Al-Makrisi: Account of the Crusade of St.

Louis
Editor's Introduction [1848]:This is an extract from an Arabian manuscript entitled Essulouk li Mariset il Muluk that is to say,
"The Road to Knowledge of the Return of Kings." It is the history of the Sultans Curdes-Ayyubids, of the race of Saladin, and of
the two Dynasties that have reigned in Egypt; the one of Turkish slaves, known under the name of MamelukesBaharites, the
other of Circassians. This work was composed by MAKRISI, who was born in the 769th year of the Hegira, or one hundred and
twenty years after the expedition of St. Louis.

THE sultan MelikulKamil died at Damascus the 21st of the moon Regeb, in the 635th year of the
Hegira (March 10, AD 1238). MelikulAdilScifeddin, one of his two sons, was proclaimed on the
morrow, in the same town, sultan of Syria, and of Egypt. He was the seventh king of the
posterity of the Ayyubids, who descended from Saladin.

On the 17th day of the moon Ramadan, there arrived an ambassador from the caliph of
Baghdad, who was the bearer of a standard and rich robe for the sultan, weak remnants of the
vast authority the caliphs who succeeded Muhammad [*] formerly enjoyed, and of which the
sultans had not thought it worth their while to deprive them.

Note* The caliphs, successors to Muhammad, were formerly masters of Syria, Egypt, and in
general of all the conquests made by the Muslims. Corrupted by luxury and indolence, they
suffered Egypt and Syria to be taken from them by the Fatimites, at the time of the expedition
of St. Louis, and they retained IrakArabia. They, however, still preserved a shadow of power
over the provinces captured from them. The sultans of Egypt submitted to a sort of
inauguration on their part, which consisted in the investiture of a dress which the caliphs sent
them. This custom is no yet abolished: the grand seignior sends a similar dress to the his.
podars of Moldavia and Walachia, when he nominates them to these principalities .
MelikulAdil, when scarcely on the throne, instead of attending to the government of his
kingdoms, gave himself up to all sorts of debauchery. The grandees of the state, who might
have reproached him for the dissipated life he led, were banished under various pretexts, and
replaced by more complaisant ministers. He believed he could have nothing to fear, if the
troops were attached to him; and, in order to gain them, he made them great presents, which,
added to those his pleasures required, exhausted the treasures his father had amassed with so
much difficulty.

A conduct so unworthy a sovereign made him contemptible, and his subjects offered up vows
that his brother NedjmEddin would deprive him of his crown. This prince had no other wish, but
he was afraid of intrusting a project of this nature in the hands of a fickle populace. At last all
the orders of the state, oppressed by the tyrannies of MelikulAdil, called NedjmEddin to the
throne. He made his entry into Cairo the ninth day of the moon Chuwal, in the year 637 (May 3,
AD 1240), and was proclaimed sultan of Syria and Egypt. MelikulAdil was imprisoned, after
having reigned two years and eighteen days.

NedjmEddin, on mounting the throne, found only one solitary piece of gold, and one thousand
drachms of silver, in the public treasury. He assembled the grandees of the state, and those in
particular who had had any share in the administration of the finances, under the reign of his
brother, and asked what had been their reasons for deposing MelikulAdil. "Because he was a
madman," they replied. Then, addressing himself to the chiefs of the law, he asked if a madman
could dispose of the public money. And on their answering that it was contrary to law, he
ordered all who had received any sums of money from his brother to bring them back to the
treasury, or they should pay for their disobedience with their heads. By this means, he
recovered seven hundred and fifty-eight thousand pieces of gold, and two millions three
hundred thousand drachms of silver.

In the year 638 (1240), SalihImadEddin, who had surprised Damascus, under the reign of
MelikulAdil, fearful that the new sultan would deprive him of this unjust conquest, made an
offensive and defensive alliance with the Franks of Syria. He gave them, the better to secure
their support, the towns of Safet* and Chakif,+ with their territories, half of the town of Sidon,
and a part of the country of the Tiberiad.# He added also the mountain of Aamileh,++ and
several other places on the seashore, permitting them to come to Damascus to purchase arms.
This alliance displeased good Muslims, who were indignant to see Franks purchase arms in a
Muslim town, which these infidels might one day turn against the sellers.

