertus Flandrensis, Robertus Northmannorum princeps, Boemundus caeterique principes, qui adhuc in ipsa Antiochia conglobati morabantur, unius voluntatis compotes effecti, per terras et civitates in circuitu Antiochiae sitas diffusi migraverunt, et resistentes ac rebelles obsidione angentes suae ditioni subdiderunt.

And so they contended in diverse opinions. But God willing, as they say, the interpretation of the vision was changed for the better. For when, with Duke Godefrid and all the Christian associates summoned from every place and returned [0525B] to Antioch in the month of October, the heats of August having been tempered, Count Reymund, Robert of Flanders, Robert, prince of the Northmen, Boemund and the other princes, who yet remained gathered in Antioch itself, made partners in one will, spread themselves forth and marched through the lands and cities lying round about Antioch, and, besieging and pressing the resisting and rebellious, subjected them to their dominion.

CAP. XXVI. - De gestis principum, et Boemundi dominio in Antiochia.

CHAPTER 26. - On the deeds of the princes, and on Boemund's dominion in Antioch.

Ad Albariam itaque civitatem divitiis opulentissimam cum cuneis armatis primum ascenderunt: quam non multo labore expugnatam apprehendentes, Turcos et Sarracenos in ea repertos in ore gladii [0525C] percusserunt. Deinde vero succedente victoria, comes Reymundus, Robertus Northmannorum princeps, Eustachius frater Godefridi ducis, Robertus Flandrensis, Boemundus princeps Antiochiae factus, Godefridus dux, ad Marram civitatem Turcorum armis et robore fetam declinaverunt. Sed tantum quindecim diebus Godefridus, Boemundus, Robertus Flandrensis illic moram in obsidione fecerunt.

To Albaria therefore, a city most opulent in riches, they first ascended with armed cunei (wedges): which, taken with little labor, they seized, and the Turks and Saracens found therein they struck down at the sword’s point [0525C]. Then, with victory following, Count Reymundus, Robert, prince of the Northmen, Eustace, brother of Duke Godefridus, Robert of Flanders, Boemundus, made prince of Antioch, and Godefridus the duke, turned their course to Marra, a city of the Turks laden with arms and strength. But for only 15 days Godefridus, Boemundus, and Robert of Flanders made a stay there in the siege.

Deinde hi tres Antiochiam reversi sunt, comitem vero Reymundum et Robertum Northmannorum principem, Eustachium et Tankradum circa urbem Marram cum suis millibus reliquerunt. Post aliquot deinde dies Godefridus dux, assumptis quadraginta sociis, in armis et equo valentibus, versus Rohas [0525D] civitatem, quae itinere dierum septem ab Antiochia est remota, profectus est. Ubi frater ejus Baldewinus, qui eamdem civitatem cum omnibus appendiciis suis detinebat, mediato itinere trans Euphratem fluvium magnum occurrit ei ad agendum ad invicem colloquium.

Then the three returned to Antioch, but they left Count Reymund and Robert, prince of the Normans, Eustace and Tancred about the city of Marra with their thousands. After some days then Duke Godefridus, having taken up forty companions, strong in arms and on horse, set out toward the city Rohas [0525D], which is distant seven days’ journey from Antioch. Where his brother Baldwin, who held that same city with all its appendages, met him at the middle of the route across the great river Euphrates to hold a conference with one another.

Boemundus ergo, cujus cor quammaxima invidia et indignatio animi adversus comitem Reymundum mordebat, videns opportunitatem Godefridi discessione et Reymundi absentia, signo cernicinum sociis suis admonitis et conglobatis, turrim, quae ponti Fernae imminebat, in virtute magna assiliit, comitisque Reymundi milites, qui in ea remanserant, bello et sagittariis gravatos, ab arce et urbe ejecit, sicque solus dominium Antiochiae obtinuit.

Boemund, therefore, whose heart was gnawed by the greatest envy and indignation of spirit against Count Reymundus, seeing the opportunity of Godefridus’ departure and Reymundus’ absence, with a cernicinum signal having been given and his comrades warned and gathered, leapt upon the tower which overhung the bridge of Ferna with great force, and drove from the citadel and city the soldiers of Count Reymundus who had remained there, weighed down by war and archers; and thus alone he obtained dominion of Antiochia.

CAP. XXVII. - Qualiter dux Godefridus Turcorum deprehendit insidias, et in vaucis prostravit plurimos. [0526A]

CHAPTER 27. - How Duke Godefridus detected the Turks’ ambushes, and in the vales laid low very many. [0526A]

Post haec Godefridus dux cum fratre habito colloquio et eidem valedicto, Antiochiam, ad confratres et principes rediturus cum quadraginta praedictis sociis, iter festinus movit, Turbaysel, Ravenel aliisque locis pacifice et prospere hospitio susceptus. Deinde via maturata in regionem veniens, quae Episcopatus nominatur, quadam die juxta fontem quemdam in loco prati herbosi ad prandium cum sociis discubuit, utres vino repletos deposuit et caetera, quae vitae necessaria secum in mulis et equis detulerant. Illic vero dum secure pranderet cum sociis, a pueris, quos ad speculandum Turcorum insidias [0526B] miserat, intellexit centum Turcos in carecto et palustri loco grandis piscosique lacus secus montana ab Antiochia urbe quinque milliaribus distante latere, qui ejusdem ducis reditum illic occultati operiebantur.

After this Duke Godefridus, having held a conference with his brother and taken leave of him, made haste on his journey to Antioch to return to his confratres and princes with the forty aforesaid companions; he was received peaceably and prosperously as a guest at Turbaysel, Ravenel, and other places. Then, the road hastened, coming into the region called the Episcopate, one day beside a certain fountain in a grassy meadow he reclined for luncheon with his companions, laid down wineskins filled with wine and the other things which they had borne on mules and horses as necessities of life. There indeed, while he was feasting securely with his companions, he learned from the boys, whom he had sent to spy the Turks’ ambushes [0526B], that a hundred Turks, in a marshy, boggy place beside a large fish-filled lake near the mountains five miles distant from the city of Antioch, lay hidden there preparing to cover the return of that same duke.

Mox illorum insidiis patefactis, dux, dilato prandio, cum adhaerentibus sibi subito equos ascendit, qui arma arripientes et loricas induentes, viam contendunt in hostem. Turci haud segnius adversus hos frena vertentes, sagittis et arcu fortiter commisere praelium. Sed duci suisque numero paucis pro vita pugnantibus sors victoriae collata est.

Soon their ambushes having been revealed, the duke, the meal having been delayed, with those adhering to him suddenly mounted horses, who, seizing arms and donning cuirasses, hastened the road against the enemy. The Turks no less, turning their reins, with arrows and bow fiercely engaged in battle. But to the duke and to his few who fought for life the lot of victory was granted.

Tandem dux et sui praevalentes Turcos fugaces lanceis transfodiunt, aliosque decollantes, capita eorum in sellis suis dependentia secum usque ad civitatem Antiochiae portaverunt cum spoliis et equis illorum. Ubi [0526C] idem dux Boemundum, totius urbis principem factum, inveniens, omnia sibi caeterisque principibus ac fratribus retulit, et quomodo in manu paucorum tot Turci victi et attriti sunt.

At last the duke and his men, prevailing, pierced the fleeing Turks with lances, and beheading others, carried their heads, hanging in their saddles, with them as far as the city of Antioch, together with their spoils and horses. Where [0526C] the same duke, finding Boemund, made prince of the whole city, reported all to him and to the other princes and brothers, and how, in the hand of a few, so many Turks had been conquered and crushed.

CAP. XXVIII. - De murmure Christianorum et colloquio principum

CHAPTER 28. - On the murmuring of the Christians and the conference of the princes

Reverso autem duce Godefrido hac victoria, post aliquod spatium temporis murmuraverunt unanimiter Christianorum populi quomodo in hac urbe Antiochia sola mora eorum haberetur, et quod nullo modo Jerusalem viam insisterent, cujus desiderio natales oras relinquentes tot adversa pertulerint. Et facta est dissensio magna in populo, ac subtraxerunt se multi de populo ducis Godefridi, Roberti [0526D] Flandrensis et Boemundi, qui in responsis et verbis eorum nullam habuere fiduciam ante multum tempus eundi in Jerusalem. Tandem praedicti principes cognoscentes quomodo jam populus taedio affectus paulatim dilaberetur, ne ultra aliquis navigio pararet reditum interdixerunt, undique in portis maris custodiam ponentes.

With Godfrey having returned victorious, after some interval of time the murmur of the Christian people rose unanimously about how in this city of Antioch alone their delay was being held, and that in no wise would they press on to Jerusalem, for whose desire, leaving their natal shores, they had endured so many adversities. And a great dissension arose among the people, and many withdrew themselves from the followers of Duke Godfrey, Robert of Flanders and Boemund, for in their replies and words they had no confidence of going to Jerusalem for a long while. At last the aforesaid princes, perceiving how the people, affected by weariness, were gradually falling apart, forbade anyone henceforth to prepare a return by ship, posting guards on all the sea-ports.

Conventum vero et colloquium super hac populi querela quarta Non. Februarii decreverunt habere. Collatis itaque in unum, et colloquio habito ibidem intra Antiochiam, decretum est ab omnibus, magnis et parvis, ut in Kal.

They, however, decreed to hold an assembly and conference concerning this complaint of the people on the 4th before the Nones of February. Therefore, having brought matters together and held a conference there within Antioch, it was decreed by all, great and small, that on the Kalends.

Martii Laodiceam, quae Christianae erat potestatis, pariter convenirent; et illic collecto circumquaque robore, nil periculi vitae posthac considerantes; minime ultra differrent viam insistere in Jerusalem.

