Microsoft Word richard of holy trinity inp

Itinerary
190
Chapter XXVI. Ñ How King Richard advised to save Ascalon from the Turks,
who were dismantling it; but by the sinister counsels of the French they preferred
to repair to Joppa, and indulged themselves there in vice and luxury.
Saladin, meanwhile, had destroyed the walls of Ascalon. This
intelligence was brought by some common soldiers, who escaped, whilst it
was in progress; but our people could hardly believe that Saladin had done
this in despair, as if so powerful a prince could not or did not dare defend
them. To ascertain the truth, King Richard, by advice of his nobles, sent
Geoffrey de Lusignan, William de Stagno, and others, in a strong galley to
sail to Ascalon, and bring back word how matters stood. This commission
they faithfully discharged, and reported that all they had heard was true.
King Richard, therefore, and his nobles now deliberated whether they
should march to save Ascalon, or proceed at once to Jerusalem: many
opinions were given, and the king gave his own, in the presence of the
duke of Burgundy and others, in these words: ÒIt seems to me,Ó said he,
Òthat our difference of opinion may be not only useless, but dangerous to
the army. The Turks who are dismantling Ascalon, dare not meet us in the
field. I think we should endeavour to save Ascalon, as a protection to the
pilgrims who pass that way.Ó The French violently opposed this opinion,
and recommended rather that Joppa should be restored, because it
furnished a shorter aud easier route for pilgrims going to Jerusalem. The
acclamations of the multitude seconded the opinion of the French. Foolish
counsel! fatal obstinacy of those indolent men! By providing for their
immediate comfort, and to avoid labour and expense, they did what they
would afterwards repent of: for if they had then saved Ascalon from the
Turks, the whole land would soon have been clear of them. But the cry of
the people prevailed, a collection was made, and they immediately began
to rebuild the towers, and to clear out the moat of Joppa. The army
remained there long, enjoying ease and pleasure; their sins grew daily
upon them; women came to them from Acre, to stir up their passions and
multiply their misdeeds: the whole people became corrupted, the zeal of
pilgrimage waxed cold, and all their works of devotion were neglected.

---

Itinerary
191
Chapter XXVII. Ñ How the people returned to Acre, where they spent their time
in taverns, and were led back by King Richard to Joppa, where they remained seven
weeks.
It was now the end of September, and Joppa partly rebuilt, when the
army, issuing from the suburbs, encamped before the fortress of Habacuc;
too small an army, alas! for many of them had withdrawn to Acre, where
they spent their time in the taverns. King Richard, seeing their idleness and
debauchery, sent King Guy to bring them back to the army at Joppa, but
very few of them returned, and King Richard was obliged himself to sail to
Joppa, where he urged them by exhortations of their duty as pilgrims, and
by these means induced many of them to return to Joppa. He also
conducted back with him the queens and their females. They now
remained seven weeks at Joppa, to assemble and make ready the army, so
that when they came together, they formed a much more numerous and
efficient body than before.
Chapter XXVIII. Ñ How King Richard went out unadvisedly with only a small
escort, and would have been taken by the Turks, if William de Pratelles had not
pretended to be the king, and so secured RichardÕs escape.
About this time King Richard went out hawking with a small escort,
and intending, if he saw any small body of Turks, to fall upon them.
Fatigued with his ride, he fell asleep, and a body of Turks rushed suddenly
upon him to make him prisoner. The king, awakened at the noise, had
hardly time to mount his bay Cyprian horse, and his attendants were still
getting on their horses also, when the Turks came upon them and tried to
take him; but the king, drawing his sword, rushed upon them, and they,
pretending flight, drew him after them to a place where there was another
body of Turks in ambush. These started up with speed and surrounded the
king to make him prisoner. The king defended himself bravely, and the
enemy drew back, though he would still have been captured if the Turks
had known who he was. But in the midst of the conflict one of the kingÕs
companions, William de Pratelles, called out in the Saracenic language, that

---