Note * Safet, a moderate sized town in Palestine. It has a fortress which commands the Lake of
Tiberias, and is situated in fifty-seven degrees thirty1ive minutes longitude, thirty two degrees
thirty minutes latitude.
Note + Chakif. Abulfeda mentions two fortresses under the name of Chakif, ChakifArnoun, and
ChakifTiroun the first, partly cut in a rock, is on one of the roads leading from Sidon to
Damascus. It is the second called Tiroun, which IS noticed in the text. It lies towards the sea, in
regard to Safet. ChakifArnoun is, in like manner, distant from the sea, on the top of Lebanon.
Note # part of Palestine has been thus called from the town of Tiberias, built on the side of a
mountain near to the lake of the same name. The lake is twelve miles long by six wide, and is
surrounded by mountains. This town was famous in former times, but Saladin, on reconquering
it from the Franks, had it destroyed. It owes its name to the emperor Tiberius. There were in its
confines many hot springs celebrated for the cure of different disorders. It was but six miles
from Tiberias to the well into which Joseph was cast by his brethren.-Abulfeda. [HTML editor's
note: This is the Sea of Galilee]
Note ++ Aamileh, a celebrated mountain of Syria. It spreads eastwardly and southerly from the
seashore as far as Tvre. It had a fortress on its summit .
Salih-ImadEddin resolved to make war on Egypt, and, assembling his troops, joined the army of
the Franks. The sultan of Egypt was informed of this movement, and sent, in consequence, a
body of men as far as Acre. The two armies met; but the Egyptians corrupted the Muslim
soldiers of Damascus, who, according to their secret conventions, fled on the first attack, and
left the Franks singly to bear the shock. They, however, made but a feeble resistance; great
numbers were slain, and the rest, loaded with chains, were led to Cairo.

In the 640th year of the Hegira, the Franks surprised the town of Napoulous* on a Friday, the
4th day of the moon Djemazilewel, and made slaves of the inhabitants, after they had
plundered them of all they had, and committed all sorts of cruelties.
Note * Napoulous, a town in Palestine, anciently called Samaria. Jeroboam caused a temple to
be built on a mountain near the town to prevent the ten tribes from going to Jerusalem.
The whole year of 641 (AD 1243) was employed in negotiations between SalihInzadEddin and
NedjmEddin. The latter consented to allow the former to be master of Damascus, but on
condition that the town should be a fief to Egypt, and that the coin should be struck in his
name. However, as they could not agree, ImadEddin made another treaty with the Franks, by
which he gave up to them Jerusalem, the whole country of the Tiberiad, and .Ascalon*

Note* Ascalon, a town in Palestine, on the Mediterranean shore, six leagues from Gaza. it is
built on a rock, but wants a harbour and fresh water.
The Franks took possession of these towns, and instantly fortified all the castles in the
neighbourhood of Tiberias and Ascalon. They expelled Muslims from the mosque Aksa,* made
a church of it, and hung bells in the minaret.

Note* The name of the mosque which the Muslims built after the capture of Jerusalem, on the
ancient foundations of the temple of Solomon, and on the stone whence Jacob was said to be
have conversed with God, and which the Muslims affirm to be that which this patriarch named
the gate of heaven, in consequence of his vision. The Christians, when they conquered
Jerusalem from the Muslims, erected a golden cross on the top of this temple, but Saladin, on
regaining the town, made them take it down.-D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient.
NedjmEddin, on his side, connected himself with the Kharesmiens,* a people whose lives were
passed in war and plunder. They hastened from the farthest part of the East, crossed the
Euphrates, to the amount of ten thousand combatants, under the command of three generals.
One division fell back upon Balbeck, and another marched to the very gates of Damascus,
pillaging and destroying all that came in their way. SalihImadEddin shut himself up in Damascus,
without attempting to stop the torrent that inundated his dominions. When they had despoiled
all the country near to Damascus, they advanced to Jerusalem, took it by storm, and put all the
Christians to the sword. The women and girls, having suffered every insult from a brutal
disorderly soldiery, were loaded with chains. They destroyed the church of the holy Sepulchre;
and when they found nothing among the living, to glut their rage, they opened the tombs of the
Christians, took out the bodies, and burnt them.

