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ORDO SUPREMUS MILITARIS TEMPLI HIEROSOLYMITANI®
The Magistral Grand Priory of The Holy Lands
(Notre Dame, Saint Mary of Magdalene)
Research Document from the Archives of
The Most Revd. Gary Beaver KGCTJ
THE MEMOIRS OF THE
LORD OF JOINVILLE
A NEW ENGLISH VERSION
BY
ETHEL WEDGWOOD
Page v
Six hundred years ago, when the histories of Europe still lay buried among the Latin Charter Rolls of great abbeys, before Piers Plowman had yet voiced the English conscience in the English tongue, and when Dante was just turning to look back on half his life's journey, John, Lord of Joinville, full of days and honours, began to write for his liege lady his recollections of her husband's grandfather, St. Louis.
Like many others of that line of great French memoir-writers which he heads, such, for instance, as Commines, Sully, and Marbot, Joinville was first of all a man of action, and only in the second place a man of letters; and for this very reason his book has that directness and simplicity which appeals to the common humanity of all ages. He is no skilled chronicler, like his compatriot the warrior and statesman Villehardouin; he is no born
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story-teller, like Villani or Froissart; but a hardheaded, plain-minded man to
whom penmanship is no art, and who writes simply because he loved his friend and
believes that he has a duty to his posterity.
John, Lord of Joinville, was hereditary Seneschal of Champagne and head of a family already illustrious for its Crusaders. By blood and old family friendship he was closely united with the great house of Brienne, and could claim cousinship with its famous cadet, John, King of Jerusalem, father-in-law to two emperors, and himself an emperor.' Born in 1225, Joinville was only twenty-three when he joined King Louis in the disastrous Seventh Crusade; and before he was thirty he was settled again on his estates, having escaped every conceivable peril by land and sea, to which nineteen out of every twenty men had succumbed. For the rest of his life he stayed at home, managing his estate and taking such part in public affairs as his position required. When, at nearly eighty years old, he began his Memoirs, he had lived beyond the
' For what is known of the life of John of Joinville and the history of his family, see Delaborde's delightful book, "Jean de Joinville."
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reigns of three kings, and saw France, through the selfishness of her rulers,
well advanced on that downward road that led to the coarse vice and brutality of
the Hundred Years War, and to the corruption and luxurious bestiality of the
last Valois kings. But Joinville, old, still keeps untainted the spirit of his
youth. He writes in the mood of that golden age, the reign of the "Holy
King," when still ' from Courts men Courtesy did call "; and his book
is a lasting witness to the influence of that master who thought it "a vile
thing for a gentleman to get drunk," and who punished foul words as a
crime.
His book brings us into some of the best company in the world. Joinville himself, as he appears through his narrative, is a fine sample of the great baron of feudal times. True to his word, firm in his justice, shrewd in business, intellectually limited, he approaches closely to the modern popular idea of an English squire. He is pious, not with the exalted visionary piety of the King, but with the practical morality that recognizes his duty to God in his duty to his own subjects. The King, seen through Joinville's record, is
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a far nobler character than he is represented by his extravagant monkish
eulogists, Geoffrey de Beaulieu, Guillaume de Nangis, and the rest; and that he
was a hero to his own commonplace intimates is a much greater testimony to his
personality than any enumeration of his qualifications for saintship.
And of the rest of that circle of gallant and pious gentlemen of whom Joinville was the friend and comrade, there are many who deserve a lasting fame. Peter of Brittany, gashed and retreating, yet pausing to scoff at the disorderly rabble that jostle past him in panic; Walter of Brienne, like a second Regulus tortured and helpless, exhorting his friends to resistance; Erard of Syverey, wounded to death, pausing to weigh the honour of his family against the chance of safety; Walter of Châtillon, crying his war-cry in the deserted street and turning single-handed to sweep away a horde of infidels; the good Bishop of Soissons, who, rather than turn his back on Jerusalem, " hastened his journey to God "; these are fit heroes for song and story through all time.
Historians laboriously bridge over the gulf that divides us from the past, and their bricks and
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mortar make but a long and dreary road; but in a narrative such as Joinville is,
the spirit of the writer speaks direct to the spirit of the reader; their points
of difference vanish away, leaving only what is common to both; and for a while
the man of the thirteenth century joins hands with the man of the twentieth, and
they stand side by side in the midst of that vast twilight of the unrecorded
ages, compared with whose depths a thousand years are but as yesterday.
With regard to this English version of Joinville's book, the translation is based on Francisque Michel's edition of the fourteenth-century manuscript known as Supplement 20 I 6, Bibliothèque royale. Very rarely other readings have been adopted. In some parts of the book, notably in Parts III and IV, the anecdotes in the original are very disconnected, possibly from the author having been frequently interrupted in his dictation. A few of these have been transposed in the translation, so as to bring them into better sequence. One or two repetitions have also been omitted; and a few passages tedious or repugnant to modern taste have been curtailed or suppressed. The book hereby loses some of its value for antiquarians, but for the general reader it gains. The original is not divided into chapters nor parts. In all other respects the translation is as faithful as the translator knew how to make it.
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Details about Joinville's life and pedigree are mostly taken from Delaborde's book, " Jean de Joinville." For his English descendants, the Genevilles, the "Genealogist" of 1904 should be consulted.
The notes are based on contemporary writers, e.g. Matthew Paris, Guillaume de Nangis, Geoffrey de Beaulieu, "Annales Monastici," etc. They are not intended to give general historical information, but merely to fill in the gaps of the narrative with the less well-known details of contemporaries.
The map of Mansoora and the adjoining rivers is based on one in the Intelligence Department.
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· INTRODUCTION
· PART I
· The Lord of Joinville dedicates his book to Louis, son of Philippe le Bel and Jeanne of Navarre (afterwards Louis X, " Le Hutin "), and divides it into two parts . . . . PART I
·
SAYINGS AND CUSTOMS OF THE KING 9 PART II
·
IN FRANCE AND EGYPT
·
CHAPTER I
Of the King's birth and coronation, and how the Count of Brittany and the Barons
of France rebelled against him . 25
·
CHAPTER II
How the Barons of France ravaged the lands of the Count of Champagne, and how
the King made peace Episode of Count Henry the Generous . . . . 32
·
CHAPTER III
Of the Feast that the King held at Saumur; and how the King of England and the
Count of La Marche made war on King Louis . . . . . . . 38
·
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CHAPTER IV
PAGE How the King took the Cross The episode of the clerk and the three robbers
Joinville prepares to go on Crusade . 45
·
CHAPTER V
How they sailed to Cyprus; of the message from the King ot the Tartars; how the
Sultan of Homs poisoned the Sultan of Egypt 55
·
CHAPTER VI
Tells how they came to Egypt, of the landing, and of the fight on the beach; and
how the Turks abandoned Damietta . 65
·
CHAPTER VII
" Tells how Damietta was occupied ". 76
·
CHAPTER VIII
How the King set out to march on Grand Cairo, and camped between two outlets of
the Nile Of the River Nile and its source . . . . . . . 85
·
CHAPTER IX
How the Christians tried to build a causeway over the stream of Raxi The
adventure of the tortoise-towers . . . 91
·
CHAPTER X
The battle of Mansoora . 102
·
CHAPTER XI
Discourses of the Bedouins . 125
·
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CHAPTER XII
The Saracens attack the camp The priest's feat of arms The fighting at the
barriers . . . . . 129.