In March they were to convene at Laodicea, which was of Christian authority; and there, having gathered strength on every side, considering no danger to life henceforth, they would by no means further delay to set foot on the road to Jerusalem.

CAP. XXIX. - De horrenda famis angustia in obsidione Marrae. [0527A]

CHAPTER 29. - On the dreadful distress of famine in the siege of Marra. [0527A]

Interea comes Reymundus longa obsidione quinque hebdomadarum circa Marram civitatem vexabatur, universique in comitatu suo ibidem commorantes. Qui circa urbem diu sedentes et a Turcis vehementer repressi, magnae famis angustias pertulerunt. Nec mirum; quia prae longa obsidione Antiochiae, et nunc harum civitatum, plurimae in circuitu regiones exhaustae erant cibariis, et plurima pars habitatorum cum rebus et armentis suis per montana fugam fecerant.

Meanwhile Count Reymund, harried by a long siege of five weeks about the city of Marra, and all those remaining in his comitatus there, were beset. They, sitting for a long while around the city and sorely pressed by the Turks, endured the great hardships of famine. Nor is it strange; for before, through the long siege of Antioch, and now of these cities, very many districts in the vicinity had been exhausted of provisions, and the greater part of the inhabitants had fled over the mountains with their goods and herds.

Erant enim decem millia exercitus comitis Reymundi et suorum comprimorum. Mirabile dictu et auribus horrendum! [0527B] tanta ipsa famis angustia has urbes invainit, quod nefas est dicere, nedum facere.

For there were ten thousand in the army of Count Reymund and of his closest companions. Wonderful to relate and dreadful to the ears! [0527B] so great a pressure of famine overcame these very cities, which it is nefas to speak of, much less to accomplish.

Nam Christiani non solum Turcos vel Sarracenos occisos, verum etiam canes arreptos et igni coctos comedere non abhorruerunt prae inopia, quam audistis. Sed quid mirum? «Non est acutior gladius, quam a longo contracta fames.»

For Christians not only did they not shrink from eating Turks or Saracens when killed, but even dogs seized and roasted in the fire, on account of the want you have heard. But what wonder? «There is no sword sharper than hunger contracted by long continuance.»

CAP. XXX. - Quomodo comes Reymundus castellum dejecerit, et Marram ceperit.

CHAPTER 30. - How Count Reymundus razed the castle, and took Marram.

Comes ergo Reymundus videns afflictionem et populi dolorem fame deficientis, assumpto robore equitum in montana profectus, interdum copias infinitas praedarum et cibariorum attulit, quibus Dei populus saepe refocillatus est. Ibidem per deserta et [0527C] montana Libani plurimi Christiani, qui victum quaerebant, praefata necessitate compulsi, a Turcis trucidati reperti sunt. A Damasco denique, quae praecipua virtus erat Turcorum, saepe procedebant insidiae; dispersisque ac circumvagis de exercitu et obsidione occursabant, alios trucidantes, alios sagittis mortiferis transfigentes.

Count therefore Reymundus, seeing the affliction and the people’s sorrow from failing by famine, having taken up the strength of horsemen set out into the mountains, and at times brought innumerable supplies of plunder and provisions, by which God’s people were often refreshed. There likewise, through the deserts and [0527C] mountains of Lebanon, very many Christians who sought sustenance, driven by the aforesaid necessity, were found butchered by the Turks. And from Damascus likewise, which was the Turks’ chief strength, ambushes often issued forth; and meeting those dispersed and wandering from the army and the siege they fell upon them, slaying some, and transfixing others with deadly arrows.

Sed comes Reymundus, intelligens mala, quae suis circa sedentibus ac insidiis Turcorum inferebantur, moleste accepit, et hoc malum omnibus modis finire meditabatur. Unde Talariam, castellum in montanis situm, aggreditur. quo in manu virorum fortium expugnato et attrito cum Turcis in eo repertis, materiam lignorum de eodem castro attulit, ex quibus machinam composuit ad superandam urbem praedictam Marram, quae [0527D] muris et moenibus munitissima erat.

But Count Reymundus, perceiving the evils which were being inflicted upon those sitting about him by the ambushes of the Turks, took it grievously, and pondered to put an end to this evil by every means. Whereupon he set upon Talariam, a castellated place situated in the mountains. That castle being stormed and battered by the hand of brave men, and Turks being found therein, he brought timber material from the same fort, from which he built a machine (siege-engine) to subdue the aforesaid city Marram, which [0527D] was most strongly fortified with walls and ramparts.

Facta autem machina et ingeniis ordinatis, urbs post non multum tempus a comite Reymundo et caeteris principibus, Roberto, Tankrado et Eustachio superata et capta dejicitur, ac Christiani milites scutati et loricati in virtute magna media urbe assistentes, Turcos acriter repugnantes, seque defensantes, gladio percusserunt; alios vero ad arcem fugientes insecuti, combusserunt, et pacifice per tres hebdomadas in ea remanserunt, paucos illic cibos praeter olei abundantiam reperientes. Engelradus, filius Hugonis comitis, juvenis mirae audaciae, in hac urbe aegritudine detentus, vita discessit, et in basilica B. Andreae apostoli corpus ejus humatum est.

But when the engine had been constructed and the devices arranged, the city, after not much time, was overthrown and taken by Count Reymundus and the other princes, Robert, Tancred and Eustace, and the Christian soldiers, shielded and loricated, standing with great valour in the midst of the town, fiercely repelling the Turks and defending themselves, struck them down with the sword; others, however, fleeing to the citadel, were pursued and burned, and they remained there peacefully for three weeks, finding little food there except an abundance of oil. Engelradus, son of Count Hugh, a youth of wondrous audacity, detained in this city by sickness, departed life, and his body was buried in the basilica of the Blessed Apostle Andrew.

CAP. XXXI. - Quomodo Reymundus, Turcorum et Sarracenorum praesidiis expugnatis, praesidium Archas obsederit, et de difficultate ejusdem obsidionis. [0528A]

CHAPTER 31. - How Reymundus, the Turkish and Saracen garrisons having been expelled, besieged the stronghold Archas, and concerning the difficulty of that same siege. [0528A]

Praedicta autem Marra civitate victa et attrita, ad vallem quamdam, quam nominarunt Gaudium, praedictorum principum descendit exercitus. Ubi reperta abundantia rerum necessariarum, per octo dies corpora fessa et fame attenuata recreaverunt, duo praesidia in montanis expugnantes in quibus Turci et Sarraceni habitabant. Deinde, civitate Tortosa expugnata, et non multo labore capta, et in manu comitis Reymundi ejusque custodiae mancipata, in vallem, quae dicitur Camelorum, iter suum continuantes applicuerunt.

After the aforesaid city of Marra had been conquered and battered, the army of the aforesaid princes descended to a certain valley which they named Gaudium (Joy). There, abundance of necessary provisions being found, for eight days they refreshed their bodies, wearied and weakened by hunger, having stormed two garrisons in the mountains in which Turks and Saracens dwelt. Then, the city of Tortosa having been taken — captured with not much labor and delivered into the hand and custody of Count Reymund — they, continuing their march, came to the valley which is called of the Camels.

Ubi praedam et escas plurimas [0528B] contrahentes, praesidium quoddam ingeniis et humanis viribus insuperabile, nomine Archas, profecti sunt. Illic tentoria sua figentes, moram sibi per aliquod tempus fieri statuerunt, donec eadem arx, expugnatis ejus defensoribus, caperetur. Ibi tandem machinas fecerunt et instrumenta mangenarum, moles lapidum in impetu jactantium per turres et antiqua muralia, quibus inclusos milites ejusdem praesidii absterrerent et effugarent.

When, having collected very much spoil and victuals [0528B], they set out against a certain garrison, unsurpassable by engines and by human force, called Archas. There, pitching their tents, they resolved to make a stay for some time, until the same citadel, its defenders having been subdued, should be taken. There at last they constructed machines and mangonel-instruments, great masses of stones hurled in full force against the towers and ancient walls, by which they might terrify and rout the soldiers shut up in that garrison.

Sed eos defensores indefessos repererunt et invictissimos. De intus enim simili jactu mangenarum et impetu lapidum resistebant, damnumque Christianae gentis tam sagittis quam lapidibus faciebant. Anselmum de Riburgis monte, virum nobilissimum et bellicosum, multam vim defensoribus arcis inferentem, impetu [0528C] saxi ab eadem arce volantis fracto cerebro percusserunt.

But they found those defenders indefatigable and most invincible. For from within they resisted with a like casting of mangonels and the assault of stones, and they wrought damage upon the Christian host both with arrows and with stones. They struck Anselm of Riburgis Mount, a most noble and warlike man, who was bringing great force against the citadel’s defenders, by the impact of a stone [0528C] flying from the same fortress, his brain shattered.

Dolentes et turbati principes de interitu fratris et commilitonis viri clarissimi, atque reluctatione inclusorum Sarracenorum, disposuerunt montes sub fundamento murorum castri arte sua cavare, ut sic fundamento cum moenibus et muris corruente, gentiles, qui in his vel arce consisterent, simul obruti lapidum tectorumque ruina perirent. Sed frustra hic labor consumitur. Nam, qui de intus erant, econtra fodientes, instrumenta Christianorum suis ingeniis retinebant, et opus eorum ad effectum pervenire non sinebant.

Sorrowful and shaken, the princes over the death of their brother and comrade-in-arms, and by the resistance of the enclosed Saracens, ordered the hills beneath the foundations of the castle walls to be hollowed out by their art, so that, the foundation together with the ramparts and walls collapsing, the gentiles who stood in these places or in the citadel would be simultaneously buried and perish beneath the fall of stones and roofs. But this labour is spent in vain. For those who were within, digging back counter to them, were by their own devices holding fast the Christians’ instruments, and would not allow their work to come to effect.