Note * Kharesmiens, a people of Khouaresm [Khwarizm], which country is situated on this side
the Gion, or Oxus, on the side of Khorassan, and a part beyond it, bounding the Mawaralnahar,
or the Transoxane .
After this expedition, they marched to Gaza, and deputed some of their principal officers to
NedjmEddin. This prince caressed them much, had them clothed in superb dresses, and
presented them with rich stuffs and horses of great value. He desired that they would halt their
troops at Gaza, where he proposed making a junction of the two armies, promising to march
them to Damascus. The troops of the sultan were soon really to take the field, under the
command of the emir RukneddinBibars, one of his favourite slaves, and in whose bravery he
wholly confided. Bibars joined the Kharesmiens at Gaza.*
Note * Gaza, a town in Palestine near the sea. Its territory is very fertile, particularly in palm-
trees.
ImadEddin, on his part, raised troops in Damascus: they marched under the orders of Melik-
Mansour, prince of Hemesse.* The Franks were likewise ready to take the field; and the two
bodies met at Acre, when they formed but one army. NasirDaoud, prince of Karak,+ and Zahir,
son of Songour, also brought some soldiers to the prince of Damascus. This was the first time
the standards of the Christians, on which was a cross, were seen intermixed with those of
Muslims. The Christians formed the right wing, the troops of NasirDaoud the left, and the emir
Mansour formed the centre with the Syrians.

Note * Hemesse or Hems, an ancient town, and one of the principal in Syria. It is situated on a
plain, a mile distant from the river Orontes. It is the most fertile country of the whole province.
Note + Kerek or Karak, a celebrated town on the confines of Syria, where it joins Arabia Petraea.
This town formerly possessed an impregnable fortress, and was one of the keys to Syria.
The two armies met near to Gaza. The Kharesmiens made the first onset, which was but faintly
opposed by the Syrians, who instantly fled. Zahir, who commanded the left wing, being made
prisoner, there only remained the Franks, who for some time defended themselves, but were
soon surrounded by the Kharesmiens: the greater part perished on this occasion, except a few
that had the good fortune to escape. Eight hundred prisoners were made; and there lay on the
field of battle upwards of thirty thousand dead, as well Christians as Syrian Muslims. Mansour
returned to Damascus with a few soldiers. The Kharesmiens made an immense booty.

The news of this complete victory arrived at Cairo on the 15th of the moon Gemazilewel, in the
year of the Hegira 642 (Oct. 9, AD 1244). NedjmEddin was so delighted with it that he ordered
public rejoicings to be made, and they were announced to the people by sound of drums and
trumpets. The town and the castle of the sultan * were illuminated for several nights. The
heads of the enemies that had been slain in battle were sent to Cairo, and exposed on the gates
of the town. The captive Franks arrived at the same time, mounted on camels: as a mark of
distinction, horses had been given to the most considerable among them. ZahirbenSongour,
one of the Syrian generals that had been taken, marched next, with the other officers of the
Syrian army. They were paraded with much pomp through the town of Cairo, and then confined
in prisons.

Note * It was the castle of Cairo built by the sultan Saladin, with stones taken from many small
pyramids destroyed near ancient Memphis, opposite to old Cairo. The bashaws, governors of
Egypt, make this castle their residence. It is situated at the foot of the Mountain of St. Joseph.
The emirs Bibars and Abouali had orders from the sultan to lay siege to Ascalon; but the place
was too strong, and too well defended, to be taken. Bibars remained before Ascalon, and
Abouali advanced to Napoulous.