·
CHAPTER XIII
Digression on the Sultan's bodyguard The pestilence in the camp The King
re-crosses the river, and treats with the Saracens The episode of the six
impious knights . . 140
·
CHAPTER XIV
How the King and all his men fell into the hands of the Saracens The massacre of
the sick, and the capture of the fugitives in the boats . . 152
·
CHAPTER XV
How the Sultan was murdered The Christians suffer many alarms at the hands of
the Saracens; but in the end the treaty is signed . . . . 171
·
CHAPTER XVI
Damietta is surrendered to the Turks, and after many perils the Christians are
set free Some of the rich men sail for home How the first half of the ransom is
paid, and Joinville robs the Templars' Bank by force of arms.....185
·
CHAPTER XVII
Anecdotes of the retreat "Châtillon, Chevaliers!" Death of the Bishop
of Soissons A renegade How the Queen fared in Danlietta The voyage to
Acre....197
·
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PART III
IN SYRIA
CHAPTER I
PAGE How the King was received at Acre An obliging valet Of the money that
Joinville deposited with the Templars He lies at death's door The gambling and
extravagance of the King's brothers . 209
·
CHAPTER II
The King takes counsel, whether to return to France, or to stay in the Holy Land
.216
·
CHAPTER III
The King's brothers return to France The King retains Joinville Messengers from
the Emperor Frederick Anecdotes 225
·
CHAPTER IV
How the Old Man of the Mountain sent an insolent message to the King Of the
visit that Brother Ives paid him-The King negotiates with the Sultan of Damascus
and the Emirs of Egypt How the Lady of Sajetta buried the bones of Count Walter
of Brienne The King fortifies Cesarea . . 233
·
CHAPTER V
A digression, telling the story of Count Walter of Brienne 243
·
CHAPTER VI
The account which the messengers gave of the Tartar people . 249
·
CHAPTER VII
Anecdotes of the camp at Cesarea. 260
·
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CHAPTER VIII
PAGE The King goes to Jaffa The Prince of Antiocll visits the camp The Sultan of
Damascus and Saracens of Egypt league together against the Christians Skirmishes
and other anecdotes 273
·
CHAPTER IX
The Turks of Damascus threaten Jaffa and Acre, and slaughtertwo or three
thousand Christians at Sidon, and destroy the town Anecdote of Richard Cur de
Lion Anecdote of the Duke of Burgundy The expense of fortifying Jaffa . . 280
·
CHAPTER X
The King leaves Jafta, and goes to rebuild Sidon The battle of Cesarea Philippi;
burial of the dead at Sidon The humours of the Count of Eu . . . . 290
·
CHAPTER XI
The Tartars take Bagdad Cruel revenge of the Tartar King Anecdotes of the camp
at Sidon Joinville makes a pilgrimage to Tortosa . 301
·
CHAPTER XII
The death of Queen Blanche Stories of the Queen and the Queen Mother -- The King
prepares to return home . . 310 CHAPTER XIII
How the army sailed for France; and of the adventures that befell them on their
voyage home...318CHAPTER XIV How the King came ashore Friar Hugh Joinville
accompanies the King into his own territory, and then returns home, visiting his
kinsfolk on the way How Tibald of Navarre and Champagne married the King's
daughter. . 335
·
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PART IV
FROM THE KING'S RETURN TO FRANCE TO HIS DEATH AND CANONIZATION
CHAPTER I
How the King settled disputes and made peace throughout France; and how he dealt
with the King of England . . 347
·
CHAPTER II
How the King behaved himself towards the poor and towards men of religionú 357
·
CHAPTER III
" How the King admonished his Bailiffs, his Provosts, and his Mayors; and
how he made new ordinances, and how Stephen Boileau became his Provost of Paris
" . 365
·
CHAPTER IV
How the King took the Cross for his last pilgrimage His death, burial, and
canonization; and of the vision that appeared to the Lord of Joinville 378
·
APPENDIX
LETTER GIVEN BY ST. LOUIS ON HIS DEATH BED TO PHILIP THE BOLD 391 INDEX . . 397
· TABLES
1. The Houses of France, Champagne, Constantinople, and Jerusalem At end
II. The Houses of Joinville and Brienne. . . "
·
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
· JEHAN SIRE DE JOINVILLE . . . . Frontispiece
· A YOUNG KING (THIRTEENTH CENTURY). . To face page 10
· "THE WAY FROM MONTL'HERY TO PARIS" (FOURTEENTH CENTURY) 26
· "A VERY FINE FEAT OF ARMS" (THIRTEENTH CENTURY) 108
· A JOURNEY (THIRTEENTH CENTURY) 208
· ('THE GOOD TEACHINGS OF HIS MOTHER"(FOURTEENTH CENTURY) 310
· SEAL OF JOINVILLE 352
· "IN THIS SAME PLACE WAS HE BURIED",(THIRTEENTH CENTURY) 384
· "FAIR SON, MY FIRST INJUNCTION TO THEE IS"(THIRTEENTH CENTURY) 392
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INTRODUCTION
THE LORD OF JOINVILLE DEDICATES HIS BOOR TO LOUIS, SON OF PHILIPPE LE BEL AND JEANNE OF NAVARRE (AFTERWARDS LOUIS X, "LE HUTIN"), AND DIVIDES IT INTO TWO PARTS.
To his good lord Louis, son of the King of France, by the grace of God King of Navarre, Count Palatine of Champagne and Brie, greeting, love honour and ready service from John, Lord of Joinville, his Seneschal of Champagne.
Dear Lord, I give you to know that your Lady Mother the Queen, who loved me well, May God have mercy on her! desired of me right earnestly, that I would make her a book of the holy words and good deeds of our king Saint Louis; and
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I did promise her the same; and by God's aid the book is completed in two parts.
The first part tells how he ordered his time according to God and the Church and to the profit of his realm.
The second part of the book treats of his knightly prowess and great feats of arms.
Sir, in that it is written: "Do first that which pertains to God, and He will direct all the rest for thee," have I caused to be written such matters as pertain to the three things aforesaid: to wit, to soul, body, and the government of the people.1
These other things, moreover, have I caused to be written to the honour of his true and holy relics, that by them it may be plainly seen, that never a layman of our times lived so holily as he did all his days, from the beginning of his reign unto the end of his life. Not that I was present at his life's end, but his son, Count Peter of Alençon, was there, who loved me well and related to me the fair ending
* Here and elsewhere Joinville's Biblical quotations are translated as they
stand. He knew no "Authorized Version," and the French words are
probably his own rendering from memory of the Latin Vulgate,
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that he made, as you will find it written at the end of this book. Whereby methinks they fell short of his due, in not ranking him among the martyrs, seeing the great hardships that he underwent in the pilgrimage of the Cross for the space of six years that I was in his company; and specially in that he followed our Lord in the matter of the Cross. For if God died by the Cross, even so did he; for he was crossed when he was at Tunis.
The second book will tell us of his deeds of knightly prowess and great daring; which were such, that four times I beheld him put his person in jeopardy of death, as you shall hear, to save his followers from harm.
The first occasion, was when we touched land before Damietta; when all his council urged him, so I heard, to tarry until he should see how his knights should fare at their landing; and for this reason: that if he went ashore with them, and were slain along with his followers, the cause would be lost; whereas, if he tarried in his ship, he in himself might make good the loss and win back the land of Egypt. And he would hearken to none of them but leaped all armed into the sea, his shield about
-4-
his neck and his spear in his hand, and was one of the first ashore.
The second occasion, was when we left Mansourah to go to Damietta and his council urged him, as I was given to understand, to travel to Damietta in the galleys; and he would hearken to never a one, saying rather: that he would never desert his followers, but that their fate should be his.
The third occasion, was when we had dwelt a year in the Holy Land, after his brothers had left it. In great peril of death were we at that time; since, whilst the king was sojourning in Acre, for one man-of-arms that he had in his company the inhabitants had full thirty, when the town was seized. Indeed, I know no other reason wherefor the Turks did not come and take us in the town, save for the love God bore the king, who put fear into the hearts of our enemies, so that they did not dare attack us.
The fourth occasion when he jeopardized his person, was when we returned from over seas and came before the Isle of Cyprus, where our ship ran so heavily aground, that three spans-length of the keel
-5-
whereon she was built was torn away. Whereupon the king sent for fourteen master
mariners to advise him what he should do; and they all advised him, as you will
hear, to go into another ship. But to all their arguments the king replied:
"Sirs, I see, that if I go out of this ship, she will be abandoned, and no
one will remain in her, but they will choose to remain in Cyprus; wherefore
please God, I will never cause the ruin of so great a number of men as are here,
rather will I stay here to safeguard them." Thus the king warded off the
mischief of eight hundred persons that were in his ship.
In the last part of this book we will speak of his end and in what a holy fashion he passed away.
Now to you, my lord king of Navarre, I say, that I promised your lady mother the Queen, God rest her soul! that I would make this book; and to acquit me of my promise I have made it. And since I see none that has so good a right to it as you who are her heir, to you I send it, to the end that you and your brothers and all others who shall hear it may take good example thereby, and show forth the example in their works, that God may be well pleased with them.
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IN the name of Almighty God, I, John, Lord of Joinville, Seneschal of Champagne, do cause to be written the life of our Saint Louis, that which I saw and heard during the space of six years that I was in his company on the pilgrimage over seas and after we returned. And before I tell you of his great deeds and knightliness, I will tell you what I saw and heard of his holy words and good teachings, so that they may be found in sequence, to the edification of those that shall hear them.
The love he bore his people appeared in what he said to his son during a sore sickness he had at Fountainebleau; "Fair son," quoth he, "I pray thee, win the love of the people of thy kingdom. For truly, I would rather that a Scot should come out of Scotland and rule the people of the kingdom well and justly, than that thou shouldst govern them ill-advisedly."
-10-
The holy man so loved truth that he would not play even the Saracens false, as hereafter you shall hear.