CAP. XXXII. - Quomodo quaestio facta est de lancea Dominica, et quomodo puer Mahumet obses mortuus, et a Godefrido duce patri honorifice remissus.

CHAPTER 32. - How an inquiry was made about the Lord’s lance, and how the boy Mahumet, a hostage, died, and was honorably returned to his father by Duke Godefrid.

[0528D] Illic in eadem obsidione facta est contentio et quaestio de lancea Dominica, utrum ea fuerit, qua latus Domini apertum est, an non. Nam plures dubitabant, et schisma erat in eis. Quare auctor et proditor ejusdem inventionis per ignem transiens, ut aiunt, illaesus abivit, quem ipse Reymundus comes de Provincia et Reymundus Pelleiz a manibus et pressura invidorum abduxerunt, lanceam vero cum omni comitatu suo ab ea die venerati sunt.

[0528D] There in the same siege there arose a contention and question about the Lord’s lance, whether it was that with which the Lord’s side was pierced or not. For many doubted, and there was a schism among them. Wherefore the discoverer and traitor of that same invention, passing through fire, as they say, departed unharmed, whom Count Reymundus of Provence and Reymundus Pelleiz withdrew from the hands and the pressure of the envious; but the lance they venerated with all their retinue from that day.

Post haec a quibusdam relatum est, eumdem clericum hac examinis exustione adeo fuisse aggravatum, ut in brevi mortuus et sepultus fuerit. Unde minus in veneratione a fidelibus lancea coepit haberi, credentibus magis avaritia et industria Raymundi, [0529A] quam aliqua Deitatis veritate omnia fieri. Dum hae obsidiones circa Marram, Tortosam et Archas fierent, puer Mahumet, qui a principe de Hasart, patre suo, Antiochiam obses missus fuerat, fidei et custodiae ducis Godefridi commendatus, aegritudine correptus obiit.

After this it was reported by some that the same cleric, by this burning of the examen, had been so aggravated that he shortly died and was buried. Whence the lance began to be held less in veneration by the faithful, who credited more the avarice and craft of Raymund, [0529A] than that all things were made by any truth of Deity. While these sieges about Marra, Tortosa and Archa were taking place, the boy Mahumet, who had been sent as a hostage to Antioch by his father the prince of Hasart, and entrusted to the faith and custody of Duke Godfrey, was seized by illness and died.

Quem juxta morem gentilium pretioso ostro involutum patri remisit, excusans se sub omni fidei puritate, quod ex causa suae negligentiae minime puer obiisset, obtestans etiam se non minus ejus mortem quam fratris sui Baldewini moleste ferre. Qui ducis excusatione benigne accepta, et ex vero comperta ab his, quos de domo sua custodes pueri misit, nequaquam immutatus est a fide quam promisit, sed immobilis in omni foedere et pace cum ipso duce et fratre ejus Baldewino permansit.

Whom, according to the custom of the gentiles, having been wrapped in precious purple, he sent back to his father, excusing himself with all purity of faith that the boy had by no means died through his negligence, also imploring that he grieved no less at the boy’s death than at that of his brother Baldwin. The duke, his excuse kindly received, and the truth having been ascertained by those whom he had sent from his household as the boy’s guardians, was in no wise changed from the faith he had promised, but remained immovable in every covenant and peace with that duke himself and his brother Baldwin.

CAP. XXXIII. - Quomodo dux Godefridus et Robertus Flandrensis civitatem Gybel obsederunt, et quomodo Reymundus comes, pecunia corruptus, eosdem principes dolosa legatione ab obsidione revocavit. [0529B]

CHAPTER 33. - How Duke Godefridus and Robert of Flanders besieged the city Gybel, and how Reymundus the count, corrupted by money, with a deceitful legation recalled those same princes from the siege. [0529B]

Interea Kalend. Martii suis in ordine relatis, Godefridus dux, Robertus Flandrensis, Boemundus et universi principes adhuc Antiochiae commorantes, sicut decreverant, collecto Laodiceae exercitu suorum, ad viginti millia equitum et peditum, ad civitatem Gybel, in littore maris sitam, divitiis locupletem, castra applicuerunt, in circuitu obsidionem ponentes, ut Sarracenos cunctosque gentiles in ea ad defensionem constitutos expugnare valerent et determinare. Boemundus vero Laodicea regressus, [0529C] Antiochiam cum suis repedavit, semper sollicitus et suspicans ne urbem ipsam, humanis viribus insuperabilem, aliqua fraude vel odio amitteret.

Meanwhile, on the Kalends of March, with their matters reported in order, Godefridus the duke, Robert the Fleming, Boemund and all the princes still abiding at Antioch, as they had decreed, having gathered at Laodicea the army of their men, up to twenty thousand horse and foot, encamped by the city Gybel, situated on the seashore, rich in riches, placing a siege around it, so that they might be able and resolved to storm and take the Saracens and all the gentiles there appointed for its defense. Boemund, however, having returned to Laodicea, [0529C] re‑marched to Antioch with his own, ever anxious and suspicious lest the city itself, unsurpassable by human strength, be lost through some treachery or hatred.

Nec mora, audita Albariae et Marrae destructione et inhabitantium Turcorum occisione, et nunc Archas longa obsidione ejusque expugnatione, Sarraceni milites inito consilio cum civibus, infinitam pecuniam duci Godefrido et Roberto Flandrensi obtulerunt, quatenus urbs Gybel a facie eorum cum civibus suis, vineis et omnibus frugibus, intacta permaneret, et alio eorum migraret exercitus: quod a praedictis principibus omnino refutatum est, nisi eorum potestati civitas cum clavibus redderetur. Intelligentes ergo cives et urbis magistratus, quod [0529D] non pecunia, non aliquibus pretiosis muneribus corrumpi possent praefati principes, ut castra amoverent, nuntios clam ad Archas comiti Reymundo, factis et potentia inter primores gentilium diffamato, miserunt ut pecuniam a duce caeterisque refutatam acciperet, quatenus ab obsidione Christianos principes prece aut aliqua arte recedere suaderet. Comes idem super auro et argento insatiatus, dolos et ingenia versat, qualiter eosdem praepotentes ab obsidione Gybel removeret, atque pro pecunia accipienda cives et eorum vineas ac fruges liberaret: nam precibus eos ab incepto avertere prorsus diffidebat.

No delay: when the destruction of Albaria and Marra and the killing of their inhabitants by the Turks, and now Archas by its long siege and its capture, were heard, the Saracen soldiers, having taken counsel with the citizens, offered an infinite sum of money to Duke Godefridus and Robert of Flanders, so that the city Gibel, before their faces, with its citizens, vineyards and all crops, would remain intact, and that one of their armies would migrate elsewhere; which offer was altogether refused by the aforesaid princes, unless the city were delivered into their power with its keys. The citizens and the city magistrates therefore, understanding that the aforesaid princes could not be bribed by money or by any precious gifts to break their camp, secretly sent messengers to Archas to Count Reymundus, disgraced among the leading men of the gentiles by his deeds and power, that he might accept the money refused by the duke and the others, and thereby by entreaty or some artifice persuade the Christian princes to withdraw from the siege. The count himself, insatiate for gold and silver, turned over tricks and devices how he might remove those very powerful men from the siege of Gibel, and, for the sake of receiving the money, liberate the citizens and their vineyards and crops: for he utterly distrusted that prayers alone would divert them from their undertaking.

Unde hanc finxit occasionem, videlicet, quod Turci, quorum copia multa erat in Damasco, consilium iniissent cum Sarracenis, Arabibus, [0530A] cunctisque gentibus in proximo adversus se apud Archas bellum constituere, et jam universos in apparatu magno et copioso in terminos illius convenisse. Hac itaque adinventione aptata direxit nuntios ad praefatos principes, in circuitu Gybel jam per hebdomadam residentes, quatenus sibi festinato ad auxilium Archas properarent, alioqui se et confratres, qui secum erant, a facie gentilium non posse mortis evadere periculum, eosque dehinc simile posse sperare martyrium.

From which he fashioned this pretext, namely that the Turks, whose force was great in Damascus, had entered into a counsel with the Saracens, Arabs, and all the neighboring peoples to make war against them at Archas, and that they were already all assembled in great and abundant array on the confines of that territory. With this contrivance prepared he therefore sent messengers to the aforesaid princes, who for a week had been encamped round Gybel, that they should with haste hasten to the aid of Archas; otherwise he and his confrères who were with him could not escape the peril of death from the face of the gentiles, and thenceforth might hope for like martyrdom.

CAP. XXXIV. - Quomodo principes ab obsidione Gybel castra moverunt, et Reymundo in auxilium properaverunt.

CHAPTER 34. - How the princes moved their camps from the siege of Gybel, and hastened to the aid of Reymund.

Legatis vero comitis Reymundi auditis, et periculo ac formidine, quae ex multitudine gentilium [0530B] supervenire dicebatur, unanimiter dux caeterique comprimores consultum vadunt, omniumque cor et lingua in hanc erigitur sententiam: «Magnus Christianorum exercitus, cum adhuc integer esset simul et indivisus Antiochiae, vix ab innumeris gentilium nationibus et armis est defensatus: nunc autem partim Antiochiae est relictus, partim in hac obsidione Gybel, partim ad Archas est divisus, partim ad expugnanda hostium praesidia et urbes migravit: sic vires nostrorum imminutae, nequaquam stare poterunt nunc adversus tot millia gentilium, ut nobis ex relatione comitis Reymundi innotuit; sed si, casu adversante, nostrorum virtus apud Archas attrita fuerit, idem sperare procul dubio nos certum est. Unde Gybel, quam subito percutere [0530C] et vincere nequimus, necesse est ut hoc tempore intactam relinquamus; et ad opem nostrorum Archas castra et exercitum applicemus, atque gentibus una cum sociis nostris in bello occurramus. Sicut fuerit voluntas in coelo, sic fiat.» Hoc omnibus consilium bonum et utile perspicientibus ac proferentibus, amota sunt castra ab obsidione Gybel.