The other generals of NedjmEddin took possession of Gaza, Jerusalem, Khalil, BeitDjebril, and
Gaur.* NasirDaoud lost nearly all his territories, for there only remained to him the fortress of
Kerok, Belka. Essalib,+ and Adjeloun.
Note * Gaur, a deep valley that traverses the country of Jordan from the Lake of Tiberias to the
Dead Sea.
Note + Essalib, or, according to some authors, Essolet, is a castle near to, but on the other side
of Jordan. So is Adjelonn.
NedjmEddin had promised the Kharesmiens to lead them to Damascus; for he counted as
nothing the last victory, if he did not regain that town; and he resolved to make so important a
conquest in person. The Kharesmiens followed him with joy, and Damascus was besieged.
Battering-rams, and other machines for casting stones were erected; but the besieged made a
vigorous resistance, and the siege lasted upwards of six months without any breach being
made. Provisions, however, began to fail in the town; and Mansour, prince of Hemesse, had a
conference with Berket, one of the Kharesmien chiefs, for the surrender of the place. It was at
length agreed that the town should be surrendered to the sultan, and that ImadEddin,
Mansour, and the other Syrian chiefs, should have liberty to retire with all their riches. The
town of Balbeck, and all its territory, were given to Imad-Eddin: Hemesse and Palmyra were
allotted to Mansour. The Kharesmiens, who had flattered themselves with the hope of pillaging
Damascus, in despair at being frustrated, quarrelled with the sultan, and, the ensuing year,
formed an alliance with Mansour and the other Syrian leaders. They marched conjointly to the
siege of Damascus, and reduced the town to the utmost distress from want of provision. The
inhabitants, after they had consumed the vilest food, did not scruple to feed on the bodies of
such as died, to preserve their lives. NedjmEddin had returned to Egypt; but he hastened to
Syria again, with a numerous army, attacked the Kharesmiens, and totally defeated them in two
battles.

In the year 644, the emir Fakreddin won from the Franks the castle of Tiberias and the town of
Ascalon, both of which he razed to the ground. This year was fatal to the Franks, from their
intestine divisions.

In the year 645, the sultan returned to Egypt, and passed through Ramle.* He was there
attacked with an abscess, which turned to a fistula; but in spite of this accident, he continued
his journey, and arrived at Cairo. New troubles, which had arisen in Syria, called him again into
that province; but having learned at Damascus,+ that the French were preparing to invade
Egypt, he preferred defending his own kingdom in person. In spite of the violence of his
sufferings from pain, he mounted his litter, and arrived at Achuloum-Tanah,# at the beginning
of the year 647.

Note * Ramle. Reml signifies sand. Ramla is a town some leagues from Jaffa or Joppa, on the
road to Jerusalem.
Note + Makrisi, in his description of Egypt, says, that in the year of the Hegira 647 (AD 1249),
the emperor sent an ambassador to the sultan NedjmEddin, who was then ill at Damascus: that
this ambassador was disguised as a merchant, and informed the sultan of the preparations of
the king of France against Egypt.
Note # Achmoum, or AchmoumTanah, a town on the Nile, and the capital of one of the
provinces of Egypt called Dahkalie, fifty-four deg. Longitude, thirty-one deg. fifty-four min.
Latitude.-Abulfeda.
As he had no doubt but that Damietta would be the first place attacked, he endeavoured to put
it in a state of defence, and formed there magazines of every sort of provision, arms, and
ammunition. The emir Fakreddin was ordered to march toward that town, to prevent a descent
on the coast. Fakreddin encamped at Gize de Damietta, with the Nile between his camp and the
town.

The disorder of the sultan, however, grew worse; and he caused proclamation to be made, that
all to whom he owed any thing should present themselves at his treasury, when they would be
paid.*

Note * It is one point of the Muslim Law to pay all debts before death, and those who pretend
to strictness of doctrine never fail to observe it.
On Friday, the 21st of the moon Sefer, and in the year of the Hegira 647 (AD 1249, Friday, 4th
June), the French fleet arrived off the coast, at two o'clock of the day, filled with an
innumerable body of troops under the command of Louis, son to Louis, king of France. The
Franks, who were masters of Syria, had joined the French. The whole fleet anchored on the
strand opposite to the camp of Fakreddin.

Usmah Ibn Munqidh (1095-1188):

Autobiography, excerpts on the Franks
Usamah (1095-1188), was a Muslim warrior and courtier, who fought against the Crusaders with Saladin. Yet as a resident of
the area around Palestine, he also had a chance to befriend a number of them. His autobiography dates from around 1175.

Mysterious are the works of the Creator, the author of all things! When one comes to recount
cases regarding the Franks, he cannot but glorify Allah (exalted is he!) and sanctify him, for he
sees them as animals possessing the virtues of courage and fighting, but nothing else; just as
animals have only the virtues of strength and carrying loads. I shall now give some instances of
their doings and their curious mentality.