Touching his mouth he was sober, for never in my life did I hear him discourse of dishes, as many rich men do; but contentedly he ate whatever his cooks set before him. In words he was temperate, for never did I hear him speak ill of others, nor ever hear him name the Devil; the which is not common throughout the kingdom, and thereat, I bow, God is ill pleased. His wine he tempered moderately, according as he saw that the wine could bear it. He asked me in Cyprus: why I put no water to my wine? and I told him; It was the physicians' doing, who told me, that I had a thick head and a cold belly, and that it was not in me to get drunk. And he said: They deceived me; for unless I used myself whilst young to drink it watered, if, when old, I desired to do so, I should then be seized with gouts and stomach complaints and never have my health: whereas, if in old age I were to take my wine neat, I should be drunk every evening, and that it was a passing foul thing for a gallant gentleman to get drunk.
-11-
He asked me: Whether I wished to be honoured in this world and win Heaven at my death? "Yea!" said I, "Then," said he, "See that you be not wittingly guilty of any word or deed whereof if all the world knew it you could not acknowledge: So I said; So I did."
He bade me avoid contradicting or disagreeing with anything that anyone said before me, provided there would be no blame nor harm to myself in letting it pass; for that hard words provoke quarrels that are the death of thousands.
He used to say: That we ought so to clothe and care for our bodies that sober men of the world might not deem us over-nice, nor young men deem us slovens. And this reminds me of the father of the present king and the embroidered coats-of-arms that they make nowadays. For I told him, that never in my travels over seas did I see embroidered coats, neither belonging to the king nor to anyone else. And he told me, that he had garments embroidered with his arms such as had cost him eight hundred pounds parisis. And I told him that he would have employed them better, had he given them to God, and had made
-12-
his clothes of good taffety as his father was wont to do.l
He called me once, and said to me: "You are of such subtile perception in all matters touching religion, that I am afraid to talk to you, and for that reason I have called in these friars here, for I wish to ask you a question." The question was, "Seneschal, what sort of thing is God?" I answered: "Such a good thing, sir, that there is none better." "Well answered indeed," said he "for the very same answer is written in this book that I hold. Next I ask you," said he, "Which would you rather: Be a leper, or have committed a deadly sin?" And I, who never lied to him, replied: That I would rather have committed thirty deadly sins than be a leper. And when the friars were
* I livre parisis=25 solid) or sous; 1 livre tournois=20 solidi or sous; I sol= 12 deniers tournois (see Littrè). Money was more rapidly debased in France than in England. Hence the livre, sou, and denier (cf. English £ s. d.) dropped later on in value far below their nominal English equivalents; till the sou has left its old companion the shilling and ended with the value of the modern halfpenny. The denier, originally the French penny, has dwindled to extinction; whilst the livre in its descent changed names and became the franc. In the thirteenth century, however, the French livre and the English pound were comparable in all respects. They both still approximated to their weight in silver, livre=liber (lb.)=pound.
-13-
gone, he called me all alone, and made me sit at his feet, and said to me: "What was that you said to me yesterday?" And I replied: That I still said the same. "You talk like a hasty rattlepate," said he, "For there is no leprosy so foul as deadly sin, seeing that a soul in deadly sin is in the image of the Devil. And truly when a man dies, he is healed of the leprosy of the body, but when a man dies that has committed deadly sin, great fear must he needs have lest such leprosy should endure so long as God shall be in Heaven."
He asked me: Whether I washed the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday? " Sorrow take it, Sir!" said I " The feet of those wretches will I never wash! " ' Truly," quoth he '` That was ill said; for you should not despise that which God did for our instruction. Wherefor I pray you, for the love of God and of me, that henceforth you will accustom yourself to wash them."
He so loved all manner of God-fearing men, that he bestowed the Constableship of France on my lord Giles le Brun, who was not of the realm of France, because he had a great reputation as a God-fearing man. And truly so I think he was.
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There was Master Robert of Sorbonne,1
whom, because of his high reputation for honour and virtue, the King would have
to dine at his table.
It chanced one day, that he and I were next one another at table, and the king reproved us, and said: "Speak aloud," said he, " For your fellows here fancy that you are backbiting them. If your discourse at table be of pleasant matters, then speak aloud, or, if not, then keep silence."
When the King was merry, he would say to me: "Come, seneschal, tell me the reasons why a gallant man is better than a Begouin? " Then would begin the argument between Master Robert and me; and when we had disputed a good while, he would give judgment thus; " Master Robert, I would wish to have the name of a gallant man, provided that I were one, and give you all the rest. For a gallant man is such a great thing and such a fine thing, that the very sound of it fills one's mouth."
He used to say, on the contrary, that it was a bad business to borrow from anyone, for that the restoring was so disagreeable that the very
* The founder of the Sorbonne College.
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"R's" in it flayed one's throat, and betokened the Devil's rakes, always dragging back the man who set about restoring his neighbour's property. And the Devil is so cunning about it, that in the case of great usurers and robbers, he wiles them into giving to God that which they ought to restore to its owners. He bade me tell King Tibald from him, that he should beware of the house of Preachers of Provence which he was building, lest all the money he was putting into it should be a clog to his soul; for that wise men during their lifetime should deal with their possessions as executors: to wit, that good executors first of all redress any wrongs done by the dead man, and restore whatever was not his, and the remainder of his wealth they spend in alms.
The holy King was at Corbeuil one Pentecost, where there were four-score knights. After dinner, he came down into a meadow by the chapel, and stood in the gateway, talking to the Count of Brittany, the father of the present Duke, whom God preserve! Thither came Master Robert of Sorbonne, seeking me, and took me by the flap of my cloak, and led me to the King, all the other
-16-
knights following us. "Master Robert, what do you want with me? "
asked I. "I ask you," said he, " If the King were sitting in this
meadow, and you went and sat above him on the bench, would you not be to
blame?" I answered: Yes. " Then," said he, "You are just as
much to blame in being more richly clad than the King; for you clothe yourself
in green and minnever,which the King does not." Said I to him: "Master
Robert, I am in no wise to blame, though I do dress in green and minnever; for
this dress was handed down to me from my father and mother. But you are to
blame, for you are the son of villein parents, and have laid aside their dress,
and attired yourself in finer cloth than the King." Then I took hold of the
lappet of his surcoat and that of the King's, and said: " Look and see if
what I say is true." Thereupon the King set to work to defend Master Robert
by words with all his might.
Afterwards, my lord the King called my lord Philip his son, (father to the present King,) and King Tibald, and sat down by the door of his oratory, and put his hand on the ground, and said: " Sit down here close beside me, that we may
-17-
not be overheard." "Oh, Sir!" said they, "We should not
venture to sit so close to you!" "Seneschal," said he, " Sit
you here." which I did, so close to him, that my gown touched his. He made
them sit down beyond me, and said to them: It was great ill breeding in you,
that are my sons, not to do at once what I bade you, and take care that it never
happens again." and they said it should not. Then he told me, that he had
called us in order to confess to me, that he had been wrong in defending Master
Robert against me. "But," said he, "When I saw him in such
confusion, I was obliged to come to his assistance. But all the same do not hold
by anything I said in Master Robert's defence; for, as the seneschal says, you
should dress well and neatly, so that your wives may love you the better, and
your followers esteem you the more."
The holy King strove with all his might, by his conversation, to make me believe firmly in the Christian law. He told me once, that some Albigenses' had come to the Count of Montfort, (who at that time was holding the Albigenses' country for the King) and told him they had come to see the
-18-
body of our Lord which had turned to flesh and blood in the priest's hands.
"Go and see it, you that disbelieve it," said he, "For as for me,
I firmly believe it, according to the teaching of Holy Church. And know, that it
is I that shall be the winner," said the Count, "because in this
mortal life I believe it; wherefor I shall have a crown in Heaven above the
angels, for they see it face to face, and so cannot choose but believe it."
He told me that there was a great conference of clergy and Jews in the monastery of Clugny, and there was a knight, to whom the abbot had given bread out of charity, and he desired the abbot to let him have the first word, and with some difficulty he got permission. Then the knight rose, and leaned upon his crutch, and bade them bring forth the greatest scholar and master among the Jews, and they did so. And he put a question to him as follows: " Master," said he, " I ask you, whether you believe that the Virgin Mary, who carried God in her womb and in her arms, brought forth as a maid, and that she is the Mother of God? " And the Jew replied: That he did not believe a word of it. The knight replied: That he was a great fool to trust
-19-
himself inside her monastery and house, when he neither believed in nor loved
her; " And truly you shall pay for it" quoth he. And thereupon he
lifted up his staff, and smote the Jew behind the ear, and stretched him on the
ground. And the Jews took to their heels, carrying their master off with them,
all wounded. And that was the end of the conference. Then the abbot came to the
knight, and said: That he had acted very foolishly; and the knight replied: That
he himself had acted still more foolishly, in calling such a conference; for
that there were numbers of Christians there, who by the close of the conference
would have gone away infidels, through not seeing through the fallacies of the
Jews. " And so I tell you," said the King, " That no one ought to
argue with them unless he be a very good scholar; but a layman, if he hear the
Christian law defamed, should undertake its defence with the sword alone, and
that he should use to run them straight through the body as far in as it will
go!"
