William of Tyre: HISTORIA RERUM IN PARTIBUS TRANSMARINIS GESTARUM

CAPUT PRIMUM. Dominus Hernesius Caesariensis archiepiscopus, et Odo de Sancto Amando, regius pincerna, a Constantinopoli redeunt, uxorem futuram regi secum ducentes. Rex in ecclesia Tyrensi coronatur, et uxorem ducit.

CHAPTER 1. Lord Hernesius, archbishop of Caesarea, and Odo of Saint-Amand, the royal cupbearer, return from Constantinople, leading with them the king’s future wife. The king is crowned in the church of Tyre, and takes a wife.

Interea dominus Hernesius, bonae memoriae, Caesariensis archiepiscopus, Odo quoque de Sancto Amando, tunc regius pincerna, procurata tam prudenter quam fideliter domini regis legatione, pro qua missi fuerant, apud dominum Manuelem imperatorem Constantinopolitanum, impetrato quod petierant post actum biennium, navigio redeuntes, domini imperatoris Protosevasto filiam, domino regi uxorem futuram ducentes, apud Tyrum applicant. Quo cognito, dominus rex cum celeritate Tyrum pervenit, convocatisque ecclesiarum praelatis, et regni principibus, eamdem Mariam, regiae unctionis et consecrationis munus adeptam, ipse quoque habitu regio insignis et avito diademate laureatus, per manum domini patriarchae Amalrici, bonae memoriae, in ecclesia Tyrensi, cum debita magnificentia IV Kal. Septembris uxorem duxit.

Meanwhile lord Hernesius, of good memory, archbishop of Caesarea, and Odo of Saint-Amand, then the royal pincerna (cupbearer), having conducted as prudently as faithfully the embassy of the lord king, for which they had been sent, with lord Manuel, the Constantinopolitan emperor, and, what they had sought having been obtained after a biennium elapsed, returning by ship, bring to land at Tyre, leading the daughter of the lord emperor’s Protosebastos, to be the lord king’s wife. On learning this, the lord king with speed came to Tyre, and, the prelates of the churches and the princes of the realm having been convoked, that same Maria, who had obtained the gift of royal unction and consecration, he himself also distinguished with royal habit and wreathed with the ancestral diadem, through the hand of lord Patriarch Amalric, of good memory, in the church of Tyre, with due magnificence, on the 4 Kal. Septembris, took to wife.

Hic Joannes Protosevasto, cujus filiam, ut diximus, rex duxit, ejusdem domini imperatoris ex fratre natu priore, ortus est nepos. Misit autem dominus imperator cum praedicta nepte sua, viros illustres et magnificos, imperialis eminentiae familiares, dominum Palaeologum et Manuelem Sevaston, consanguineum suum, cum multis aliis, qui magnifice eam domino regi traderent, et de injunctis solemnitatibus nihil sinerent praeteriri. Tyrensi autem Ecclesiae praeerat, in qua haec facta sunt, dominus Fredericus, qui ex Acconense Ecclesia ad illam fuerat translatus.

This John the Protosebastos, whose daughter, as we have said, the king took to wife, was a nephew of that same lord emperor, being born of an elder brother. Moreover, the lord emperor sent with his aforesaid niece illustrious and magnificent men, familiars of imperial eminence, lord Palaeologus and Manuel Sebastos, his kinsman, with many others, who should splendidly deliver her to the lord king, and allow nothing of the enjoined solemnities to be passed over. Now the Tyrian Church, in which these things were done, was presided over by lord Frederick, who had been transferred to it from the Church of Acre.

Hic, triduo postquam rex in eadem civitate coronatus fuerat et nuptias celebraverat, praesente et rogante domino rege, et aliis multis honestis viris, archidiaconatum ejusdem Ecclesiae, unde dominus Willelmus ad Acconensem Ecclesiam fuerat vocatus, nobis liberaliter contulit.

Here, three days after the king had been crowned in the same city and had celebrated his nuptials, with the lord king present and requesting, and many other honorable men as well, he generously conferred upon us the archdeaconry of the same Church, from which lord William had been called to the Church of Acre.

CAPUT II. Andronicus quidam imperatoris consanguineus, Theodoram, Balduini regis viduam, secum per terras hostium abducit.

CHAPTER 2. Andronicus, a certain consanguine of the emperor, carries off with himself Theodora, the widow of King Baldwin, through hostile lands.

Per idem tempus, Andronicus quidam nobilis Graecus et potens, domini imperatoris Constantinopolitani consanguineus, de partibus Ciliciae adveniens, cum multa militia, dum dominus rex in Aegypto adhuc detineretur, usque ad ejus adventum apud nos moram fecit nobis consolatoriam; se more serpentis in gremio, et muris in pera, male remuneravit hospites suos, verum esse docens, quod a Marone dictum fuerat Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. Cui dominus rex statim post reditum suum urbem dedit Berythensem; ad quam gratia videndi civitatis, dum dominam Theodoram, domini Balduini regis viduam, quae urbem Acconensem nomine donationis propter nuptias possidebat, nepotis sui filiam, apud quem diu fuerat hospitatus, invitasset, fraudulenter, ut dicitur, abduxit, et in terram hostium, Damascum prius, deinde in Persidem, favente Noradino, transvexit.

At the same time, Andronicus, a certain noble and powerful Greek, a consanguine of the lord emperor of Constantinople, arriving from the parts of Cilicia with much soldiery, while the lord king was still being detained in Egypt, made among us a stay consolatory to us until his arrival; yet, like a serpent in the bosom and mice in the sack, he ill-rewarded his hosts, proving true what had been said by Maro, I fear the Danaans, even bearing gifts. To him the lord king, immediately after his return, gave the city of Beirut; to which, for the sake of seeing the city, when he had invited Lady Theodora, widow of lord King Baldwin—who possessed the city of Acre by the title of a donation on account of the nuptials—his nephew’s daughter, at whose house he had long been a guest, he, fraudulently, as it is said, carried her off, and conveyed her into the land of the enemy, first to Damascus, then into Persia, with Nur al-Din favoring.

CAPUT III. Petracensis Ecclesia et Ebronensis, episcopis datis ordinantur. Stephanus regis Siciliae cancellarius, et Panormitanae Ecclesiae electus, in Syrium descendunt.

CHAPTER 3. The Church of Petra and the Church of Hebron, bishops having been given, are constituted. Stephen, chancellor of the king of Sicily, and bishop-elect of the Church of Palermo, go down into Syria.

Comes Nevernensis Willelmus apud nos defungitur.

Count William of Nevers passes away among us.

Eodem anno nihil pene memoria dignum in regno accidit, nisi quod circa quadragesimale tempus duae Ecclesiae in regno, susceptis episcopis, ordinatae sunt: quarum altera ab ingressu Latinorum in terram promissionis, Latinum non habuerat pontificem, videlicet Petracensis, quae ultra Jordanem in finibus Moab sita est, secundae Arabiae metropolis; altera vero, Ebronensis videlicet, ut dicitur, nunquam; sed tempore Graecorum prioratus fuerat, sicut et Bethlehemitica fuisse dignoscitur Ecclesia. Sed Bethlehemitica ob nativitatis Dominicae reverentiam prius meruit, statim post sanctae et Deo amabilis civitatis liberationem, tempore domini Balduini regis primi, cathedrali gaudere praerogativa. Ebronensis quoque intuitu servorum Dei, quorum memoria in benedictione est, Abraham videlicet, Isaac et Jacob, eadem tunc dignitate primum meruit insigniri.

In the same year almost nothing worthy of memory occurred in the kingdom, except that around the Lenten time two Churches in the kingdom, bishops having been received, were established: of which the one, from the entry of the Latins into the land of promise, had not had a Latin pontiff, namely the Petraean, which is situated beyond the Jordan in the borders of Moab, the metropolis of Second Arabia; but the other, namely the Hebronite, as it is said, never; but in the time of the Greeks it had been a priory, just as the Bethlehemite Church is recognized to have been. But the Bethlehemite, on account of reverence for the Lord’s Nativity, earlier deserved, immediately after the liberation of the holy and God‑beloved city, in the time of lord Baldwin the first king, to enjoy the cathedral prerogative. Hebron likewise, in consideration of the servants of God, whose memory is in benediction, namely Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then for the first time deserved to be marked with the same dignity.

Praeficitur ergo Petracensi Ecclesiae, et secundae Arabiae metropolitanus efficitur dominus Guerricus, canonicus regularis in templo Domini; Ebronensi vero, dominus Rainaldus, domini Fulcherii piae recordationis patriarchae nepos. Aestate igitur sequente, vir nobilis dominus Stephanus, domini regis Siciliae cancellarius, et Panormitanae electus Ecclesiae, adolescens bonae indolis, et egregius forma, domini Rotoldi comitis de Percio frater, agitantibus eum et adversus eum conspiratis regionis illius principibus, invito rege puero, et matre ejus reniti non valente, regno expulsus, cum paucis vix eorum evasit insidias, et ad nos navigio pervenit; qui non multum postea, valida correptus aegritudine, mortuus est, et Hierosolymis in templi Domini capitulo honorifice sepultus est. Per idem quoque tempus, dominus Willelmus Nevernensis comes, magnus princeps, nobilis et potens, de regno Francorum, cum honesta militia Hierosolymam venit, propositum habens, in servitio Christianitatis contra hostes fidei nostrae, suis expensis militare; sed ejus pia et honesta studia, mors immatura, felicibus ejus invidens actibus, miserabiliter praevenit; nam subito et diuturno languore correptus, post longas corporis molestias, in primo gratissimae juventutis flore cum multis omnium suspiriis et gemitu vitam finivit.

Therefore lord Guerric, a regular canon in the Temple of the Lord, is appointed over the Church of Petra and is made metropolitan of Second Arabia; but over Hebron, lord Rainald, the nephew of lord Fulcher, patriarch of pious memory. In the following summer, the noble man lord Stephen, chancellor of the lord king of Sicily and bishop-elect of the Church of Palermo, a youth of good disposition and outstanding in form, brother of lord Rotold, count of Perche, with the princes of that region stirring him and conspiring against him, the boy-king being unwilling, and his mother not able to resist, was expelled from the kingdom; and with a few he scarcely escaped their snares, and came to us by ship; who not much later, seized by a strong sickness, died, and at Jerusalem in the chapter of the Temple of the Lord was honorably buried. About the same time also, lord William, count of Nevers, a great prince, noble and powerful, from the kingdom of the Franks, came to Jerusalem with an honorable knighthood, having the purpose to serve, at his own expense, in the service of Christendom against the enemies of our faith; but his pious and honorable endeavors an untimely death, envying his fortunate deeds, miserably forestalled; for, seized at once by a sudden and by a long-continued illness, after long bodily sufferings, in the first bloom of most delightful youth, with many sighs and the groaning of all, he ended his life.

CAPUT IV. Imperatoris legati ad regem accedunt, pacta quaedam a domino rege postulantes. Mittitur Tyrensis archidiaconus, et pacta proposita cum imperatore complet.

CHAPTER 4. The emperor’s legates approach the king, requesting certain pacts from the lord king. The archdeacon of Tyre is sent, and he completes the proposed pacts with the emperor.

Eadem aestate, comes Alexander de Gravina, et quidam Michael Hydrontinus, domini imperatoris Constantinopolitani familiares et legati, ad dominum regem missi, Tyrum pervenientes, dominum regem, adhibitis quos rex de suis verbis participes voluit fieri, secretius conveniunt, viae causas exponunt, et super his omnibus scripta porrigunt imperialia. Summa autem legationis haec erat: Senserat dominus imperator, quod Aegypti regnum, potens admodum hactenus, et opulentum valde, in manus pervenerat debilium et effeminatorum; et quod finitimis populis in notitiam venerat, tam domini quam principum suorum impotentia, infirmitas et insufficientia. Unde quia non videbatur quod posset diu in statu se continuare praesenti, quin ad gentes alienas ejus dominium et moderamen oporteret transire, concepit apud se, quod auxilio domini regis facile posset illud in suam jurisdictionem recipere. Unde super hoc praedictos miserat legatos.

In the same summer, Count Alexander of Gravina, and a certain Michael Hydrontinus, familiars and legates of the lord emperor of Constantinople, sent to the lord king, arriving at Tyre, meet the lord king more secretly, those being admitted whom the king wished among his own to be made participants of his words; they set forth the causes of their journey, and upon all these they present imperial writings. But the sum of the legation was this: The lord emperor had perceived that the kingdom of Egypt, hitherto very powerful and very opulent, had come into the hands of weak and effeminate men; and that it had come to the notice of the bordering peoples, both the impotence of the lord and of his princes, their weakness and insufficiency. Wherefore, because it did not seem that it could long continue in its present state, without its dominion and governance having to pass to foreign nations, he conceived with himself that, with the aid of the lord king, he could easily receive it into his own jurisdiction. Wherefore on this matter he had sent the aforesaid envoys.

Sunt nonnulli qui dicunt, quod super eodem facto prius fuerat a domino rege per nuntios et frequentes epistolas sollicitatus, quod verisimilius est, ut militaribus copiis, classe quoque et impensis eum juvaret, certas partes tum regni tum manubiarum sub interpositis conditionibus recepturus. Hac ergo gratia, memorati legati regem adeuntes, firmatis conventionibus ad placitam utrinque consonantiam, adjunctus sum ego comes de regio mandato, ut regis et regni universi consilium, cum eorum litteris ad dominum imperatorem, properans deferrem; et pactis mediis, quale a me exigeretur, sub certa tamen forma, robur imponerem. Assumptis igitur praefatis domini imperatoris apocrisiariis, qui apud Tripolim, ut eis rex litteris suis signaverat, nostrum praestolabantur adventum, ad urbem regiam profecti sumus.

There are some who say that concerning this same matter earlier the lord king had solicited him by messengers and frequent epistles—which is more likely—to the effect that he should aid him with military forces, and with a fleet and expenses as well, being to receive certain parts both of the kingdom and of the spoils under stipulated conditions. Therefore, for this cause, when the aforesaid legates came to the king, the conventions being confirmed to a mutually pleasing consonance, I, the count, was adjoined by royal mandate, that, hastening, I might carry the counsel of the king and of the whole realm, together with their letters, to the lord emperor; and that, the pacts mediating, I might impose strength upon them, such as should be required of me, yet under a certain form. Accordingly, taking along the aforesaid apocrisiaries of the lord emperor, who at Tripoli, as the king had signified to them by his letters, were awaiting our arrival, we set out for the royal city.

Detinebatur porro eo temporis articulo imperator in Servia quae regio montosa et nemoribus obsita, difficiles habens aditus, inter Dalmatiam et Hungariam et Illyricum media jacet, rebellantibus Serviis et confidentibus de introituum ad se angustiis et de impervia eorum regione. Habent vetustae traditiones hunc omnem populum, ex deportatis et deputatis exsilio, qui in partibus illis ad secanda marmora et effodienda metalla damnati fuerant, originem habuisse, et inde etiam nomen traxisse servitutis. Est autem populus incultus, absque disciplina, montium et silvarum habitator, agriculturae ignarus: gregibus et armentis copiosi, lacte, caseo, butyro, carnibus, melle et cera uberius abundantes.

Moreover, at that juncture of time the emperor was being detained in Serbia, which region, mountainous and overgrown with woods, having difficult approaches, lies in the middle between Dalmatia, Hungary, and Illyricum, the Serbs rebelling and trusting in the narrowness of the entries to them and in the impassability of their region. Ancient traditions hold that this whole people had its origin from those deported and appointed to exile who in those parts had been condemned to cut marble and to dig out metals, and that from there they also drew their name of servitude. It is, moreover, an uncultivated people, without discipline, a dweller of mountains and forests, ignorant of agriculture: wealthy in flocks and herds, abounding most abundantly in milk, cheese, butter, meats, honey, and wax.

Hi magistratus habent, quos suppanos vocant; et domino imperatori aliquando serviunt; aliquando de montibus et silviegredientes, omnem circa se regionem, ut sunt audaces et bellicosi viri, depopulantur. Ob haec ergo intolerabilia vicinis eorum maleficia, ingressus erat ad eos in virtute multa et innumera manu dominus imperator. Quibus subactis et praecipuo eorum principe mancipato, redeunti domino imperatori, post multiplices viarum labores, in provincia Pelagonia, in civitate quae vulgo dicitur Butella, occurrimus, juxta illam antiquam et domini felicissimi et invictissimi et prudentis Augusti patriam, domini Justiniani civitatem, videlicet Justiniam primam, quae vulgo hodie dicitur Acreda; ubi a domino imperatore honorifice suscepti, benigne et imperiali clementia tractati, legationis et viae causam, formamque pactorum diligenter exposuimus; quae omnia laeta mente suscipiens et gratanter amplectens, quod praeordinatum, fuerat approbavit Praebitis ergo corporaliter hinc inde juramentis, ejus auctoritate interposita, confirmata sunt quae prius per nuntios fuerunt ordinata.

They have magistrates, whom they call “suppans”; and at times they serve the lord emperor; at other times, going out from the mountains and forests, they lay waste all the region around them, as they are bold and bellicose men. On account, therefore, of these intolerable misdeeds toward their neighbors, the lord emperor had advanced against them with great force and an innumerable host. When these were subdued and their chief prince led into bondage, we met the lord emperor as he was returning, after manifold labors of the roads, in the province of Pelagonia, in the city which in the vulgar tongue is called Butella, near that ancient fatherland—of the most happy, most unconquered, and prudent lord Augustus—the city of lord Justinian, namely Justiniana Prima, which today is popularly called Acreda; where, honorably received by the lord emperor and treated kindly and with imperial clemency, we diligently set forth the cause of the legation and journey, and the form of the pacts; all of which he, receiving with a glad mind and gratefully embracing, approved as had been preordained. Therefore, with oaths physically given on both sides, his authority interposed, those things which had earlier been arranged through messengers were confirmed.

Receptis ergo imperialibus litteris, pactorum formam ex integro continentibus et consummata feliciter legatione, munificentissime de more solito dimissi, Kal. Octobr. iter ad reditum arripuimus.

Therefore, with the imperial letters received, containing in full the form of the pacts, and the legation happily consummated, having been most munificently dismissed according to the usual custom, on the Kalends of October we set out upon the return-journey.

CAPUT V. Rex in Aegyptum cum suis descendit; et contra foederis formam, quam cum Aegyptiis peregerat, eis bellum infert.

CHAPTER 5. The king descends into Egypt with his own; and, contrary to the form of the treaty which he had concluded with the Egyptians, he makes war upon them.

Interea statim post exitum nostrum, antequam reverteremur ad propria, antequam de auxilio domini imperatoris per nostram legationem certus fieret rex, fama publica personuit, ut dicitur, quod Savar soldanus Aegyptius, frequentes ad Noradinum dirigebat legationes et ejus occulte implorabat subsidium, dicens: Quod a pactis quae cum rege pepigerat, vellet recedere; et quod invitus cum inimico populo, aliquo pacis foedere jungeretur; quod si de ejus auxilio certus foret, pacta frangeret, ab eo penitus recedens. Unde rex, ut dicitur, justa indignatione motus, convocato regno universo, collectis equitum peditumque copiis, in Aegyptum festinat descendere. Sunt qui dicant, praedicta omnia ficta fuisse, et quod Savar soldano innocenti, et nihil tale merenti, pacta et conventionum tenorem bon fide servanti, contra fas et pium, illatum sit bellum; sed ut factum tam notabile aliquam haberet excusationem, hic color videtur quaesitus; unde et Dominum, justum secretorum et conscientiarum arbitrum, omnem nostris conatibus subtraxisse favorem, asserunt, et praedictis moliminibus, justitia vacuis, prosperos negasse successus. Causam porro et incentivum hujus mali, ut aiunt, ministrabat Gerbertus, cognomento Assallit, magister domus Hospitalis, quae est Hierosolymis, vir magnanimus et quadam liberalitate donandi profusus; tamen instabilis et mente vagus.

Meanwhile, immediately after our departure, before we returned to our own, before the king became certain of the aid of the lord emperor through our legation, public rumor resounded, as it is said, that Savar, the Egyptian Soldan, was directing frequent legations to Noradin and was secretly imploring his subsidy, saying: That he wished to withdraw from the pacts which he had bargained with the king; and that unwillingly he was being joined with the hostile people by some covenant of peace; that if he were certain of his aid, he would break the pacts, departing from him entirely. Whence the king, moved, as is said, by just indignation, with the whole realm convoked, the forces of horsemen and foot-soldiers gathered, hastens to descend into Egypt. There are those who say that all the aforesaid were feigned, and that upon Savar, an innocent Soldan, deserving nothing of the sort, who was keeping in good faith the tenor of the pacts and conventions, war was brought, against what is right and pious; but that, so that a deed so notable might have some excuse, this color (pretext) seems to have been sought; whence they also assert that the Lord, the just arbiter of secrets and consciences, withdrew all favor from our endeavors, and denied prosperous successes to the aforesaid exertions, void of justice. Moreover, the cause and incentive of this evil, so they say, was being supplied by Gerbert, surnamed Assallit, the master of the House of the Hospital which is at Jerusalem, a magnanimous man and lavish with a certain liberality of giving; yet unstable and wandering in mind.

Hic omnes ejusdem domus thesauros exponens, insuper et infinitae quantitatis pecuniam mutuam sumens, omnia militibus erogavit, quoscunque invenire potuit sibi alliciens; unde praedictam domum tanta aeris alieni mole gravavit, quod non erat spes solutum iri. Ipse etiam postmodum desperans, officium suum deserens et administrationi renuntians, in centum millibus aureorum dimisit domum obligatam. Ea tamen consideratione tot et tantas misisse dicitur expensas, quod capta et subjugata Aegypto, Belbeis, quae olim dicta est Pelusium, cum universo territorio suo, juri ejusdem domus, ex pacto prius cum rege inito, cederet in perpetuum.

Here, laying out all the treasures of the same House, and moreover taking on loan money of boundless quantity, he disbursed everything to the soldiers, enticing to himself whomsoever he was able to find; whence he burdened the aforesaid House with so great a mass of debt that there was no hope it would be paid. He himself, even afterward despairing, abandoning his office and renouncing the administration, left the House pledged for 100,000 aurei. Yet it is said that he incurred such and so many expenses with this consideration: that when Egypt had been captured and subjugated, Belbeis, which once was called Pelusium, together with its entire territory, would, by a pact previously entered with the king, cede in perpetuity to the right of the same House.

Fratres autem militiae Templi, eidem se subducentes facto, aut quia eis contra conscientiam suam videbatur; aut quia magister, aemulae domus, hujus rei auctor et princeps videbatur, vires penitus ministrare, aut regem sequi negaverunt. Durum enim videbatur eis, amico regno et de nostra fide praesumenti, contra tenorem pactorum et contra juris religionem, immeritis et fidem servantibus bellum indicere.

However, the Brothers of the militia of the Temple, withdrawing themselves from the same undertaking, either because it seemed to them against their conscience, or because the master of the rival house appeared the author and chief of this matter, utterly refused to furnish forces or to follow the king. For it seemed hard to them, toward a friendly kingdom and one relying on our faith, to declare war, contrary to the tenor of the pacts and to the religion of law, against those undeserving and keeping faith.

CAPUT VI. Obsidetur civitas Belbeis; et expugnatur obsessa. Soldanus regem infinita promissa decipit pecunia.

CHAPTER 6. The city Belbeis is besieged; and, being besieged, is taken by storm. The Soldan deceives the king with promises of infinite money.