In the army of King Fulk, son of Fulk, was a Frankish reverend knight who had just arrived from
their land in order to make the holy pilgrimage and then return home. He was of my intimate
fellowship and kept such constant company with me that he began to call me "my brother."
Between us were mutual bonds of amity and friendship. When he resolved to return by sea to
his homeland, he said to me:

My brother, I am leaving for my country and I want you to send with me thy son (my son, who
was then fourteen years old, was at that time in my company) to our country, where he can see
the knights and learn wisdom and chivalry. When he returns, be will be like a wise man.

Thus there fell upon my ears words which would never come out of the head of a sensible man;
for even if my son were to be taken captive, his captivity could not bring him a worse
misfortune than carrying him into the lands of the Franks. However, I said to the man:
By thy life, this has exactly been my idea. But the only thing that prevented me from carrying it
out was the fact that his grandmother, my mother, is so fond of him and did not this time let
him come out with me until she exacted an oath from me to the effect that I would return him
to her.

Thereupon he asked, "Is thy mother still alive?" "Yes." I replied. 'Well," said he, "disobey her
not." A case illustrating their curious medicine is the following:

The lord of al-Munaytirah wrote to my uncle asking him to dispatch a physician to treat certain
sick persons among his people. My uncle sent him a Christian physician named Thabit. Thabit
was absent but ten days when be returned. So we said to him, "How quickly has thou healed
thy patients!" He said:

They brought before me a knight in whose leg an abscess had grown; and a woman afflicted
with imbecility. To the knight I applied a small poultice until the abscess opened and became
well; and the woman I put on diet and made her humor wet. Then a Frankish physician came to
them and said, "This man knows nothing about treating them." He then said to the knight,
"Which wouldst thou prefer, living with one leg or dying with two?" The latter replied, "Living
with one leg." The physician said, "Bring me a strong knight and a sharp ax." A knight came with
the ax. And I was standing by. Then the physician laid the leg of the patient on a block of wood
and bade the knight strike his leg with the ax and chop it off at one blow. Accordingly he struck
it-while I was looking on-one blow, but the leg was not severed. He dealt another blow, upon
which the marrow of the leg flowed out and the patient died on the spot. He then examined
the woman and said, "This is a woman in whose head there is a devil which has possessed her.
Shave off her hair." Accordingly they shaved it off and the woman began once more to cat their
ordinary diet-garlic and mustard. Her imbecility took a turn for the worse. The physician then
said, "The devil has penetrated through her head." He therefore took a razor, made a deep
cruciform incision on it, peeled off the skin at the middle of the incision until the bone of the
skull was exposed and rubbed it with salt. The woman also expired instantly. Thereupon I asked
them whether my services were needed any longer, and when they replied in the negative I
returned home, having learned of their medicine what I knew not before.

I have, however, witnessed a case of their medicine which was quite different from that.

The king of the Franks bad for treasurer a knight named Bernard, who (may Allah's curse be
upon him!) was one of the most accursed and wicked among the Franks. A horse kicked him in
the leg, which was subsequently infected and which opened in fourteen different places. Every
time one of these cuts would close in one place, another would open in ancther place. All this
happened while I was praying for his perdition. Then came to him a Frankish physician and
removed from the leg all the ointments which were on it and began to wasb it with very strong
vinegar. By this treatment all the cuts were healed and the man became well again. He was up
again like a devil. Another case illustrating their curious medicine is the following: In Shayzar we
had an artisan named abu-al-Fath, who had a boy whose neck was afflicted with scrofula. Every
time a part of it would close, another part would open. This man happened to go to Antioch on
business of his, accompanied by his son. A Frank noticed the boy and asked his father about
him. Abu-al-Fath replied, "This is my son." The Frank said to him, 'Wilt thou swear by thy
religion that if I prescribe to you a medicine which will cure thy boy, thou wilt charge nobody
fees for prescribing it thyself? In that case, I shall prescribe to you a medicine which will cure
the boy." The man took the oath and the Frank said:

Take uncrushed leaves of glasswort, burn them, then soak the ashes in olive oil and sharp
vinegar. Treat the scrofula with them until the spot on which it is growing is eaten up. Then take
burnt lead, soak it in ghee butter and treat him with it. That will cure him.