But when the envoys of Count Reymund had been heard, and the peril and fear which was said to be about to come upon them from the multitude of Gentiles [0530B], the duke and the other chief companions went in council unanimously, and the hearts and tongues of all were raised to this sentence: “The great army of the Christians, when it was yet whole and undivided at Antioch, was hardly defended against innumerable nations and arms of the Gentiles; now, however, part of it has been left at Antioch, part is beset in this siege of Gybel, part is divided at Archas, and part has gone off to capture enemy garrisons and cities: thus the strength of our men is diminished, and by no means can they now stand against so many thousands of Gentiles, as has been made known to us by the report of Count Reymund; but if, God forbid, the valour of our men be worn down at Archas, it is beyond doubt certain that the same fate awaits us. Wherefore Gybel, which we cannot suddenly strike and conquer, must be left intact at this time; and let us apply our camps and forces to the aid of our men at Archas, and meet the nations together with our allies in battle. As the will in heaven is, so let it be done.” Seeing this counsel good and useful by all who understood and urged it, the camps were removed from the siege of Gybel.

Dux vero Godefridus, Robertusque Flandrensis cum caeteris omnibus viam insistunt in armis omnique apparatu bellorum; et spatio dierum circiter trium Archas convenerunt ad augendas vires et opem Christianorum consodalium. Verum a Tankrado et compluribus aliis nullas copias vel minas gentilium adesse didicerunt; sed comitem Reymundum non alia de causa hanc collectionem adversariorum [0530D] ficte asseruisse, et ipsos nunc ad auxilium invitasse, nisi ut pecunias acciperet, quas in liberationem suam polliciti sunt habitatores Gybel, ut Christianos cautela sua ab obsidione murorum averteret.

But Duke Godefridus and Robert of Flanders, with all the others, pressed on the road in arms and every equipment of war; and within about three days they met at Archas to augment the forces and the aid of the allied Christians. Yet from Tankrado and many others they learned that no troops nor threats of the gentiles were present; but that Count Reymund had, for another cause, falsely asserted this collection of adversaries [0530D], and had now invited them to his aid only in order to receive the monies which the inhabitants of Gybel promised for his liberation, so that by their pledge he might divert the Christians by his surety from the siege of the walls.

CAP. XXXV. - Praedicti principes falsa legatione seducti, a societate Reymundi se separant, quos ille blanditiis et donis revocat ad concordiam.

CHAPTER 35. - The aforesaid princes, seduced by a false legation, separate themselves from the fellowship of Reymund; whom he with blandishments and gifts recalls to concord.

Hoc itaque dolo et falsa legatione se a comite frustratos praedicti principes intelligentes, moleste ac graviter acceperunt. Quare a societate et communione illius se subtrahentes, spatio duorum milliarium ab eo sequestrati, tentoria sua fixerunt, nullo modo in assultu Archas illi ferentes auxilium, [0531A] aut aliquod colloquium amoris secum habentes. Erant enim illic apud Archas graves exortae inimicitiae inter comitem Reymundum et Tankradum propter conventionem solidorum et byzantiorum, quae sibi idem comes pro militari debebat obsequio; sed minime solvebat juxta laborem et militum copiam, quam idem Tankradus procurabat ac ducebat.

Therefore, the aforesaid princes, understanding that they had been deceived by the count with guile and a false legation, received it with offence and great displeasure. Wherefore, withdrawing themselves from his fellowship and communion, and separating from him at a distance of two miles, they fixed their tents, in no way bringing him aid in the assault on Archas, [0531A] nor holding any conference of love with him. For there had arisen serious enmities there at Archas between Count Reymundus and Tankradus on account of an agreement of solidi and byzantina, which the same count owed him for military service; but he paid very little corresponding to the labour and the multitude of soldiers which that same Tankrad provided and led.

Ab ipso denique die, quo dux Godefridus se cum caeteris praepotentibus eo contulit, Tankradus saepius comitem de conventione sua commonuit; sed nihil in spe aliqua sibi responso, cum duce remanens, fideliter illi in omni militari subjectione constrictus, comitem prorsus exfestucavit. Abhinc injurias sibi a comite illatas ulciscens, insidiis omnibusque modis sociis et amicis ejusdem [0531B] comitis nocere non parcebat. Comes igitur Reymundus videns quia dux Godefridus et Robertus Flandrensis cunctisque qui cum eis erant odium grave adversus se haberent, quod eos falsa legatione seduxerat, avaritia corruptus, coepit animum ducis lenire blanditiis suis et astutia, qua doctus erat, et a puerili aevo imbutus.

From that very day on which Duke Godefridus had repaired thither with the other great potentates, Tankrad often admonished the count about his agreement; but with no hope of any response to him, remaining with the duke and faithfully bound to him in all military subjection, he quite abandoned the count. Thereafter, avenging the injuries inflicted on him by that count, he did not spare to harm the count’s companions and friends by ambushes and all devices. Count Reymundus therefore, seeing that Duke Godefridus and Robert of Flanders and all who were with them bore a grave hatred against him because he had led them astray by a false embassy, corrupted by avarice, began to soothe the mind of the duke with his blandishments and with the craft in which he was skilled, and which he had imbibed from boyhood. [0531B]

Sicque ad extremum Tankradi omnem mitigavit iracundiam. Deinde equum magni pretii formosique corporis misit comes duci, ut sic perfectius animum ejus placaret ac secum his donis revocaret ad assultum Archas, sciens eum virum magnae patientiae et amoris: quo placato et reconciliato, caeteros in benevolentia posse redire ad concordiam. Novissime autem principes hinc inde, praeter Tankradum, [0531C] concordes effecti, pari assultu et obsidione circa praesidium Archas vim inferentes, a die qua dux illic descendit curriculo quatuor hebdomadarum consederunt.

And so at last he softened all of Tankrad’s wrath. Then the count sent to the duke a horse of great price and handsome body, that thus more perfectly he might placate his spirit and recall him with these gifts to the assault of Archas, knowing him a man of great patience and affection: with him thus placated and reconciled, that the others might return into concord in benevolence. Finally, however, the princes from here and there, except Tankrad, [0531C] made concordant, inflicting force by equal assault and siege about the stronghold Archas, and from the day on which the duke descended there they sat down in camp for the course of four weeks.

CAP. XXXVI. - Qualiter crevit murmur in populo Dei, quod tam diu different viam in Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 36. - How a murmur grew in the people of God, because they delayed the way to Jerusalem for so long.

Omnibus tandem in assultu praesidii taedio affectis et cavatione montis deficientibus, prae labore intolerabili et defensione ab intus inaestimabili, atque inopia necessariorum vitae, murmur crevit in populo ducis et Roberti Flandrensis, asserentibus cunctis se illic ultra in obsidione non posse persistere, et hoc praesidium vi et arte insuperabile vix per anni spatium capi etiamsi tunc gladio famis queat expugnari. [0531D] Unde attentius instabant duci omnes, parvi et magni, quatenus castra ab obsidione amoverent, et viam, sicut decreverant, Jerusalem insisterent, cujus desiderio et causa visendi sepulcrum Domini nostri Jesu Christi, a natalibus oris processerant. Econtra comes Reymundus omnibus modis et promissionibus meditatur ut adhuc per aliquantum tempus secum moram facerent, donec aliqua vi vel arte arx et gentiles in ea conclusi caperentur, recensens quomodo Anselmus de Riburgis monte illic occisus ceciderit, et quod plures commilitones sui sint ab iisdem Sarracenis alii morte, alii plagis damnati saevissimis.

At last, all, worn by the assault on the garrison and failing from the mining of the mount, and overcome by intolerable toil and by a defense from within beyond estimation, and by a lack of necessities of life, a murmur arose among the people of the leader and Robert of Flanders, all asserting that they could no longer remain there in the siege, and that this garrison by force and craft was insuperable and scarcely could be taken even in the space of a year, although then it might be won by the sword of famine. [0531D] Whence all, small and great, pressed the duke more closely that they should remove the camp from the siege and, as they had decreed, set foot upon the road to Jerusalem, whose desire and cause — to see the sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ — they had sailed forth from their native shores. On the other hand Count Reymundus devises by every means and promise that they should yet delay with him for some time, until by some force or art the fortress and the gentiles shut up in it might be captured, recalling how Anselmus of Riburgis fell there slain, and that many of his fellow-soldiers at the hands of those same Saracens were either put to death or stricken with most savage wounds.

Sed nequaquam a desiderio et proposito suo eos aliquo blanditiarum molimine vel promissione valens retinere, se suosque in eodem [0532A] loco remanere affirmat quousque arx inimica in ultionem suorum attritorum ruina consumeretur.

But not at all yielding to their desire and purpose by any softening of flatteries or by promise, he declares that he and his men will remain in that same place [0532A] until the hostile citadel, in vengeance for his crushed followers, is consumed by ruin.

CAP. XXXVII. - Obsidio ab Archas solvitur, principes procul ab urbe Tripolis figunt tentoria; calamellos mellitos per plana repertos suxit populus.

CHAPTER 37. - The siege is lifted at Archas, the princes pitch their tents far from the city of Tripoli; the people sucked sweet little reed‑straws found across the plains.