Accinctus igitur et praeliari instructus apparatu, regni viribus convocatis, anno regni ejus quinto, mense Octobri, descendit in Aegyptum; et transcursa eremo, quae media jacet, quasi itinere dierum decem, Pelusium applicat, quam mox obsidione cingens, infra triduum violenter expugnat, expugnatamque ferro aperit, et suos immittit incunctanter. Accidit autem hoc, tertio Nonas Novembris. Capta igitur civitate, civibus ejus ex parte maxima gladio peremptis, non parcitur aetati, aut sexui; et qui mortem quocunque casu inveniebantur declinasse, jacturam libertatis, quae honestis viris omni genere mortis suspectior est, incurrentes, miserae servituti subjugabantur.

Girded, therefore, and equipped with apparatus for battle, the forces of the kingdom having been summoned, in the fifth year of his reign, in the month of October, he descended into Egypt; and, the desert which lies between having been traversed, as if a journey of ten days, he arrives at Pelusium, which, soon encircling with a siege, he within three days violently storms, and, it having been taken, opens it with the sword, and sends his men in without delay. This, moreover, happened on the third day before the Nones of November (November 3). The city therefore having been captured, with its citizens for the greatest part slain by the sword, no age or sex is spared; and those who were found to have avoided death by whatever chance, incurring the loss of liberty—which to honorable men is more to be suspected than every kind of death—were subjected to wretched servitude.

Capti sunt inter caeteros ejusdem conditionis Mahazam, filius soldani et quidam ejus nepos, qui urbi praeerant, exercitus illic congregati curam habentes. Effracta igitur civitate, irruentibus passim et sine delectu cuneis, penitiores domiciliorum penetrant aditus, reserant penetralia, et eos qui mortem delitescendo effugisse videbantur, compeditos educentes, ignominiose ad necem protrahunt, quos aetatis integrae, et armorum potentes reperiunt, gladiis transverberant: vix senibus parcitur et pueris, et secundae sorti non plenius indulgetur. Facta sunt desiderabilia eorum, hostium praeda; et quaeque speciosa in sortem, dum sibi dividunt spolia.

Among others of the same condition were captured Mahazam, the sultan’s son, and a certain nephew of his, who were presiding over the city, having charge of the army assembled there. Accordingly, with the city broken open, as wedges (columns) rushed in everywhere without distinction, they penetrate the deeper entrances of the dwellings, unbar the inner penetralia, and those who seemed to have escaped death by hiding, leading them out in fetters, they drag ignominiously to slaughter; those whom they find of full age and powerful in arms, they pierce through with swords: scarcely are old men and boys spared, nor is the second sex more fully indulged. Their desirable things became the enemies’ prey; and whatever was splendid fell into the lot, while they divided the spoils among themselves.

His igitur rumoribus Savar mente consternatus, quid faciat ignorat, deliberat prout temporis et rerum in arcto positarum patiebatur angustia, an regem muneribus tentet expugnare, et indignationem ejus data emolliat pecunia, an finitimos superstitionis suae principes, ad sui auxilium precibus pretioque sollicitet. Tandem placet, utrumque maturata provisione tentare. Missa ergo legatione ad Noradinum, implorat subsidium et impetrat imploratum; vocato enim Siracono, cujus saepius fecimus mentionem, partem exercitus, et nobilium suorum partem non modicam cum satrapis qui partem sollicitudinis portarent, tradit; sumptisque alimentis ad iter necessariis, et camelis ad devehenda onera sufficientibus, eos in Aegyptum dirigit.

By these rumors, therefore, Savar, his mind consternated, knows not what he should do; he deliberates, as far as the straitness of the time and of affairs set in a tight place allowed, whether he should try to subdue the king with gifts and soften his indignation with money given, or solicit the neighboring princes of his own superstition for his aid by prayers and by price. At length it pleases him to attempt both by a provision hastened. Therefore, an embassy having been sent to Noradin, he implores succor and impetrates what he implored; for Siraconus, of whom we have made mention often, being called, he delivers to him a part of the army, and a not small part of his nobles, with satraps who might carry a share of the solicitude; and, provisions necessary for the journey having been taken, and camels sufficient for conveying the burdens, he directs them into Egypt.

CAPUT VII. Rex ante Cahere eastra locat, exspectans promissam a soldano pecuniam.

CHAPTER 7. The king pitches camp before Cairo, awaiting the money promised by the sultan.

Rex interim eversa Pelusio, cum universis agminibus versus Cahere cohortes dirigit, sed lento nimis gradu, vix unius iter diei decem diebus conficiens; tandemque ante urbem castrametatus, machinas parat, crates erigit, et caetera ad tales usus profutura disponit. Videntur quae foris struuntur promittere impetus proxime futuros, et obsessis incutere formidinem, et quamdam mortis imaginem intentare. Qui autem facti illius arcana norunt, hujus morae causam fuisse asserunt, quod soldanus interea advenientis exercitus terrore concussus, prolixiores deliberandi haberet inducias, et pro amovendo exercitu pecuniam pacisceretur: tota enim illuc properabat regis intentio, ut a soldano pecuniam emungeret; malebat enim pretio redemptus abire, quam urbes illas, sicut de Pelusio contigerat, popularibus ad rapinam exponere, sicut manifestius infra dicetur.

Meanwhile the king, Pelusium overthrown, directs the cohorts with all the columns toward Cahere, but at too slow a pace, scarcely completing in ten days the march of a single day; and at length, encamped before the city, he prepares siege engines, raises hurdles, and arranges the rest of the things that would be useful for such uses. The things being built outside seem to promise assaults soon to come, to strike fear into the besieged, and to brandish a certain image of death. But those who know the secrets of that deed assert that the cause of this delay was that the sultan, meanwhile shaken by the terror of the approaching army, might have longer respites for deliberation, and would bargain money for the removal of the army: for the king’s whole intention was hastening thither, to squeeze money from the sultan; for he preferred to depart ransomed for a price, rather than to expose those cities, as happened with Pelusium, to pillage by the common soldiery, as will be said more plainly below.

Soldanus vero interea per suos et regis familiares omnem praetentat aditum, omnem explorat subintrandi viam; tandem regis animum pecuniarum cupidum, promissionibus enervat, infinitam spondet pecuniam, quam vix universum regnum, corrasis undique copiis persolvere posset. Promittit enim, ut aiunt, aureorum vigesies centena millia, ut redditis sibi filio ac nepote, amotisque expeditionibus, rediret ad propria. Hoc autem, ut postea patuit, non eo moliebatur intuitu, ut promissorum summam spes esset aliquando solutum iri; sed ne subito incursu accedens ad Cahere, imparatum immunitumque reperiens, repentinis irruptionibus expugnaret, quod procul dubio, ut constanter asserunt qui interfuerunt, si citatis itineribus capta Pelusio, dejectis adhuc et stupidis a recenti clade et insperata tantae urbis calamitate, Aegyptiorum animis, illuc noster pervenisset exercitus, accidisset.

Meanwhile the sultan, through his own men and the king’s familiars, tries every avenue and explores every way of insinuating himself; at length he enervates the king’s mind, greedy for monies, by promises, and pledges infinite money, which scarcely the whole kingdom, with resources scraped together from everywhere, could pay. For he promises, as they say, two million gold pieces, so that, his son and grandson being restored to him and the expeditions removed, the king would return to his own. But this, as afterward became clear, he did not contrive with the intention that there was any hope the sum of the promises would ever be paid; rather, lest he, advancing by a sudden incursion to Cairo, finding it unprepared and unfortified, should take it by sudden assaults—which, beyond doubt, as those who were present assert confidently, would have happened, if, by quick marches after Pelusium was captured, while the minds of the Egyptians were still cast down and stupefied by the recent disaster and the unexpected calamity of so great a city, our army had reached there.

Verisimile enim videtur, quod viri molles et effeminati, deliciis a multo retro tempore dediti, rerum militarium expertes, adhuc fumante vicinae urbis incendio, et innumero suorum interitu consternati, sibi timentes quod aliis videbant accidisse, nec inde animos vel vires habuisse resistendi.

For it seems plausible that men soft and effeminate, long since given over to delights, unexperienced in military matters, while the conflagration of the neighboring city was still smoking, and thrown into consternation by the innumerable destruction of their own people, fearing for themselves what they saw had happened to others, therefore had neither the spirit nor the strength for resisting.

CAPUT VIII. Classis nostra per Nilum immissa, nostro se adjungere exercitui conatur; sed re infecta, domum revertitur.

CHAPTER 8. Our fleet, sent in along the Nile, attempts to adjoin itself to our army; but the matter left unaccomplished, it returns home.

Dum haec circa Cahere aguntur, ecce nostra quam rex de nostris finibus exiens maturare praecepit classis, per mare ventis usa prosperis, applicuisse dicitur, per illius fluminis ostium, quod vulgo dicitur Carabes, ingressa. Civitatem antiquissimam supra illam fluminis ripam, Tapnim nomine, sitam, violenter occupant; quae statim nostris in direptionem data est et praedam. Dum ergo nostri per fluminis alveum ad regem festinare contendunt, Aegyptii navibus suis alveum fluminis obsidentes, transitum negabant.

While these things are being done around Cahere, behold, our fleet, which the king, setting out from our borders, had ordered to make haste, having used favorable winds over the sea, is said to have made landfall, having entered through the mouth of that river which is commonly called Carabes. A most ancient city situated above that riverbank, by name Tapnim, they violently seize; which was straightway given over to our men for depredation and booty. While therefore our men strive to hasten along the channel of the river to the king, the Egyptians, blockading the river’s channel with their ships, were denying passage.

Misit ergo rex Henfredum de Torono constabularium suum, ut illuc cum lecta veniens militia, alteram saltem fluminis ripam, ut eis ex illa liber fieret transitus, violenter occuparet; quod satis expedite factum esset, nisi quod interim rumor de adventu Siraconi consilium mutari compulit. Mandatum est ergo eis, ut ad mare descendentes, reditum maturarent ad propria; quod et factum est: unam tamen galeam imprudenter amiserunt.

Therefore the king sent Henfred of Toron, his constable, to go thither, coming with a chosen soldiery, to seize by force at least the other bank of the river, so that for them from that side a free passage might be made; which would have been done quite expeditiously, except that meanwhile a rumor of the arrival of Siracon compelled the plan to be changed. It was therefore ordered to them that, descending to the sea, they should hasten a return to their own; which also was done: one galley, however, they imprudently lost.

CAPUT IX. Rex obsessa Cahere urbe, pecuniam a soldano promissam exspectat. Soldanus vero a pactis resilire tentat, et Turcorum implorat auxilium.

CHAPTER 9. The king, with the city of Cahere besieged, awaits the money promised by the sultan. The sultan, however, attempts to back out of the pacts, and implores the aid of the Turks.

At soldanus et sui interea moliri non cessant, quomodo regem a se repellant, dolisque peragunt, quod virtuti sentiunt deesse et fraudis commercio redimunt virium defectus. Promissa igitur pecunia, inducias pro solutione postulant; allegant quantitatem multam nimis esse, nec in uno loco posse totam reperiri; tempus auctius indulgendum, ut pactis pareatur; datis tamen in continenti centum millibus, filium recipit et nepotem soldanus: pro summa reliqua duos nepotulos suos adhuc impuberes, obsides exhibet. Rex vero obsidione soluta, quasi per milliare recedens, circa hortum Balsami castra componit; ubi per dies octo, crebris se inutilibus soldani legationibus usus, tandem ad eum locum qui cognominatur Syriacus, transfert exercitus.

But the sultan and his own meanwhile do not cease to contrive how they may repel the king from them, and they carry through by wiles what they feel is lacking to virtue, and by the commerce of fraud they redeem the defect of forces. The money therefore having been promised, they ask for a truce for the payment; they allege that the quantity is too great, and cannot all be found in one place; more time should be indulged, that the pacts may be obeyed; yet, with one hundred thousand given on the spot, the sultan receives his son and his grandson: for the remaining sum he produces as hostages two little grandsons of his, still underage. But the king, the siege being lifted, withdrawing as if for a mile, pitches camp around the Garden of Balsam; where for eight days, having availed himself of the sultan’s frequent but useless embassies, he at length transfers the army to that place which is called Syriacus.

Soldanus interim frequentibus nuntiis universum regnum sollicitat, quidquid armorum ubique est congerit, undecunque auxilia convocat, alimenta inducit, infirma urbis circuit et consolidat, omnem resistendi viam percurrit; ad pugnam pro cervicibus, pro libertate, pro uxoribus et liberis, sermonibus suasoriis invitat; casum proximae civitatis lamentabilem ante oculos ponit: captivitatis acerbitatem, dominorum jugum importabile, servitutis extremam omnium conditionem exponit.

Meanwhile the Sultan, with frequent messages, solicits the whole realm; he heaps together whatever arms are anywhere, summons auxiliaries from every quarter, brings in provisions, circuits the city’s weak points and consolidates them, runs through every way of resistance; to battle for their necks, for liberty, for their wives and children, he invites them with suasory speeches; he sets before their eyes the lamentable fall of the neighboring city: he expounds the bitterness of captivity, the unbearable yoke of masters, the extremest condition of servitude.

CAPUT X. Milo de Planci sinistro consilio regis mentem subvertit. Siraconus ab Aegyptiis vocatus accedit; rex ei occurrit in solitudine; sed eo non invento, infecto negotio redit ad propria.

CHAPTER 10. Milo de Plancy, by sinister counsel, subverts the king’s mind. Siraconus, summoned by the Egyptians, approaches; the king goes to meet him in the wilderness; but, with him not found, the business left unaccomplished, he returns to his own.

Erat in eodem domini regis exercitu vir quidam secundum carnem nobilis, sed moribus degener, neque Deum timens, neque ad hominem habens reverentiam, Milo videlicet de Planci, homo inverecundus, clamosus, detractor, seditiosus. Hic immoderatam domini regis cognoscens avaritiam, volens potius ei morem gerere quam salutaribus eum monere consiliis, consilium dederat ab initio, et obstinate seduloque persuadebat, ut ad hoc potissimum daret operam, ut regno in praedicta quantitate mulctato, cum calipha et soldano tentaret componere, quam Cahere et Babyloniam violenter effringere; non quia, ut dicitur, posse fieri desperaret, sed ut elusis militibus, et caeteris qui ad praedam manus et animos intenderant, universum tanti laboris emolumentum, in regis fiscum videretur introducere. Expugnatis enim violenter urbibus, longe uberiores solent exercitus de spoliis reportare fructus, quam ubi regibus et principibus sub quodam foederis nexu, certis conditionibus, ipsis tantum dominis utilibus, mancipantur.

There was in that same army of the lord king a certain man noble according to the flesh, but degenerate in morals, neither fearing God nor having reverence toward man—namely Milo of Planci, a shameless man, loud-mouthed, a detractor, seditious. He, recognizing the immoderate avarice of the lord king, wishing rather to humor him than to admonish him with healthful counsels, had from the beginning given counsel, and stubbornly and assiduously was persuading, that he should chiefly exert himself to this: that, the kingdom having been mulcted in the aforesaid amount, he should try to make a composition with the caliph and the sultan, rather than to break open by force Cairo and Babylon; not because, as it is said, he despaired that it could be done, but so that, the soldiers and the others who had set hands and minds upon booty being outmaneuvered, the entire emolument of so great a labor might seem to be brought into the king’s fisc. For when cities are violently stormed, armies are wont to carry back far more abundant fruits from the spoils than when they are handed over to kings and princes under a certain bond of treaty, on fixed conditions, useful only to the lords themselves.

Ibi enim, utpote in tanto tumultu et depopulatione confusa, quod cuique quocunque casu occurrit, jure belli occupanti conceditur, et victoris auget peculium; ibi vero solis regibus tractantur utilia; et quae sic accedunt, fisci juribus vindicantur. Et licet regibus et sublimioribus potestatibus accedens incrementum, in subditorum videatur redundare divitias, et omnium opulentiam cumulare, tamen avidius quaeruntur, quae familiares ditant lares et domesticis inseruntur rationibus. His itaque altercationibus dissidebant: pars maxima, diripi cuncta, et ferro decerni petebat; rex autem cum suis partem amplectebatur oppositam; praevaluit tamen sententia posterior, et regiae satisfactum est voluntati.

For there, as being confounded in so great a tumult and depopulation, whatever by whatever chance occurs to anyone is granted, by the law of war, to the one who seizes it, and it augments the victor’s peculium; but there only things advantageous to kings are transacted; and the things that thus accrue are claimed for the rights of the fisc. And although the increment accruing to kings and more sublime powers may seem to redound to the riches of the subjects, and to heap up the opulence of all, yet more avidly are sought the things which enrich the household Lares and are inserted into domestic accounts. Therefore in these altercations they were at variance: the greatest part demanded that all things be plundered and that the issue be decided by iron; but the king with his own embraced the opposite part; nevertheless the latter opinion prevailed, and the royal will was satisfied.

Locatis igitur nostris in vico praenominato, qui a Cahere quinque aut sex distat milliaribus, pene continuus et pro cujusque * erat interpretum et nuntiorum discursus. Dum igitur quasi succedentes sibi ad regem dirigit legationes, et quam sedulus sit in colligenda pecunia significat, orat etiam ne moram causetur, se patienter exspectet; monet etiam et consulit, ne propius accedendo, calipham vel populum de contracto pacis foedere plenius confidentem deterreat: subito futurum, ut censu tradito, felicibus auspiciis redire valeat. Dumque hujusmodi, quasi delusoriis praestigiis, nostros deludit apparatus, et recta persuadentium consilia, et salubriores monitus potiora suggerentium evacuat; ecce rumor insonuit, quod Siraconus adveniens, innumeram Turcorum secum trahebat multitudinem; quo comperto, solutis castris, compositisque sarcinis, rex Pelusium redit.

Our men therefore being quartered in the aforesaid village, which is five or six miles distant from Cairo, there was an almost continuous running to and fro of interpreters and messengers, and, according to each one’s *, a constant traffic. While then he dispatches to the king legations as if succeeding one another, and signifies how assiduous he is in gathering money, he also begs that he not cause delay, that he wait patiently; he also warns and counsels that, by approaching nearer, he not terrify the caliph or the people, made more fully confident by the contracted covenant of peace: that soon, the tribute having been delivered, he will be able to return under happy auspices. And while by contrivances of this sort, as if by delusory prestiges, he dupes our preparations, and nullifies both the right counsels of those persuading and the more healthful admonitions of those suggesting better things; behold, a rumor sounded that Siraconus, oncoming, was dragging with him an innumerable multitude of Turks; which being learned, the camp having been struck and the baggage set in order, the king returns to Pelusium.

Ubi sumptis ad iter victualibus, relictis qui civitatem tuerentur, tam equitum quam peditum copiis, VIII Kal. Januarias, Siracono in solitudinem obviam exit; cumque jam aliquantulum esset in eremo processum, significatur regi per exploratores locorum gnaros, et quibus erat fides habenda, quod cum suis legionibus Siraconus jam transierat. Hic jam opus erat novo consilio.

Where, provisions for the journey having been taken, and forces both of cavalry and infantry being left behind to protect the city, on December 25, he goes out into the wilderness to meet Siraconus; and when already they had advanced somewhat in the desert, it is signified to the king by scouts well-versed in the terrain, and to whom trust was to be given, that Siraconus had already crossed with his legions. Here now there was need of new counsel.

Nam duplicatis hostium viribus, non erat tutum diuturniorem moram facere. Mora enim enorme secum trahebat periculum; nam neque cum eis sane tutum videbatur conserere; nec soldanus de caetero pactorum finibus stare volebat; nec nos eum ad legem placidorum observandam compellere poteramus. Ad hoc enim de industria, et studiose dilatoriis ambagibus videbatur rem protraxisse, ut sic Turcis supervenientibus exire compelleremur.

For with the enemies’ forces doubled, it was not safe to make a more long-lasting delay. For delay dragged with it enormous peril; for neither did it seem at all safe to join battle with them; nor was the sultan willing any longer to stand by the terms of the pacts; nor could we compel him to observe the law of the agreements. For to this end, deliberately and studiously, by dilatory evasions he seemed to have protracted the matter, so that, with the Turks supervening, we would be compelled to go out.

Redeunt igitur nostri Pelusium, ibique recepta parte exercitus, quae ad urbis illius tuitionem relicta fuerat, altera post Kal. Januarias die, ordinatis agminibus, redeundi in Syriam iter arripiunt.

Our men therefore return to Pelusium, and there, having taken back the part of the army which had been left for the defense of that city, on January 2, with the columns ordered, they seize the road for returning into Syria.

CAPUT XI. Siraconus Aegyptum occupat; soldanum interficit: et ipse paulo post vita defungitur.

CHAPTER 11. Siraconus occupies Egypt; kills the sultan: and he himself, a little later, dies.

Porro Siraconus videns temporum opportunitatem votis suis consonare, et rege abscedente jam non esse quidpiam, quod ejus desideriis praestet impedimentum, quod prius mente conceperat, mandat effectui. Castra igitur locat ante Cahere; et quasi pacificus esset ejus introitus, patienter per aliquot dies sustinet, tanquam vir prudentissimus, nihil spirans asperum, nihil praetendens amarum, versutia, qua plurimum callebat, celans propositum. Egrediebatur ad eum Savar soldanus in castra quotidie, cum multa gloria et maximo comitatu; et impenso quotidianae visitationis officio et devotae salutationis affatu, datis etiam muneribus, revertebatur.

Furthermore, Siraconus, seeing the opportunity of the times consonant with his vows, and that, with the king withdrawing, there was now nothing that would present an impediment to his desires, commits to effect what he had previously conceived in mind. He therefore pitches camp before Cahere; and, as though his entry were to be pacific, he patiently endures for several days, as a most prudent man, breathing out nothing harsh, presenting nothing bitter, hiding his purpose by astuteness, in which he was very much practiced. Sawar the sultan used to go out to him into the camp daily, with much glory and a very great retinue; and, having paid the duty of daily visitation and the address of devoted salutation, with gifts also given, he would return.

Jamque prosperi ingressus et regressus assiduitas securitatem videbatur polliceri; et quod heri et nudiustertius cum reverentia fuerat susceptus, consuetudinem inducebat fidentiorem. Securum igitur et nimis de Turcorum fide praesumentem sceleris minister praevenit; occulte suis praecipit, quod dum die sequenti, summo mane, quasi deambulaturus ad aquas egreditur, ea hora qua soldanus visitationis consuetudinem fecerat, venientem confoderent. Savar vero, diei parte solita, ut consuetae visitationis et debitae salutationis dependat alloquium, egreditur ad castra; cui occurrentes mortis ejus ministri, exsecutioni mancipant quod fuerat imperatum.

And now the assiduity of favorable ingress and egress seemed to promise security; and what yesterday and the day before yesterday had been received with reverence was inducing a more confident custom. Therefore the minister of the crime forestalls him, who was secure and presuming too much upon the faith of the Turks; he secretly instructs his men that while on the following day, at first light, as if to stroll to the waters, he goes out—at that hour at which the sultan had made a custom of visitation—they should stab him as he comes. But Savar, at the usual time of day, in order to discharge the discourse of the accustomed visitation and the due salutation, goes out to the camp; and his ministers of death, meeting him, consign to execution what had been commanded.

Dejectum enim ad terram, capite minuunt, gladiis obtruncant. Quod videntes ejus filii, citatis equis in Cahere se recipiunt, ante calipham consternati, et genibus provoluti pro vita supplicant. Quibus ille dicitur respondisse, ea conditione de vita sperandum, si nihil occulte cum Turcis molirentur: qui pactorum formam statim violantes, clam per internuntios coeperunt cum Siracono de pace tractare; quod audiens calipha, utrumque jussit gladio interire.