He governed his dominions on this wise: Every day, he heard his Hours by note, and a Requiem mass without note and afterwards the mass for the
-20-
day, or for the saint, (if it fell on a saint's day) by note. Every day he used
to rest in his bed after dinner; and when he had slept and rested, then the
office for the Dead used to be said in his chamber by himself and one of his
chaplains before he heard Vespers. In the evening he heard Complines.
He had arranged his business in such a fashion, that my lord of Nesle and the good Count of Soissons, and we others who were about his person after hearing mass used to go and listen to the Pleas of the Gate (which they call now "Petitions"). And when he came back from the minster, he used to send for us, and would sit down at the foot of his bed and make us sit all round him, and would ask us, whether there were any cases to be despatched that could not be despatched without him, and we named them, and he would send for the parties, and ask them: "Why do you not accept what our officers offer you?" and they would say: " It is very little, Sir." And he would talk to them as follows: " You ought really to take what people are ready to concede." And in this way the holy man laboured with all his might to bring them into the right and reasonable course.
-21-
Many a time it chanced in summer, that he would go and sit in the forest of Vincennes, after mass, and all who had business would come and talk with him, without hindrance from ushers or anyone. Then he would ask them with his own lips: " Is there anyone here, that has a suit?" and those that had suits stood up. Then he would say: " Keep silence, all of you; and you shall be dealt with in order." Then he would call up my lord Peter of Fontaines and my lord Geoffrey of Villette, and say to one of them: " Despatch me this suit! " and if, in the speech of those who were speaking on behalf of others, he saw that a point might be better put, he himself would put it for them with his own lips. I have seen him sometimes in summer, when to hear his people's suits, he would come into the gardens of Paris, clad in a camel's-hair coat, with a sleeveless surcoat of tiretaine, a cloak of black taffety round his neck, his hair well combed and without a quoif, and a white swansdown hat upon his head. He would cause a carpet to be spread, that we might sit round him; and all the people who had business before him stood round about, and then he caused their suits to be despatched, --
-22-
just as I told you before about the forest of Vincennes.
The King's loyalty may be seen in the affair of my lord of Trie, who sent the saint some letters, which stated, that the King had granted the county of Danmartin in Govelle to the heirs of the Countess of Boulogne, who had died recently. The seal of the letter was broken, so that there was nothing left of the King's seal but half the legs of the figure and the stool on which the King had his feet, and he showed it to all us who were of his council, and asked us to assist him with our counsel. We all declared with one accord, that he was in no wise bound to carry out the terms of the letter. Then he bade John Saracen, his chamberlain, bring him the letter which he had given into his keeping. When he had the letter in his hand, he said to us: " Sirs, look at this seal which I used before I went over seas: it is plain to see, that the impress of the broken seal is exactly like the perfect seal, so that I could not venture in all conscience to withhold the county in question." And thereupon he called my lord Reynold of Trie, and said to him: "I deliver the county to you."
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OF THE KING'S BIRTH AND CORONATION, AND HOW THE COUNT OF BRITTANY AND THE BARONS OF FRANCE REBELLED AGAINST HIM.
IN the name of Almighty God, having heretofore written part of the good words and teachings of Saint Louis, our King, we will next begin upon his deeds, in the name of God and of himself.
He was born, as I have heard him say, on the day of Saint Mark the Evangelist, after Easter. On that day, in many places they carry the Cross in procession, and in France it is called " Black Cross Day," and this was, as it were, a foreshadowing of the great host of people who died on those two crusades: to wit, on the Egyptian crusade, and on that other, where he died at Carthage; for very great sorrowing there was in this world, and very great rejoicing there is in Heaven over those, who on those two pilgrimages died true crusaders.
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He was crowned on the first Sunday in Advent. The mass for that Sunday begins: " To Thee have I lifted up my soul" and what follows after. In God he trusted firmly till his death; for at the point of death, with his last words he called on God and His Saints, especially upon my lord Saint James and my lady Saint Geneviève.
Great need had he in childhood that God should guard him; as by the good teachings of his mother, who taught him to love and believe in God, and set men of religion about him. Child as he was, she used to make him repeat his Hours and hear the lessons on Feast-days, and often told him as he recorded later, that she were rather he were dead than that he should commit a deadly sin.
Great need had he in his youth of God's aid; for his mother was from Spain, and had neither kindred nor friends in all the realm of France; and the barons of France, seeing the King but a child, and his mother a foreign woman, made the Count of Boulogne the King's uncle their leader, and looked upon him as actually their liege lord.
After the King was crowned, there were some of the barons who requested the Queen to grant them
-27-
certain large territories; and because she would do none of it, they gathered
themselves together, all the barons, at Corbeuil. And the holy King told me,
that he and his mother, who were at Montl'hery, durst not return to Paris until
the men of Paris came under arms to fetch them. And he told me, how, all the way
from Montl'hery to Paris, the road was thronged with people, armed and unarmed,
all loudly praying Christ to give him health and long life, and to defend and
keep him from his enemies.
At this parliament of the barons at Corbeuil, so it is said, those of them that were present decided, that the good knight Count Peter of Brittany should rebel against the King, and further, that when the king should summon them to march against the Count, they should attend in person and each bring only two knights with him; and this to see whether the Count of Brittany would be able to crush the Queen, she being but a foreign woman, as you have heard. And many people say, that the Count would have crushed the Queen and King too, if God had not come to the King's aid in this strait. But by God's grace, Count Tibald of Champagne, (the same who later
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became King of Navarre) came to serve the King with three hundred knights, and
by his aid, the Count of Brittany was brought to the King's mercy, so that, to
make peace, he was obliged to relinquish to the King the county of Anjou (so it
is said), and the county of Le Perche.
Now I must leave my subject for a while, in order to rehearse certain matters that you shall now learn. We will say therefor, that the good Count, Henry the Generous (of Champagne) had two sons by the Countess Mary, sister to the King of France and to Richard of England, of whom the eldest was named Henry, and the younger Tibald. This elder one, Henry, took the cross and went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, what time King Philip and King Richard besieged Acre and took it. So soon as Acre was taken, King Philip returned to France, for which he was much blamed; but King Richard stayed in the Holy Land, and did many great deeds, so that the Saracens feared him mightily: for it is written in the book of the Holy Land that when the Saracen children cried, the women would scold them, saying: " Hush! King Richard is coming! " to quiet them. And when the horses of
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the Saracens or Bedouins shied at a bush, their riders would say: " Do you
fancy that it is King Richard? "
This King Richard used his influence to give to Count Henry of Champagne, who had remained with him, the Queen of Jerusalem, who was direct heir to the kingdom. By the said Queen, Count Henry had two daughters, of whom the first was Queen of Cyprus, and the other was given to Lord Erard of Brienne, from whom has sprung a great lineage, as may be seen in France and Champagne. It is not of Lord Erard of Brienne's wife that I wish to speak now, but about the Queen of Cyprus.
After the King had crushed Count Peter of Brittany, all the barons of France were so stirred up against Count Tibald of Champagne, that they resolved to send for the Queen of Cyprus, she being daughter to the eldest son of the house of Champagne, in order to disinherit Count Tibal, he being son to the second son.
Some amongst them intervened to make peace between Count Peter and the said Count Tibald and the upshot of the negotiations was, that Count Tibald promised to take Count Peter's daughter
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to wife. A day was fixed for the Count of Champagne to espouse the damsel; and
they were to bring her for the wedding to a certain abbey at Prémoutré which
is close to Chateau Thierry, and is called, I believe, Val Secret. The barons of
France, who were nearly all of kin to Count Peter, took much trouble in
escorting the damsel to Val Secret for the wedding, and sent word to the Count
of Champagne who was at Chateau Thierry. But whilst the Count of Champagne was
on his way to get married, there came to him my lord Geoffrey de la Chapelle
from the King with a letter of credentials, and said as follows: "Sir
Count, the King has heard, that you have covenanted with Count Peter of Brittany
to take his daughter in marriage. Wherefor the King sends you word, that, unless
you wish to lose whatever possessions you have in the realm of France, you will
not do this thing; for you know that the Count of Brittany has used the King
worse than any man alive." And the Count of Champagne, by the advice of
those that were with him, turned back again to Chateau Thierry.