In hac itaque intentione comite perseverante et multa arte discessionem confratrum avertente, quadam die dux Godefridus, Robertus Flandrensis, Tankradus etiam cum universis sequacibus suis, igne castris suis immisso, profecti sunt ab obsidione Archas, pluribus adjunctis sibi de comitatu Reymundi, qui diutino taedio fatigati, inviti apud Archas remorabantur, praecipue ob desiderium semper eundi Jerusalem. Per duos enim [0532B] menses et dimidium in circuitu praesidii Archas a principio cum ipso comite consederant. Comes ergo videns quod post ducem omnis tendebat populus et sua manus defluxerat, paucique secum essent in auxilio retenti, nolens volens simul secutus est ducis vestigia et caeterorum, et in terminos civitatis Tripolis, vel Triple, in littore maris sitae, cum caeteris suum applicuit comitatum.

In this determination, the count persevering and by much art averting the brethren’s departure, on a certain day the leader Godfrey, Robert of Flanders, Tancred also with all their followers, having set fire to their camps, departed from the siege of Archas, with several adjuncts of Raymond’s comitatus added to them, who, fatigued by long delay, unwillingly remained at Archas, especially because of the ever‑present desire to go to Jerusalem. For for two months and a half they had sat about the circumference of the garrison of Archas from the beginning with the count himself. The count therefore, seeing that after the duke all the people tended and his bands had flowed away, and that few were left with him retained in aid, whether willing or not followed at once the footsteps of the duke and the others, and to the confines of the city Tripolis, or Triple, situated on the sea‑shore, he applied his comitatus together with the rest.

Ubi procul a civitate universi tabernacula sua extenderunt, ne frugibus terrae et vineis habitatorum urbis tantus noceret exercitus. Intercessores enim et legati ab eadem urbe saepius Archas ad praefatos principes descenderant, plurima dona afferentes et ampliora promittentes si urbi rebusque suis parcerent et non huic facerent sicut Albariae et Marrae aliisque civitatibus. [0532C] Hac de causa procul ab urbe resedit exercitus et omnis primatus, donec viderent quo pacto et foedere vel donorum oblatione placarentur, et invicem amicitia firmarentur.

When, at a distance from the city, they stretched out all their tents, so that the army would not so greatly harm the fields and vineyards of the city’s inhabitants. For intercessors and envoys from that same city had often gone down to Archas to the aforesaid princes, bringing many gifts and promising greater things if they would spare the city and its affairs and not do to it as to Albaria and Marra and other cities. [0532C] For this reason the army and all the leadership encamped far from the city, until they should see in what manner—by treaty or by the offering of gifts—they might be appeased, and mutually bound by friendship.

Calamellos ibidem mellitos per camporum planitiem abundanter repertos, quos vocant Zucra, suxit populus, illorum salubri succo laetatus; et vix ad saturitatem prae dulcedine expleri hoc gustato valebant. Hoc enim genus herbae summo labore agricolarum per singulos excolitur annos. Deinde tempore messis maturum mortariolis indigenae contundunt, succum collatum in vasis suis reponentes, quousque coagulatus indurescat sub specie nivis vel salis albi.

Calamellos there, honeyed and found abundantly across the plains of the fields, which they call Zucra, the people sucked, rejoicing in their healthful juice; and scarcely could they be filled to satiety with sweetness after tasting it. For this kind of herb is cultivated with the greatest toil by the farmers year by year. Then, at harvest time, the natives crush the ripe fruit with little mortars, storing the gathered succus in their vessels, until, having coagulated, it hardens into the appearance of snow or white salt.

Quem rasum cum pane miscentes, aut cum aqua [0532D] terentes, pro pulmento sumunt, et supra favum mellis gustantibus dulce ac salubre videtur. Aiunt quidam genus mellis esse quod reperiens Jonathan filius Saul regis super faciem terrae, inobediens gustare praesumpsit. His ergo calamellis melliti saporis populus in obsidione Albariae, Marrae et Archas multum horrenda fame vexatus est refocillatus.

Which, when scraped and mixed with bread, or rubbed with water [0532D], they take as a pottage, and to those tasting above the honeycomb of honey it seems sweet and salubrious. Some say there is a kind of honey which Jonathan, son of Saul the king, finding upon the face of the earth, in disobedience presumed to taste. Therefore with these calamellos of honeyed flavour the people, much harried by dreadful famine in the siege of Albaria, Marra and Archa, were refreshed.

CAP. XXXVIII. - Inito foedere, praeses civitatis Tripolis ductorem viae populo Dei concessit, cujus ductu loca difficillima pertransiit.

CHAPTER 38. - Having entered into a foedus, the praeses of the city Tripolis granted a leader of the way to the people of God, by whose guidance they passed through very difficult places.

Praeses autem civitatis Triple gloriosae atque divitiosae, intelligens legiones fidelium ante muros et portas civitatis multo intervallo consedisse, ad primos exercitus Godefridum ducem. Robertum comitem [0533A] Flandrensem, Reymundum comitem, Robertum Northmannorum principem, misit, quatenus dona ab eo reciperent, et pacifice terram suam obtineret a facie ipsorum, tum etiam terram Gybiloth et praesidium Archas. Tandem inito consilio, praeses in magna amicitia processit ad tentoria ducis.

But the governor of the city Triple, glorious and wealthy, perceiving that the legions of the faithful had encamped before the walls and gates of the city at a wide interval, sent to the foremost of the army: Godefrid the duke, Robert the count of Flanders [0533A], Reymund the count, Robert the prince of the Northmen, so that they might receive gifts from him, and peacefully secure his land in the presence of them, and likewise the land Gybiloth and the garrison Archas. Finally, having formed a plan, the governor proceeded in great amity to the duke’s tents.

Et principibus satisfaciens donis et verbis pacificis, ductorem viae per montana juxta littora maris, ubi loca semitarum perplexa et ignota erant, virum aetate senem concessit, qui eos a littore maris via reflexa per angustas fauces montis tam arcta semita duxit, ut vix homo post hominem, animal post animal incederet. Hic mons a montanis procera longitudine usque in mare porrigitur. In hujus summitate turris, per portam quamdam imminens, [0533B] trans viam aedificata erat, cujus in habitaculo viri sex consistere poterant, quorum defensione omnibus qui sub coelo vivunt via contradici poterat; sed a facie exercitus et praesidis Triple conductu nemo tunc transeuntibus resistebat.

And satisfying the princes with gifts and pacific words, he granted to the ductor of the way a man advanced in age to guide them through the mountains beside the sea‑shore, where the places of the paths were intricate and unknown, who led them from the sea‑shore by a road turned back through the narrow jaws of the mountain by so cramped a path that scarcely man after man, beast after beast, could march. This mountain stretches from the mountain range, lofty in length, even to the sea. On its summit a tower, threatening over by a certain gate, [0533B] had been built across the road, in whose habitation six men could stand, whose defence could bar the way to all who live under heaven; but in the presence of the army and by the escort of the governor of Tripoli no one then opposed those passing.

His faucibus arctis et difficillimis superatis notitia ductoris et conviatoris sui Sarraceni, viam ad littora maris repetentes, ad civitatem Gybiloth, pro qua praeses urbis Tripolis intercesserat, pervenerunt. Qua relicta juxta promissionem suam ne ei exercitus noceret, peracto tantum ab hac milliari, super flumen cujusdam dulcis aquae pernoctaverunt: ubi et sequenti die remanserunt, operientes debile vulgus prae lassitudine viae per avia et scopulosa fatigatum.

With those narrow and most difficult defiles overcome by the knowledge of their guide and his companion, a Saracen, they retraced the road to the sea-shore and came to the city Gybiloth, for which the praeses of the city of Tripolis had interceded. Leaving it, according to their promise that the army should not harm it, having gone only one mile from it, they spent the night beside the river of a certain sweet water: where they remained also on the following day, tending the weak vulgus, worn out by the weariness of the road through pathless and rocky places.

CAP. XXXIX. - De difficultate itineris, et quomodo foedus inierint cum incolis urbis Baurim. [0533C]

CHAPTER 39. - On the difficulty of the journey, and how they entered into a treaty with the inhabitants of the city Baurim. [0533C]

Dehinc tertia die castra amoventes et viam rursus in littore maris continuantes, in semitam cujusdam montis mirae et inauditae angustiae referuntur: quae repentina imbrium in praeceps ruentium inundatione et cavatione exstitisse perhibetur et per hanc iter esse illuc transeuntium. Hic itaque mons tam vicinis et creberrimis maris undis tunditur, ut non a dextris vel sinistris liceat ullo modo declinare, ne forte in offensione habeat quispiam in profundum maris cadere promptum. Hoc angustiarum itinere finito, et rursus quodam turris praesidio, ut praefatae turris, inexpugnabili, per Alpes transito, quod utrumque [0533D] vacuum omni defensione remanserat, timore a Deo, non ab homine Sarracenis custodibus incusso, ad vesperam applicuerunt juxta urbem Baurim vel Baruth hospitati, semper comite Sarraceno conviatore praecedente ac eos ducente.

Thereafter, on the third day, breaking camp and again keeping the road along the seashore, they are led onto the path of a certain mountain of wondrous and unheard-of narrowness: which is reported to have been produced by a sudden inundation of rains rushing headlong and by excavation, and that this is the way by which those pass thither. Here, therefore, the mountain is beaten by the sea’s waves so near and so frequent that it is not possible in any way to turn to the right or to the left, lest anyone, by reason of the precipice, be ready to fall into the deep of the sea. When this road of narrowness was finished, and again after crossing the Alps by the defense of a certain tower, like the aforesaid tower impregnable, which both [0533D] had remained void of all defence, they drew near at evening for hospitality beside the city Baurim or Baruth, ever with the Saracen companion preceding and guiding them.

Incolae autem Baurim, cognoscentes adventum Christianorum, et jam exercitum per campos civitatis hospitatum, munera acceptabilia cum verbis pacificis miserunt praedictis principibus in hunc modum: «Precamur, ut arbores, vites ac sata nostra non vastantes, pacifice transeatis: et si propositum vestrum capiendi Jerusalem, prosperante fortuna, adimpleveritis, vobis cum omnibus rebus nostris servituri sumus.» His precibus et promissionibus donisque incolarum Baurim praefati principes placati, surrexerunt [0534A] cum universo exercitu Christianorum et rursum in littore maris viam insistunt per easdem fauces et asperitates scopulorum qui procellis maris semper illiduntur.