For cast down to the ground, they remove his head, they hew him down with swords. Seeing this, his sons, with horses spurred, take refuge into Cahere, dismayed before the caliph, and prostrate at his knees they supplicate for life. To whom he is said to have replied that hope of life was to be had on this condition: if they should attempt nothing secretly with the Turks. They, however, straightway violating the form of the pacts, began secretly through internuncios to treat with Siraconus concerning peace; which on hearing, the caliph ordered both to perish by the sword.

Sic ergo rege absente, Savar de medio sublato, Siraconus votis satisfacit suis; regnum occupat; et ingressus ad calipham, reverentiam impendit debitam. Ipse quoque versa vice plurimum honoratus, dignitate et officio soldanatus insignitur; et gladii recipiens potestatem, Aegyptum sibi vindicat universam. O caeca hominum cupiditas, et omni crimine major!

Thus therefore, with the king absent and Savar removed from the midst, Siraconus satisfies his desires; he seizes the kingdom; and, having entered to the caliph, he renders the due reverence. He himself also, the turn being reversed, being very greatly honored, is invested with the dignity and office of the sultanate; and, receiving the power of the sword, he vindicates to himself all Egypt. O blind cupidity of men, and greater than every crime!

O nefanda cupidae mentis et insatiabilis animi rabies! Ecce, a quam quieto et tranquillo penitus statu, in quam turbulentum et anxietatibus plenum nos dejecit immoderatus habendi ardor? Aegypti copiae, opulentiarum immensitas nostris usibus famulabantur; ex ea parte nostrum regnum tuta habebat latera; non erat quem ab Austro formidaremus.

O nefarious frenzy of a greedy mind and the insatiable rabies of soul! Behold, from how quiet and thoroughly tranquil a state, into how turbulent and full of anxieties, has the immoderate ardor of possessing cast us down? The forces of Egypt, the immensity of opulence, were ministering to our uses; on that side our kingdom held its flanks secure; there was no one from the South whom we feared.

Mare volentibus adire vias praestabat pacatiores; nostri quoque negotiationis et commerciorum gratia, sine formidine, bonis conditionibus in Aegypti fines poterant introire. Ipsi quoque versa vice peregrinas inferentes divitias, commercia nostris incognita secum trahentes, utilitati simul et honori nobis erant, dum ad nos ingrediuntur. Praeterea census annui immensa praestatio, tam fisco regio, quam domesticis singulorum peculiis vires praestabat, inferebat incrementum.

The sea provided more peaceable routes for those willing to go; our people also, for the sake of negotiation and commerce, without fear, on good terms were able to enter the borders of Egypt. They themselves likewise, in turn, bringing in foreign riches, drawing with them forms of commerce unknown to us, were at once for our utility and our honor, as they came to us. Moreover, the immense prestation of the annual census afforded strength both to the royal fisc and to the domestic peculia of individuals, and brought increment.

At nunc e converso, cuncta calculum sunt sortita deteriorem; mutatus est color optimus, et versa est in luctum cithara nostra. Quocunque me vertam, suspectas invenio partes. Mare pacatos negat aditus, omnis vicina per circuitum regio hostibus paret, et in nostram se accingunt perniciem regna contermina.

But now, conversely, all things have drawn a worse tally; the best color has been changed, and our cithara has been turned into mourning. Wherever I turn myself, I find the parts suspect. The sea denies peaceful approaches; every neighboring region round about obeys the enemies, and the conterminous kingdoms gird themselves for our ruin.

Haec omnia hominis unius invexit cupiditas, et avaritia vitiorum radix nostra obnubilavit data divinitus serena. Sed ad historiam redeamus.

The cupidity of one man has brought in all these things, and avarice, the root of vices, has clouded our divinely given serenity. But let us return to the history.

CAPUT XII. Salahadinus ejus ex fratre nepos, defuncto succedit et regnum obtinet Aegypti.

CHAPTER 12. Saladin, his nephew on his brother’s side, after his death succeeds and obtains the kingdom of Egypt.

Mortuo soldano et filiis ejus, quibus contra pietatis formam, necis indebitae causas praebuimus, Siraconus voti compos obtinuit principatum; verum hoc successu non diu est laetatus; nam vix anno potitus imperio, rebus humanis exemptus est: cui successit Salahadinus fratris ejus Negemedini filius, vir acris ingenii, armis strenuus et supra modum liberalis. Hic primis auspiciis sui principatus ad calipham dominum suum, ut solitam illi exhiberet reverentiam, ingressus, clava quam gestabat in manibus, dicitur eum ad terram prostratum occidisse, omnemque ejus gladio transverberasse progeniem, ut ad nullum superiorem habens respectum, ipse sibi et calipha et soldanus esset: timebat enim, ne ad se ingredientem aliquando, quia jam Turci populo invisi habebantur, jugulari praeciperet. Praevenit ergo eum, et sibi more domini nihil tale verenti mortem intulit, quam eidem ille, ut dicitur, parabat intentare.

With the sultan dead, and his sons— to whom, contrary to the pattern of piety, we supplied causes for unowed slaughter—Siraconus, his wish fulfilled, obtained the principate; yet he did not rejoice long in this success, for scarcely a year in possession of the empire he was removed from human affairs. To him succeeded Salahadinus, son of his brother Negemedinus, a man of keen wit, strenuous in arms, and beyond measure liberal. He, under the first auspices of his principate, having entered to the caliph his lord to show him the accustomed reverence, is said, with the club he bore in his hands, to have struck him to the ground and slain him, and to have transfixed all his progeny with the sword, so that, having regard to no superior, he might be for himself both caliph and sultan: for he feared lest at some time, as he came into his presence—since the Turks were already held hateful by the people—he might order him to be jugulated. He therefore anticipated him, and inflicted death upon him who, after the manner of a lord, suspected nothing of the sort—the very death which that same man, as it is said, was preparing to aim at him.

Mortuo igitur calipha, regiam gazam et thesauros et cuncta illius domus desiderabilia, pro libero diripiens arbitrio, cuncta liberaliter nimis, militibus erogavit, ita ut intra paucos dies evacuatis vestiariis, ipse mutuam sumens pecuniam, gravi pondere se obligaret aeris alieni. Non defuerunt tamen, ut dicitur, qui de filiis caliphae occulte quosdam eriperent, ea intentione, ut, reddita Aegyptiis aliquando regni administratione, non deesset qui praedecessoribus suis, nominis, dignitatis et sanguinis haeres existeret.

Therefore, the caliph being dead, plundering the royal treasury and the treasures and all the desirable things of that house at his free discretion, he disbursed everything far too liberally to the soldiers, such that within a few days, the vestiaries emptied, he himself, taking money on loan, bound himself with the heavy burden of debt. Yet there were not lacking, as it is said, those who secretly rescued certain of the caliph’s sons, with this intention: that, when at some time the administration of the kingdom should be restored to the Egyptians, there might not be lacking one who would stand as heir to his predecessors in name, dignity, and blood.

CAPUT XIII. Bernardus monasterii montis Thabor abbas, Liddensi Ecclesiae praeficitur. Fredericus Tyrensis archiepiscopus ab Occidentalibus principibus petiturus auxilium, ad partes dirigitur occiduas.

CHAPTER 13. Bernard, abbot of the monastery of Mount Tabor, is appointed over the Church of Lydda. Frederick, archbishop of Tyre, to seek aid from the Occidental princes, is sent to the western parts.

Domino rege in regnum reverso, nil memoria dignum prima illius anni parte gestum est, nisi quod defuncto Raynero, bonae memoriae Liddensi episcopo, Bernardus abbas ecclesiae montis Thabor, in eadem ecclesia inthronizatus est. Vere tamen sequente, quod erat sexti anni domini Amalrici initium, videntes regni prudentiores, quod in subjugata Turcis Aegypto, plurimum nobis decesserat, et multo deterior facta erat nostra conditio: nam violentissimus hostis noster, Noradinus per mare poterat, classe numerosa ex Aegypto proficiscente, regnum nostrum arctare non modicum, et quamlibet ex maritimis urbibus utroque vallare exercitu; et quod formidabilius erat, peregrinis ad nos transitum impedire aut negare penitus; consulunt opus esse, ut de praelatis ecclesiarum viri venerabiles, prudentes et eloquentia praediti, ad Occidentis principes dirigerentur, qui doceant et diligenter insinuent regni pressuras importabiles; et populi Christiani afflictionem, et casus asperos fratribus imminentes. Electi sunt ergo de communi consilio in opus ministerii hujus dominus patriarcha, dominus Ernesius Caesariensis archiepiscopus, dominus Willelmus Acconensis episcopus; sumptisque tam domini regis quam universorum episcoporum litteris, ad dominum Fredericum Romanorum imperatorem, ad dominum Ludovicum Francorum regem, ad dominum Henricum regem Anglorum, ad dominum Willelmum Siciliae regem; ad comites quoque, nobiles et inclytos Philippum Flandrensem, Henricum Trecensem, Theobaldum Carnotensem, et ad reliquos Occidentalium partium principes, navem conscendunt.

With the lord king returned into the kingdom, nothing worthy of memory was done in the first part of that year, except that, Rayner, bishop of Lydda, of good memory, having died, Bernard, abbot of the church of Mount Tabor, was enthroned in that same church. However, the following spring, which was the beginning of the sixth year of lord Amalric, the more prudent men of the kingdom, seeing that in Egypt subjugated by the Turks much had fallen away from us, and our condition had become much worse—for our most violent enemy, Noradinus, could by sea, with a numerous fleet setting out from Egypt, constrict our kingdom not a little, and could, moreover, invest any of the maritime cities with an army on both sides; and, what was more formidable, could impede the passage of pilgrims to us, or wholly deny it—take counsel that it is needful that from the prelates of the churches venerable men, prudent and furnished with eloquence, be directed to the princes of the West, to teach and diligently to make known the unbearable pressures of the kingdom, and the affliction of the Christian people, and the harsh downfalls impending for the brethren. Therefore, by common counsel, for the work of this ministry were elected lord the patriarch, lord Ernisius, archbishop of Caesarea, lord William, bishop of Acre; and, letters having been taken both of the lord king and of all the bishops, to lord Frederick, emperor of the Romans, to lord Louis, king of the Franks, to lord Henry, king of the English, to lord William, king of Sicily; and also to the counts, noble and renowned, Philip of Flanders, Henry of Troyes, Theobald of Chartres, and to the remaining princes of the parts of the West, they embark upon a ship.

Sed subito sequenti nocte oborta tempestate maxima, nave quassata, fractis remigiis, malis depositis, plurimum turbati, post triduum, vix evadentes naufragium, reversi sunt. Successit eis in eadem legatione dominus Fredericus Tyrensis archiepiscopus, multa precum domini regis et principum devictus instantia, ducens secum dominum Joannem Paneadensem episcopum, ejusdem ecclesiae suffraganeum; qui melioribus auspiciis navem ingressi, feliciter ad optatum portum navigaverunt; parum tamen in negotio quod eis injunctum fuerat, proficientes. Nam praedictus episcopus, postquam in Franciam pervenit, statim apud Parisios ultimum clausit diem; dominus vero archiepiscopus completo biennio, omnino vacuus reversus est.

But suddenly, on the following night, with a very great tempest arising, the ship being shaken, the oars broken, the masts lowered, being greatly disquieted, after three days, scarcely escaping shipwreck, they returned. Lord Frederick, archbishop of Tyre, succeeded them in the same legation, overcome by the much urgency of the prayers of the lord king and the princes, leading with him lord John, bishop of Paneas, suffragan of the same church; who, having entered the ship under better auspices, happily sailed to the desired port; yet making little progress in the business that had been enjoined upon them. For the aforesaid bishop, after he reached France, immediately at Paris closed his last day; but the lord archbishop, a two-year period completed, returned entirely empty-handed.

CAPUT XIV. Imperator pactis volens satisfacere, classem in Syriam dirigit, et quosdam de suis principibus.

CHAPTER 14. The emperor, willing to satisfy the pacts, directs a fleet into Syria, and certain of his princes.

Transcursa illa aestate, absque factis memorabilibus, circa prima autumni sequentis initia, fidei memor, et pacta memoriter tenens, quae cum domino rege per nostram mediationem et per interpositum studium dominus imperator firmaverat, classem dirigit promissam, in eo facto plurimum commendabilis; nam imperiali magnificentia placidorum legem plenius interpretatus, promissum uberiore cumulavit solutione. Erant sane in praefato exercitu naves longae, rostratae, geminis remorum instructae ordinibus, bellicis usibus habiliores, quae vulgo galeae dicuntur, centum quinquaginta. Item his majores ad deportandos equos deputatae, ostia habentes in puppibus, ad inducendos educendosque eos patentia, pontibus etiam quibus ad ingressum et exitum, tam hominum quam equorum, procurabatur commoditas, communitae, sexaginta.

That summer having run its course, without memorable deeds, around the first beginnings of the ensuing autumn, mindful of good faith and holding the pacts in memory, which the lord emperor had ratified with the lord king through our mediation and the interposed diligence, he directs the promised fleet, in this deed very much commendable; for with imperial magnificence, interpreting more fully the law of agreements, he piled up the promise with a more abundant fulfillment. There were indeed in the aforesaid expedition long ships, beaked, equipped with twin ranks of oars, more suitable for warlike uses, which are commonly called galleys, 150. Likewise, larger than these, assigned for transporting horses, having doors in the sterns, standing open for leading them in and out, also furnished with gangways by which convenience for entrance and exit, both of men and of horses, was provided, 60.

Item harum maximae, quae dromones dicuntur, alimentis varii generis armisque multiplicibus, machinis quoque et tormentis bellicis usque ad summum refertae, decem aut duodecim. Misit autem cum classe de suis principibus Megalducas consanguineum suum, quem universis praefecit, et quemdam alium Mauresium nomine, sibi valde familiarem, de cujus experientia (sicut postea plenius patuit) plurimum confidebat; nam eumdem postmodum universo suo praefecit imperio. Comitem quoque Alexandrum de Conversana, nobilem de Apulia virum; quem ob insignem fidem, et multam erga se devotionem, dominus imperator charum habebat et acceptum.

Likewise of these the largest, which are called dromons, crammed up to the very top with aliments of various kinds and with manifold arms, and also with machines and war engines, were ten or twelve. Moreover, with the fleet he sent from among his princes the Megaducas, his kinsman, whom he set over all, and another man by name Mauresius, very familiar to himself, in whose experience (as afterward more fully was evident) he greatly confided; for he later set that same man over his whole empire. Also Count Alexander of Conversano, a noble man from Apulia; whom, on account of distinguished fidelity and much devotion toward himself, the lord Emperor held dear and in favor.

His curam sui committens exercitus, in nostrum dirigit Orientem; qui prospera usi navigatione, circa finem Septembris portum ingrediuntur Tyrensem: inde Accon profecti, inter fluvium et portum placida statione componunt.

Committing to these the care of his army, he directs it to our Orient; they, enjoying prosperous navigation, about the end of September enter the Tyrian port: thence, having set out for Acre, they compose themselves in a placid station between the river and the port.

CAPUT XV. Rex in Aegyptum descendit cum suis expeditionibus; Graecis quoque, tam navigio quam per terram eum sequentibus.

CHAPTER 15. The king descended into Egypt with his expeditions; the Greeks also, both by navigation and by land, following him.

Anno igitur ab Incarnatione Domini 1169, a liberatione vero urbis sexagesimo octavo, regni vero domini Amalrici anno sexto, Idibus Octobris: compositis regni negotiis, relicta etiam militia, quae in regis absentia ab insidiis et incursionibus Noradini, quem circa partes Damascenas commorantem reliquerat, regnum tueretur; congregatus est universus exercitus tam Latinorum quam Graecorum apud Ascalonam, classe jam a portu Acconensi per dies aliquot egressa, et iter contra fines Aegyptios agente *. Septimo igitur decimo Kal. Septembris, ab urbe praedicta egredientes, per mansiones competentes, ubi aquarum non deesset commoditas, et ne peditum phalanges supra vires gravarentur, itineribus moderatis, Pharamiam urbem antiquissimam, nona demum die perveniunt. Mediam autem hanc viam, maritimam oram sequi volentibus, fortuitus quidam casus nuper reddiderat productiorem.

Therefore, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1169, but from the liberation of the city the sixty-eighth, and indeed in the sixth year of the reign of lord Amalric, on the Ides of October: the affairs of the kingdom having been set in order, and a soldiery also left behind which, in the king’s absence, might protect the kingdom from the ambushes and incursions of Noradin, whom he had left lingering about the Damascene regions; the whole army, both of the Latins and of the Greeks, was congregated at Ascalon, the fleet now for several days having put out from the port of Accon and making a march against the Egyptian frontiers*. Therefore, on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of September, setting out from the aforesaid city, by suitable halting-places, where the convenience of waters should not be lacking, and lest the phalanxes of foot-soldiers be burdened beyond their strength, with moderated marches, they at length reach the most ancient city Pharamia on the ninth day. Moreover, this middle route, for those wishing to follow the maritime shore, a certain fortuitous chance had lately rendered more protracted.

Evictis namque verbere assueto et pene continuo assultu quibusdam arenarum aggeribus, qui medii inter planiora quaedam loca et fretum vicinum interponebantur, mare violenter fractis obicibus, viam sibi evicerat, et liberum sibi introitum ad illam ulteriorem vindicaverat planitiem; quo licentia influens liberiore, stagnum effecerat ore quidem angusto, sed intus campos obtinens patentiores. Ubi ab illa die marinis influxionibus tanta solet piscium includi multitudo, ut non solum finitimis, verum etiam remotis urbibus uberiores et inauditas piscium praestet commoditates. Occupatis igitur salo restagnante locis mari vicinioribus, volentibus secus aequorea transire littora et in Aegyptum descendere, objectum est dispendium, quod stagnum circumire, et milliaribus decem, vel eo amplius digredi, antequam ad littus iterum redeatur, quadam necessitate compellat.

For certain embankments of sands, which were interposed between some flatter places and the neighboring strait, having been overcome by the accustomed lash and the almost continual assault, the sea, its barriers violently broken, had forced a way for itself and had secured free entry to that further plain; where, flowing with freer license, it had made a lagoon, with a mouth indeed narrow, but within occupying broader fields. Where from that day by the marine influxions so great a multitude of fish is wont to be enclosed that it affords not only to neighboring, but even to remote cities richer and unheard-of commodities of fish. Therefore, the places nearer to the sea being occupied by the backwater of the brine, to those wishing to pass along the sea-shores and to descend into Egypt, an inconvenience is set in their way, which by a certain necessity compels them to go around the pool and to deviate by ten miles or more before one returns again to the shore.

Haec autem grati miraculi, et de novo factae irruptionis interseruimus; et quod pars solitudinis prius obnoxia solis ardoribus, nunc subjecta fluctibus, et natantium facta familiaris, navigiis patens, piscatorum implet retia, et praeter solitum facta fecundior, fructus reddit prius incognitos. Pharamia vero, unde supra fecimus mentionem, civitas deserta, olim multo frequentata habitatore, juxta primum Nili ostium, quo marinis excipitur fluctibus, sita est, quod vulgo Carabes dicitur, eremo juncta, inter fluvium, mare et solitudinem posita; distat tamen ab ostio fluminis milliaribus tribus: ad quam nostri pervenientes, classem nostram reperiunt advenisse. Ubi aptatis navibus cum remige necessario, universus in ulteriorem ripam deportatur exercitus.

We have interwoven these things of a gracious miracle and of a newly made irruption; and that a part of the wilderness formerly obnoxious to the heats of the sun, now subjected to the waves and made familiar to things that swim, open to navies, fills the fishermen’s nets, and, made more fecund beyond the wonted, renders fruits previously unknown. Pharamia indeed, whereof we made mention above, a deserted city, once much frequented with inhabitants, is situated near the first mouth of the Nile, by which it is received by the marine waves, which is commonly called Carabes, joined to the desert, placed between the river, the sea, and the solitude; yet it is distant from the mouth of the river by 3 miles: to which, our men arriving, they find our fleet to have come. There, the ships being fitted out with the necessary remiges, the whole army is transported to the farther bank.

Relinquentes igitur a laeva Tapnim, eximiam olim metropolim, nunc autem parvissimi ad instar redactam oppidi, inter loca palustria et maris littus viam carpentes mediam, quasi milliaribus viginti, duobus diebus Damiatam perveniunt.

Leaving therefore on the left Tapnim, once an eminent metropolis, but now reduced to the likeness of a very small town, taking the middle way between marshy places and the shore of the sea, for about twenty miles, in two days they reach Damietta.

CAPUT XVI. Rex Damiatam obsidet; et in ejus expugnatione tam Latinorum quam Graecorum inutiliter desudat exercitus.

CHAPTER 16. The King besieges Damietta; and in its storming the army, both of the Latins and of the Greeks, toils in vain.

Est autem Damiata inter Aegypti metropoles antiqua et nobilis plurimum, secus ripam Nili sita citeriorem, ubi secundo ostio praedictus fluvius mare ingreditur, inter fluminis alveum et mare, situ valde commodo posita; a mari tamen, quasi milliario distans; ad quam VI Kal. Novembris noster perveniens exercitus, inter urbem et mare castrametati sunt, classem exspectantes, quae maris inclementia et ventorum adversis flatibus detinebatur; quae post triduum, pacata maris unda et ventis usa secundis alveum amnis ingressa, inter civitatem et mare, secus ripam, placita se statione locavit. Porro in ulteriore fluminis ripa erat turris singulariter erecta, armatis sufficienter ad sui praesidium munita.

Now Damiata is among Egypt’s metropolises ancient and very noble, situated along the nearer bank of the Nile, where by a second mouth the aforesaid river enters the sea, set in a very commodious position between the channel of the river and the sea; yet about a mile distant from the sea; to which, our army arriving on the 6th day before the Kalends of November, they encamped between the city and the sea, awaiting the fleet, which was being detained by the sea’s inclemency and the adverse blasts of the winds; which, after three days, with the sea’s wave pacified and using favorable winds, entered the river’s channel, and between the city and the sea, along the bank, took up for itself a chosen station. Furthermore, on the farther bank of the river there was a tower uniquely raised, sufficiently garrisoned with armed men for its own defense.

Ab hac usque ad civitatem catena protendebatur ferrea, quae nostris maximum dabat impedimentum, ita ut ad superiora nullus omnino pateret transitus. Ad eos vero de superioribus, a Babylonia et Cahere, libere et absque impedimento, poterant naves quaelibet introire. Classe igitur composita, nostri quoque pomoeria quae inter castra et urbem media jacebant, transeuntes, urbi viciniora figunt tentoria, unde liber ad moenia erat discursus.

From this as far as the city a chain of iron was stretched out, which gave our men a very great impediment, so that to the upper reaches no passage at all lay open. But for them from the upper parts, from Babylon and Cairo, any ships could freely and without impediment enter. The fleet therefore being set in order, our men also, crossing the suburbs (pomeria) which lay midway between the camp and the city, pitch their tents nearer to the city, whence there was free access to the walls.

