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while the Turks from within carry on a countermine.
Not long after, the French miners, by their perseverance, undermined
the tower Maledictum, and supported it by placing beams of wood
underneath. The Turks also, digging in the same direction, had reached the
same part of the foundations; on which they entered into a mutual treaty of
peace, that the Turks should depart uninjured; and some of the Christians
whom they held captive, were by agreement, in like manner, set at liberty.

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On discovering this, the Turks were very much chagrined, and stopped up
the passages by which they had gone out.
Chapter XII. Ñ How King Richard, though still sick, assaulted the city with his
men, slew many by a sling with his own hand, and threw down one of the towers
by means of his miners and petrari¾.
King Richard was not yet fully recovered from his sickness;
nevertheless, anxious for action, and strenuously intent upon taking the
city, he made arrangements that his men should assault the city, in the
hope that under Divine Providence he should succeed. For this purpose, he
caused to be made a hurdle, commonly called a circleia, put together firmly
with a complication of interweaving, and made with the most subtle
workmanship. This the king intended to be used for crossing over the
trench outside the city. Under it he placed his most experienced arbalesters,
and he caused himself to be carried thither on a silken bed, to honour the
Saracens with his presence, and animate his men to fight; and from it, by
using his arbalest, in which he was skilled, he slew many with darts and
arrows. His sappers also carried a mine under the tower, at which a
petraria was directed; and having made a breach, they filled it with logs of
wood, and set them on fire; when, by the addition of frequent blows from
the petraria, the tower fell suddenly to the ground with a crash.
Chapter XIII. Ñ How the Turks vigorously repelled King RichardÕs men who
were assaulting the city, and how King Richard slew with his arbalest one who had
on the armour of Alberic Clements.
Perceiving, therefore, how difficult success was, that he had a most
warlike enemy to contend with, and that there was need of all his strength
for the attack, the king thought it best to make the minds of his younger
soldiers by rewards, rather than to urge them by severe orders; for whom
will not the love of gain draw on? He therefore ordered the herald to
proclaim a reward of two aurei, afterwards three, and then four, to whoever
should overthrow a petraria from the walls; and for each stone displaced
from the wall, be promised a reward of four aurei. Then you might see the

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Itinerary
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young men bound forward, and soldiers of great valour press on
emulously to draw stones from the wall, as eager for glory as for gain, and
persisting in their efforts amidst the darts of the enemy. Very many of them
failed in their undertaking, while others were driven back by fear of death;
for the Turks from above vigorously repelled them, and neither shields nor
arms availed to protect them. The height of the wall was very great, as well
as its thickness; but the men of valour, overcoming all difficulties, extracted
very many stones from the solid wall; and when the Turks rushed upon
them in a body, and tried to cast them down, they strove to repel them, but,
having forgot their arms, they exposed themselves to the darts, in an
almost unarmed condition. One of the Turks, vaunting in the armour of the
aforesaid Alberic Clements, which he had put on, was shewing himself, to
the annoyance of our men, on the highest part of the wall, in a boastful
manner; but King Richard inflicted on him a deadly wound, piercing him
through the heart with a cast of his arbalest, the Turks, grieving at his fall
ran together in crowds to avenge his death, and to assuage the bitterness of
their grief by the fierceness of their onslaught, They boldly exposed
themselves, as if they feared not that the darts and missiles would strike
them, and repelled and pressed on our men like madmen, Ñ never were
there braver warriors of any creed on earth; and the memory of their
actions excites at once our respect and astonishment. In the hottest of the
combat, however close the armour fitted, or whether the coat of mail was
twofold, it availed little to resist the darts from their arbalests.
Nevertheless, the Turks kept mining from within, so that our men were
obliged to retreat; and the enemy raised a loud shout, as if they had gained
their purpose.
Chapter XIV. Ñ How our esquires and the Pisans boldly scaled the tower, which