The inhabitants of Baurim, however, perceiving the arrival of the Christians, and that an army was already quartered through the fields of the city, sent acceptable gifts with peaceful words to the aforesaid princes in this manner: “We beseech you, passing peacefully, do not devastate our trees, vines, and sown fields; and if your purpose of seizing Jerusalem, by a prospering fortune, you accomplish, we will be your servants with all our goods.” By these prayers and promises and the gifts of the inhabitants of Baurim the aforesaid princes placated, they arose [0534A] with the whole army of the Christians and again pressed the way along the sea‑shore through the same narrows and ruggednesses of the rocks which are always lashed by the storms of the sea.

CAP. XL. - Quomodo a serpentibus multi perierunt in regione Sidanis, et de amissione cujusdam Walteri.

CHAPTER 40. - How many perished by serpents in the region of Sidon, and concerning the loss of a certain Walter.

De quibus egressi, in planitiem quae urbem, Sagitta nomine, continet, descenderunt, ubi super ripam cujusdam dulcis fluvii hospitio remanserunt. Illic plurimos acervos lapidum repererunt, inter quos infinita manus debilis et pauperis vulgi dum fessa quiesceret et accubaret, a serpentibus, quos vocant Tarenta, quidam percussi, interierunt tumore, et prae intolerabili siti inaudita inflatione membris [0534B] eorum turgentibus. Ibi quoque Sarraceni in virtute sua confidentes et ab urbe Sidone euntes, lacessere praesumebant exercitum, caesis peregrinis in urbis hujus regione victum et necessaria quaerentibus.

Having left them, they descended into the plain that contains the town called Sagitta, where they remained for shelter on the bank of a certain sweet river. There they found very many heaps of stones, among which an innumerable throng of the weak and poor of the people, while weary and reclining, were struck by serpents called Tarenta and perished with swelling, and from intolerable thirst with an unheard-of inflation of their limbs [0534B] becoming distended. There too the Saracens, confident in their strength and coming from the city of Sidon, were presuming to harass the army, the foreigners being cut down as they sought food and necessities in the region of this city.

Sed ab equitibus Christianis graviter repressi, quidam armis, aliqui spem salutis ab armis inter undas aestimantes, submersi sunt ac suffocati fluctibus perierunt. Hanc itaque civitatem procul dubio in ultionem suorum Christiani obsidione compressissent; sed desiderio eundi Jerusalem aversi sunt. Hac in regione Sidonis dum plures a praedictis et ignitis serpentibus periclitarentur, et gemitus planctusque magnus super pereuntibus haberetur, medicinam hanc ab indigenis edocti sunt, ut omnis a serpentibus percussus nobiliorem ac praepotentem [0534C] exercitus adiret; quia dextera manu illius aculei vulnere tacto ac circumplexo, non ultra venenum per membra diffusum nocere videri.

But, severely beaten by Christian horsemen, some with weapons, others, hoping for safety from arms amid the waves, were submerged and suffocated and perished in the billows. This city therefore would doubtless have been besieged by Christians in vengeance for their own; but, turned away by the desire to go to Jerusalem, they withdrew. In this region of Sidon, while many were endangered by the aforesaid and fiery serpents, and there was great groaning and lamentation over the dying, they were taught this remedy by the natives: that everyone struck by the serpents should approach a nobler and very powerful army; for when the sting’s wound of that (creature) was touched and clasped with the right hand, the poison, having been diffused through the limbs, no longer seemed to do harm [0534C].

Similiter et aliam edocti sunt medicinam, ur vir percussus sine mora coiret cum muliere, cum viro mulier: et sic ab omni tumore veneni liberari utrumque. Didicit etiam populus Christianus ab incolis, quatenus lapides ad invicem assiduis ictibus manu quaterent, vel in clypeis crebra percussione sonitum facerent: et sic serpentibus, hoc sonitu et strepitu exterritis, secure socii dormire valerent. Altera deinde lucescente die, quidam confrater Christianorum, vir et miles nobili editus parentela, Walterus nomine, de Verna castello, assumptis quibusdam complicibus [0534D] suis de comitatu, in montana profectus est.

Similarly they were taught another remedy, that a man struck should without delay cohabit with a woman, a woman with a man: and thus both are freed from every venomous swelling. The Christian people also learned from the inhabitants that, insofar as stones should be struck together with continual blows of the hand, or that they should make a frequent sound by striking on shields: and thus the serpents, terrified by this sound and clamor, the comrades could sleep securely. Then at dawn of the next day a certain brother of the Christians, a man and soldier sprung from noble kin, named Walter, of the castle Verna, having taken up certain accomplices of his comitatus, set forth into the mountains.

Ubi ingentes praedarum contraxit copias, quas armigeris et aliquibus ex sociis commissas misit ad exercitum; ipse vero ampliores explorare undique in loco montibus septo concupivit, per arctum et difficilem aditum ad nimia armenta et res Sarracenorum ingressus: ubi ab eis circumventus, latet in hodiernum diem quo fine perierit.

When he had amassed vast bands of booty, which he sent to the army entrusted to armigers and to some of his companions; he himself wished to scout more widely on every side in a place shut in by mountains, and, having entered by a narrow and difficult approach into the excessive herds and goods of the Saracens: where, being surrounded by them, he lies hidden to this day — by what end he perished.

CAP. XLI. - Quomodo transierint civitates Tyrum, Ptolemaida, Cayphas, Caesaream sicque Pentecosten celebraverint.

CHAPTER 41. - How they passed through the cities Tyr, Ptolemaida, Cayphas, Caesarea, and so celebrated Pentecost.

Principes autem praedicti et omnis comitatus eorum ignorantes cur miles egregius ultra terminum faceret moras, adhuc tertia die in regione urbis Sidonis remanserunt, si forte miles honorificus [0535A] redierit a montanis, vel aliquid de ejus adventu intelligerent. Sed minime eo in prima nec in altera luce reperto, a statione urbis, migraverunt. Ab hinc ergo camporum planitiem habentes usque Tyrum, quam nunc Sur vocant, cum praeductore suo descenderunt, castris illic per agrorum planitiem ad hospitandum collocatis.

The aforesaid princes and all their retinue, ignorant why the distinguished soldier should make delays beyond the boundary, remained still on the third day in the region of the city of Sidon, in case perchance the honorific soldier [0535A] had returned from the mountains, or they might learn something of his arrival. But finding him not at all there in the first nor in the second light, they broke camp from the city’s station. Hence, having the plain of the fields stretching as far as Tyre, which they now call Sur, they descended with their leader, encamping there across the plain of the fields for lodging.

Manat enim illic fons, murato et arcuato opere sic exaltatus ut impetu et abundantia aquarum rivum in origine sua tantum procreet, ut omnis exercitus illum exhaurire nequiret. Sequenti vero die Sur relicta, ad civitatem, Ptolemaidem nomine, quam nunc moderni Accaron vocant, eo quod sit urbs Dei Accaron, ventum est. Quam ad dextram in littore maris relinquentes, super flumen dulcis saporis, quod ibidem mari influit, [0535B] biduo pernoctaverunt.

For there flows a spring, so raised by a murated and arcuated work that by the impulse and abundance of its waters it begets a stream at its origin so great that no entire army could exhaust it. On the following day, Sur left behind, they came to the city called Ptolemais, which the moderns now call Accaron, because it is the city of God Accaron. Leaving it on the right along the seashore, above a river of sweet taste which there flows into the sea, [0535B] they lodged for two days.

Illic duae dividuntur viae, una quae ducit per Damascum et fluvium Jordanis a sinistris in Jerusalem, altera quae a dextris juxta littus praedicti maris continuatur in Jerusalem. Unde quia inter quinquaginta millia virorum vix viginti millia in bello valentium reperiri poterant, consilium inierunt ut per Damascum nequaquam transirent, propter copiam Turcorum qui Damascum inhabitabant, et propter apertam illic camporum planitiem, ubi eis in omni latere spatiosum videbatur ab hostibus incursari. Quare inter mare et montana in littore viam insistentes, ubi fiducialiter transire poterant, protecti mari a dextris et a montium altitudine incommeabili, civitatem Caiphas, dictam a Caipha, quondam principe sacerdotum, [0535C] praeterierunt; eademque die in terminis Caesareae, quam quondam urbem, turrim Stratonis dictam, Herodes postea in honorem Caesaris reaedificatam, Caesaream appellavit, castrametati hospitio remanserunt.

There two roads divide: one which leads through Damascus and the river Jordan on the left to Jerusalem, the other which on the right continues along the shore of the aforesaid sea to Jerusalem. And because among fifty thousand men scarcely twenty thousand fit for war could be found, they resolved not at all to pass through Damascus, on account of the abundance of Turks who inhabited Damascus, and because of the open plain of fields there, where on every side it seemed to them they might be widely assailed by enemies. Wherefore, keeping the way on the shore between the sea and the mountains, where they could cross with confidence, protected by the sea on their right and by the impassable height of the mountains, they passed by the city Caiphas, so called from Caipha, once prince of the priests, [0535C]; and that same day, on the bounds of Caesarea — which formerly the city called Straton's Tower, afterwards rebuilt by Herod in honor of Caesar and named Caesarea — they remained encamped for lodging.