Ubi dum per triduum assultus differunt, experimento discunt quam verum sit: Nocuit differre paratis. Advenientes enim de superioribus Aegypti partibus Turcorum infinitae multitudines, et armatis naves onustae, nostris videntibus, nec impedire valentibus, urbem prius pene vacuam, replebant. Et quam primo accessu vix primos impetus sustinere posse judicaverant, nunc non nisi machinis et tormentis bellicis expugnandam asserunt. Eliguntur ergo artifices, et pro votis subjecta materia, sumptu numerosiore et labore maximo erigitur castellum mirae altitudinis, septem habens solia, unde civitas tota videri poterat.

While for three days they defer assaults, by experiment they learn how true it is: Delay harmed the prepared. For infinite multitudes of Turks arriving from the upper parts of Egypt, and ships laden with armed men, before our men’s very eyes, and they not able to hinder it, were filling the city, previously almost empty. And that which at the first approach they had judged scarcely able to sustain the first onsets, they now assert must be taken only by engines and warlike artillery. Engineers are therefore chosen, and with material furnished according to desire, at considerable expense and with very great labor there is erected a siege-tower of wondrous height, having seven stories, whence the whole city could be seen.

Construuntur et aliae varii generis machinae quaedam, quibus magnis molaribus caedantur moenia; quaedam, quibus quasi caveis occultis, fossores muros urbis suffodiant, et subterraneis meatibus suffossos compellant ad ruinam. Fabrefactis interim machinis, et per itinera complanata secus murum collocatis, qui in castello erant, urbanos sagittis, saxis pugillaribus et armis qualia furor et loci angustia ministrabat, urgebant cum instantia; qui vero sub jaculatoriis tormentis, missis molaribus, certatim moenia, et juncta moenibus domicilia dejicere adoriuntur. Hoc videntes oppidani, ut arte artem deludant, et nostris moliminibus eadem subtilitate obvient, e regione nostri castellum educunt in sublime; armatos imponunt, qui nostris renitantur a pari, et eis aequipollenti conatu respondeant: tormenta nihilominus tormentis objiciunt; et ad nostra confringenda argumentis quibus possunt, tota sollicitudine se suspendunt.

Other machines also are constructed, of various kinds: some, with which the walls might be battered by great millstones; some, with which, as if in hidden cages, diggers might undermine the city’s walls, and by underground passages, having under-dug them, compel them to collapse. The machines meanwhile having been wrought, and, after approaches were leveled, positioned along the wall, those who were in the tower pressed the townsfolk with urgency with arrows, with fist-sized stones, and with arms such as fury and the straitness of the place supplied; while those under the hurling engines, millstones having been sent, vie with one another to throw down the walls and the dwellings joined to the walls. Seeing this, the townsmen, that by art they might delude art, and with the same subtlety meet our efforts, opposite our men raise their tower aloft; they place armed men upon it, to withstand our men on equal terms, and to answer with an endeavor of equal power: engines, nonetheless, they oppose to engines; and to shatter ours, by contrivances with which they can, they hang themselves with total solicitude.

Fiunt ad sui tuitionem solertes, et ingenium a necessitate vires sumit. Quique prius arbitrabantur se ad hoc non sufficere, necessitatis pressi articulo, vias inveniunt prius incognitas, et ad propriae salutis tutelam fiunt ex obtusis subtiliores. Ibi erat experimento cognoscere, quam verum sit illud proverbialiter dictum: Miserisque venit solertia rebus. (OVID.) Nostri vero cum instare acrius debuissent, timide gelideque coeperunt cuncta ministrare; erant qui fraudi, erant et qui incuriae et negligentiae imputarent.

They become skillful for their own defense, and ingenuity draws strength from necessity. And those who previously thought themselves not sufficient for this, pressed by the crisis of necessity, find ways previously unknown, and for the tutelage of their own safety become, from being obtuse, more subtle. There it was possible to learn by experience how true that proverbially uttered saying is: Skillfulness comes to wretched affairs. (OVID.) But our men, when they ought to have pressed on more sharply, began to administer everything timidly and coldly; there were those who imputed it to treachery, and there were those who imputed it to carelessness and negligence.

Ibi profecto patuit statim, nostros aut minus experientiae habuisse, aut a solita defecisse prudentia, aut exercitus moderatores malitiose versatos; cum castellum quod erectum fuerat, per loca clivosa et pene invia muris applicari jusserunt. Nam cum essent in eadem parte civitatis moenia in multis locis humiliora et infirma nimis et loca multa assultibus et expugnationi facilius pervia, castellum erexerunt in ea parte civitatis, quae firmior et magis munita habebatur, et ubi cum tanta difficultate moenibus est applicatum, quanta alibi nusquam occurrisset; nec ibi civibus quidquam inferebat molestiae, aut eorum aedificiis, sed soli basilicae sanctae Dei Genitricis, quae juxta muros sita est. Illud sane nihil habet ambigui, qui de malitia, more processerit, quod primo nostrorum adventu dilata est urbis impugnatio; nam vacuam reperientes eam, dum non nisi domesticos haberet suos, viros imbelles, effeminatos, praeliorum ignaros, si pro debito animosius institissent, primis congressionibus eam occupassent violenter.

There it plainly at once lay open that our men either had less of experience, or had failed of their wonted prudence, or that the moderators of the army had been dealing maliciously; since they ordered the tower which had been erected to be applied to the walls through sloping places and almost impassable. For although in the same quarter of the city the walls were in many spots lower and too infirm, and many places more easily pervious to assaults and expugnation, they set up the tower in that part of the city which was held to be firmer and more fortified, and where it was brought up to the walls with such difficulty as would nowhere else have occurred; nor there did it inflict any annoyance upon the citizens or their buildings, but only upon the basilica of the holy Mother of God, which is situated next to the walls. This, assuredly, has nothing ambiguous—that it proceeded from malice, after their manner—namely, that at the first arrival of our men the impugnation of the city was put off; for, finding it empty, since it had none save its domestics, unwarlike men, effeminate, unskilled in battles, if they had pressed on more spiritedly as was due, they would have possessed it by force in the first encounters.

Concessae namque feriae tantum virium obsessis intulerunt, tantaque medio tempore virorum fortium et egregie armatorum accessit numerositas, ut non solum intra moenia, sed etiam in campestribus nostrorum impetus possent sustinere.

For the granted truce brought so much strength to the besieged, and in the meantime there accrued such a numerosity of brave men and of those excellently armed, that they could sustain our assaults not only within the walls but even in the open fields.

CAPUT XVII. Oritur in castris fames, et nostra classis pene tota incenditur, tandem solvitur obsidio, opera consumpta inutiliter.

CHAPTER 17. Famine arises in the camp, and our fleet is almost entirely set on fire; at length the siege is lifted, the works consumed to no purpose.

Accessit praeterea miserabile quiddam, quod omnis illa quae in classe venerat Graecorum multitudo tanta coepit alimentorum inopia laborare, ut omnino panis eis omnibus deficeret, nec ciborum quidpiam apud eos inveniretur. Caedebatur ad usus varios silva palmarum castris contermina; dejectisque ad terram certatim arboribus, in summo earum, unde rami habent originem, Graeci fame laborantes, quaerebant multo studio quamdam teneritudinem, unde ramis humor vivalis ministratur, esui quodammodo habilem; unde suam, licet misere, consolabantur esuriem. Quaerendi victus artem fames auxerat; et ventris appetitus rugientis, solertiam induxerat ampliorem. Hoc sane per dies aliquot edulio vitam misere protrahentes, famem laborabant depellere.

Moreover there was added a pitiable thing, that all that multitude of Greeks which had come in the fleet began to suffer such a want of aliments that bread altogether failed them all, nor was anything of foods found among them. A grove of palms, conterminous with the camp, was being cut down for various uses; and the trees, cast down to the ground in emulous haste, at their tops—whence the branches have their origin—the Greeks, laboring with hunger, were seeking with much zeal a certain tenderness, whereby a vital moisture is supplied to the branches, in some manner fit for eating; whereby they consoled their hunger, albeit miserably. Hunger had increased the art of seeking victual; and the appetite of a roaring belly had induced a greater ingenuity. By this edible, indeed, for several days miserably prolonging life, they strove to drive away hunger.

Quibusdam tamen, qui non penitus erant alimonia destituti, avellanae, passae et siccae castaneae contra famis importunitatem solatia ministrabant. Nostris autem panis, et varii generis alimentorum non deerat sufficientia; sed cogitantes de crastino, sacculis parcebant, timentes ne si ipsi cibos non habentibus incaute dividerent, aliquando et ipsis deficeret; iterum et de mora incerti, tempus prolixius habebant suspectum. Praeterea tanta imbrium abundantia, tanta pluviarum intemperies per idem tempus incubuit, ut neque tuguriis pauperiores, nec papilionibus divites arte qualibet arcere possent stillicidia, imo nimborum redundantiam.

To some, however, who were not utterly destitute of sustenance, hazelnuts, raisins, and dried chestnuts supplied consolations against the importunity of hunger. For our men there was no lack of bread and of a sufficiency of foods of various kinds; but, thinking of the morrow, they were sparing of their sacks, fearing lest, if they incautiously shared food with those who had none, at some time it might fail even themselves; and again, uncertain about delay, they suspected a more prolonged span of time. Moreover, so great an abundance of showers, so great an intemperance of rains settled upon us during that same time, that neither the poorer with their huts, nor the wealthy with their pavilions, could by any art ward off the drip, nay rather the redundancy of the storm-clouds.

Vallo igitur cingentes tentoria, ut illuc pluviarum deflueret impetus, vix in tuto se poterant collocare. Accidit quoque per eosdem dies grande nimis infortunium. Nam cum galeas, et caeteras diversi generis naves, a mari eductas, in fluminis alveum introduxissent, et juxta civitatem tuta, ut videbatur, statione ordinassent; videntes oppidani quod ventus a superioribus descenderet, et quasi Nili fluenta sequeretur aliquantulum vehementior, quod conceperant, in opus trahere nituntur.

Therefore, girding the tents with a rampart, so that the impetus of the rains might flow down thither, they could scarcely place themselves in safety. It also befell during those same days a misfortune far too great. For when they had introduced the galleys, and the other ships of diverse kinds, drawn out from the sea, into the channel of the river, and had arranged them near the city in a station safe, as it seemed, the townsmen, seeing that the wind was descending from the upper parts, and, as if it were following the streams of the Nile, somewhat more vehement, strive to draw into effect what they had conceived.

Accipientes enim mediae quantitatis cymbam, lignis aridis, pice et liquamine, et omnibus his quae solent ignibus incentivum ministrare, eam usque ad summum ejus replentes, ignem subjiciunt; et accensam, in classem nostram, flumine eam gratis deferente, dirigunt; nec deerat austri flatus, qui suppositis ignibus ministrabat irritamentum, sumpta occasione ex subjecta materia. Descendens igitur incensa navicula in classem, reperiensque eam quasi contiguam, transire non valens, haesit inter rates; praebitoque quod gestabat incendio, sex ex rostratis navibus, quas galeas vocant, usque in favillas exussit: universamque classem ignis invalescens penitus occupasset, nisi domini regis sollicitudo, qui comperto incendio, nudis adhuc pedibus, equum velociter conscendens, nautas ad resistendum ignibus, manu multisque clamoribus excitasset. Dividentes itaque eas ab invicem, late vagantis incendii furorem, declinaverunt.

For taking a boat of middle size, and with dry woods, pitch and liquid (fuel), and all those things which are accustomed to minister an incentive to fires, filling it up to its very top, they apply fire; and, once kindled, they direct it into our fleet, the river conveying it gratis; nor was the blast of the south wind lacking, which supplied irritation to the fires laid beneath, taking occasion from the material set under them. The ignited little skiff therefore, descending into the fleet and finding it as it were contiguous and not able to pass through, stuck among the rafts; and, offering the conflagration which it bore, it burned up to cinders six of the beaked ships, which they call galleys: and the fire, growing strong, would have utterly occupied the entire fleet, had not the solicitude of the lord king—who, the fire having been discovered, with his feet still bare, swiftly mounting a horse, had roused the sailors to resist the fires, by hand and with many shouts. Separating them therefore from one another, they turned aside the fury of the conflagration roaming far and wide.

Si quae vero vicini odore incendii conflagrare coeperant, ignis fomitem, vel in favilla, vel alio modo secum trahentes, beneficio fluminis et vicinarum aspergine aquarum, remedium consequebantur. Fiebant praeterea, sed diebus interpolatis, in urbem assultus, in quibus, secundum hoc quod bellorum dubius solet esse eventus, nunc nostri, nunc hostes deteriorem calculum reportabant; frequentius tamen nostri pugnandi occasionem ministrabant. Nam hostes raro, nisi lacessiti, ad congressum provocabant; nonnunquam tamen per adulterinam portam, quae Graecorum respiciebat castra, in eos irruptiones subitas faciebant oppidani, nescimus qua fiducia adducti; aut quod nostris eos audieerant naturaliter invalidiores, aut quia fame periclitantes, ad sustinendos impetus minus reputabant idoneos.

But those which in truth had begun to blaze from the reek of the neighboring fire, carrying with them the tinder of the flame, either in embers or in some other way, by the favor of the river and the sprinkling of the neighboring waters obtained a remedy. Moreover, assaults upon the city were made, but with days interposed, in which, according to the fact that the outcome of wars is wont to be doubtful, now our men, now the enemies brought back the worse pebble; more frequently, however, our men supplied the occasion for fighting. For the enemies rarely, unless provoked, summoned to an encounter; sometimes, however, through an adulterine gate which looked toward the camp of the Greeks, the townsmen made sudden irruptions against them, led on, we know not by what confidence—either because they had heard them to be by nature weaker than our men, or because, being imperiled by hunger, they reckoned them less fit to sustain assaults.

Eorum tamen magistratus Megaducas, et alii viriliter et satis strenue, quoties opus erat, in acie decertabant. Unde eorum exemplo inferiores animati, plerumque etiam praeter solitum, et instabant acrius, et animosius resistebant. Augebantur porro civibus, tam per terras quam navigio, turbae militares, ut jam de caetero nostris, magis essent formidini qui infra moenia tenebantur, quam molestiae aliquid pati, qui dicebantur obsessi.

Their magistrate Megaducas, and others as well, fought manfully and quite strenuously in the battle-line whenever there was need. Whence, encouraged by their example, the inferiors for the most part even beyond the usual both pressed on more keenly and resisted more spiritedly. Moreover, the military throngs were augmented for the citizens, both by land and by shipping, so that from then on, for our men, those who were held within the walls were more a cause of dread, than those who were said to be besieged were to suffer any trouble.

Murmur ergo jam serpebat in populo, et erat omnium pene una sententia, nostros operam inutiliter consumere: irata Divinitate se hoc opus coepisse; tutius esse redire ad propria, quam in Aegypto fame tabescere, vel hostium gladiis deputari. Mediantibus ergo nostris, et de satrapis Turcorum nonnullis, et maxime quodam eorum principe, fideliter operam dante, Jevelino videlicet, consonantibus in id ipsum Graecis, occultis quibusdam conditionibus foedus initur; mox voce praeconia pax indicitur.

Therefore a murmur was now creeping among the people, and there was nearly one sentiment of all: that our men were consuming their effort uselessly; that, with Divinity angered, they had begun this enterprise; that it was safer to return to their own homes than to waste away with famine in Egypt, or be consigned to the enemies’ swords. Therefore, with our men mediating, and with some of the satraps of the Turks, and especially with a certain prince of theirs, namely Jevelinus, giving faithful assistance, the Greeks agreeing to this very thing, a pact is entered into under certain secret conditions; soon peace is proclaimed by the herald’s voice.

CAPUT XVIII. Revocatis expeditionibus, rex ad propria revertitur. Graecorum classis in redeundo pene tota deperit, sinistris acta flatibus.

CHAPTER 18. The expeditions recalled, the king returns to his own domains. The Greek fleet, in returning, almost entirely perishes, driven by sinister blasts.

Egrediuntur ergo tam de civibus, quam de his qui in eorum subsidium venerant, ad nostrorum castra, pro libero arbitrio; nostris quoque volentibus urbem introire, liber introitus et egressus sine difficultate patebat. Hic tandem mutuorum data est facultas commerciorum, et quod cuique libitum erat emere vel permutare, facta est licentia. Sic ergo quasi per triduum nostri communi cum hostibus usi rerum venalium foro, ad iter se accingunt.

They therefore go out, both of the citizens and of those who had come to their succor, to our camp, at their free discretion; and as our men also wished to enter the city, free ingress and egress lay open without difficulty. Here at last the faculty of mutual commerce was granted, and license was given to buy or to barter whatever each one pleased. Thus then, for, as it were, three days, our men, having used a common market of vendible goods together with the enemies, gird themselves for the journey.

Depositis igitur machinis et igne succensis, qui terrestri venerant itinere, dominum regem secuti, eadem qua venerant via in Syriam revertentes maturatis gressibus, XII Kal. Januarias Ascalonam pervenerunt. Dominus vero rex, gratia vicinae festivitatis, Accon properans, in vigilia Nativitatis Dominicae, eamdem attigit civitatem.

Therefore, after the engines had been laid aside and fire kindled, those who had come by a terrestrial route, following the lord king and returning into Syria by the same way by which they had come, with hastened steps reached Ascalon on December 21. But the lord king, for the sake of the approaching festival, hurrying to Acre, on the Vigil of the Lord’s Nativity, reached that same city.

Qui autem navigio venerant, omine sinistro et infaustis avibus naves conscendunt; nam statim in primo obeundi itineris initio, exorta subito validissima tempestate, fretorum experti insuperabilem malitiam, confractis navibus et collisis ad littora, omnes pene passi sunt naufragium. Sic itaque de tanta classe, quae ad nos descenderat, tam de majoribus, quam de minoribus, paucae naves reservatae sunt incolumes, quae ad redeundum ex se ipsis praestarent habilitatem. Infecto igitur negotio, omni tamen diligentia, qua compleri debebat, a nuntiis domini imperatoris impensa, et debita sollicitudine procurandis negotiis exhibita, domum redeunt, dejecti animo, fati adversitate consternati; timentes ne sibi, praeter meritum, imperialis excellentia sinistrum imputaret eventum; et quod casus attulerat inevitabilis, ira succensus eorum dominus, indebite eorum ascriberet aut malitiae, aut neglectui.

Those, however, who had come by ship, under a sinister omen and in inauspicious birds (auspices), embark the ships; for straightway at the very beginning of setting out on the journey, with a most mighty storm suddenly arisen, having experienced the insuperable malice of the straits, with the ships broken and dashed against the shores, almost all suffered shipwreck. Thus therefore, of so great a fleet which had come down to us, both of the larger and of the smaller, few ships were preserved unharmed, which would from themselves afford the ability for returning. The business, therefore, being left unfinished, yet with every diligence with which it ought to have been completed expended by the envoys of the lord emperor, and with due solicitude shown in attending to the affairs to be managed, they return home, cast down in spirit, confounded by the adversity of fate; fearing lest the imperial excellency should impute to them, beyond their desert, the sinister outcome; and that what inevitable chance had brought, their lord, kindled with wrath, would unduly ascribe either to their malice or to neglect.

Meminimus tamen, post reditum nostrum, tam a domino rege, quam a quibusdam regni principibus, sollicite et diligenter quaesisse, quaenam causa fuerit quod tantus exercitus, tantorum principum studio procuratus, ita in proposito defecerit. Nam nos eo anno, familiaribus tracti negotiis, et domini archiepiscopi nostri declinantes indignationem immeritam, ad Ecclesiam nos contuleramus Romanam; reversi autem, praedictae quaestionis solutionem quaerentes, variis multorum relationibus de rei veritate cupiebamus edoceri; nam longe a spe nostra dicebatur accidisse; qua sollicitudine nostra nos trahente, haec omnia scripto mandare jam conceperamus. Invenimus Graecos etiam in praedicto negotio, non sine lata culpa fuisse.

We remember, however, that after our return both by the lord king and by certain princes of the realm it was asked solicitously and diligently what cause there had been that so great an army, procured by the zeal of so great princes, thus failed in its purpose. For we, that year, drawn by familiar affairs and avoiding the undeserved indignation of our lord the archbishop, had betaken ourselves to the Roman Church; but having returned, seeking a solution to the aforesaid question, we desired to be taught about the truth of the matter by the various reports of many; for it was said to have turned out far otherwise than our hope. This concern of ours drawing us on, we had already conceived to commit all these things to writing. We found that the Greeks also, in the aforesaid business, were not without gross fault.

Nam cum pecuniam ad alendum tantum exercitum sufficientem, se missurum firmissime promisisset dominus imperator, in ea parte inventus est sermo ejus minus soliditatis habuisse. Ex quo enim in Aegyptum descenderant ejus archontes, ubi etiam aliis indigentibus, de imperiali magnificentia subvenire debuissent, coeperunt ipsi primitus indigere et mutuam quaerere pecuniam, unde suis legionibus tam ad victum quam ad stipendia providerent; et nemo illis dabat.

For when the lord emperor had most firmly promised that he would send money sufficient for sustaining so great an army, in that regard his word was found to have had less solidity. For from the time his archons had gone down into Egypt, where, out of imperial magnificence, they ought to have come to the aid even of others in need, they themselves began first to be in want and to seek money on loan, with which they might provide for their legions both for victuals and for stipends; and no one gave to them.

CAPUT XIX. Terraemotus maximus pene universum concutit Orientem, et urbes dejicit antiquissimas.

CHAPTER 19. A very great earthquake shakes almost the whole Orient, and overthrows the most ancient cities.

Aestate vero sequente, anno videlicet domini Amalrici septimo, mense Junio, tantus tamque vehemens circa partes Orientales terraemotus factus est, quantus qualisque memoria saeculi praesentis hominum, nunquam legitur accidisse. Hic universi Orientalis tractus urbes antiquissimas et munitissimas, funditus diruens, habitatores earum ruina involvens, aedificiorum casu contrivit, ut ad exiguam redigeret paucitatem. Non erat usque ad extremum terrae locus quem familiaris jactura, dolor domesticus non angeret: ubique luctus, ubique funebria tractabantur.

But in the following summer, namely in the seventh year of lord Amalric, in the month of June, so great and so vehement an earthquake took place around the Oriental parts, as great and of such a kind as, in the memory of the men of the present age, is never recorded to have occurred. This, tearing down from the foundations the most ancient and most fortified cities of the whole Oriental tract, wrapping their inhabitants in ruin, crushed them by the fall of the buildings, so that it reduced them to a meager paucity. There was not, even to the extremity of the earth, a place that familiar loss, domestic sorrow did not vex: everywhere mourning, everywhere funerals were conducted.

Inter quas et provinciarum nostrarum, Syriae et Phoenicis urbes quam maximas, et serie saeculorum antiquitate nobiles, solotenus dejecit. In Coelesyria, multarum provinciarum metropolim, olimque multorum moderatricem regnorum, Antiochiam, cum populo in ea commorante, stravit funditus; moenia, et in eorum circuitu turres validissimas, incomparabilis soliditatis opera, ecclesias, et quaelibet aedificia tanto subvertit impetu, quod usque hodie multis laboribus et sumptibus immensis, continua sollicitudine et indefesso studio vix possunt saltem ad statum mediocrem reparari. Ceciderunt in eadem provincia urbes egregiae de maritimis quidem, Gabulum et Laodicia; de mediterraneis vero, licet ab hostibus detinerentur, Nerea, quae alio nomine dicitur Halapia, Caesara, Hamum, Emissa et aliae multae; municipiorum autem non erat numerus.