The father treated the boy accordingly, and the boy was cured. The sores closed and the boy
returned to his normal condition of health.

I have myself treated with this medicine many who were afflicted with such disease, and the
treatment was successful in removing the cause of the complaint.

***

The Franks are void of all zeal and jealousy. One of them may be walking along with his wife. He
meets another man who takes the wife by the hand and steps aside to converse with her while
the husband is standing on one side waiting for his wife to conclude the conversation. If she
lingers too long for him, he leaves her alone with the conversant and goes away.

Here is an illustration which I myself witnessed:

When I used to visit Nablus, I always took lodging with a man named Mu'izz, whose home was a
lodging house for the Muslims. The house had windows which opened to the road, and there
stood opposite to it on the other side of the road a house belonging to a Frank who sold wine
for the merchants. He would take some wine in a bottle and go around announcing it by
shouting, "So and so, the merchant, has just opened a cask full of this wine. He who wants to
buy some of it will find it in such and such a place." The Frank's pay for the announcement
made would be the wine in that bottle. One day this Frank went home and found a man with
his wife in the same bed. He asked him, "What could have made you enter into my wife's
room?" The man replied, "I was tired, so I went in to rest." "But how," asked he, "didst thou get
into my bed?" The other replied, "I found a bed that was spread, so I slept in it." "But," said be,
"my wife was sleeping together with you!" The other replied, "Well, the bed is hers. How could I
therefore have prevented her from using her own bed?"

"By the truth of my religion," said the husband, "if thou shouldst do it again, thou and I would
have a quarrel." Such was for the Frank the entire expression of his disapproval and the limit of
his jealousy. . . .

Another illustration: I entered the public bath in Sur [Tyre] and took my place in a secluded
part. One of my servants thereupon said to me, "There is with us in the bath a woman." When I
went out, I sat on one of the stone benches and behold! the woman who was in the bath had
come out all dressed and was standing with her father just opposite me. But I could not be sure
that she was a woman. So I said to one of my companions, "By Allah, see if this is a woman," by
which I meant that he should ask about her. But he went, as I was looking at him, lifted the end
of her robe and looked carefully at her. Thereupon her father turned toward me and said, "This
is my daughter. Her mother is dead and she has nobody to wash her hair. So I took her in with
me to the bath and washed her head." I replied, "Thou hast well done! This is something for
which thou shalt be rewarded [by Allah]!"

***

I once went in the company of al-Amir Mu'in-al-Din (may Allah's mercy rest upon his soul!) to
Jerusalem. We stopped at Nablus. There a blind man, a Muslim, who was still young and was
well dressed, presented himself before al-amir carrying fruits for him and asked permission to
be admitted into his service in Damascus. The amir consented. I inquired about this man and
was informed that his mother bad been married to a Frank whom she had killed. Her son used
to practice ruses against the Frankish pilgrims and cooperate with his mother in assassinating
them. They finally brought charges against him and tried his case according to the Frankish way
of procedure.

They installed a huge cask and filled it with water. Across it they set a board of wood. They then
bound the arms of the man charged with the act, tied a rope around his shoulders and dropped
him into the cask, their idea being that in case he was innocent, he would sink in the water and
they would then lift him up with the rope so that he might not die in the water; and in case he
was guilty, he would not sink in the water. This man did his best to sink when they dropped him
into the water, but he could not do it. So he had to submit to their sentence against him--may
Allah's curse be upon them! They pierced his eyeballs with red-hot awls.

Later this same man arrived in Damascus. Al-Amir Mu'in-al-Din (may Allah's mercy rest upon his
soul!) assigned him a stipend large enough to meet all his needs and said to a slave of his,
"Conduct him to Burhan-al-Din al-Balkhi (may Allah's mercy rest upon his soul!) and ask him on
my behalf to order somebody to teach this man the Koran and something of Muslim
jurisprudence." Hearing that, the blind man remarked, "May triumph and victory be thine! But
this was never my thought...... What didst thou think I was going to do for tbee?" asked Mu'in-
al-Din. The blind man replied, "I thought thou wouldst give me a horse, a mule and a suit of
armor and make me a knight." Mu'in-al-Din then said, "I never thought that a blind man could
become a knight."