Ibidem ad radicem montis fons manat, qui ibidem urbi influit per camporum apertam planitiem, ubi dux Godefridus et Robertus Flandrensis, positis tentoriis, hospitati sunt. Comes vero Reymundus, Robertus Northmannorum princeps, post illos interposita ejusdem fluminis amplissima palude, procul abhinc in eodem flumine castra posuerunt. Per quatuor quippe dies ibidem commorantes, Sabbatum sanctum Pentecostes ipsumque diem adventus Spiritus sancti devotissime celebraverunt.

There at the foot of the mountain a spring flows, which there runs into the city across the open plain of the fields, where the leader Godfrey and Robert of Flanders, having pitched their tents, were lodged. But Count Raymond and Robert, prince of the Northmen, after them, with the very broad marsh of the same river lying between, encamped at some distance on that same river. For indeed, remaining there four days, they most devoutly celebrated the holy Sabbath, Pentecost, and the very day of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

CAP. XLII. - Quomodo civitatem Ramam invenerunt et possederunt, ac episcopum in ea constituerunt. [0535D]

CHAPTER 42. - How they found the city Rama and took possession of it, and established a bishop therein. [0535D]

Has itaque urbes praefatas praetereuntes intactas, secunda, tertia et quarta feria in terminis et spatiosa planitie praenominata Caesareae Cornelii in regione Palaestinorum iter suum continuantes, quinta feria ad fluvium civitatis Rama vel Rames castra applicuerunt, et in crepidine alvei ejusdem fluvii tentoria ponentes pernoctare decreverunt. Robertus vero Flandrensis et Gastus, militaris homo de Bordeiz, assumptis quingentis sociis tironibus, a societate praemissi, ad portas et explorandos muros praecesserunt. Quas apertas et reseratas subierunt, neminem in urbe reperientes, quod, audita tribulatione et infortunio gentilium in circuitu et captione Antiochiae, [0536A] universi cives per montana et deserta loca fugientes a facie Christianorum cum pueris, uxoribus, armentis et gazis suis se absconderunt.

Having therefore passed by the aforesaid cities uninjured, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday within the boundaries and the spacious plain named Caesarea of Cornelius in the region of the Palestinians continuing their journey, on Thursday they drew up camp at the river of the city Rama or Rames, and, setting their tents on the bank of the channel of that same river, resolved to spend the night. Robert the Fleming and Gastus, a man-at-arms of Bordeaux, having taken five hundred comrades who were recruits, were sent ahead from the company and went forward to the gates and to reconnoitre the walls. These opened and unbarred they entered, finding no one in the city, because, when they had heard of the tribulation and misfortune of the gentiles in the neighborhood and of the capture of Antioch, all the citizens, fleeing into the mountains and desert places from before the face of the Christians, had hidden themselves with their children, wives, herds and their treasures. [0536A]

Sic civitatem Rames civibus et armis vacuam invenientes, festinato nuntium miserunt ad populum catholicum, qui castrametatus erat in ripa fluminis, ut universos accerseret ad intrandam et possidendam urbem artusque recreandos, quos magnis et longis afflixerant laboribus. Quod peregrini audientes, ad urbem sine mora profecti sunt; et in ea per tres dies requiem sibi fecerunt, vino et oleo plurimoque reperto frumento refocillati. Episcopum etiam illic quemdam Robertum constituerunt, Christianos incolas in ea relinquentes, qui terras colerent et justitias facerent, agrorum vinearumque fructus redderent.

Thus finding the city Rames void of citizens and arms, they sent a hasty messenger to the Catholic people, who were encamped on the riverbank, to summon everyone to enter and possess the city and to refresh their limbs, which great and long labors had worn out. The pilgrims, hearing this, set out for the city without delay; and there for three days they took rest for themselves, refreshed by abundant wine and oil and by grain found in plenty. They also appointed a certain Bishop Robert there, leaving Christian inhabitants in the city to till the lands and administer justice, and to render the fruits of the fields and vineyards.

CAP. XLIII. - Dum ad montana progreditur exercitus, nocte eclipsis lunae apparuit. [0536B]

CHAPTER 43. - While the army advanced toward the mountains, by night an eclipse of the moon appeared. [0536B]

Quarta vero dehinc exorta luce pariter peregrini procedentes viam insistunt, relicta civitate Rames, qui usque ad locum quo haec montana incipiunt, quae urbem Jerusalem in medio sitam undique circumstant, proficisci statuerunt. Sed in loco illo penuria aquae nimia reperta est. Unde ad castellum Emmaus trans tria milliaria, cisternis et irriguis fontibus compertis ex relatione conviatoris et ductoris sui Sarraceni, plurima manus armigerorum transmissa est, qui non solum aquarum copiam, verum etiam pabula equorum attulere plurima.

Then on the fourth dawn having risen, likewise the pilgrims, advancing, pressed on the road, leaving the town Rames, who resolved to set out as far as the place where these mountains begin, which surround the city of Jerusalem on every side with it situated in the middle. But in that place an excessive scarcity of water was discovered. Whence to the castle Emmaus, three miles away, with cisterns and irrigated springs found, according to the report of a companion and of their Saracen leader, many bands of armed men were sent across, who brought not only a supply of waters but also abundant fodder for the horses.

Ibidem eclipsis lunae, quae decima quinta erat, in ipsa nocte facta est, ita ut ex toto a claritate sua [0536C] deficeret, et in sanguineum colorem tota usque in medium noctis commutata, omnibus id perspicientibus timorem non modicum afferret, nisi a quibusdam, quibus patebat astrorum notitia, hoc solamen redderetur. Dicebant enim hoc portentum non malum omen Christianis esse adfuturum, sed lunae defectionem sanguineamque ejus obscuritatem interitum Sarracenorum procul dubio ostendere. Solis vero eclipsin noxium esse Christianorum portentum affirmabant.

The same eclipse of the moon, which was the fifteenth, occurred on that very night, so that it wholly failed in its brightness [0536C], and was changed throughout into a blood-red colour until the middle of the night, bringing no small fear to all who looked upon it, except to some to whom the knowledge of the stars was plain, to whom this afforded a consolation. For they said that this portent would not be a bad omen for the Christians, but that the moon’s failure and its bloody obscuration plainly foretold, without doubt, the destruction of the Saracens. They affirmed, however, that an eclipse of the Sun was a harmful portent for the Christians.

CAP. XLIV. - Quomodo Christiani incolae urbis Bethlehem duci Godefrido legatos dirigunt, ut maturaret ad subveniendum, et de gratulabunda susceptione sociorum.

CHAPTER 44. - How the Christian inhabitants of the city of Bethlehem send legates to Duke Godfrey, that he may hasten to their relief, and concerning the joyful reception of the comrades.

[0536D] Hospitatis denique Christianis in eodem loco juxta montana Jerusalem cum universo exercitu, jam die advesperascente, legatio catholicorum incolarum urbis Bethlehem duci Godefrido innotuit, et praecipue illorum, quos Sarraceni suspectos traditionis in adventu Christianorum ab Jerusalem ejecerant, minas mortis adhuc inferentes, quatenus in nomine Domini Jesu Christi sine aliqua retardatione eis ad subveniendum viam maturarent. Gentiles enim ex omni plaga regni Babyloniae, audito adventu Christianorum, confluebant in Jerusalem, ad defensionem urbis et occisionem eorum. Dux vero, audita legatione cum precibus compertoque Christianorum periculo, in eadem nocte centum circiter equites loricatos, de castris et comitatu suo electos, praemisit [0537A] ad subveniendum desolatis et congregatis Christi fidelibus in Bethlehem.

[0536D] Finally, with the Hospitaller Christians in the same place near the mountains of Jerusalem, together with the whole army and the day already eveninging, an embassy of the Catholic inhabitants of the city of Bethlehem became known to Duke Godefrid, and especially of those among them whom the Saracens, suspecting their trustworthiness at the coming of the Christians, had driven out of Jerusalem, still uttering threats of death, that in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ they should hasten without delay on the road to succour them. For pagans from every quarter of the kingdom of Babylonia, having heard of the coming of the Christians, were flocking to Jerusalem for the defence of the city and the slaughter of them. The duke, however, when he heard the embassy and learned of the Christians’ peril by their prayers, on that same night sent forward about 100 mail-clad horsemen, chosen from his camp and retinue, [0537A] to succour the desolate and assembled faithful of Christ in Bethlehem.

Qui juxta imperium Christiani ducis equis insidentes, cum festinatione sex milliaribus per totam noctem superatis, in primo diei ortu in Bethlehem pervenerunt. Cives vero Christiani, cognito eorum adventu, cum hymnis et laudibus et aspersione sanctificati fontis obviam procedentes, laetanter eosdem equites Christianorum susceperunt, oculos et manus eorum deosculantes et haec ad illos referentes: «Deo gratias! quia temporibus nostris nunc ea videmus, quae nobis semper erant in desiderio: videlicet vos Christianos confratres ad excussionem jugi servitutis nostrae adesse; et ad loca sancta Jerusalem instauranda, et ad auferendos gentilium ritus eorumque immunditias [0537B] a loco sancto.»

Who, obeying the command of the Christian leader and mounted on horses, having hastened and covered six milliarian miles through the whole night, arrived at Bethlehem at the first break of day. The Christian citizens, on learning of their arrival, coming forth to meet them with hymns and praises and with the sprinkling of the consecrated font, joyfully received those same Christian horsemen, kissing their eyes and hands and addressing these words to them: «Deo gratias! for in our time now we see those things which we have always longed for: namely, you Christian confratres to be present for the shaking off of the yoke of our servitude; and to restore the holy places of Jerusalem, and to remove the rites of the gentiles and their impurities [0537B] from the holy place.»

CAP. XLV. - Qualiter exercitus maturaverit Jerusalem comperta legatione a Bethlehem, et de praeda a finitimis urbis abducta, et qualiter ante muros Jerusalem in laudibus et hymnis constiterint.