Among which also, of our provinces, the very greatest cities of Syria and Phoenicia, noble for antiquity by the series of ages, it cast down to the very ground. In Coele-Syria, Antioch, the metropolis of many provinces and formerly the moderatrix of many kingdoms, together with the populace dwelling in it, it laid utterly low; the walls, and in their circuit the most strong towers, works of incomparable solidity, the churches, and whatever edifices, it overthrew with such an impetus that even to this day, by many labors and immense expenditures, with continual solicitude and indefatigable zeal, they can scarcely be repaired even to a moderate state. In the same province there fell distinguished cities—of the maritime, indeed, Gabala and Laodicea; but of the inland, although they were held by the enemies, Nerea, which by another name is called Halapia, Caesara, Hamum, Emissa, and many others; as for the municipalities, there was no number.

In Phoenicia autem, Tripolis, civitas nobilis et populosa, III Kal. Julii, tanto terraemotus impetu, circa primam diei horam, subito concussa est, ut vix uni de omnibus, qui infra ejus ambitum reperti sunt, salutis via pateret. Facta est tota civitas quasi agger lapidum, et oppressorum civium tumulus, et sepulcrum publicum.

In Phoenicia, however, Tripolis, a noble and populous city, on the 3rd day before the Kalends of July, by so great an impetus of an earthquake, around the first hour of the day, was suddenly shaken, that scarcely to a single one of all who were found within its ambit was a way of safety open. The whole city became as it were a rampart of stones, and a tumulus of its oppressed citizens, and a public sepulcher.

Sed et Tyri, quae est ejusdem provinciae metropolis famosissima, terraemotus violenter, absque tamen civium periculo, turres quasdam robustissimas dejecit. Inveniebantur, tam apud nos quam apud hostes, oppida semiruta, et insidiis et hostium viribus late patentia. Sed dum quisque districti judicis iram sibi metuit, alium molestare pertimescit.

But also at Tyre, which is the most famous metropolis of the same province, the earthquake violently, yet without danger to the citizens, cast down certain very robust towers. There were found, both among us and among the enemies, semi-ruined towns, standing widely patent to ambushes and to the forces of the enemies. But while each man fears for himself the wrath of the strict judge, he dreads to trouble another.

Sufficit cuique dolor suus, et dum quemlibet cura fatigat domestica, alii differt inferre molestias. Facta est, sed brevis, pax, hominum studio procurata; et foedus compositum, divinorum judiciorum timore conscriptum; et dum indignationem peccatis suis debitam exspectat quisque desuper, ab iis quae solent hostiliter inferri, manum revocat et impetus moderatur. Nec ad horam, ut plerumque solet, fuit ista irae Dei revelatio; sed tribus aut quatuor mensibus, vel etiam eo amplius, ter aut quater vel plerumque saepius, vel in die vel in nocte, sentiebatur motus ille tam formidabilis.

Each one’s own dolor suffices him, and while a domestic care wearies anyone, he defers to inflict vexations on another. There was made, but brief, a peace, procured by the zeal of men; and a treaty composed, conscripted under the fear of divine judgments; and while each awaits from above the indignation due to his sins, he draws back his hand from those things which are wont to be inflicted in hostile fashion, and moderates his onrush. Nor was this revelation of the wrath of God for an hour, as it is for the most part wont to be; but for three or four months, or even more than that, three or four times, or for the most part more often, either in the day or in the night, that movement so formidable was felt.

Omnis motus jam suspectus erat, et nusquam tuta inveniebatur quies. Sed et dormientis animus plerumque, quod vigilans timuerat, perhorrescens, in subitum saltum, rupta quiete, corpus agitari compellebat. Superiores tamen nostrae provinciae, Palestinae videlicet, horum omnium, Domino protegente, fuerunt expertes malorum.

All motion was now suspect, and nowhere was safe repose found. But also the mind of the sleeper, for the most part, shuddering at that which, when awake, he had feared, with repose broken, compelled the body to be agitated into a sudden leap. The upper parts of our province, namely Palestine, with the Lord protecting, were, of all these, exempt from evils.

CAPUT XX. Salahadinus nostros fines ingreditur, et castrum cui est nomen Darum obsidet.

CHAPTER 20. Saladin enters our borders, and besieges the castle whose name is Darum.

Eodem anno, mense Decembri, anno videlicet domini Amalrici septimo, frequens fama circumvolat, et crebris nuntiis divulgabatur, quod Salahadinus convocatis ex universa Aegypto, et finibus Damascenorum militaribus copiis, ampliatoque ex plebeis et secundae classis hominibus militum numero, regnum nostrum depopulaturus, ad partes Palaestinas moliebatur accedere. Quo audito, dominus rex sub omni celeritate in fines ascendit Ascalonitanas. Ubi fida suorum relatione, pro certo cognovit, quod praedictus magnus et potentissimus princeps cum exercitu copioso valde, et solito ampliore, castrum, cui nomen Darum, per biduum obsederat; tantamque illo biduo, obsessis nulla data requie, intulerat molestiam, tantis tamque frequentibus sagittarum immissionibus eos, qui in praesidio erant, lacessiverat, ut omnibus, pene sauciis, pauci pro loci defensione arma possent corripere.

In the same year, in the month of December, namely in the seventh year of Lord Amalric, a frequent rumor flies around, and by repeated messengers it was being divulged, that Saladin, having convoked out of all Egypt and from the borders of the Damascenes military forces, and, the number of soldiers enlarged from plebeians and men of the second class, was endeavoring to approach the Palestinian parts to lay waste our kingdom. Which heard, the lord king with all speed ascended to the Ascalonite borders. There, by the faithful report of his own, he learned for certain that the aforesaid great and most potent prince with a very copious army, and larger than usual, had for two days besieged the castle whose name is Darum; and in that two-day span, granting no rest to the besieged, had brought upon them such trouble, with such great and so frequent discharges of arrows he had assailed those who were in the garrison, that, all being nearly wounded, few could snatch up arms for the defense of the place.

Muro etiam suffosso et effracto violentius, partem municipii jam occupaverat, oppidanis in arcem, quae munitior videbatur, de necessitate se recipientibus: ejus quoque turris in partem inferiorem, effracto et incenso ostio, violenter irruperant, militibus, qui intus erant, ejus partes superiores, adhuc tuentibus: ita domino regi nuntiabatur; et vere sic erat. Erat autem eidem praesidio dux et custos datus, vir nobilis et in armis strenuus, religiosus ac timens Deum, dominus Ansellus de Pass; cujus si forte praesentiam illa die praedictum castrum non habuisset, procul omni dubio in manus hostium devenisset. Quo comperto, rex, tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus et succensus ira, quantum angustia temporis et hostium vicinitas patiebantur, convocatis undecunque tam equitum quam peditum suffragiis, urbe Ascalona egressus, octava decima die mensis praedicti, Gazam contendit.

With the wall also undermined and more violently broken through, he had already occupied part of the municipium, the townsmen of necessity withdrawing into the citadel, which seemed more fortified; they had likewise burst violently into the lower part of its tower, the door having been broken down and set on fire, while the soldiers who were inside were still defending its upper parts: thus it was reported to the lord king; and so indeed it was. There had moreover been given to the same garrison as leader and keeper a noble man and strenuous in arms, devout and God-fearing, lord Anselm of Pass; and if perchance that day the aforesaid castle had not had his presence, beyond all doubt it would have come into the hands of the enemy. On learning this, the king, touched with inward pain of heart and inflamed with wrath, so far as the straitness of time and the nearness of the enemies allowed, having convoked from wherever he could the succors of both horsemen and footmen, having gone out from the city Ascalon, on the eighteenth day of the aforesaid month, made for Gaza.

Adfuit ibi cum eo dominus patriarcha, cum venerabili et pretioso vivificae crucis ligno. Adfuerunt et viri venerabiles, dominus Radulphus Bethlehemita episcopus et regni cancellarius: item dominus Bernardus Liddensis episcopus, et de regni principibus pauci admodum. Recensitoque suorum numero, vix inveniunt equites ducentos quinquaginta, de peditibus vero ad duo millia.

There was present there with him the lord patriarch, with the venerable and precious wood of the life-giving Cross. There were present also venerable men, lord Radulphus, the Bethlehemite bishop and chancellor of the kingdom: likewise lord Bernard, bishop of Lydda, and of the princes of the kingdom very few indeed. And the number of their own being reviewed, they scarcely find 250 knights, but of foot-soldiers indeed about 2,000.

Illam ergo noctem in praedicto loco prae sollicitudinis et curarum pondere insomnem trahentes, assumptis sibi fratribus Templi, qui illuc pro tuitione loci convenerant, circa ortum solis urbe unanimiter egrediuntur, iter suum ad praedictum castrum dirigentes. Est autem, ut credimus, praedictum castrum in Idumaea (ipsa est Edom) situm, trans torrentem illum qui dicitur Aegypti, qui etiam terminus est Palaestinae et praedictae regionis. Hoc ipsum idem dominus Amalricus paucis ante annis, in loco aliquantulum eminente fundaverat, occasione vetustorum aedificiorum, quorum ibi aliqua adhuc supererant vestigia.

Therefore, dragging that night sleepless in the aforesaid place under the weight of solicitude and cares, and having taken to themselves the brothers of the Temple, who had convened thither for the defense of the place, around the rising of the sun they go out from the city unanimously, directing their journey to the aforesaid castle. Now, as we believe, the aforesaid castle is situated in Idumaea (this is Edom), across that torrent which is called of Egypt, which is also the terminus of Palestine and of the aforesaid region. This very place the same lord Amalric, a few years before, had founded on a site somewhat eminent, taking occasion from ancient buildings, of which some vestiges were still remaining there.

Traditur autem a senioribus illarum partium incolis, quod priscis temporibus ibi fuerat monasterium, Graecorum unde et adhuc nomen tenet, Darum; quod interpretatur domus Graecorum. Fundaverat autem, ut praediximus, dominus rex illic castrum modicae quantitatis, vix tantum spatium intra se continens, quantum est jactus lapidis, formae quadrae, quatuor turres habens angulares, quarum una grossior et munitior erat aliis: sed tamen absque vallo erat et sine antemurali. Distat autem a mari quasi stadiis quinque, a Gaza vero milliaribus quatuor. Convenerant autem aliqui ex locis finitimis agrorum cultores, et negotiationibus quidam operam dantes; aedificaverant ibi suburbium et ecclesiam non longe a praesidio, facti illius loci habitatores.

It is handed down by the elder inhabitants of those parts that in ancient times there had been a monastery there, of the Greeks, whence even now it holds the name, Darum; which is interpreted house of the Greeks. Moreover, as we have said above, the lord king had founded there a fortress of modest size, scarcely containing within itself as much space as a stone’s cast, of a square form, having four corner towers, of which one was thicker and more fortified than the others; but yet it was without a rampart and without a forewall. It is distant from the sea by about five stadia, and from Gaza by four miles. Now some farmers from the neighboring places had gathered, and certain men devoting themselves to commerce; they had built there a suburb and a church not far from the garrison, having become inhabitants of that place.

Erat enim locus commodus, et ubi tenuiores homines facilius proficerent quam in urbibus. Condiderat autem rex ea intentione praedictum municipium, ut et fines suos dilataret, et suburbanorum adjacentium, quae nostri casalia dicunt, et annuos redditus, et de transeuntibus statutas consuetudines plenius et facilius sibi posset habere.

For the place was commodious, and one where humbler men made progress more easily than in cities. Moreover, the king had founded the aforesaid municipium with this intention: that he might both dilate his borders, and more fully and more easily secure for himself the annual renders of the adjoining suburbia, which our people call casalia, and the fixed customs from those passing through.

CAPUT XXI. Rex cum modica militum manu illi occurrit; plures ex nostris tam in urbe Gaza, quam in itinere, ab hostibus obtruncantur.

CHAPTER 21. The king, with a modest band of soldiers, goes to meet him; more of our men, both in the city of Gaza and on the road, are cut down by the enemies.

Egressus ergo Gaza noster exercitus, et in edito quodam loco, qui in ipso itinere erat, constitutus, castra videt hostium; et prae nimia multitudine territi, coeperunt se solito arctius comprimere, ita ut prae turbae densitate vix possent incedere. Illi statim in nostros irruentes, tentabant, si unquam eos possent ab invicem separare; sed nostri, propitia Divinitate, solidius inter se conglobati, et hostium sustinebant impetus, et iter maturatis gressibus conficiebant. Tandem ventum est ad locum destinatum, ibique defixis tentoriis, stetit universus exercitus; dominoque patriarcha in arce locato, reliqui omnes extra et juxta suburbium castrametati sunt.

Therefore our army, having gone out from Gaza and having taken position on a certain elevated place which was on the very road, sees the camp of the enemies; and, terrified by the excessive multitude, they began to compress themselves more tightly than usual, so that, on account of the density of the throng, they could scarcely advance. They, rushing upon our men at once, were trying whether they could ever separate them from one another; but our men, with Divinity propitious, being more solidly massed together among themselves, both were sustaining the assaults of the enemies and were completing the march with quickened steps. At length it was come to the appointed place, and there, the tents having been fixed, the whole army stood; and, the lord patriarch being placed in the citadel, all the rest encamped outside and next to the suburb.

Erat autem hora diei, quasi sexta. Habitis ergo illa die singularibus conflictibus et per turmas nonnullis, nostri et audacter institerunt, et restiterunt viriliter. Nocte autem accedente, Salahadinus, ordinatis agminibus, versus Gazam suos dirigit exercitus; nocteque illa secus torrentem quieverunt: facto mane, ante Gazam constituti, urbi coeperunt approximare.

It was, moreover, about the sixth hour of the day. Therefore, with single combats held that day and several by troops, our men both pressed on boldly and withstood manfully. But as night was approaching, Saladin, his columns ordered, directs his armies toward Gaza; and that night they rested beside the torrent: morning having come, having taken position before Gaza, they began to approach the city.

Fuit autem Gaza urbs antiquissima, Philisthiim metropolis egregia, cujus in historiis tam ecclesiasticis quam saecularibus, multa fit mentio; cujus etiam hodie, vetustae nobilitatis, in nobilibus aedificiis, multa exstant argumenta. Jacuit autem multis temporibus deserta, ita ut nec uno incoleretur habitatore, quousque dominus Balduinus, illustris memoriae Hierosolymorum rex quartus, ante captam Ascalonam, collectis regni viribus et publicis sumptibus, castrum in quadam parte civitatis munitum satis, aedificavit, constructumque statim fratribus militiae Templi donavit, jure perpetuo possidendum. Castrum ergo totum collem, supra quem civitas fundata fuerat, ut praediximus, non potuit occupare; sed convenientes quidam ad loci illius habitationem, ut tutius ibi morarentur, reliquam partem collis, portis et muro, sed humili et infirmo, tentaverant munire.

Gaza, moreover, was a most ancient city, an excellent metropolis of the Philistines, of which in histories both ecclesiastical and secular much mention is made; of whose ancient nobility even today many evidences remain in noble edifices. It lay deserted for many times, so that it was inhabited not even by a single dweller, until Lord Baldwin, of illustrious memory, King of Jerusalem the fourth, before Ascalon was captured, the forces of the realm having been gathered and at public expense, built a castle, sufficiently fortified, in a certain part of the city, and the structure he immediately gave to the brothers of the Militia of the Temple, to be possessed by perpetual right. The castle, then, could not occupy the whole hill upon which, as we have said above, the city had been founded; but certain people, coming together for the habitation of that place, that they might dwell there more safely, attempted to fortify the remaining part of the hill with gates and a wall, but low and infirm.

Audito ergo hostium adventu, loci illius habitatores, cum uxoribus et parvulis, decreverant in praesidium introire; erant enim homines inermes, agrorum cultores, talibus inassueti; reliquam vero civitatis partem, tanquam immunitam hostibus exponere. Sed Milo de Planci, quidam de regni magnatibus, sed vir nequam, volens quasi populum animare, introire penitus prohibebat, et ad tuendam urbis partem invalidiorem hortabatur. Erant porro ibi juvenes expediti et ad arma prompti, sexaginta quinque, de partibus Hierosolymitanis, de vico qui dicitur Macomeria.

Therefore, on hearing of the advent of the enemies, the inhabitants of that place, with their wives and little ones, had decided to go into the stronghold; for they were unarmed men, cultivators of the fields, unaccustomed to such things; and to expose the remaining part of the city, as if unprotected, to the enemies. But Milo de Planci, one of the magnates of the kingdom, yet a wicked man, wishing as it were to animate the people, was utterly forbidding them to enter, and was exhorting them to defend the more infirm part of the city. There were, moreover, young men there, unencumbered and prompt to arms, sixty-five in number, from the parts of Jerusalem, from the village which is called Macomeria.

Hi ad exercitum properantes, casu nocte illa in eamdem urbem devenerant; qui dum de mandato praedicti Milonis, secus portam exterioris civitatis, pro libertate et patria strenue decertant, et hostibus viam ferro aperire volentibus fortiter resistunt, hostes ex alia parte in civitatem irruentes, inter praesidium et dictam portam, adhuc introitum hostibus negantes, reperiunt; irruentesque a tergo, incautos vallant undique, et jam resistere non valentes, gladiis obtruncant. Sed tamen multis ex eis peremptis, vulneratisque pluribus, cruentam de eis victoriam retulerunt. Volentes autem loci habitatores iterum in praesidium introire, receptis jam hostibus infra moenia, et eos passim et sine delectu neci tradentibus, non est permissum; nec ulla alia salutis occurrebat via.

These men, hastening to the army, by chance that night had come into the same city; and while, by the mandate of the aforesaid Milo, beside the gate of the outer city they contend strenuously for liberty and fatherland, and stoutly resist the enemies wishing to open a way with steel, the foes, rushing into the city from another quarter, find them between the stronghold and the said gate, still denying entrance to the enemy; and, bursting in from the rear, they surround the unwary on every side, and, now no longer able to resist, cut them down with swords. Yet, with many of them slain and more wounded, they carried back a bloody victory over them. But when the inhabitants of the place wished again to enter the stronghold, the enemies, now received within the walls and delivering them to death everywhere and without selection, it was not permitted; nor did any other way of safety present itself.

Irruentes igitur Turci ubi civitatem occupaverunt, nec aetati parcunt, nec sexui; et vagientes saxis allidentes, iram vix poterant satiare. Qui autem in praesidio erant, hostes a turribus et muris lapidum jactu et crebra telorum immissione longius arcentes, castrum, propitio Domino, servaverunt incolume. Sic ergo occupata civitate, civibus interemptis, quasi palmam tenentes, versus Darum revertuntur; dumque proficiscuntur, inveniunt de peditibus nostris quasi quinquaginta, qui ad exercitum nostrum incaute properabant.

Therefore the Turks, rushing in when they had occupied the city, spare neither age nor sex; and, dashing the wailing infants against stones, they could scarcely satiate their ire. But those who were in the praesidium, warding the enemies farther off from the towers and walls by the casting of stones and the frequent emission of missiles, preserved the fortress unharmed, the Lord being propitious. Thus then, the city occupied and the citizens slain, as though holding the palm, they turn back toward Darum; and while they are setting out, they find of our foot-soldiers about fifty, who were incautiously hurrying to our army.

Hos satis viriliter se tuentes et resistentes fortiter gladiis enecant et interficiunt universos.

These men, defending themselves quite manfully and resisting bravely, they slay with swords and put to death, every one.

CAPUT XXII. Salahadinus ad propria revertitur. Rex quoque, reparato castro, quod ex parte dirutum fuerat, rediit Ascalonam.

CHAPTER 22. Saladin returns to his own domains. The king also, the castle repaired, which had been in part demolished, returned to Ascalon.

Compositis igitur agminibus, et in aciem prout rei militaris exigit disciplina, digestis, quadraginta duas instruunt cohortes, quarum viginti duas littus jubent sequi marinum, ut inter Darum et mare proficiscantur; reliquas autem iter mediterraneum tenere praecipiunt, quousque castro praeterito, omnes in unum corpus iterum se recipiant. Videntes ergo nostri, hostes instructis redire ordinibus, ad conflictum se praeparant; et licet pauci sunt, confidunt tamen de Domini clementia; invocatoque de supernis auxilio, accinguntur ad praelium, Domino ministrante vires et animorum constantiam, nihil putantes certius, quam eos ad hoc redire, ut cum nostris congrediantur: at illi longe aliud habentes propositum, nec ad dextram nec ad laevam declinantes, in Aegyptum redire festinabant. Quod postquam domino regi per certos constitit nuntios, quod iter arripuerant non redituri, relictis qui castrum semirutum reaedificent, reaedificatum muniant amplius, et munitum fideliter custodiant, Ascalonam cum suis, Domino ducente, iterum reversus est.

With the columns therefore arranged, and, as the discipline of military affairs requires, disposed into a battle-line, they draw up forty-two cohorts, of which twenty-two they order to follow the sea-shore, so that they may proceed between Darum and the sea; but they command the rest to hold the inland (mediterranean) route, until, the fortress having been passed, all may withdraw again into one body. Therefore our men, seeing the enemy return with their ranks drawn up, prepare themselves for conflict; and although they are few, yet they trust in the Lord’s clemency; and, help from on high having been invoked, they gird themselves for battle, the Lord supplying strength and steadfastness of spirit, thinking nothing more certain than that they are returning for this purpose, to engage with our men: but they, having a far different plan, turning neither to the right nor to the left, were hastening to return into Egypt. After it was established to the lord king through certain messengers that they had taken the road, not to return, he left behind those who should rebuild the half-ruined castle, and, once rebuilt, strengthen it further, and, once fortified, guard it faithfully; and to Ascalon with his men, the Lord leading, he returned again.

Dicebatur ab iis qui frequentius in regno expeditiones viderant, quod nulla aetate tantam Turcorum multitudinem collectam audierant; reputabaturque hostium numerus, in quibus nonnisi equites erant, ad millia quadraginta.

It was said by those who had more often seen expeditions in the kingdom that in no age had they heard of so great a multitude of the Turks gathered; and the number of the enemies, among whom there were nothing but cavalry, was reckoned at forty thousand.

CAPUT XXIII. Eodem quoque anno gloriosus Christi martyr, Thomas Cantuariensis archiepiscopus, in propria occiditur ecclesia.

CHAPTER 23. In the same year as well the glorious martyr of Christ, Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, is slain in his own church.

Per idem tempus, IV Kal. Januarias, in Anglia apud Cantuariam, nobilem et eximiam ejusdem provinciae metropolim, celebrata est passio beatissimi et gloriosissimi martyris Thomae, ejusdem civitatis archiepiscopi. Hic fuit natione Londoniensis, et sub bonae memoriae Theobaldo Cantuariensis civitatis antistite, meruit in archidiaconum ejusdem ecclesiae promoveri.

At the same time, on the 4th day before the Kalends of January, in England at Canterbury, the noble and outstanding metropolis of the same province, the passion of the most blessed and most glorious martyr Thomas, archbishop of that same city, was celebrated. He was by birth a Londoner, and under Theobald of good memory, prelate of the city of Canterbury, he merited to be promoted to archdeacon of the same church.

