Itinerary
105
of the city, and were always hostile to us as far as they could, chiefly
because they had learnt from their ancestors that they had been subdued
by us of yore; whence they did them as much annoyance as they could, at
the same time heightening the
battlements of their towers, and deepening
the fosses that surrounded them. To irritate our men still more, they
provoked them by repeated revilings and insulted them with contumelies.
Chapter XV. Ñ
How, owing to a loaf of bread which was sold by a woman, a fight
took place between us and the Lombards.
By chance one day it happened that one of our men was bargaining
with a woman about a new loaf which she offered for sale; and while they
were conversing together and he threatened to have the loaf weighed, the
woman, because he would not
give her the price she asked, flew into a
great passion and insulted him with contumelious and wicked language,
and scarcely restrained her hands from striking him or tearing his hair.
Immediately a concourse of the citizens flocked together at the noise of the
abusive woman, who seized hold of the man and beat him unmercifully;
and after tearing out his hair and injuring him in many other ways, they
trod him under foot and left him for dead. When complaint was made,
King Richard begged for peace and friendship,
asserting that he had come
in peace, and that he had set out merely to perform a pilgrimage; and he
desisted not from praying for peace, until each party, having given a
promise to that effect, returned quietly to their abodes.
Chapter XVI. Ñ
How the Lombards attacked King RichardÕs men, and how King
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