CHAPTER 45. - How the army made haste to Jerusalem when the legation from Bethlehem was discovered, and concerning booty carried off from the city's neighbors, and how they stood before the walls of Jerusalem in praises and hymns.

Vix a castris praemissi equites processerant, et ecce fama ad aures primorum universique exercitus est perlata, legationem duci a Bethlehem esse allatam. Qua de causa vix medium noctis processit, et continuo omnes pusilli et magni castra sustulerunt, per angustias viarum arctasque fauces collium arctam viam insistentes. Abinde praeire et iter maturare quique fervebant equites, ne, in arctis semitarum faucibus multitudine peditum inundante, magnum fieret equitibus impedimentum.

Scarcely had the horsemen sent forth from the camp advanced, when behold a rumour was carried to the ears of the chiefs and of the whole army that a legation had been brought to the duke from Bethlehem. For this cause scarcely half the night had passed, and immediately all, small and great, struck their camps, pressing the narrow way through the constrictions of the roads and the close throats of the hills. Thenceforward the horsemen burned to go before and to hasten the march, lest, the multitude of footsoldiers flooding into the narrow mouths of the paths, a great impediment befall the horsemen.

Maturabant [0537C] siquidem magni et parvi iter sub pari intentione in Jerusalem. Cum quibus praemissi milites, a Bethlehem revertentes, in via associati sunt, cum primum solis calore matutini rores in gramine solent exsiccari. Gastus de civitate Bordeiz cum triginta viris, gnaris certaminis et insidiarum, clam subtractus ab exercitu, sicut erat providus, sciens vires appropinquantium peregrinorum adhuc latere cives et milites Jerusalem, per confinia ejusdem urbis cum suis frena laxat, praedas undique contrahit et abducit.

Indeed both great and small were hastening the journey to Jerusalem [0537C] with the same intent. The soldiers sent ahead, returning from Bethlehem, joined them on the road, as soon as the morning dew is wont to be dried on the grass by the heat of the sun. Gastus of the city of Bordeiz, with thirty men, knowing of combat and ambushes, having secretly withdrawn from the army — as he was provident — and knowing that the forces of the approaching pilgrims still lay hidden from the citizens and soldiers of Jerusalem, through the confines of that same city, with his men loosening their reins, gathered booty from all sides and carried it off.

Sed comperta illius audacia, a civibus et Sarracenis militibus praeda excussa est; Gastum vero sociosque ejus usque ad ascensum rupis cujusdam insecuti sunt. Ab eadem autem rupe Tankrado descendenti ex adverso, qui et ipse exercitum [0537D] praecessit, causa quaerendi necessaria, idem Gastus obviam factus est. Qui Sarracenorum ab urbe egressionem et praedae suae excussionem manifestans, ad insectandos eosdem hostes ipsius Tankradi animum vehementer accendit.

But when his audacity was discovered, the booty was wrested from him by the citizens and Saracen soldiers; Gastus indeed and his companions were pursued up to the ascent of a certain rock. From that same cliff Tankrad, descending from the opposite side, who himself had preceded the army [0537D] in order to seek necessities, encountered the same Gastus. Gastus, revealing the Saracens’ sortie from the city and the seizure of his booty, vehemently inflamed Tankrad’s mind to pursue those same enemies.

Unde ambo, admistis sociorum copiis, fortiter in terga adversariorum equos laxant, usque ad portam urbis Jerusalem eos in fugam remittentes; praedam vero retinentes ad subsequentem Christianorum exercitum perduxerunt. Visis autem praedarum gregibus ac reversis fratribus, requirunt universi unde has praedarum copias abduxerint. Illi eas a campo Jerusalem rapuisse et abduxisse professi sunt.

Whereupon both, having added the forces of their socii, boldly unleashed their horses into the rear of the adversaries, putting them to flight as far as the gate of the city Jerusalem; and retaining the praeda, they led it to the following Christian exercitus. When the bands of booty and the returned brothers were seen, all demanded whence they had carried off these copiae of praeda. They professed that they had snatched and borne them away from the field of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem vero nominari audientes, omnes prae laetitia in fletum lacrymarum [0538A] fluxerunt, eo quod tam vicini essent loco sancto desideratae urbis, pro quo tot labores, tot pericula, tot mortis genera perpessi sunt. Mox pro auditae urbis desiderio et amore videndi sanctam civitatem obliti laborem suamque fatigationem, amplius quam solebant iter maturant. Nec mora ulla intermissa est, quousque ante muros Jerusalem in laudibus hymnorumque vociferatione prae gaudio lacrymantes sexaginta circiter millia utriusque sexus constiterunt.

But when they heard the name Jerusalem, all, overwhelmed with joy, flowed into a flood of tears [0538A], because they were so near the holy place of the desired city, for which they had suffered so many labors, so many dangers, so many kinds of death. Soon, driven by the desire of the heard-of city and the love of seeing the holy city, forgetting their toil and fatigue, they hastened their journey more than they were wont. Nor was any delay interposed, until before the walls of Jerusalem, in praises and the shouting of hymns and weeping with excess of joy, about sixty thousand of both sexes stood.

CAP. XLVI. - Qualiter et a quibus principibus civitas obsessa sit.

CHAPTER 46. - How and by which princes the city was besieged.

His itaque in locis Christianissimo exercitu in variis signis et armis collato, portae urbis a militibus regis Babyloniae clausae sunt; turris David satellitio [0538B] armato munita, et universi cives in moenibus ad prohibendum et resistendum populo catholico diffusi sunt. Ruperat enim rex Babyloniae foedus quod legati ejus Antiochiam missi cum Christianis principibus popigerant, nihil causae adversus eos habens praeter quam quod Reymundus comes Tortosam civitatem apprehendit, et praesidium Archas plurimis diebus obsedit. Christiani vero videntes regis militiam, urbis munitionem, gentilium contradictionem, muros in circuitu locata obsidione vallant, ducemque Godefridum, quia erat potens consiliis et viribus, cum Teutonicis bello ferocissimis, in latere turris David, ubi major vis defensionis redundabat, ordinant, et una cum eo Tankradum comitem, et Reymundum cum duobus episcopis Italiae ante januam [0538C] ejusdem turris cum suo comitatu sedere decreverunt.

Therefore, in those places, with the most Christian army assembled under various standards and arms, the city gates were shut by the soldiers of the king of Babylonia; the tower of David was armed and fortified with a satellite garrison [0538B], and all the citizens were stationed on the walls, spread out to forbid and to resist the Catholic populace. For the king of Babylonia had broken the covenant which his legates, when sent to Antioch, had pledged with the Christian princes, having no quarrel against them except that Reymundus, count, had seized the city of Tortosa and had besieged the stronghold Archas for very many days. But the Christians, seeing the king’s soldiery, the city’s fortification, the pagans’ opposition, encircled the walls placed about the siege with ramparts, and they appointed Duke Godefrid, because he was powerful in counsel and strength and fiercest in war among the Teutons, at the side of the tower of David, where the greater force of defence abounded, and together with him they decreed that Count Tankrad and Reymundus, with two bishops of Italy, should sit before the gate [0538C] of that same tower with their comitatus.

Deinde Robertus Flandrensis, et Hugo grandaevus de S. Paulo cum suis sodalibus ad obsidendos muros civitatis in declivi parte camporum sedere delegerunt. Robertus vero Northmannorum princeps, et comes Britannus, juxta muros, ubi est oratorium protomartyris Stephani, in ordine sociorum tabernacula extenderunt. Comes Reinboldus de civitate Oringis, Lodewicus de Monzun, Cuno de Monte acuto, filiusque ejus Lambertus, Gastus de Bordeiz, Gerhardus de Rosselon, Baldewinus de Burg, Thomas de Feria castro undique in circuitu urbis consederunt.

Then Robert of Flanders, and Hugo the aged of St. Paul with his comrades chose to sit to besiege the city walls on the sloping side of the fields. Robert, moreover, prince of the Northmen and count of the Britons, pitched tents with the allied host near the walls where is the oratory of the protomartyr Stephen. Count Reinbold of the city of Oringis, Lodewicus of Monzun, Cuno of the Sharp Mountain and his son Lambert, Gastus of Bordeiz, Gerhard of Rosselon, Baldwin of Burg, Thomas of Feria took position with their castle all round about the city.

Reymundus vero comes videns quia alias posset proficere, castra sua ab obsidione [0538D] portarum turris David sustulit, relictis quibusdam sociis ad custodiam portarum; et super montem Sion fixis tentoriis, urbem obsidere profectus est. Hac itaque in circuitu obsidione locata a primoribus Gallorum, exploratisque locis, ne quid vacuum aut opportunum pateret insidiis, ad montem Oliveti ventum est, ubi etiam virorum fortium custodiam posuerunt, ne aliquis assultus ab hac parte fieret ex improviso, et gentilium insidiae per juga descendentium Christianos incautos deciperent. Vallis vero Josaphat, super quam erat urbs et ejus imminebant aedificia, remansit inobsessa propter locorum difficultatem et vallium profunditatem.

Reymundus, however, the count, seeing that he could make progress elsewhere, broke up his camp from the siege [0538D] of the gates of the tower of David, leaving certain comrades to the guard of the gates; and with tents fixed upon Mount Sion, he set out to invest the city. Thus, this encirclement being placed by the chiefs of the Franks, and the places having been scouted so that nothing lay open or apt for ambush, they came to the Mount of Olives, where they likewise posted a guard of strong men, lest any assault be made on that side unexpectedly, and lest the stratagems of the gentiles descending along the ridges deceive the Christians unawares. The Valley of Josaphat, however, on which the city and its buildings overhung, remained unassailed on account of the difficulty of the ground and the depth of the valleys.

Erant tamen illic, nocte et die, assiduae vigiliae et custodiae Christianorum.

There were, however, there, night and day, assiduous vigils and guards of the Christians.