Unde ab Henrico secundo, ejusdem provinciae rege, in partem regiae sollicitudinis vocatus, factus est ejus cancellarius, et universi regni fidelis et prudens, et maximus procurator. Tandem, suffragantibus meritis, et post praedicti beati patris obitum, ad Cantuariensem, ordinante Domino, vocatus ecclesiam, dum pro ecclesiae suae justitia viriliter et constantissime contra tyrannicas decertat impietates, eumdem regem persecutorem fugiens, exsilium compulsus est subire, quod in Francia, septennio continuo, mirabili et praedicanda tulit patientia. A quo dum pacem promissam exspectat, rediens, impiorum gladiis, intra eamdem ecclesiam, cui auctore Domino praesidebat, contumeliis affectus, pro persecutoribus orans, capite caesus, proprio sanguine laureatus, felici commercio, martyrio coronatus est; per quem pius et misericors Dominus, in saepedicta ecclesia et universa provincia, tot et tanta diebus pene singulis operari dignatur miracula, ut apostolorum videantur innovata tempora

Whence, by Henry II, king of the same province, called into a share of royal solicitude, he was made his chancellor, and the faithful and prudent, and greatest procurator of the whole realm. At length, merits concurring, and after the death of the aforesaid blessed father, he was, the Lord ordaining, called to the Church of Canterbury; while, for the justice of his own church, he fought manfully and most steadfastly against tyrannical impieties, fleeing the same king as persecutor, he was compelled to undergo exile, which in France, for seven years continuously, he bore with marvelous and to-be-proclaimed patience. And while he awaits the promised peace from him, returning, by the swords of the impious, within that same church over which, the Lord as author, he presided, afflicted with contumelies, praying for his persecutors, his head having been cut, laurelled with his own blood, by a happy exchange, he was crowned with martyrdom; through whom the pious and merciful Lord deigns to work, in the oft-said church and the whole province, so many and so great miracles almost on each day, that the times of the apostles seem renewed.

CAPUT XXIV. Rex assumptis secum aliquot de principibus suis, Constantinopolim proficiscitur: imperator eum multiplici honore praevenire satagit.

CHAPTER 24. The king, having taken along with him several of his princes, proceeds to Constantinople: the emperor strives to go to meet him with manifold honor.

Sequenti anno, qui erat regni domini Amalrici septimus, videns saepedictus rex, quantis molestiis regnum quotidie fatigabatur, et quod hostium incessanter augebatur numerus, virtus suscipiebat incrementum, in immensum quoque facultates eorum multiplicabantur et divitiae; regni nostri autem providi principes et discreti jam penitus defecerant, et in eorum loco soboles succrescebat perniciosa, quae locum tantorum virorum inutiliter occupabat, et bona paterna in usus dilapidabat detestabiles: unde regnum in tantam devenerat debilitatem, quantam cognoscere poterant, etiam qui sensus habebant minus exercitatos: convocat universos regni principes, ibique eis praesentibus, regni necessitates aperit, expetit ab eis consilium: quomodo his malis, ne regnum depereat, possit obviari. At illi ex praesente, deliberatione habita, quasi ex sententia unanimiter responderunt: Regnum peccatis nostris exigentibus, in hunc devenisse articulum, quod neque ad impugnandum adversarios, neque ad sustinendos eorum impetus sufficiebat. Opus esse dicunt, ut, implorato Occidentalium principum auxilio, tentet his malis resistere; aliam autem salutis viam asserunt se omnino invenire non posse. Visum est demum, et id de communi consilio placuit, ut electas honestas personas ad sollicitandos, et de regni anxietatibus edocendos, dominum papam, et illustres dominos Romanorum imperatorem, Francorum, Anglorum, Siciliae et Hispaniarum reges, et inclytos duces et comites dirigant, qui ab eis contra imminentia pericula auxilium implorent. Decretum est etiam, ut domino quoque imperatori Constantinopolitano, quia nobis vicinior, et caeteris longe opulentior, facilius optata nobis posset ministrare suffragia, regni status anceps et periculosus significetur.

In the following year, which was the seventh of the reign of lord Amalric, the oft-mentioned king, seeing with how great vexations the kingdom was daily wearied, and that the number of enemies was incessantly increasing, their valor was taking on increment, and to an immense degree their faculties and riches were being multiplied; but the provident and discreet princes of our kingdom had now altogether failed, and in their place a pernicious offspring was growing up, which was uselessly occupying the place of such great men, and was squandering the paternal goods on detestable uses: whence the kingdom had fallen into so great debility as even those whose senses were less exercised could recognize: he convenes all the princes of the kingdom, and there, they being present, he opens the necessities of the kingdom, and asks counsel of them: how to meet these evils, lest the kingdom perish. But they, deliberation having been held on the spot, as if by settled opinion, unanimously answered: That the kingdom, our sins requiring it, has come into such a crisis that it sufficed neither to assail the adversaries nor to sustain their assaults. They say there is need that, the aid of the Western princes having been implored, it should attempt to resist these evils; but that they assert they are altogether unable to find any other way of salvation. Finally it seemed good, and by common counsel it pleased, that chosen honorable persons be sent to solicit and to instruct concerning the anxieties of the kingdom, the lord pope, and the illustrious lords, the emperor of the Romans, the kings of the Franks, the English, of Sicily and of the Spains, and the renowned dukes and counts, who should implore from them aid against the imminent perils. It was also decreed that to the lord emperor of Constantinople likewise—because he is nearer to us, and far more opulent than the rest, and could more easily furnish us the desired suffrages—the precarious and perilous condition of the kingdom be made known.

Addunt etiam, ut talis ad eum person dirigatur, quae prudentia, facundia et auctoritate tanti principis animum ad nostra sciat et possit inclinare desideria. Dumque super hoc, quis ad tantam legationem implendam idoneus esset, deliberaretur, rex habito cum paucis et familiaribus consilio, propositum pandit et coram omnibus mentis revelat conceptum, dicens: Istud per neminem posse fieri, nisi per eum; adjecit etiam: Se paratum esse pro regni necessitatibus sublevandis, et labores, et quaelibet subire pericula. Hi cum stupidi et admiratione pleni majores regni dicerent: Durum est nimis, ut absque regis praesentia, regnum quasi desolatum inveniatur; respondit: Regat Dominus regnum suum, cujus minister ego sum; apud me fixum est ut vadam; non est qui ab hoc proposito me possit revocare. Assumpto ergo domino Willelmo Acconense episcopo, et de regni magnatibus, Guarmundo Tyberiadense, et Joanne de Arsur, Gerardo de Pugi marescalco, Roardo Hierosolymitano castellano, Reinuardo de Nephins (nam Philippum Neapolitanum, qui jam militiae Templi deposuerat magistratum, per terras praemiserat), cum maximo comitatu, qualis regiam decebat majestatem, VI Idus Martii iter aggreditur in galeis decem. Unde propitio Domino, prospera usus navigatione, fauces Abydenas et ostia Bosphori, quod vulgari appellatione Brachium Sancti Georgii dicitur, feliciter ingressus est.

Add they also, that such a person be sent to him as should know and be able, by prudence, eloquence, and authority, to incline the mind of so great a prince to our desires. And while it was being deliberated on this, who might be fit to fulfill so great a legation, the king, counsel having been held with a few intimates, unfolds his plan and reveals before all the conception of his mind, saying: That this can be done by no one, except by himself; he added also: That he was prepared, for the relieving of the necessities of the kingdom, to undergo both labors and any perils whatsoever. But when the greater men of the realm, astounded and full of admiration, were saying: It is too hard that, without the king’s presence, the kingdom should be found as if desolate; he replied: Let the Lord rule His kingdom, whose minister I am; it is fixed with me that I go; there is no one who can recall me from this purpose. Therefore, taking with him Lord William, bishop of Acre, and of the magnates of the realm Guarmund of Tiberias, and John of Arsur, Gerard of Puy the marshal, Roard the castellan of Jerusalem, Reinward of Nablus (for Philip of Naples, who had already laid down the mastership of the militia of the Temple, he had sent on ahead by land), with a very great retinue, such as befitted royal majesty, on March 10 he undertakes the journey in ten galleys. Whereupon, the Lord being propitious, using prosperous navigation, he happily entered the narrows of Abydos and the mouths of the Bosporus, which in the vulgar appellation is called the Arm of Saint George.

Audiens ergo dominus imperator, vir magnificentissimus, providus et discretus, et per omnia commendabilis, quod tantus princeps, et tam famosi et Deo amabilis regni moderator, imperium suum praeter solitum ingrederetur, primum vehementer admirans, quaenam tanti laboris et insueti itineris causa posset esse; deinde gloriae suae considerans incrementum, honoris amplitudinem, gratiae coelestis donum incomparabile, quod sibi gratis videretur oblatum divinitus, quod nulli praedecessorum suorum legitur accidisse, videlicet quod rex Hierosolymorum, locorum venerabilium Dominicae passionis et resurrectionis defensor et advocatus ad se veniat, plurimum exhilaratur, et advenientem eum multiplici disponit honore praevenire. Accersitoque Joanne Protosevasto nepote suo, et inter sacri palatii principes eminentissimo, cujus filiam idem dominus rex uxorem habebat, ei dirigit in occursum, ut, juxta pristinam et inviolabilem imperii disciplinam et incomparabilem magnificentiam, in urbibus et locis ad quae perveniret, eum faceret haberi honestissime; et instrueret tanquam filium, ut de introitu ejus in urbem regiam domini imperatoris nuntios exspectaret. Tunc idem magnificus princeps cum honesto comitatu domino regi occurrens, usque Caliopolim pervenit, quae est civitas in littore Bosphori sita, a faucibus non multum distans Abydenis.

Hearing, therefore, the lord emperor—a most magnificent man, provident and discreet, and in all respects commendable—that so great a prince, and the moderator of so famed and God‑beloved a kingdom, was entering his empire beyond what was usual, at first he marveled vehemently what cause there could be for so great a labor and an unwonted journey; then, considering the increment of his own glory, the amplitude of honor, the incomparable gift of heavenly grace which seemed to be offered to him gratis by divine agency, a thing read of as having happened to none of his predecessors—namely, that the king of Jerusalem, defender and advocate of the venerable places of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection, should come to him—he is greatly exhilarated, and arranges to anticipate his arrival with manifold honor. And having summoned John the Protosevasto, his nephew, most eminent among the princes of the sacred palace—whose daughter the same lord king had as wife—he dispatches him to meet him, that, according to the pristine and inviolable discipline of the empire and its incomparable magnificence, in the cities and places to which he should come, he might cause him to be held most honorably; and that he might instruct him as a son, that he should await, concerning his entrance into the royal city, the messengers of the lord emperor. Then that same magnificent prince, going to meet the lord king with an honorable retinue, came as far as Caliopolis, which is a city situated on the shore of the Bosphorus, not far distant from the Abydene narrows.

Inde quoniam ventus ad urbem regiam volentibus properare, non multum erat idoneus, descendens de galeis usque Heracleam, quae in eodem maris est sita littore, cum suo familiari comitatu eques pervenit, ubi et classem suam, quae recept aura secundiore, prosperis usa flatibus, ejus iter praevenerat, in portu reperit. Unde iterum classem conscendens, vento prosequente favorabili, Constantinopolim usque pervenit.

Thence, since the wind was not very suitable for those wishing to hasten to the royal city, descending from the galleys he arrived on horseback as far as Heraclea, which is situated on the same littoral of the sea, with his household retinue; and there in the port he found his fleet, which, having caught a more favorable breeze and making use of prosperous blasts, had anticipated his journey. Whence, boarding the fleet again, with a favorable pursuing wind, he came as far as Constantinople.

CAPUT XXV. Introductus ante imperatorem, honeste tractatur; et frequentia cum eo de rebus necessariis miscet colloquia.

CHAPTER 25. Introduced before the emperor, he is treated honorably; and with frequency he mixes colloquies with him about necessary affairs.

Est autem in ipsa urbe super littus maris, ad orientem prospiciens, imperiale palatium, quod Constantinianum appellatur; introitum habens ad mare, miro et magnifico tabulatu; gradus habens marmoreos, usque in idipsum mare; leones habens et columnas, fastu erectas regio, ex eadem materia. Hinc soli Augusto solet introitus patere ad superiora palatii; sed domino regi honoris intuitu praecipui, praeter communes regulas aliquid indultum est, ut ea parte ingredi permitteretur. Ibi vero occurrentibus ei magni sacri palatii principibus, cum maximo curialium numero, in summa honorificentia receptus est: unde per angiportus et mirae varietatis diversoria, multis tam suorum quam palatinorum stipatus ordinibus, usque ad supereminentem regiam, ubi dominus imperator cum suis illustribus residebat, deductus est.

Moreover, in the city itself, upon the shore of the sea, looking out toward the east, there is the imperial palace, which is called the Constantinian; having an entry to the sea, with wondrous and magnificent decking; having marble steps down into that very sea; having lions and columns, erected with regal pomp, of the same material. From here the entry is accustomed to stand open only to the Augustus for the upper parts of the palace; but to the lord king, in view of preeminent honor, something was granted beyond the common rules, that he be permitted to enter by that side. There, indeed, as the great chiefs of the sacred palace came out to meet him, with a very great number of courtiers, he was received with the highest honor: whence, through alleys and lodgings of wondrous variety, thronged by many ranks both of his own and of the palatines, he was conducted up to the supereminent royal hall, where the lord emperor sat with his illustrious men.

Dependebant ante consistorium velaria pretiosae materiae et operis non inferioris, imo quibus illud Nasonis merito posset aptari: Materiam superabat opus. Extra quas majores principes domino regi occurrentes, introduxerunt eum intra praedicta velaria. Hoc autem dicitur factum esse, conservandae imperialis gloriae causa et pro reconcilianda sibi domini regis gratia; nam in coetu procerum suorum, solis astantibus inclytis, dicitur ei familiariter assurrexisse: quod si praesente generali curia factum fuisset, nimis visus esset dominus imperator suae derogasse majestati. Ingresso ergo domino rege, contractis subito velariis, his qui extra vela fuerant relictis, apparuit dominus imperator throno sedens aureo, imperiali vestitus schemate; et juxta eum dominus rex throno sedens honesto, humiliore tamen.

Before the consistorium there were hanging curtains of precious material and of workmanship no less—indeed, to which that line of Naso could deservedly be applied: The workmanship surpassed the material. Outside of which the greater princes, meeting the lord king, led him within the aforesaid curtains. This, moreover, is said to have been done for the sake of preserving the imperial glory and for reconciling to himself the favor of the lord king; for in the assembly of his nobles, with only the illustrious standing by, he is said to have risen to him in familiar fashion; which, if it had been done with the general court present, the lord emperor would have seemed too much to have derogated from his own majesty. When therefore the lord king had entered, the curtains having been suddenly drawn together, with those who had been outside the veils left behind, the lord emperor appeared seated on a golden throne, vested in imperial attire; and next to him the lord king, seated on an honorable throne, yet lower.

Hic nostris principibus et pacis osculum et debitae salutationis cum multa humanitate dependens affatum, de salute domini regis et principum suorum quaerens diligentius, verbo et vultu significat cum multa mentis hilaritate eorum adventum suscepisse. Praeceperat autem dominus imperator domesticis suis et sacri palatii sui procuratoribus, quaedam mirae excellentiae diversoria infra palatii ambitum, domino regi suisque familiaribus aptari; suis autem principibus singulis singula, honesta multum in urbe, non tamen longe a se, hospitia praeparari. Sumpta igitur licentia a facie domini imperatoris, dominum regem secuti, recesserunt ad tempus; statutaque hora, qua ad eum redeant, dominus rex principes suos jubet ad propria descendere hospitia.

Here, dispensing to our princes both the kiss of peace and the address of due salutation with much humanity, and inquiring more diligently about the welfare of the lord king and of his princes, he signifies by word and by countenance that with much cheerfulness of mind he has welcomed their advent. Moreover, the lord emperor had instructed his domestics and the procurators of his sacred palace that certain lodgings of wondrous excellence within the circuit of the palace be fitted out for the lord king and his familiars; but for his own princes, for each one individually, individual lodgings, very respectable in the city, yet not far from himself, to be prepared. Leave therefore having been taken from the face (presence) of the lord emperor, following the lord king, they withdrew for a time; and the hour having been appointed at which they should return to him, the lord king orders his princes to descend to their own lodgings.

Singulis ergo diebus, horis ad hoc specialiter deputatis, tum cum domino imperatore, tum secum de negotiis pro quibus venerant, sollicitos habentes tractatus, omnimodam dabant operam, quomodo consummata tanti laboris et itineris causa, cum fine optato redire possent ad propria. Habitis ergo frequenter cum domino imperatore tum seorsum, tum in coetu illustrium suorum familiaribus colloquiis, viae causam aperit, regni necessitates edocet, immortalitatem famae, quam dominus imperator in subjugando sibi Aegypti regno comparare posset, diligentius exponit; facilitatem quoque obtinendi propositi evidentibus astruit argumentis. Quibus persuasus, aurem benignam dominus imperator ejus assertionibus accommodat, et desideriis plenum et optatum pollicetur effectum.

Therefore on each day, at hours specially deputed for this, both with the lord emperor and among themselves, having solicitous tractations about the business for which they had come, they gave every effort so that, the cause of so great a labor and journey consummated, they might be able to return to their own with the desired end. Accordingly, having frequently held with the lord emperor—both seorsum and in the coetus of his illustrious men—familiar colloquies, he—the lord king—opens the cause of the journey, instructs him in the necessities of the kingdom, and more diligently sets forth the immortality of fame which the lord emperor could acquire by subjugating to himself the kingdom of Egypt; he also establishes the facility of obtaining the proposed aim with evident arguments. Persuaded by these, the lord emperor lends a benign ear to his assertions, and promises to his desires a full and wished-for effect.

Interim munerum immensitate, juxta imperialem magnificentiam tam dominum regem, quam ejus principes honorat multipliciter; frequentibus visitationibus de eorum statu et incolumitate sollicitum se ostendit. Interiores etiam palatii partes, penetralia non nisi domesticis suis pervia, lares quoque secretioribus usibus dedicatos, basilicas vulgaribus inaccessas, thesauros et universorum desiderabilium repositiones avitas, eis tanquam familiaribus suis praecipit reserari. Sanctorum etiam reliquias, dispensationis quoque Domini nostri Jesu Christi pretiosissima argumenta, crucem videlicet, et clavos, lanceam, spongiam, arundinem, coronam spineam, sindonem, sandalia, exponi jubet: non est arcanum, non est mysticum a temporibus beatorum augustorum Constantini, Theodosii, Justiniani, in abditis sacri cubiculi repositum, quod eis non reveletur familiariter.

Meanwhile, by the immensity of gifts, in keeping with imperial magnificence, he honors both the lord king and his princes manifoldly; by frequent visitations he shows himself solicitous about their condition and safety. He even orders the inner parts of the palace, the inner sanctums accessible only to his domestics, the lares too, dedicated to more secret uses, the basilicas inaccessible to the common crowd, the treasures and ancestral repositories of all desirable things, to be unbarred for them as though for his familiars. He also commands that the relics of the saints, and likewise the most precious proofs of the dispensation of our Lord Jesus Christ—namely, the cross and the nails, the lance, the sponge, the reed, the crown of thorns, the shroud, the sandals—be displayed: there is no arcanum, no mystical object, laid up since the times of the blessed emperors Constantine, Theodosius, and Justinian in the hidden places of the sacred bedchamber, which is not revealed to them in a familiar way.

Interdum etiam feriis intermissis, dominum regem cum suis ad recreationes et ludorum novitates quae utriusque non dedeceant honestatem, aliquoties invitat; ubi et musicorum genera instrumentorum varia, et cantus admirandae suavitatis, consonantiis distinctos artificialibus; choreas quoque virginum et histrionum gesticulationes admiratione dignas, servata tamen morum disciplina, praecipit exhiberi. Sed et spectacula quoque publica, quae nos ludos theatrales, vel Circenses consuevimus appellare, urbanis, domini regis gratia, cum multis sumptibus et solita magnificentia praecipit exhiberi.

At times also, the holidays being intermitted, he invites the lord king with his men several times to recreations and novelties of games which do not disgrace the propriety of either; where too he commands to be exhibited the various kinds of musical instruments, and songs of admirable sweetness, distinguished by artful consonances; as well as the dances of maidens and the gesticulations of histrions, worthy of admiration, the discipline of morals nevertheless being observed. But also the public spectacles, which we are accustomed to call theatrical games or Circensian, for the townspeople, out of regard for the lord king, with many expenses and the accustomed magnificence, he commands to be presented.

CAPUT XXVI. Completis negotiis et muneribus cumulati, tam rex quam ejus principes, ad propria revertuntur.

CHAPTER 26. With the business completed and laden with gifts, both the king and his princes return to their own places.

Facta autem per dies aliquot in palatio Constantiniano mora, causa inducendae varietatis, quae maxime solet relevare fastidium, ad palatium novum, quod Blachernas dicitur, se et dominum regem transtulit: ubi etiam plenis humanitatis legibus infra palatium suum honestis conclavibus deputatis, in ipsis penetralibus patrum suorum, eum per dies aliquot benigne habuit. Sed et suis nihilominus, non longe ab eodem palatio, honesta simul et commoda fecit hospitia praeparari. Ubi etiam, sicut et prius, impensas non solum necessarias et voluptuarias supereffluentes, vestiaritae, et hi quibus id officii deputatum erat, magnifice et superabundanter non cessabant ministrare.

However, a stay having been made for several days in the Constantinian palace, for the purpose of introducing variety, which most especially is wont to relieve tedium, he transferred himself and the lord king to the new palace, which is called Blachernae: where also, with all the courtesies of humanitas, respectable chambers having been assigned within his palace, in the very inner sanctums of his forefathers, he kindly hosted him for several days. But likewise for his own men, not far from the same palace, he had lodgings both honorable and convenient prepared. There too, just as before, the expenditures not only necessary but also superabundant for pleasures, the vestiaritae, and those to whom that duty had been deputed, did not cease to supply magnificently and in overflowing measure.

Sed et urbem totam, tum interius, tum exterius, simul et ecclesias et monasteria, quorum pene infinitus est numerus, columnas etiam tropaeorum argumenta, arcus quoque triumphales, ducentibus eum magnis proceribus et locorum gnaris, dominus rex peragravit, et singulorum rationem et causam inquirens a viris antiquissimis et prudentibus, plenius edoctus est. Descendit etiam per eosdem dies idem dominus rex per Bosphorum, usque ad ostia maris Pontici, unde est introitus et initium hujus influxionis, quae Bosphorus dicitur, in mare Mediterraneum. Circuibat itaque loca incognita, tanquam vir curiosus et causas rerum scire desiderans: quibus ad plenum cognitis, in urbem rediens, iterum ad familiares domini imperatoris recurrit affatus, negotiis quae viae causam praebuerant, finem cupiens optatum imponere.

But the lord king also traversed the whole city, both its interior and its exterior, and likewise the churches and monasteries, of which the number is almost infinite, the columns, too, the representations of trophies, and also the triumphal arches, great nobles and men knowing the places leading him; and, inquiring the reason and cause of each thing from men most ancient and prudent, he was more fully instructed. He also went down during those same days along the Bosporus, as far as the mouths of the Pontic Sea, whence is the entry and beginning of this inflow, which is called the Bosporus, into the Mediterranean Sea. He was therefore going about unknown places, as a curious man and one desiring to know the causes of things; and when these were fully known, returning to the city, he again addressed the familiars of the lord emperor, wishing to impose the desired end upon the affairs which had furnished the cause of the journey.

Habitis ergo feriis competentibus, tractatis necessariis, completo feliciter et pro votis negotio, pactis hinc inde ad placitam utrinque consonantiam redactis, et scripto traditis utriusque bulla signato, sumpta licentia, et universorum gratia prosequente, ad iter se accingit. Ibi tunc primum in dominum regem et suos imperialis quasi prodiga, sed plane commendabilis, claruit munificentia; nam immensa domino regi conferens auri pondera, holosericorumque multitudinem, simul et peregrinarum eximia dona divitiarum, suos etiam usque ad puerorum novissimum donis ingentibus cumulavit. Sic et Protosevasto in omnes, tanquam vir inclytus, suam effudit liberalitatem.