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NOTE TO CHAPTER I
Louis was crowned a month after his accession by the Bishop of Soissons (the see of Rheims being vacant). His mother had the sole wardship of him, which roused the jealousy of the principal barons. Peter Mauclerc (Count of Brittany) and Hugh le Brun (Count of La Marche) were obliged to submit, after Tibald of Champagne had deserted them. When they marched the next year into Champagne to revenge themselves on Tibald, Matthew Paris says that their pretext was that Tibald had been guilty of high treason in being Queen Blanche's paramour, and conspiring with her to poison her husband, Louis VIII. (He certainly seems to have quarrelled with Louis VIII, for he left him and went home without leave just before Louis' death, during his crusade against the Albigenses.) Joinville gives no hint of this. Throughout his book he avoids scandal, and in any case could hardly have mentioned this in a book intended for the great-grandson of both Queen Blanche and Count Tibald.
Tibald IV was a posthumous child, and during the regency of his mother, Countess Blanche, the above-mentioned Erard of Brienne claimed the county in right of his wife Philippa, and waged war on Champagne, aided and abetted by Simon de Joinville, the father of the author. Tibald succeeded to the kingdom of Navarre on the death of his mother's brother, Sancho VI.
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HOW THE BARONS OF FRANCE RAVAGED THE LANDS OF THE COUNT OF CHAMPAGNE, AND HOW THE KING MADE PEACE EPISODE OF COUNT HENRY THE GENEROUS.
WHEN Count Peter and the barons of France, who were waiting for him at Val Secret, heard what had happened, they were all as it were beside themselves at the slight he had put upon them; and now they sent for the Queen of Cyprus; and so soon as ever she was come, they agreed with common accord to muster all the men-at-arms they could, and to march into Brie and Champagne from the French side; and the Duke of Burgundy, who had Count Robert of Dreux' daughter to wife, was to enter the county of Champagne on the Burgundian side, and take the city of Troyes if possible.
The Duke summoned as many men as he could muster, and the barons likewise. The barons came through, burning and destroying on one side, the Duke on another, and the King of France on
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another, seeking to come to battle with them. The Count of Champagne finding
himself thus beset, began himself to fire his own towns before the approach of
the barons, so that they might not find supplies in them. Amongst the other
towns which the Count of Champagne burnt were Epernay, and Vertus, and Sézanne.
The burghers of Troyes, seeing themselves abandoned by their own lord, sent to Simon, lord of Joinville, (the father of the present lord) to come to their rescue. He, having summoned all his men-at-arms, set out from Joinville at nightfall, so soon as ever the tidings reached him, and came to Troyes before daybreak; and so the barons were disappointed in their hopes of taking Troyes, and passed by that city, and went and camped in the open, close to where the Duke of Burgundy lay.
The King of France, learning that they were there, marched straight to the place to give battle to them; and the barons sent to him begging that he would withdraw his person, and they would go and do battle with the Count of Champagne and the Duke of Lorraine and all the rest of his men, with three hundred knights less than the Count or
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the Duke should have. And the King sent them word, that he would never fight
against his own liegemen save in person. And they came again to him, and said:
that they would willingly incline the Queen of Cyprus to peace, if so he
pleased. And the King sent them word that he would hear of no peace, neither
suffer the Count of Champagne to hear of any, until they should have evacuated
the county of Champagne. And they did withdraw in so far as to leave Ylles where
they were, and go and camp below Juylli; and the King lodged at Ylles whence he
had driven them. And when they knew that the King was gone thither, they went
and camped at Chaorse, and durst not abide the King's coming, but went and
camped at Langres, which belonged to the Count of Nevers, who was of their
party.
Thus the King accorded the Count of Champagne with the Queen of Cyprus, and peace was made after this wise: that the said Count gave to the Queen land worth about two thousand pounds a year, besides forty thousand pounds that the King paid for the Count of Champagne. And the Count sold to the King, in exchange for the forty thousand
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pounds, the fiefs hereafter named: to wit, the fief of the county of Blois, the
fief of the county of Chartres, the fief of the county of Sancerre, the fief of
the vicounty of Chateaudun. There were people, indeed, who said that the King
only held these aforesaid fiefs in pawn; but there is no truth in it, for I
asked our holy King Louis about it whilst we were over seas.
The land which Count Tibald gave to the Queen of Cyprus is held by the present Count of Brienne and the Count of Joigny, because the Count of Brienne's grandmother was daughter to the Queen of Cyprus and wife to the great Count Walter of Brienne.
That you may know, how the Lord of Champagne came by those fiefs that he sold to the King, I must tell you, that the great Count Tibald, who sleeps at Lagny, had three sons: the first was named Henry; the second Tibald; the third Stephen. This same Henry was Count of Champagne and Brie, and was called, " Henry the Generous"; and rightly was he so called, for he was generous both towards God and the world: generous towards God, as appears by the church of
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Saint Stephen of Troyes and by the other churches which he founded in Champagne;
generous towards the world, as appeared in the case of Artauld of Nogent and on
many other occasions which I would relate to you, if I were not afraid of
hindering the course of my story.
Artauld of Nogent was the burgher whom the King most trusted, and he was so rich, that he built the castle of Nogent l'Artauld with his own money. Now it chanced that Count Henry came down out of his hall at Troyes to go and hear mass at Saint Stephen on the day of Pentecost; and at the foot of the steps there knelt a poor knight, who thus accosted him: " Sir, I beseech you for the love of God, to give me out of your wealth the wherewithal to marry my two daughters whom you see here." Artauld, who was walking behind him, said to the poor knight, " Sir Knight, it is not courteous in you to beg from my lord; for he has given away so much, that he has nothing left to give." The generous Count turned round to Artauld, and said to him: "Sir Villein, you speak untruly when you say, that I have nothing left to give, why, I have you yourself! Here, take
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him, Sir Knight! for I give him to you, and will warrant him to you." The
knight was in no wise abashed, but took him by the cape, and told him: That he
would not let him go until he had come to terms with him; and before he could
get away, Artauld had made fine with him for five hundred pounds.
Count Henry's second brother was named Tibald, and was Count of Blois; his third brother, named Stephen, was Count of Sancerre; and these two brothers held all their heritage with the two counties and their appurtenances in fee of Count Henry; and afterwards they held them of Count Henry's heirs who held Champagne, until the time when Count Tibald sold them to the King of France, as I told you above.
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OF THE: FEAST THAT THE KING HELD AT SAUMUR; AND HOW THE KING OF ENGLAND AND THE COUNT OF LA MARCHE MADE WAR ON KING LOUIS.
LET US return to our story, and say as follows: that after these events, the King held a great court at Saumur in Anjou. I was there, and can bear you witness that it was the finest that ever I saw. For there ate at the King's table, beside him, the Count of Poitiers, whom he had newly knighted on a Saint John's Day; and next him sat Count John of Dreux, whom likewise he had newly knighted. Next to the Count of Dreux, sat the Count of La Marche, and next him, the good Count Peter of Brittany; and in front of the King's table, in a line with the Count of Dreux, sat my lord the King of Navarre, in a coat and mantle of samite, richly adorned with belt and clasp and circlet of gold; and I carved before him. Before the King, his brother the Count of Artois was trencher bearer,
-39-
and the good Count, John of Soissons, carved. To guard the table, there was my
Lord Humbert of Beaujeu, (who afterwards became Constable of France), and my
Lord Enguerrand of Coucy, and my Lord Archibald of Bourbon. Forming a bodyguard
behind these three barons were a good thirty of their knights, in coats of cloth
of silk, and behind the knights a great crowd of serjeants clad in taffety
stamped with the Count of Poitier's arms. The King had donned a coat of sky-blue
satin, and a surcoat and mantle of scarlet satin lined with ermine, and on his
head a cotton bonnet, which became him very ill, he being in those days a young
man.
The King held this feast in the halls of Saumur, which were built, they say, by the great King Henry of England, to hold his great feasts. The halls are built after the fashion of the cloisters of the White Monks; but I trow there are no others so large by far. I will tell you, why: for along the wall of the cloister where the King was dining, and he was surrounded by knights and serjeants who took up a great deal of room, there was a table at which were seated thirty other persons, bishops and
-40-
archbishops; and again, beyond the bishops and at the same table, was seated
Blanche the Queen Mother, at the opposite end of the cloister to where the King
sat. The Count of Boulogne, (who afterwards was King of Portugal) waited on the
Queen, together with the good Count of St. Pol, and a German lad, eighteen years
of age, who was said to be the son of Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia. It was said
of him, that Queen Blanche used to kiss his forehead out of piety, because she
heard that his mother had often kissed him there. At the end of the cloister, on
the other side, were the kitchens, the butteries, the pantries, and the
storerooms; and from this cloister they set bread and wine and meat before the
King and Queen. And in all the other wings, and in the centre plot there feasted
a vast number of knights, more than I can tell. Many people say, that they never
saw before at any feast so many surcoats and other garments of cloth-of-gold as
were there; and that there must have been full three thousand knights in the
place.