***

Among the Franks are those who have become acclimatized and have as- sociated long with the
Muslims. These are much better than the recent comers from the Frankish lands. But they
constitute the exception and cannot be treated as a rule.
Here is an illustration. I dispatched one of my men to Antioch on business. There was in Antioch
at that time al-Ra'is Theodoros Sophianos, to whom I was bound by mutual ties of amity. His
influence in Antioch was supreme. One day he said to my man, "I am invited by a friend of mine
who is a Frank. Thou shouldst come with me so that thou mayest see their fashions." My man
related the story in the following words:

I went along with him and we came to the home of a knight who belonged to the old category
of knights who came with the early expeditions of the Franks. He had been by that time stricken
off the register and exempted from service, and possessed in Antioch an estate on the income
of which he lived. The knight presented an excellent table, with food extraordinarily clean and
delicious. Seeing me abstaining from food, he said, "Eat, be of good cbeer! I never eat Frankish
dishes, but I have Egyptian women cooks and never eat except their cooking. Besides, pork
never enters my home." I ate, but guardedly, and after that we departed.

As I was passing in the market place, a Frankish woman all of a sudden hung to my clothes and
began to mutter words in their language, and I could not understand what she was saying. This
made me immediately the center of a big crowd of Franks. I was convinced that death was at
hand. But all of a sudden that same knight approached. On seeing me, he came and said to that
woman, "What is the matter between you and this Muslim?" She replied, "This is he who has
killed my brother Hurso." This Hurso was a knight in Afiimiyah who was killed by someone of
the army of Hamah. The Christian knight shouted at her, saying, "This is a bourgeois (i.e., a
merchant) who neither fights nor attends a fight." He also yelled at the people who had
assembled, and they all dispersed. Then he took me by the hand and went away. Thus the
effect of that meal was my deliverance from certain death.*

Urban II:
Speech at Council of Clermont, 1095, according to Fulcher of Chartres
[adapted from Thatcher] In 1094 or 1095, Alexios I Komnenos, the Byzantine emperor, sent to the pope, Urban II, and asked for
aid from the west against the Seljuq Turks, who taken nearly all of Asia Minor from him. At the council of Clermont Urban
addressed a great crowd and urged all to go to the aid of the Greeks and to recover Palestine from the rule of the Muslims. The
acts of the council have not been preserved, but we have four accounts of the speech of Urban which were written by men who
were present and heard him. Here is the one by the chronicler Fulcher of Chartres.
Most beloved brethren: Urged by necessity, I, Urban, by the permission of God chief bishop and
prelate over the whole world, have come into these parts as an ambassador with a divine
admonition to you, the servants of God. I hoped to find you as faithful and as zealous in the
service of God as I had supposed you to be. But if there is in you any deformity or crookedness
contrary to God's law, with divine help I will do my best to remove it. For God has put you as
stewards over his family to minister to it. Happy indeed will you be if he finds you faithful in
your stewardship. You are called shepherds; see that you do not act as hirelings. But be true
shepherds, with your crooks always in your hands. Do not go to sleep, but guard on all sides the
flock committed to you. For if through your carelessness or negligence a wolf carries away one
of your sheep, you will surely lose the reward laid up for you with God. And after you have been
bitterly scourged with remorse for your faults-, you will be fiercely overwhelmed in hell, the
abode of death. For according to the gospel you are the salt of the earth [Matt. 5:13]. But if you
fall short in your duty, how, it may be asked, can it be salted? O how great the need of salting!
It is indeed necessary for you to correct with the salt of wisdom this foolish people which is so
devoted to the pleasures of this -world, lest the Lord, when He may wish to speak to them, find
them putrefied by their sins unsalted and stinking. For if He, shall find worms, that is, sins, In
them, because you have been negligent in your duty, He will command them as worthless to be
thrown into the abyss of unclean things. And because you cannot restore to Him His great loss,
He will surely condemn you and drive you from His loving presence. But the man who applies
this salt should be prudent, provident, modest, learned, peaceable, watchful, pious, just,
equitable, and pure. For how can the ignorant teach others? How can the licentious make
others modest>? And how can the impure make others pure? If anyone hates peace, how can
he make others peaceable ? Or if anyone has soiled his hands with baseness, how can he
cleanse the impurities of another? We read also that if the blind lead the blind, both will fall
into the ditch [Matt. 15:14]. But first correct yourselves, in order that, free from blame , you
may be able to correct those who are subject to you. If you wish to be the friends of God, gladly
do the things which you know will please Him. You must especially let all matters that pertain to
the church be controlled by the law of the church. And be careful that simony does not take
root among you, lest both those who buy and those who sell [church offices] be beaten with
the scourges of the Lord through narrow streets and driven into the place of destruction and
confusion. Keep the church and the clergy in all its grades entirely free from the secular power.
See that the tithes that belong to God are faithfully paid from all the produce of the land; let
them not be sold or withheld. If anyone seizes a bishop let him be treated as an outlaw. If
anyone seizes or robs monks, or clergymen, or nuns, or their servants, or pilgrims, or
merchants, let him be anathema [that is, cursed]. Let robbers and incendiaries and all their
accomplices be expelled from the church and anthematized. If a man who does not give a part
of his goods as alms is punished with the damnation of hell, how should he be punished who
robs another of his goods? For thus it happened to the rich man in the gospel [Luke 16:19]; he
was not punished because he had stolen the goods of another, but because he had not used
well the things which were his.