Therefore, with fitting holidays having been held, the necessaries handled, the business happily and according to wishes completed, the pacts on this side and that reduced to a mutually pleasing consonance and delivered in writing, sealed with the bulla of each, leave having been taken, and the favor of all accompanying, he girds himself for the journey. There then for the first time toward the lord king and his men the imperial munificence, as if prodigal, yet plainly commendable, shone forth; for bestowing upon the lord king immense weights of gold, and a multitude of holoserics (all-silk garments), together with choice gifts of foreign wealth, he heaped his own people, even to the youngest of the boys, with enormous gifts. Thus also the Protosevasto, upon all, as a renowned man, poured out his liberality.

Sed et reliqui principes eodem zelo accensi, certatim se mutuo munificentia vincere cupientes, munera domino regi offerunt; quibus et materiae dignitas, et operis elegantia, et favor non deerat in utroque. Composita ergo classe, negotio feliciter consummato, descendens in Bosphorum, qui Europae Asiaeque terminus esse dignoscitur, ducentis ab urbe milliaribus per illud fretum navigans, inter Seston et Abydon urbes famosissimas, Leandri Heroque domicilia, mare ingreditur Mediterraneum; inde secundis actus flatibus, XVII Kal. Julii, ad urbem applicat Sidonensem.

But the other princes too, inflamed with the same zeal, vying to surpass one another in munificence, offer gifts to the lord king; in which the dignity of the material, the elegance of the workmanship, and favor on both sides were not lacking. Therefore, the fleet being assembled, the business happily consummated, descending into the Bosporus, which is recognized to be the boundary of Europe and Asia, sailing through that strait for 200 miles from the city, between Sestos and Abydos, most famous cities, the abodes of Leander and Hero, he enters the Mediterranean Sea; thence, borne by favorable breezes, on June 14, he makes land at the city of Sidon.

CAPUT XXVII. Rex apud Sephorim exercitus convocat. Fredericus Tyrensis archiepiscopus ab ultramontanis partibus redit.

CHAPTER 27. The king convenes the army at Sephorim. Frederick, archbishop of Tyre, returns from the ultramontane parts.

Dominus Willelmus Acconensis episcopus in Romania occiditur.

Lord William, the bishop of Acre, is slain in Romania.

Ingressus itaque in regnum, audiens quod Noradinus in finibus Paneadensibus cum exercitu copioso resideret, timens ne in regnum irruptiones inde moliretur, sollicitudinem contra hoc, quantam expedire videbatur, objiciens, in Galilaeam descendit; et convocatis regni principibus, juxta fontem illum celeberrimum, qui inter Nazareth et Sephorim est, castramentatus est, ut quasi in centro regni constitutus, commodius inde ad quaslibet regni partes, si vocaret necessitas, se transferret. Illuc enim tam ipse quam sui praedecessores convocare exercitus eodem intuitu consueverant. Eisdem diebus dominus Fredericus Tyrensis archiepiscopus, praedecessor noster, missus ad hoc, ut a principibus Occidentalibus nobis consilium et auxilium imploraret, completo biennio, spe frustratus, nihil obtinens eorum quae nostro nomine petierat, vacuus rediit.

Having therefore entered the kingdom, hearing that Noradinus was lingering with a copious army on the Paneadean borders, fearing lest from that quarter he might contrive irruptions into the kingdom, he applied a solicitude against this, as much as seemed expedient, and descended into Galilee; and having convoked the princes of the kingdom, he encamped near that most celebrated spring which is between Nazareth and Sephorim, so that, as if constituted in the center of the kingdom, he might more conveniently from there transfer himself to whatever parts of the kingdom, if necessity should call. For to that place both he and his predecessors were accustomed to convoke the armies with the same intent. In those same days lord Frederick, archbishop of Tyre, our predecessor, sent for this purpose, that he might implore from the Occidental princes counsel and aid for us, with two years completed, his hope frustrated, obtaining nothing of those things which he had sought in our name, returned empty-handed.

Comitem tamen Stephanum, virum quidem carne nobilem, moribus vero non ita, domini Theobaldi senioris Blesensium, Carnotensium, Trecensium comitis filium, praemiserat, quem dominus rex per eumdem archiepiscopum ad hoc, ut ei filiam suam uxorem daret, evocaverat; qui in regnum perveniens, et super eodem verbo a domino rege benigne commonitus, oblatas et prius placitas renuit conventiones; et turpiter et immunde in regno conversatus per menses aliquot, per terras redire disposuit. Cumque Antiochiam pervenisset, et inde in Ciliciam, ut per terram soldani Iconiensis, impetrato prius ejus ducatu, Constantinopolim properaret, contigit quod juxta Mamistram urbem Ciliciae in insidiis, quae ei praetenderat Milo Armeniorum princeps potentissimus, frater Toros, casu incidit. Et irruentibus in eum qui latebant in insidiis, universa quae secum asportabat pretiosa et desiderabilia multum, praedae datus, amisit; vixque a praedonibus, equum vilem quo deferretur, multa obtinuit precum instantia.

Count Stephen, however—a man indeed noble by birth, but not so in morals—the son of lord Theobald the Elder, count of the people of Blois, Chartres, and Troyes, he had sent on ahead, whom the lord king, through that same archbishop, had summoned for this: that he might give him his daughter as wife; who, arriving in the kingdom and being kindly reminded by the lord king about the same matter, refused the agreements offered and previously agreed; and having conducted himself shamefully and foully in the kingdom for some months, he resolved to return by land. And when he had reached Antioch, and thence into Cilicia, so that through the territory of the sultan of Iconium—having first obtained his safe-conduct—he might hasten to Constantinople, it happened that near Mamistra, a city of Cilicia, he chanced to fall into the ambushes which Milo, the most powerful prince of the Armenians, brother of Toros, had spread out for him. And when those lying in wait rushed upon him, all the things precious and much-to-be-desired that he was carrying with him, being given over as booty, he lost; and scarcely from the robbers, by much urgency of prayers, did he obtain a cheap horse on which he might be borne.

Inde cum paucis multo labore Constantinopolim, universorum Orientalium eum odio prosequente, ignominiosus pervenit. Eodem anno, comes quoque Stephanus aequivocus ejus, sed morum honestate longe dissimilis, vir modestus, et plane commendabilis, filius comitis Willelmi de Sauna, et dux Burgundiae Henricus junior, superioris Stephani ex sorore nepos, in regnum orationis gratia et devotionis intuitu ingressi, et moram modicam facientes, per imperatorem Constantinopolitanum ad propria reversi sunt, ab eo suscepti honorifice et cum multis muneribus dimissi. Sequenti anno, qui erat regni domini Amalrici octavus, dominus Willelmus bonae memoriae, Acconensis episcopus, ab urbe Constantinopolitana, a domino rege in Italiam directus, peragratis ejus partibus, et omni via ad obtinendum, quod petebat, prudenter fideliterque praetentata, dum in redeundo ad propria remenso itinere ad dominum imperatorem ex condicto rediturus, apud Adrianopolim secundae Thraciae claram metropolim pervenisset, casu sinistro mortem immeritus subiit inauditam.

Thence, with a few, and with much toil, he reached Constantinople, ignominious, the hatred of all the Orientals pursuing him. In the same year, Count Stephen also, his namesake but far dissimilar in the honesty of his manners, a modest man and plainly commendable, the son of Count William of Sauna, and Henry the Younger, duke of Burgundy, nephew of the former Stephen on his sister’s side, entered the kingdom for the sake of prayer and with a view to devotion; and, making a brief stay, they returned to their own through the emperor of Constantinople, by him received honorably and dismissed with many gifts. In the following year, which was the eighth of the reign of lord Amalric, lord William of good memory, bishop of Acre, from the city of Constantinople, having been sent by the lord king into Italy, after traversing its parts, and with every way to obtain what he sought prudently and faithfully attempted, while, on returning to his own with the journey retraced, he was about to return to the lord emperor according to agreement, when he had come to Adrianople, the famous metropolis of Second Thrace, by a sinister chance he underwent an undeserved, unheard-of death.

Nam dum hora meridiana, longo fatigatus itinere, post sumptum cibum membra sopori concessisset, quidam Robertus de comitatu ejus, quem ipse ad sacerdotium provexerat et inter familiares receperat, in eodem in quo dominus episcopus conclavi jacens, jam de longa aegritudine, qua plurimum laboraverat, convalescens, furia invectus, dominum episcopum dormientem, arrepto gladio, pluribus inflictis vulneribus, lethaliter confodit. Quem cum sui qui exterius erant clamantem audirent, et prae mortis angusti gemitus edentem et suspiria intelligerent, volentes irruere, ut laboranti ferrent opem domino, ostio ab intus firmiter obserato ingredi non potuerunt. Tandem, effracto violenter ostio, dominum semianimem et adhuc circa praecordia modicum spiritus habentem, repererunt.

For while at the meridian hour, wearied by a long journey, after taking food he had yielded his limbs to sleep, a certain Robert of his retinue—whom he himself had promoted to the priesthood and had received among his familiars—lying in the same chamber in which the lord bishop was, now convalescing from the long sickness in which he had toiled much, carried away by fury, seized a sword and, with many wounds inflicted, lethally stabbed the lord bishop as he slept. When his men who were outside heard him crying out, and perceived that he was uttering groans and sighs from the anguish of death, wishing to burst in that they might bring help to their lord in distress, they could not enter, the door having been firmly barred from within. At length, the door having been violently broken open, they found their lord half-alive, and still having a little breath about his vitals.

Volentes igitur praedictum maleficum vinculis mancipare, et homicidarum lege ad poenas rapere debitas, voce et manu prohibuit, orans et petens, ut pro remedio animae suae ei plenior fieret indulgentia; nec ad mortem ei praesens factum imputaretur, postulans enixius, ultimum Domino tradidit spiritum III Kal. Julii. Hujus autem tanti maleficii causam hactenus non potuimus certam deprehendere.

Therefore, when they wished to consign the aforesaid malefactor to chains and, by the law of homicide, to snatch him to the due penalties, he forbade it by voice and hand, praying and petitioning that, for the remedy of his soul, a fuller indulgence be granted to him; and that the present deed not be imputed to him unto death; and, entreating more earnestly, he gave up his last spirit on 29 June. As for the cause of so great a malefice, we have not hitherto been able to detect it with certainty.

Quidam enim dicunt, praedictum Robertum, tanti sceleris perpetratorem, longa aegritudine laborasse, et in convalescentia positum, phrenesis raptum violentia, in tam piaculare flagitium descendisse nescienter. Alii dicunt, odio cujusdam cubicularii ejus, qui de domini episcopi nimis praesumens gratia, tam eum quam reliquos male dicebatur tractare, tam immane scelus perpetrasse. Eodem anno quidam Joscius ejusdem ecclesiae canonicus et subdiaconus, IX Kal.

Some indeed say that the aforesaid Robert, the perpetrator of so great a crime, had suffered from a long sickness, and, while in convalescence, seized by the violence of phrenesis, descended unwittingly into so piacular a flagitious deed. Others say that, out of hatred for a certain chamberlain of his, who, presuming too much on the lord bishop’s favor, was said to treat both him and the rest badly, he perpetrated so immense a crime. In the same year a certain Joscius, a canon and subdeacon of the same church, 9 Kal.

Decembris, in eadem ecclesia substitutus est.

In December, he was appointed in the same church.

CAPUT XXVIII. Milo Armenius, frater domini Toros, Noradino, conjunctus, partes vexat Antiochenas; rex illud properat, ut ejus compescat malitiam.

CHAPTER 28. Milo the Armenian, brother of lord Thoros, joined with Noradin, harasses the Antiochene parts; the king hastens to this, that he may check his malice.

Per idem tempus, defuncto magnifico et nobili viro, de quo frequenter fecimus mentionem, Armeniorum principe maximo domino Toros, quidam frater ejus Melier nomine, vir nequissimus, ut fratris haereditatem sibi posset vindicare, accessit ad Noradinum, petens ab eo, et cum omni instantia postulans, ut militares ei concederet copias, quibus fratris haereditatem violenter sibi posset occupare; ejus autem fratre defuncto, quidam Thomas, communis ex utriusque sorore nepos, vocantibus eum regionis principibus, omnem avunculi principatum tranquille possidebat. Erat autem vir Latinus, sed minus habens industriae, nec multum prudens eis qui se vocaverant liberalem et conformem se exhibere. Interpositis itaque conditionibus, quales Noradino videbantur posse placere, obtinuit, ut partem militiae suae non modicam ei concederet; cujus fretus auxilio, praeter morem patrum suorum, in paternam et avitam haereditatem primus infideles introduxit.

About the same time, when the magnificent and noble man, of whom we have made frequent mention, the supreme prince of the Armenians, lord Toros, had died, a certain brother of his, by name Melier, a most wicked man, so that he might be able to vindicate his brother’s inheritance for himself, went to Noradin, asking from him, and with all urgency demanding, that he would grant him military troops, with which he might violently seize his brother’s inheritance for himself; but with his brother deceased, a certain Thomas, a grandson common to both from their sister, the princes of the region calling him, was peacefully possessing the whole principate of his maternal uncle. He was, moreover, a Latin man, but having less industry, nor very prudent to show himself liberal and conformable to those who had summoned him. Therefore, terms being interposed such as seemed likely to please Noradin, he obtained that he should grant to him no small part of his soldiery; relying on whose aid, contrary to the custom of his fathers, he first introduced unbelievers into the paternal and ancestral inheritance.

Ingressus itaque violenter in terram patris, nepotem expulit, et sibi regionem vindicavit universam; statimque potestatem consecutus, quidquid fratres militiae Templi in partibus habebant Ciliciae, licet eorum frater aliquando fuisset, primis auspiciis sui principatus funditus abstulit, tanto foedere deinceps Noradino et Turcis conjunctus, quanto vix inter se solent fratres convenire. Factus ergo tanquam infidelis, lege Domini neglecta, Christianis quanta poterat, inferebat dispendia, captosque casu sive in praelio, sive in expugnatis municipiis, vinculis mancipatos, in terras hostium inferebat venales. Princeps ergo Antiochenus et de regione illius majores, videntes quolibet hostium protervius praedictum nequam hominem in Christianos desaevire, arma contra eum corripiunt, licet exemplum sit periculosum, fideles contra eos qui eadem professione censentur, arma corripere, instarque belli civilis videatur habere; mala tamen confratribus illata, non audent dissimulare; sed bellum inferunt et hostem publicum denuntiant.

Accordingly, having entered violently into his father’s land, he expelled the nephew and vindicated the whole region to himself; and immediately, having attained power, he utterly took away, at the first auspices of his principate, whatever the brothers of the militia of the Temple had in the parts of Cilicia, although he had once been their brother; thereafter he was joined to Nur al-Din and the Turks in so great a league as scarcely brothers are wont to agree among themselves. Made therefore as it were an infidel, the law of the Lord neglected, he inflicted upon Christians whatever losses he was able, and those taken by chance either in battle or in towns that had been stormed, mancipated in chains, he carried into the lands of the enemy to be sold. Therefore the Prince of Antioch and the magnates of that region, seeing that the aforesaid wicked man raged against Christians more insolently than any of the enemy, take up arms against him, although it is a dangerous precedent for the faithful to take up arms against those who are reckoned of the same profession, and it seems to have the likeness of civil war; yet the evils inflicted upon their fellow-brethren they do not dare to dissemble, but they wage war and proclaim him a public enemy.

Interea dominus rex audiens, quod in partibus illis exortum erat scandalum, partes suas in his quae ad pacem sunt, interponere cupiens, cum familiari comitatu ad partes descendit Antiochenas; inde domesticos nuntios ad praedictum immanissimum et a Deo destitutum Melier dirigit, petens ab eo et obnixe postulans quatenus cum eo in loco sibi beneplacito, die competente ad colloquium descenderet. Quod verbum cum ille quasi gratanter videretur accepisse, corde tamen longe erat ab eo. Cumque ter vel quater dominus rex id ipsum per nuntios tentasset efficere, in fine tamen malitiosi hominis deceptus versutiis, in ea parte non profecit. Tandem, collectis de universa provincia militaribus copiis, in terram ejus omnis illarum partium Christianus descendit exercitus; ubi in campestribus Ciliciae (nam conscendere in montes durum erat, et difficile) regionem obambulant, fruges incendunt, municipia contendunt expugnare, ecce nuntius verbi sinistri bajulus ad dominum regem accedit, significans, quod et verum erat, quod Noradinus secundae Arabiae metropolim Petram, quae alio nomine Crac appellatur, obsederat.

Meanwhile the lord king, hearing that a scandal had arisen in those parts, wishing to interpose his good offices in the things that pertain to peace, with a familiar retinue descended to the Antiochene parts; thence he directs household messengers to the aforesaid most savage and God-forsaken Melier, asking of him and earnestly requesting that he would come down for a colloquy with him in a place of his good-pleasure, on a competent day. And although he seemed to have accepted that word gladly, yet at heart he was far from it. And when the lord king had tried three or four times to accomplish this same thing through messengers, in the end, deceived by the crafty man’s wiles, he made no progress in that regard. At length, with military forces gathered from the whole province, the whole Christian army of those regions descended into his land; where in the plains of Cilicia (for to climb into the mountains was hard and difficult) they range the region, they burn the crops, they strive to storm the towns—behold, a messenger, bearer of a sinister word, approaches the lord king, signifying, what was in fact true, that Noradinus had besieged Petra, the metropolis of Second Arabia, which by another name is called Crac.

Quo audito, dominus rex anxius plurimum, cum suo familiari comitatu, sumpta a domino principe licentia, cum omni celeritate revertitur; sed, antequam in regnum se reciperet, principes regionis prudenter et strenue regni robur collegerant universum; domino quoque Radulpho episcopo Bethlehemita crucem Dominicam deportante, domino Henfredo constabulario exercitus curam committunt. Dumque impigre et sine dilatione ad locum properant destinatum, ecce nuntius proficiscentibus occurrit, dicens (sicut et verum erat) Noradinum salva urbe, obsidione soluta, ad propria reversum. Adveniens ergo rex in regnum, praeter spem, votis tamen consonam, invenit tranquillitatem.

Upon hearing this, the lord king, exceedingly anxious, with his household retinue, having taken leave from the lord prince, returns with all speed; but before he could betake himself back into the kingdom, the princes of the region had prudently and strenuously gathered the entire strength of the realm; and, with Lord Ralph, the Bethlehemite bishop, bearing the Lord’s Cross, they entrust the care of the army to Lord Humphrey the constable. And while they vigorously and without delay hasten to the appointed place, behold, a messenger meets them as they set out, saying (as indeed was true) that Nur al-Din, the city being safe and the siege lifted, had returned to his own domains. Therefore the king, arriving in the kingdom, beyond expectation, yet in accord with his prayers, finds tranquility.

CAPUT XXIX. Salahadinus trans Jordanem castrum, cui nomen mons Regalis est, obsidet; sed nihil proficiens, ad propria revertitur.

CHAPTER 29. Saladin, across the Jordan, besieges a castle whose name is Mount Royal; but profiting nothing, he returns to his own.

Anno sequenti, Salahadinus cum ingentibus copiis et infinito equitatu circa initium autumni, in regiones nostras introitum parat, ex omni Aegypto copias educens innumerabiles; transcursaque solitudine, ad eum locum pervenerat, qui dicitur Cannetum Turcorum. Rex autem ejus adventum praesentiens, exercitus suos collegerat; et assumpto sibi domino patriarcha, cum vivifico et venerabili Dominicae crucis ligno, circa Bersabee castra locaverat, ut de vicino advenientibus hostibus commodius posset occurrere. Distabat autem locus, ubi ille cum suis expeditionibus dicebatur esse, a castris regiis vix milliaribus sexdecim; nondum tamen apud dominum regem pro constanti habebatur, quod ad illum pervenisset locum.

In the following year, Saladin, with huge forces and boundless cavalry, around the beginning of autumn prepares an incursion into our regions, leading out from all Egypt innumerable troops; and, the wilderness having been crossed, he had arrived at that place which is called the Canebrake of the Turks. The king, however, anticipating his arrival, had gathered his armies; and, taking with him the lord patriarch, with the life-giving and venerable wood of the Lord’s Cross, had pitched camp around Beersheba, so that he might more conveniently meet the enemies coming from nearby. Now the place where he was said to be with his expeditions was distant from the royal camp scarcely sixteen miles; yet it was not yet held as certain with the lord king that he had reached that place.

Verumtamen erat, quod aquarum commoditatem secutus, ibi castrametatus erat. Habita igitur deliberatione cum principibus suis, quasi de industria ejus occursum declinarent, diversas studiose ingrediuntur vias. Expeditiones igitur, et omnem populum versus Ascalonam dirigunt, ejus occursum verbo quaerentes, quem in proximo positum declinaverant studiose.

Nevertheless the fact was that, following the convenience of the waters, he had encamped there. Therefore, deliberation having been held with his princes, as if by design they should avoid an encounter with him, they carefully entered different routes. Accordingly they direct the expeditions and all the people toward Ascalon, seeking in word an encounter with him, whom, though posted nearby, they had studiously avoided.

Deinde Darum venientes, indeque ad locum supra nominatum reducentes exercitum, inutiliter impensas et operam consumpserunt. Ille enim Idumaeae campestria secutus, in Syriam Sobal cum suis cohortibus ascendens, castrum, quod universae regionis caput est, et singulare praesidium, obsidet; et quantum loci patitur opportunitas, studiis impugnat ardentibus. Erat autem municipium in colle situm edito, turribus, muris et antemuralibus egregie munitum; eratque ei suburbium extra praesidium situm in declivo collis, in loco tamen adeo sublimi et arduo, ita ut neque assultus, neque arcuum vel machinarum formidarent ictus; erantque loci illius habitatores fideles universi; quo amplior eis fides haberi poterat.

Then, coming to Darum, and from there bringing the army back to the place named above, they consumed expense and effort to no purpose. For he, following the plains of Idumaea, ascending into Syria Sobal with his cohorts, besieges the castle which is the head of the whole region and a singular stronghold, and, so far as the opportunity of the site allows, assails it with burning endeavors. Now the municipality was set on a lofty hill, excellently fortified with towers, walls, and outworks; and it had a suburb outside the stronghold, situated on the slope of the hill, yet in a place so elevated and steep that they feared neither assaults nor the blows of bows or of engines; and all the inhabitants of that place were faithful, whereby greater trust could be placed in them.

Praeterea armis et victu, et viris, pro captu loci sufficientibus, diligenter satis erat instructum. Ubi cum per dies aliquot inutiliter consumpsisset operam, videns quod non proficeret, indicto suis reditu, viam solitudinis ingressus, in Aegyptum reversus est.

Moreover, it was quite diligently equipped with arms and victual, and with men sufficient for the capacity of the place. Where, when for several days he had uselessly consumed his effort, seeing that he was not making progress, a return having been declared to his men, entering the road of the desert, he returned into Egypt.

CAPUT XXX. Salahadinus terram trans Jordanem universam depopulatur. Rex in loco cui nomen Carmelus, exercitum detinet.

CHAPTER 30. Saladin devastates all the land across the Jordan. The king holds the army in a place whose name is Carmel.

Comes Raimundus Tripolitanus de carcere revertitur.

