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and captives within a month, the Turks marched out of the city and the Christians
entered it; and how the two kings divided every thing equally between them.
Thus, on the Friday after the Translation of St. Benedict, the principal
and noblest of the admirals were given and received as hostages, and the
space of one month fixed for the delivery of the Cross, and the collecting

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together of the captives. And when it was rumoured abroad that the city
was to be given up, the common people, in their folly, were inflamed with
fury, but the wiser portion rejoiced at gaining so profitably, and without
danger, what they had been so long a time unable to obtain. Then was it
proclaimed and prohibited, by voice of herald, that any one should molest
the Turks by word or deed, or provoke them by abuse, or that missiles
should any longer be cast for the destruction of the walls or of the Turks
who might be seen on the battlements. And when the day came that the
Turks, so renowned for their courage and valour, most active in the
exercise of war, and famous for their magnificence, appeared on the walls
ready to leave the city, the Christians went forth to look at them, and were
struck with admiration when they remembered the deeds they had done.
They were also astonished at the cheerful countenances of those who were
thus driven almost penniless from their city, Ñ their demeanour
unchanged by adversity; and those who but now had been compelled by
extreme necessity to own themselves conquered, and betake themselves to
supplication, bore no marks of care, as they came forth, nor any signs of
dejection at the loss of all they possessed Ñ not even in the firmness of
their countenances, for they seemed to be conquerors by their courageous
bearing; but the form of superstitious idolatry, and the miserable error of
sinfulness, throw a stain upon their warlike glories. At last, when all the
Turks had departed, the Christians, with the two kings at their head,
entered the city without opposition, through the open gates, with dances,
and joy, and loud vociferations, glorifying God, and giving Him thanks,
because He had magnified His mercy to them, and had visited them, and
redeemed His people. Then the banners, and various standards of the two
kings, were raised on the walls and towers, and the city was equally
divided between them. They also made a proportionate division of the
arms and provisions they found; and the whole number of captives, being
reckoned, was divided by lot. The noble Caracois, and a large number, fell
to the lot of the king of France; and King Richard had for his portion
Mestoc and the remainder. Moreover, the king of France had for his share
the noble palace of the Templars, with all its appurtenances; and King
Richard had the royal palace, to which he sent the queens, with their

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damsels and handmaids; thus each obtained his portion in peace. The army
was distributed through the city, and after the protracted contest of so long
a siege, gave themselves indulgence, and refreshed themselves with the
rest they needed. The night following our entrance, Saladin, through fear of
us, retired from the place in which he was posted, and occupied a most
distant mountain.
Chapter XIX. Ñ How vilely and shamefully the Turks, when in possession of the
city, had treated our sacred things.
From the day on which the Saracens first got possession of the city of
Acre, to that on which it was restored, was a space of four years. It was
restored, as has been said, on the morrow of St. Benedict. The state of the
churches within the city was not beheld without horror, and it is not
without grief that we relate the unseemly things that had been perpetrated
within them. For who could behold, without tears, the countenances of the
holy images of the crucifixion of the Son of God, and of many saints,
defiled or disfigured in one way or another? Who would not shudder at
the horrible sight of altars overthrown, and crucifixes cast to the earth, and
beaten in contempt by that insulting and impious nation, the Turks, and
their own Mahometan rites exhibited in holy places Ñ all the relics of
manÕs redemption and the Christian religion effaced, and the corruption of
the Mahometan superstition introduced?
Chapter XX. Ñ Of the quarrel between the two kings on account of the Marquis