"You have seen for a long time the great disorder in the world caused by these crimes. It is so
bad in some of your provinces, I am told, and you are so weak in the administration of justice,
that one can hardly go along the road by day or night without being attacked by robbers; and
whether at home or abroad one is in danger of being despoiled either by force or fraud.
Therefore it is necessary to reenact the truce, as it is commonly called, which was proclaimed a
long time ago by our holy fathers. I exhort and demand that you, each, try hard to have the
truce kept in your diocese. And if anyone shall be led by his cupidity or arrogance to break this
truce, by the authority of God and with the sanction of this council he shall be anathematized."

After these and various other matters had been attended to, all who were present, clergy and
people, gave thanks to God and agreed to the pope's proposition. They all faithfully promised
to keep the decrees. Then the pope said that in another part of the world Christianity was
suffering from a state of affairs that was worse than the one just mentioned. He continued:
"Although, O sons of God, you have promised more firmly than ever to keep the peace among
yourselves and to preserve the rights of the church, there remains still an important work for
you to do. Freshly quickened by the divine correction, you must apply the strength of your
righteousness to another matter which concerns you as well as God. For your brethren who live
in the east are in urgent need of your help, and you must hasten to give them the aid which has
often been promised them. For, as the most of you have heard, the Turks and Arabs have
attacked them and have conquered the territory of Romania [the Greek empire] as far west as
the shore of the Mediterranean and the Hellespont, which is called the Arm of St. George. They
have occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians, and have overcome them in
seven battles. They have killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and
devastated the empire. If you permit them to continue thus for awhile with impurity, the
faithful of God will be much more widely attacked by them. On this account I, or rather the
Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to persuade all people of
whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those
Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this to those who are
present, it meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it.

"All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have
immediate remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am
invested. O what a disgrace if such a despised and base race, which worships demons, should
conquer a people which has the faith of omnipotent God and is made glorious with the name of
Christ! With what reproaches will the Lord overwhelm us if you do not aid those who, with us,
profess the Christian religion! Let those who have been accustomed unjustly to wage private
warfare against the faithful now go against the infidels and end with victory this war which
should have been begun long ago. Let those who for a long time, have been robbers, now
become knights. Let those who have been fighting against their brothers and relatives now fight
in a proper way against the barbarians. Let those who have been serving as mercenaries for
small pay now obtain the eternal reward. Let those who have been wearing themselves out in
both body and soul now work for a double honor. Behold! on this side will be the sorrowful and
poor, on that, the rich; on this side, the enemies of the Lord, on that, his friends. Let those who
go not put off the journey, but rent their lands and collect money for their expenses; and as
soon as winter is over and spring comes, let hem eagerly set out on the way with God as their
guide."

Source:
From Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos, 1, pp. 382 f., trans in Oliver J. Thatcher, and Edgar Holmes McNeal, eds., A Source Book
for Medieval History, (New York: Scribners, 1905), 513-17