After this feast, the King brought the Count of Poitiers to Poitiers, that he might take seizin of his fiefs, but when the King was come to Poitiers, he
-41-
would gladly have been back again in Paris; for he found that the Count of La
Marche, who had eaten at his table on Saint John's day, had got together a
number of men-at-arms at Lusignan by Poitiers. The King remained at Poitiers
close on a fortnight, not daring to depart until he should be reconciled with
the Count of La Marche. I know not how it came about, but I several times saw
the Count of La Marche on his way from Lusignan to confer with the King at
Poitiers; and he always brought with him his wife, the Queen of England, who was
mother to the English king. And many people said, that the peace which the King
and the Count of Poitiers made with the Count of La Marche was an unsound one.
No long while after the King had got back from Poitiers, the King of England came into Gascony to make war on the King of France. Our holy King, with as many men as he could raise, rode forth to give him battle. Thither came the King of England and the Count of La Marche to do battle before a castle called Taillebourg, which lies on a dangerous river named the Charente, where there is no crossing save by a very narrow
-42-
stone bridge. No sooner had the King reached Taillebourg, and the armies were
face to face, than our men, (who had the castle on their side,) pushed on at
great cost, and crossed over most hazardously by means of boats and the bridge,
and rushed upon the English; and there began a general hand-to-hand engagement
stiffly contested. The King perceiving this adventured himself into the thick of
it along with the rest, for the English had four men for every one that the King
had after he had crossed. Howsoever it so happened by God's will, that when the
English saw the King cross over, they lost heart, and retired into the city of
Saintes; and some of our men entered the city mixed up with them, and were taken
prisoners.
Those of our people who were captured at Saintes related, that they heard a great quarrel arise between the King of England and the Count of La Marche, the King of England saying: That the Count of La Marche had sent for him to come over, and had assured him, that he would find plenty of support in France. That very evening, the King of England left Saintes, and drew off into Gascony.
-43-
The Count of La Marche, seeing that there was no help for it, yielded himself prisoner to the King, together with his wife and children; and so, when peace came to be made, the King got a great slice of the Count's lands; but I do not know how much, for I was not present at this affair, not having yet donned a hauberk; but I heard say, that, besides the land, the King carried off ten thousand pounds parisis that he had in his coffers, and every year as much again.
Whilst we were at Poitiers, I saw a knight, named Lord Geoffrey of Rançon, who, by reason, it was said, of a great outrage that the Count of La Marche had done him, had sworn by the holy relics, that he would never have his hair clipped in the fashion of knights, but would wear it long and parted as women do, until such time as he should see himself avenged on the Count, by his own hand, or by another. And when Lord Geoffrey saw the Count, his wife and his children, kneeling before the King, and suing for pardon, he there and then bade them bring him a stool, and had his long locks shorn off in the presence of the King and the Count of La Marche and the company.
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Out of this campaign against the King of England and against the barons, the King made many handsome presents, as I learnt from people who had come from it. And for no gifts nor expenses that he was put to in this campaign, nor in any others on either side of the water, did the King ever request nor take from his barons, nor from his knights, nor from his liegemen, nor from his good towns any aids that could be complained of. And no wonder, for he acted by the advice of his good mother who was with him, whose precepts he carried out, and those that were handed on to him by the wise men of his father's and grandfather's times.
NOTE TO CHAPTER III
St. Louis' three brothers were
(1) Robert, whom he knighted in 1238, giving him the province of Artois, and Matilda of Brabant as wife.
(2) Alphonso, whom he knighted this year (1241), giving him Auvergne and Poitou and the lands belonging to the Albigenses, with Joanna, daughter of the Count of Toulouse, as wife.
(3) Charles, made knight and Count of Anjou and Maine in 1246. The year before he had married Beatrix of Provence, younger sister to Queen Margaret of France and to Eleonor, Queen to Henry III of England.
See the tables at the end.
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HOW THE KING TOOK THE CROSS THE EPISODE OF THE CLERK AND THE THREE ROBBERS JOINVILLE PREPARES TO GO ON CRUSADE.
AFTER the events above narrated, it happened, by God's will, that a great sickness overtook the King at Paris; whereby he was brought so low, as he used to relate, that one of the ladies who were nursing him declared him to be dead, and was about to draw the sheet up over his face; but another lady, who was on the opposite side of the bed, would not permit it, but said that his soul was still in his body. When he heard the two ladies disputing, Our Lord worked in him, and presently sent him health, for he had been voiceless and could not speak. He desired, that they would give him the cross, and they did so.
When the Queen, his mother, heard that his speech had returned to him, nothing could surpass her rejoicings; but when, as himself used to relate,
-46-
she learnt, that he had taken the cross, she made as great mourning as though he
lay dead before her eyes. After he had taken the cross, Robert, Count of Artois
took it, and Alphonso, Count of Poitiers, and Charles, Count of Anjou, (who
afterwards was King of Sicily) all three the King's brothers; and Hugh, Duke of
Burgundy crossed himself, and William, Count of Flanders, brother to Count Guy
of Flanders, who was newly dead; and Hugh, the good Count of St. Pol, and his
nephew, my Lord Walter, who bore himself right well over seas, and would have
been a man of great worth, if he had but lived. And the Count of La Marche was
one of them, and my Lord Hugh le Brun, his son, and the Count of Sarrebrück,
and his son, my Lord Gilbert of Apremont, in whose company I, Lord of Joinville,
crossed the sea in a ship which we hired, for we were cousins; and we crossed
over twenty knights in all, of whom half were his, and half mine.
At Easter, in the year of Grace which was just striking 1248, I summoned my liegemen and my vassals to Joinville; and on the same Easter Eve,
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when all whom I had summoned were come, was born my son, John, Lord of Acerville,
the child of my first wife, who was sister to the Count of Grandpré.
All that week we feasted and danced; for my brother, the Lord of Vaucouleurs, and the other rich men who were there entertained the company in turn, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
On the Friday I said to them: " Sirs, I am going away over seas, and I know not whether I shall return. Now therefore, come forward; and if I have done any of you a wrong, I will right it, and will as my custom is redress in turn any grievances you may have against me or my servants." I put everything right with them as regards the public business of my estates, and in order that I might have no undue advantage, I left my seat on the council, and abode without dispute by their decisions.
Being unwilling to take any ill-gotten money with me, I went to Metz in Lorraine, and left a great quantity of my land there in pawn; and know, that on the day I left our country to go to the Holy Land, I was not possessed of one thousand
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pounds of rent in land, for my Lady Mother was still alive. And so I set out,
with nine other knights, myself the tenth, three of us being bannerets. And so
you see, that if God had not been ever at my side, I could assuredly not have
held out through those long six years that I spent in the Holy Land.
Whilst I was getting ready to start, John Lord of Apremont and Count of Sarrebrück by right of his wife, sent me word, that he had made arrangements for going over seas at the head of ten knights, and that if I liked, we would hire a ship between us; and I consented; and his people and mine hired a ship at Marseilles.
The King summoned his barons to Paris, and made them take an oath, that they would keep faith and loyalty towards his children if anything should happen to him on the way. He desired me to do so; but I would take no oath, because I was not his man.
Whilst I was on the road, I came across three men, lying dead on a cart, whom a clerk had slain; and I was told, that they were being taken to the King. Thereupon I sent one of my squires after
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them to learn what happened. The squire reported that the King, on leaving his
chapel, went onto the steps to see the bodies, and asked the Provost of Paris:
How it had occurred? And the Provost told him, that the dead men were three of
his serjeants from the Châtelet, and that they used to go about robbing people
on the high-roads; "and," said he to the King, "they fell in with
this clerk, whom you see here, and stripped him of all his clothes. The clerk
went off in his shirt to his house, and took his cross-bow, and made a child
carry his falchion. Directly he saw the robbers, he shouted to them, and told
them they should die on the spot. The clerk wound his cross-bow, and let fly a
bolt, and pierced one of them through the heart; and the two others took to
their heels. The clerk took the falchion that the child was holding, and
followed them by the light of the moon, which was bright and clear. One of them
thought to escape through a hedge into a garden; but the clerk struck him with
the falchion, and clean cut off his leg so that it hung only by the boot, as you
can see," said the Provost. "The clerk set off again in pursuit of the
third, who thought to take
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refuge in a strange house, where the folks were not yet abed; but the clerk with
his falchion struck him full on the head, so that he clove it to the teeth, as
you may see, Sir" quoth the Provost to the King, "And, Sir, the clerk
showed what he had done to the provost who lives hard-by the street, and then
came and gave himself up in your gaol; and, Sir, I bring him to you, and here he
is, that you may deal with him according to your pleasure." " Sir
Clerk," said the King, " your prowess has lost you your priesthood;
and for your prowess I retain you in my pay, and you shall accompany me over
seas. I deal thus with you, in order that my followers may see that I will not
uphold them in any of their wickedness." When the people that were
assembled there heard this, they cried on Our Lord, beseeching God might grant
the King a safe life and a long one, and bring him home in health and happiness.