Count Raymond of Tripoli returns from prison.

Sequenti anno, qui erat regni domini Amalrici decimus, videns idem Salahadinus quod anno praecedente contra nostros non multum profecerat, volens praeteritos redimere defectus, congregata ex universis Aegypti finibus infinita militia et ingentibus copiis, in regnum iterum introire disponit. Et ingressus solitudinem, ut magis occultus accedat, tantoque majorem nocendi inveniat habilitatem, eamdem regionem, in quam anno proxime praeterito ascenderat cum suis exercitibus, mense Julio, ingressus est. Rex autem, ejus adventu praecognito, universae regni militiae robur secum trahens, illi usque in solitudinem occurrit; ubi cum ei nuntiatum esset, quod in Syriam Sobal, sicut anno praedicto, declinasset, timens eum illuc sequi, ne forte regem audiens post se venientem, ex opposita parte regnum depopulaturus ingrederetur, ascendit in montem et locum sibi deligens ad stationem congruum, secessit in Carmelum.

In the following year, which was the 10th of the reign of lord Amalric, seeing that in the preceding year he had not advanced much against our people, the same Salahadin, wishing to redeem past defects, having gathered from all the borders of Egypt an endless soldiery and huge forces, resolved to enter the kingdom again. And having entered the wilderness, that he might approach more occultly, and thus find so much the greater habilitation for harming, he entered, in the month of July, that same region into which the year immediately past he had ascended with his armies. The king, however, having had foreknowledge of his advent, drawing with him the strength of the entire kingdom’s militia, met him even into the wilderness; where, when it was reported to him that he had turned aside into Syria Sobal, as in the aforesaid year, fearing to follow him thither, lest perhaps, on hearing that the king was coming after him, he might enter to depopulate the kingdom from the opposite side, he ascended the mountain and, choosing for himself a place suitable for a station, withdrew to Carmel.

Est autem hic Carmelus non ille mons, qui in maritimis situs est, Eliae familiaris; sed viculus quidam, ubi olim stulti Nabal domicilium legitur fuisse. Hunc ergo locum sibi prudenter delegit, propter aquarum commoditatem; erat enim ibi vetus et ingentis magnitudinis piscina, quae ad usum universi exercitus aquarum ministrabat copias. Sed et vicinus erat ei regioni quae est trans Jordanem, locus praedictus, ita ut sola vallis Illustris, in qua mare jacet Mortuum, media utramque disterminet regionem.

But this Carmel is not that mountain which is situated in the maritime parts, familiar to Elijah; but a certain hamlet, where of old the dwelling of the fool Nabal is read to have been. Therefore he prudently selected this place for himself, on account of the convenience of waters; for there was there an ancient pool of enormous magnitude, which ministered supplies of water for the use of the whole army. And it was also neighboring to that region which is beyond the Jordan, the aforesaid place, so that only the Illustrious Valley, in which the Dead Sea lies, in the midst separates the one region from the other.

Facilius ergo et crebrius erat nostris, de factis hostium audire nova, et eorum statum cognoscere. Interea Salahadinus, dum rex propter praedictam causam ad praedictas partes dubitat accedere, quidquid extra praesidia reperit, tradens incendiis, arbusta succidens et vineas, suburbana confringens, in regionem totam pro arbitrio desaevit. Tandem pro votis tyrannide potitus, in Aegyptum circa finem Septembris reversus est.

Therefore it was easier and more frequent for our men to hear news about the deeds of the enemy and to learn their condition. Meanwhile Saladin, while the king, on account of the aforesaid cause, hesitates to approach the aforesaid parts, whatever he found outside the garrisons, consigning to the flames, cutting down orchards and vines, smashing suburban estates, raged through the whole region at his pleasure. At length, as desired, having attained his purpose by tyranny, he returned to Egypt about the end of September.

Per idem tempus, dominus Raimundus junior, Raimundi senioris filius, comes Tripolitanus, octavo anno captivitatis suae, quibus in mendicitate et ferro apud hostes detentus fuerat, datis pro se aureorum millibus octoginta, pristinae se restituit libertati, ad avitum rediens comitatum; quem dominus rex benigne suscepit redeuntem; et terram suam, quam medio conservaverat tempore, sine difficultate restituit. Insuper etiam, ut ad persolvendum redemptionis suae pretium esset idoneus, regia liberalitate in eum plurima contulit. Sed et principes suos et Ecclesiarum praelatos, exemplo sui itidem facere, cum effectu persuasit.

At the same time, lord Raymond the younger, son of Raymond the elder, Count of Tripoli, in the eighth year of his captivity, during which he had been detained among the enemy in beggary and in irons, with eighty thousand pieces of gold given for his ransom, restored himself to his former liberty, returning to the ancestral county; whom the lord king kindly received on his return; and he restored his land, which he had preserved in the meantime, without difficulty. Moreover also, in order that he might be fit to pay the price of his redemption, by royal liberality he bestowed many things upon him. And he further persuaded his princes and the prelates of the Churches, by his own example, to do likewise, with effect.

CAPUT XXXI. Describitur Assissinorum secta, et missio legati eorum ad dominum regem.

CHAPTER 31. The sect of the Assassins is described, and the sending of their legate to the lord king.

Accidit eisdem diebus apud nos res periculosa nimis, et detestabilis, regno et Ecclesiae, usque in presens tempus, et fortasse in perpetuum lugenda. Quod ut plenius innotescat, sumendum est altius narrationis exordium. In provincia Tyrensi, quae Phoenicis dicitur, circa episcopatum Antaradensem, est quidam populus, castella decem habens cum suburbanis suis; estque numerus eorum, ut saepius audivimus, quasi ad sexaginta millia, vel amplior.

In those same days there befell among us a matter exceedingly perilous and detestable, to the kingdom and to the Church, to be mourned down to the present time, and perhaps in perpetuity. In order that this may be more fully made known, the beginning of the narration must be taken from higher up. In the province of Tyre, which is called Phoenice, around the bishopric of Antaradus, there is a certain people, having ten castles with their suburbs; and their number, as we have often heard, is as it were about sixty thousand, or even larger.

Hi non haereditaria successione, sed meritorum praerogativa magistrum solent sibi praeficere et eligere praeceptorem, quem spretis aliis dignitatem nominibus, Senem vocant; cui tantae subjectionis et obedientiae vinculo solent obligari, ut nihil sit tam durum, tam difficile tamque periculosum, quod ad magistri imperium, animis ardentibus non aggrediantur implere. Nam inter caetera, si quos habent principes odiosos aut genti suae suspectos, data uni de suis, vel pluribus, sica, non considerato rei exitu, utrum evadere possit, illuc contendit, cui mandatum est; et tam diu pro complendo anxius imperio, circuit et laborat, quousque casu injunctum peragat officium, praeceptoris mandato satisfaciens. Hos tam nostri quam Sarraceni (nescimus unde deducto nomine) Assissinos vocant.

These men, not by hereditary succession but by the prerogative of merits, are wont to set a master over themselves and to choose a preceptor, whom, disdaining other titles of dignity, they call the Old Man; and they are wont to be bound to him by so great a bond of subjection and obedience, that nothing is so hard, so difficult, and so perilous, which at the master’s command, with burning spirits, they do not attempt to fulfill. For, among other things, if they have any princes hateful or suspected to their nation, a dagger being given to one of their own, or to several, without considering the issue of the affair, whether he can escape, he hastens thither to which he is commanded; and, anxious to complete the command, he goes about and labors until, when occasion offers, he carries through the enjoined duty, satisfying the mandate of the preceptor. These men both our people and the Saracens (we know not whence the name is deduced) call Assassins.

Hi etiam annis quadringentis Sarracenorum legem et eorum traditiones tanto zelo coluerunt, ut respectu eorum omnes alii quasi praevaricatores judicarentur, ipsi autem legem viderentur implere. Contigit autem diebus nostris, quod magistrum sibi praefecerunt virum facundissimum, subtilem, et acris valde ingenii. Hic, praeter morem majorum suorum, coepit habere penes se Evangeliorum libros et codicem apostolicum; quibus continuato incumbens studio, miraculorum Christi et praeceptorum seriem, sed et Apostoli doctrinam, multo labore, aliquantisper assecutus erat.

These men also for 400 years cultivated the law of the Saracens and their traditions with such zeal that, in comparison with them, all others were judged as if prevaricators, while they themselves seemed to fulfill the law. It befell, however, in our days, that they set over themselves as master a most eloquent man, subtle, and of very sharp intellect. He, beyond the custom of his elders, began to have in his possession the books of the Gospels and the apostolic codex; by applying himself to these with continued study, he had, with much labor, to some extent attained the series of Christ’s miracles and precepts, and also the doctrine of the Apostle.

Inde conferens Christi et suorum suavem et honestam doctrinam, cum iis quae miser et seductor Mahemet complicibus suis et deceptis ab eo tradiderat, coepit sordere quidquid cum lacte biberat, et praedicti seductoris immunditias abominare. Eodem quoque modo populum suum erudiens, ab observantia illius superstitionis cessare fecit, oratoria quibus antea usi fuerant dejiciens, eorum jejunia solvens, vinum et suillas carnes suis indulgens. Tandem ad interiora legis Dei volens procedere, virum prudentem, in consiliis providum, eloquentem et magistri sui doctrinam redolentem, nomine Boaldelle, ad dominum regem dirigit, verba secreta deferentem; quorum praecipuus et maximus erat articulus, quod si fratres militiae Templi, qui castella regioni eorum habebant contermina, duo millia aureorum, quae singulis annis de hominibus eorum quasi pro tributo solebant assumere, eis vellent remittere, et fraternam deinceps observare charitatem, ipsi ad fidem Christi et baptisma convolarent.

Thence, comparing the sweet and honorable doctrine of Christ and of his own with the things which the wretch and seducer Mahomet had handed down to his accomplices and those deceived by him, whatever he had drunk with his milk began to grow sordid, and he began to abominate the uncleannesses of the aforesaid seducer. In like manner also educating his people, he caused them to cease from the observance of that superstition, casting down the oratories which they had previously used, relaxing their fasts, granting to his own wine and swine-flesh. At length, wishing to proceed to the inner things of the law of God, he sends to the lord king a prudent man, provident in counsels, eloquent, and redolent of his master’s doctrine, by name Boaldelle, carrying secret messages; of which the chief and greatest article was this: that if the brothers of the militia of the Temple, who had castles contiguous to their region, would be willing to remit to them two thousand pieces of gold which they were accustomed each year to take from their people as if for tribute, and thereafter observe fraternal charity, they would flock to the faith of Christ and to baptism.

CAPUT XXXII. Occiditur a fratribus militiae Templi, Assissinorum legatus; et ingens in regno excitatur tumultus. Radulphus Bethlehemita episcopus vita decedit.

CHAPTER 32. The legate of the Assassins is slain by the brothers of the Militia of the Temple; and a huge tumult is stirred up in the kingdom. Radulphus, Bishop of Bethlehem, departs this life.

Rex autem, eorum legationem laeto animo et gratanter suscipiens, petitioni eorum sicut vir discretissimus erat, plenius annuens, aureorum duo millia, quorum ipsi annuam praestationem relaxari postulabant, de suis propriis redditibus, praedictis fratribus refundere, ut dicitur, paratus erat; nuntiumque quem apud se pro verborum consummatione diu detinuerat, ad proprium magistrum, dato sibi duce itineris, et proprii custode corporis, ut oblatum verbum penitus absolveretur, remisit. Qui dum cum itineris consorte et dato duce Tripolim pertransisset, fines suos ingressurus in proximo, subito de fratribus supradictis, ex improviso strictis gladiis irruentes, hominem de regio ducatu, et nostrae gentis fidei sinceritate praesumentem, incautum et nihil verentem tale, laesae majestatis crimen incurrentes, occiderunt. Quod audiens rex, prae facti atrocitate, ira et quasi insania succensus vehementer, convocatis regni principibus, in injuriam suam quidquid acciderat, asserens redundare, instrui quaerit, quid eum oporteat facere.

The king, moreover, receiving their legation with a glad mind and gratefully, consenting more fully to their petition, as he was a most discreet man, was ready, as it is said, to refund from his own proper revenues two thousand gold pieces, of which they themselves were asking that the annual payment be remitted, to the aforesaid brothers; and the envoy whom he had long detained with him for the consummation of the terms, he sent back to his own master, a guide of the journey having been given to him, and a personal bodyguard, so that the proffered promise might be completely fulfilled. Who, when with his journey-companion and the appointed guide he had passed through Tripoli, being about shortly to enter his own borders, suddenly some of the aforesaid brothers, rushing in unexpectedly with drawn swords, slew the man—relying on the royal escort and on the sincerity of our nation’s pledged faith—unwary and fearing nothing of the sort, incurring the crime of lèse-majesté. Which when the king heard, on account of the atrocity of the deed, he was inflamed vehemently with wrath and as it were madness, and, the princes of the realm having been convened, asserting that whatever had happened redounded to his own injury, he seeks to be instructed what it behooves him to do.

Tandemque de communi principum consilio, consulitur, verbum quod acciderat non esse negligendum; nam in eo et auctoritas regia videbatur deperire; et Christiani nominis fides et constantia immeritam contrahere infamiam, et Orientalis Ecclesia, Deo placitum, et jam paratum incrementum amittere. Mittuntur ergo de communi consilio nobiles quidam, Seiher de Mamedune et Godescalcus de Turholt, ad hoc specialiter selecti, qui a magistro praedictorum fratrum, Odone de Sancto Amando, exigant, ut tanti excessus et tam piacularis flagitii, regi et regno universo satisfactionem exhibeant. Dicebatur autem quidam frater eorum, Galterus videlicet de Maisnilio, vir nequam et monoculus, cujus spiritus in naribus ejus, omnino penes se nihil discretionis habens, de conscientia tamen fratrum, hoc fecisse.

At length, by the common counsel of the princes, it is deliberated that the matter which had happened is not to be neglected; for in it both the royal authority seemed to be perishing; and the faith and constancy of the Christian name to be contracting undeserved infamy, and the Oriental Church to be losing an increase pleasing to God and already prepared. Therefore certain nobles are sent by the common counsel, Seiher of Mamedune and Godescalc of Turholt, specially selected for this, to demand from the master of the aforesaid brothers, Odo of Saint Amand, that they exhibit satisfaction to the king and to the whole realm for so great an excess and so piacular a crime. It was said, moreover, that a certain brother of theirs, namely Walter of Maisnil, a wicked man and one-eyed, whose breath was in his nostrils, having absolutely no discretion in himself, had done this with the brothers’ knowledge nevertheless.

Unde, ut dicitur, ei praeter debitum parcendo, domino regi per nuntios significavit, fratri qui hoc commiserat, se poenitentiam injunxisse, et ita cum injuncta poenitentia, ad dominum papam se eum directurum; inhibere autem ex parte domini papae, ne in praedictum fratrem manus quis auderet injicere violentas. Adjecit etiam et alia a spiritu superbiae, quo ipse plurimum abundabat, dictata, quae praesenti narrationi non multum necessarium est interserere. Rex autem pro eodem negotio apud Sidonem constitutus, eumdem magistrum cum multis ex fratribus ejus, et eodem malefactore reperit; habitoque consilio, cum iis qui ejus viam illuc comitabantur, praedictum majestatis reum, de domo eorum violenter educi fecit, et Tyrum in vinculis traductum, carceri fecit mancipari.

Whence, as it is said, by sparing him beyond what was due, he signified to the lord king by messengers that he had enjoined penance upon the brother who had committed this, and that thus, with the enjoined penance, he would direct him to the lord pope; moreover, to inhibit on the part of the lord pope that anyone should dare to lay violent hands upon the aforesaid brother. He also added other things dictated by a spirit of superbia, with which he abounded greatly, which it is not very necessary to insert into the present narration. The king, however, stationed at Sidon for the same business, found that same master with many of his brothers, and the same malefactor; and, counsel having been held with those who were accompanying his way thither, he caused the aforesaid defendant for lèse-majesté to be led out violently from their house, and, conveyed to Tyre in chains, he caused him to be handed over to prison.

Tandem hujus verbi occasione paulo minus universum regnum habuit ruinam irreparabilem sustinere. Rex tamen et apud Assissinorum magistrum, cujus tam sinistro casu legatus deperierat, de sua allegans innocentia, immunis apparuit; et cum praedictis fratribus, temperato satis usus moderamine, usque ad obitus diem rem dimisit indiscussam. Dicitur tamen, quod si de suprema illa convaluisset aegritudine, cum regibus et principibus orbis terrarum, quaestionem illam proposuerat per honestissimos nuntios diligentius pertractare.

At length, on the occasion of this “word,” the whole kingdom all but had to sustain irreparable ruin. The king, however, even before the master of the Assassins—by whose so sinister a mishap the legate had perished—alleging his own innocence, appeared immune; and with the aforesaid brothers, having used a moderation well tempered, he left the matter un-discussed until the day of his decease. It is said, however, that if he had recovered from that final sickness, he had proposed to treat that question more diligently with the kings and princes of the orb of the earth, through most honorable envoys.

Vere autem proxime subsecuto, venerabilis frater dominus Radulphus felicis memoriae Bethlehemita episcopus et regius cancellarius, vir liberalis et benignus admodum, diem fatalem ingressus est, in capitulo ecclesiae suae honorifice sepultus; post cujus obitum, dum in eadem ecclesia de pastore substituendo tractatus haberetur, votis dissonis deciderunt in quaestiones difficiles, quae domini Balduini, successoris domini Amalrici et filii ejus, vix terminatae sunt anno secundo; quae praedictam ecclesiam ad multa traxerunt dispendia.

In the spring, however, next ensuing, the venerable brother lord Radulphus, of happy memory, the Bethlehemite bishop and royal chancellor, a liberal and very benign man, entered upon his fated day, and was honorably buried in the chapter of his church; after whose death, while in the same church a tractation was being held about substituting a pastor, with votes dissonant they fell into difficult questions, which under lord Baldwin, successor of lord Amalric and of his son, were scarcely terminated in the second year; which dragged the aforesaid church into many losses.

CAPUT XXXIII. Moritur Noradinus. Rex Paneadem obsidet: et facta treuga recedit; collecta aegritudine Hierosolymam proficiscitur, ubi et infra paucos dies vita decedit.

CHAPTER 33. Noradinus dies. The King besieges Paneas; and, a truce having been made, he withdraws; falling ill, he sets out for Jerusalem, where also within a few days he departs this life.

Eodem quoque tempore, vix unius mensis elapso spatio, Noradinus maximus nominis et fidei Christianae persecutor, princeps tamen justus, vafer et providus, et secundum gentis suae traditiones religiosus, regni ejus anno vicesimo nono, mense Maio defunctus est. Hujus defectum rex audiens, confestim sine dilatione universas convocans regni vires, urbem obsidet Paneadensem. Quod audiens praedicti uxor principis, vires transcendens femineas, missa legatione ad dominum regem, ut ab obsidione discedat, eique pacem concedat temporalem, certam pecuniae in multa quantitate summam promittit; quam rex, ut ampliorem extorqueret, prima fronte visus est respuisse, obsidionem nihilominus continuans.

At that same time also, scarcely the space of one month having elapsed, Noradinus, the greatest persecutor of the Christian name and faith, yet a just prince, wily and provident, and, according to the traditions of his nation, religious, in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, in the month of May, died. Hearing of his demise, the king, immediately without delay convoking all the forces of the kingdom, besieges the Paneadensian city. Hearing this, the wife of the aforesaid prince, transcending feminine strengths, having sent a legation to the lord king, that he depart from the siege and grant to her a temporal peace, promises a sure sum of money in great quantity; which the king, that he might extort more, at the first front seemed to have refused, nonetheless continuing the siege.

Cumque ibi per dies quasi quindecim, vigili opera et studio diligenti obsessos impugnasset, et tam machinis quam modis aliis, multiplices eis molestias intulisset, videns eos resistendum, singulis diebus animosiores, et plenius cognoscens quod non proficeret, et praedictae nobilis matronae legati pro pace impetranda instarent vehementius, suscepta pacta pecunia et viginti captivis equitibus de nostro populo libertati restitutis, animo majora concipiens, soluta obsidione reversus est, apud familiares conquerens, quod non satis sanus esset, nec in bona corporis habitudine. Inde dimissis expeditionibus, cum familiari comitatu Tiberiadem pervenit, ubi dysenteria coepit periculosissime laborare. Inde morbum metuens, per Nazareth et Neapolim, eques tamen, nec ita prorsus invalidus, Hierosolymam ingressus est.

And when there for, as it were, fifteen days he had assailed the besieged with wakeful toil and diligent zeal, and had inflicted upon them manifold troubles both by engines and by other modes, seeing them, day by day, more high-spirited in resisting, and understanding more fully that he was not making progress, and the envoys of the aforesaid noble matron pressing more vehemently to obtain peace, after receiving the agreed money and restoring to liberty twenty captive horsemen of our people, conceiving greater things in mind, he raised the siege and returned, complaining among his familiars that he was not quite sound, nor in good bodily condition. Thence, the expeditions being dismissed, with a household retinue he reached Tiberias, where he began to suffer most perilously from dysentery. Thence, fearing the disease, through Nazareth and Neapolis, still on horseback and not altogether infirm, he entered Jerusalem.

Ubi ingravescente valetudine, febre etiam coepit vehementissime laborare, cessante physicorum artificio, dysenteria. Cumque per dies aliquot ea febre supra vires affligeretur, praecepit ad se accersiri medicos Graecos, Syros et illarum nationum homines, petens instantissime ab eis, ut aliqua decoctiuncula alvum ejus solverent; quod cum ab eis impetrare non posset, fecit ad se consequenter vocari Latinos, a quibus id ipsum exigens, adjiciens etiam, ut sibi omnis rei imputaretur eventus; dederunt ergo ei decoctiunculam unam, qua sumpta, sine difficultate assellavit aliquoties, ita ut sibi videretur quod ei esset melius; antequam tamen corpus medicinae violentia exhaustum, sumpto cibo posset reficere, febre solita recurrente, in fata concessit. Mortuus est autem anno ab Incarnatione Domini 1173, V Idus Julii; regni vero duodecimo, mense quinto; aetatis vero tricesimo octavo.

Where, as his health grew worse, he began to suffer most violently also from fever, and—the craft of the physicians failing—from dysentery. And when for several days he was afflicted by that fever beyond his strength, he ordered Greek doctors, Syrians, and men of those nations to be summoned to him, begging them most urgently that by some little decoction they might loosen his belly; and when he could not obtain this from them, he then had Latins called, from whom demanding the same, adding also that the outcome of the whole matter should be imputed to himself; therefore they gave him one little decoction, and, after taking it, he evacuated several times without difficulty, so that it seemed to him that he was better; before, however, he could, by taking food, refresh his body, exhausted by the violence of the medicine, with the customary fever recurring, he passed away. He died in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1173, on the 5 day before the Ides of July; indeed in the twelfth of his reign, in the fifth month; and of his age the thirty-eighth.

Sepultus est autem inter praedecessores suos, secus fratrem, in eadem linea, ante locum Calvariae; vir prudens et discretus, et ad regni gubernacula prorsus idoneus; cujus precibus et instantia, gesta tam praedecessorum suorum, quam sua, scripto mandare proposuimus praesenti.

He was buried, moreover, among his predecessors, beside his brother, in the same line, before the place of Calvary; a prudent and discreet man, and altogether fit for the helm of the kingdom; at whose prayers and insistence we have proposed to commit to the present writing both the deeds of his predecessors and his own.