After this, I returned into our country, and we arranged, the Count of Sarrebrück and I, that we should send our baggage by carts to Auxonne, and thence by the river Saône as far as the Rhone. On the day that I left Joinville, I sent for the
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Abbot of Cheminon, who was reputed the best man in the White Order. I heard one
testimony borne him at Clairvaux, on the feast of Our Lady, when the holy King
was there; for a monk pointed him out to me, and asked, whether I knew him?
"Why do you ask?" said I; and he replied: " Because I believe
that he is the best man of all the White Order. Know too," said he, "
that I heard from a worthy man who used to lie in the same dormitory as the
Abbot of Cheminon, that once the Abbot had bared his chest, because of the heat,
and this good man, Lying in the same room where the Abbot was asleep, saw the
Mother of God come to his bedside, and draw his gown across his chest lest the
draught should hurt him."
So this Abbot of Cheminon gave me my scrip and staff, and thereupon, I departed from Joinville, and would not enter my castle any more, until I should come home again; and I set out on foot, barefooted, and in pilgrim's weeds, and visited Blechicourt and St. Urbans and other holy relics there; and all the while that I was on my way to Blechicourt and St. Urbans, I durst not cast my eyes back to Joinville, lest my heart should fail me
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for the fair castle and the two children that I was leaving behind me.
I and my companions dined at Fontaine l'Archeveque, hard by Donjeux. And there Abbot Adam of St. Urbans God rest his soul! gave me and my knights a great quantity of fine jewels. Thence we came to Auxonne, and went on with all our baggage, (which we had had placed in boats) down the Saône, from Auxonne to Lyons; and they led our big chargers alongside the boats. At Lyons, we entered the Rhone, on our way to Arles le Blanc; and in the Rhone we came upon a castle called the Rock of Gluy, which the King had caused to be pulled down, because the hue and cry was out against Roger, the lord of the castle, for robbing pilgrims and merchants.
NOTE TO CHAPTER IV
Matthew Paris, " Chron. Maj, "
The Queen Mother and the Bishop of Paris (William of Auvergne), as well as many of the nobles, tried hard to persuade Louis to give up his proposed Crusade and apply to the Pope for a dispensation. The Bishop was most insistent, urging that when Louis took the Cross he was still weak from sickness and not in possession of his
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faculties; he urged as political dangers the power of Emperor Frederick and the
"deceitful coin " of the King of England, the treachery of the
Poitevins, the heresies of the Albigenses: "Germany is disturbed; Italy is
not at rest; in front the road to the Holy Land is blocked; behind is the
inexorable hate of Frederick and the Pope; implacable feuds: to all this you
leave us."
Said the Queen Mother: " Remember, my son, that God loves obedient children. Stay till thou canst go with a larger army; God is no caviller; thy excuse is that thy senses were dazed and thy wits wandering."
To this the King replied, " You say that weakness of wit was the cause of my taking the Cross; lo, then, since you desire it, here I lay down the Cross, I resign it to you," and putting his hand to his shoulder he tore off the badge and presented it to the Archbishop. At this there was a buzz of applause and congratulation from all who sat round. Then said the King, and his voice and face changed, " My friends, you agree now, do you not, that I am in full possession of my senses? that now at any rate I am sane in mind and body? Give me back then my Cross. For He who knows all things knows that no food shall pass my lips until my Cross is restored to me."
And when they that stood round heard this, they declared: " This was the finger of God."
On their way south, the King and his brothers went to Lyons to see Pope Innocent IV. King Louis strongly urged the Pope to put an end to the scandalous quarrel between him and Emperor Frederick. He was, however, unsuccessful in his attempted mediation; and after
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commending France to the Pope's protection, and using some very plain speech:
" Yours will be the blame if we are hindered in our mission," he came
away directly he had received the Pope's blessing. It was on the way from Lyons
that the King seized Roger's castle of the Rock of Gluy, and caused it to be
partly pulled down, but restored it again to him on promise of good behaviour.
The King's stay at Marseilles was marked by a fight between his troops and the people of Avignon, who resented being called " Albigenses, traitors, and heretics." The barons urged Louis to take this opportunity of avenging his father's death; but the King said, "I am not leaving France in order to avenge my father, nor my mother, nor myself, but to avenge my Lord Jesus Christ."
He and the Counts of Artois and Anjou took ship at Aigues Mortes on 25 August; the Count of Poitiers stayed behind to collect the second army. The King's detachment reached Cyprus about the end of August, and spent the winter there, during which time King Henry of Cyprus caught the crusading fever and crossed himself, together with many of his nobles.
King Louis lost about 240 men at Cyprus, or on the road thither, including John, Earl of Montfort, the son of that Amaury who was captured at Gaza. (His uncle, the great Simon, had also crossed himself, but did not go, being busy in Gascony.) . . ; During their stay at Cyprus, the King and Legate employed themselves in reconciliug the quarrel between the Templars and Hospitallers and other disputes, both lay and clerical.
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HOW THEY SAILED TO CYPRUS; OF THE MESSAGE FROM THE KING OF THE TARTARS; HOW THE SULTAN OF IIOMS POISONED THE SULTAN OF EGYPT.
IN the month of August, we entered into our ship at the Rock of Marseilles. On the same day that we went aboard, they opened the door of the ship, and all the horses that we were to take over seas with us were put inside, and they closed the door up again, and caulked it up well, just as in sinking a barrel, because when the ship is at sea the whole of the door is under water.
When the horses were inside, our master mariner shouted to his sailors who were in the prow of the ship; "Is all ready? then, Sir, let the clergy and the priests come forwards! " and when they were all assembled, " Strike up a chant, in God's name!" cried he. And they all sang aloud in unison: Veni Creator Spiritus.. And he shouted to his sailors: "Spread sail, in God's name! " and they
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did so. And in a little while, the wind had caught the sail, and carried us
beyond sight of land, and we saw nothing but water and sky; and every day, the
wind carried us further away from the land where we were born. And hereby I
would show you how foolhardy is he who adventures himself in such peril, if he
be in debt to any man, or in deadly sin; for one goes to sleep at night never
knowing whether one will awake at the bottom of the sea.
There befell us at sea a most wondrous thing. We sighted a mountain, perfectly round, which lies off Barbary. It was about the hour of Vespers when we sighted it; and we sailed all night, and thought to have made more than fifty leagues, but the next day we found ourselves off the very same mountain; and the same thing befell us twice or thrice. When the sailors saw this, they were all dismayed, and told us: that our ships were in great danger, for that we were off the territory belonging to the Saracens of Barbary.
Then a worthy priest, called the Dean of Malrut, told us: that they were never afflicted in his parish, either with want of water or with too much rain,
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or any other affliction, but that, so soon as he had made three processions,
three Saturdays running, God and His Mother delivered them from it.
This was a Saturday, and we made the first procession round the two masts of the ship. I myself was carried round by the arms, being grievous sick.
Thereafter we saw the mountain no more, and came to Cyprus on the third Saturday.
When we reached Cyprus, the King was already there; and we found a great plenty of the King's stores: to wit, store of wine and money and grain. The wine was stored in this manner: The King's people had heaped, right in the open by the sea shore, great mounds of wine-casks, that they had bought two years before the King's arrival; these were piled one on top of the other, so that, seen from the front, they looked just like barns. The wheat and barley they had stacked in heaps in the open fields, and to look at, they seemed to be hills; for the rain beating on the corn for a long time, had caused it to sprout, so that only the green blades were visible. And so it was, that when they wanted to remove it to Egypt, they pulled down the crust
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of green corn on the top, and found the wheat and barley grain underneath as
fresh as though it were newly threshed.
The King would gladly have pressed on into Egypt without stopping, so I heard him say, if it had not been for his barons, who urged him to stay and wait for the rest of his followers who had not yet all arrived.
Whilst the King was tarrying in Cyprus, the great King of the Tartars sent messengers to him, greeting him courteously, and bearing word, amongst other things, that he was ready to help him conquer the Holy Land and deliver Jerusalem out of the hand of the Saracens. The King received them most graciously, and sent in reply messengers of his own, who remained away two years, before they returned to him. Moreover the King sent to the King of the Tartars by the messengers a tent made in the style of a chapel, which cost a great deal, for it was made wholly of good fine scarlet cloth. And to entice them if possible into our faith, the King caused pictures to be inlaid in the said chapel, pourtraying the annunciation of Our Lady, and all the other points of the Creed. These things
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he sent them by two Preaching Friars, who knew Arabic, in order to show and
teach them what they ought to believe. The two friars got back to the King just
when the King's brothers returned to France, and found the King at the time when
he had left Acre (where his brothers parted from him,) and was at Cesarea,
fortifying it, there being no peace nor truce with the Saracens.
How the King of France's messengers were received, I shall tell you, just as they told it them-selves to the King; and in their story you will hear many strange things, which I will not relate now, for it would break too much into the subject in hand, which is as follows:
I, who had not a thousand pounds' worth of rents, burdened myself, when I went over seas with nine other knights, of whom two were bannerets. And it so befell me, that when I landed at Cyprus, after paying for my ship, I had only twelve score pounds tournois left; whereupon, some of my knights sent me word, that, if I could not procure money, they should leave me. And God, who never failed me, supplied me in this way, that the King, who was at Nicosia, sent for me and retained me, and put
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eight hundred pounds into my coffers; and then I had more money than I needed.
Whilst we were tarrying at Cyprus, the Empress of Constantinople sent me word that she had landed at Paphos, a city of Cyprus, and that I was to come and fetch her with Lord Erard of Brienne.
When we got there, we found, that a gale had snapped the ropes of her ship's anchors, and carried the ship to Acre; and she had nothing left of all her baggage, but the cloak that she was wearing and a pinafore. We brought her home, where the King and Queen and all the barons received her with great honours. On the morrow, I sent her some cloth and taffety to trim her dress. My Lord Philip of Nanteuil, that good knight, who was of the King's household, met my squire on his way to the Empress. When the gallant man saw what he was carrying, he went to the King, and told him: That I had put him and the other barons to shame with the dresses that I had sent her, for not having thought of it themselves before.
The Empress came to seek the King's help for her lord, who had stayed behind in Constantinople, and so far succeeded as to carry away with her
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a couple of hundred letters or more, some from me, and some from her other
friends there; in which letters we bound ourselves by oath, that, if the King or
Legate would send three hundred knights to Constantinople, after the King should
have left the Holy Land, we swore to go with them. And I, to acquit me of my
oath, desired of the King, when we came away, in the presence of the Count (of
Eu), whose testimony I have in writing, that if he was minded to send three
hundred knights, that I might go, as I was sworn. The King answered: that he had
not the means to do it; for that he must have touched the bottom of his wealth,
however great it was.
After we had landed in Egypt, the Empress went on to France, taking with her my Lord John of Acre, her brother, whom she married to the Countess of Montfort.
At the time when we came to Cyprus, the Sultan of Iconium was the richest king in all pagandom. He had made a marvel; for he had caused a great part of his gold to be melted in earthenware jars, and then had the jars broken; and the shapes of solid gold stood exposed to full view in one of his
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castles, so that everyone who came in could see and touch them. There must have
been about six or seven of them. His great wealth might be seen by a pavilion
that the King of Armenia sent to the King of France, which was worth full five
hundred pounds; and the King of Armenia gave him to know, that it was a present
from one of the ferashes of the Sultan of Iconium. A ferash is one who looks
after the Sultan's pavilions, and cleans his houses.
The King of Armenia, hoping to shake off the yoke of the Sultan of Iconium, betook him to the King of the Tartars, and made himself their vassal, in order to have their assistance; and he brought away such a vast number of warriors that he was strong enough to give battle to the Sultan of Iconium. The battle lasted a great while, and the Tartars slew so many of the Sultan's men, that nothing more was heard of him.
There was great talk in Cyprus of the approaching battle; and at the rumour of it, many of our serjeants crossed over into Armenia, for the sake of the fighting and the booty -but none of them ever came back again.
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The Sultan of Grand Cairo, who was expecting the King to come into Egypt with the beginning of spring, bethought him that he would go and confound the Sultan of Homs, who was his enemy, and he went and sat down before the city of Homs to besiege him. The Sultan of Homs was at his wits' end to rid himself of the Sultan of Grand Cairo, for he saw plainly that he would be his ruin, if he lived long enough. And he began to treat with the Sultan of Cairo's ferashes, and bargained with them to poison him. And this was the way he was poisoned:
The ferash noticed, that the Sultan, every day, on rising from table, used to go and play chess on the mats at the foot of his bed; and the mat on which he knew the Sultan always sat, that one he took and poisoned. So it chanced, that the Sultan, whose legs were bare, rubbed on a sore place that was on his leg, and forthwith the poison pierced him to the quick, and took from him all power of motion in that side of the body nearest the heart. He was full two days, and neither drank, nor ate, nor spoke. So they left the Sultan of Homs in peace, and his followers brought him back to Egypt.
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NOTE TO CHAPTER V
According to Guillaume de Nangis, the Tartar messengers purported to bring a message from Iltchiktai, the great Khan's lieutenant in Asia Minor, in which he proposed that King Louis should land in Egypt, whilst he attacked Bagdad, so as to prevent the Saracens of Egypt and those of Syria from joining forces. King Louis, later on, much repented the distinction with which he had treated these emissaries; but at the time, they were made much of as interesting neophytes. On Christmas Day they went to Mass with the King, and afterwards dined at his table, where they showed that they knew how to "behave like Christians."
When they went away, the King gave them, besides the tent-chapel, a bit of the wood of the true Cross, and the Legate gave them a letter, receiving the Tartar nation into the family of the Church.
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TELLS HOW THEY CAME TO EGYPT, OF THE LANDING, AND OF THE FIGHT ON THE BEACH; AND HOW THE TURKS ABANDONED DAMIETTA.
Now that March had set in, by the King's orders, he and the barons and the other pilgrims ordered their ships to be reloaded with wines and victuals, that they might start whenever the King should give the word. So when all was duly in order, the King and Queen went aboard their ship, ["La Monnaie,"] on the Friday before Pentecost; and the King bade his barons follow him in their ships, straight for Egypt. On the Saturday the King set sail, and all the other vessels likewise; which was a very fine sight to behold; for the whole sea, so far as the eye could reach, seemed to be covered with canvas from the sails of the ships, which were reckoned at eighteen hundred vessels, both large and small.
The King put in at a spit of land which is called the Point of Limasol, and all the rest of the fleet
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lay round. On the day of Pentecost, the King went ashore, and after we had heard
mass there arose a terrible strong wind, blowing from off Egypt; and it blew so
hard, that of two thousand and eight hundred knights whom the King led into
Egypt there were only seven hundred left him that were not scattered from the
King's company and carried to Acre and other foreign places; whence they only
rejoined the King long after.
By the next day the wind had dropped; and the King and we, who by God's will had kept with him, set sail forthwith, and fell in with the Prince of the Morea and the Duke of Burgundy, who had been sojourning in the Morea.
On the Thursday after Pentecost the King arrived off Damietta, and there found all the forces of the Sultan on the sea shore, very fine men to look at; for the Sultan's arms are of gold, and they glittered as they caught the sun. The noise that they made with their kettledrums and their Arabian horns was dreadful to hear.
The King summoned his barons to council, to advise what he should do. Many advised him to wait until his followers should get back, seeing
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that he had not one third left; but he would not listen to them. The reason he
gave was, that it would put heart into his enemies, and also, that there is no
harbour, in the sea at Damietta, where he might await his followers, but that
any strong wind might take and carry them on to other shores, as had happened to
the rest at Pentecost.
It was agreed, that the King should land on the Friday before Trinity, and go and attack the Saracens, if he would not remain on the defensive.
The King ordered my Lord John of Beaumont to provide a galley for Lord Erard of Brienne and myself, to land us and our knights, because the big ships could not come close in along shore. But it pleased God, that when I got back to my ship, I found a small ship that my Lady of Beyrut had given me, (who was first cousin to the Count of Montbeliart and to ourselves) in which eight of my horses were. When the Friday came I and Lord Erard together went ready armed to the King to demand the galley; to which Lord John of Beaumont made answer that we should not have one.
When our men saw there was no getting a galley, they let themselves drop from the big ship into the
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dinghy, helter-skelter each man for himself. The sailors, seeing the dinghy
sinking lower and lower in the water, took refuge in the big ship, leaving my
knights in the dinghy. I asked the master: how many there were more than her
load; and then I asked, whether he could undertake to bring our men ashore,
provided I unloaded so many at a time? He replied "Yes"; and I so
arranged the loads, that he took them ashore in three trips in the ship in which
my horses were.
Whilst I was disembarking his men, a knight belo