Microsoft Word richard of holy trinity inp

Itinerary
183
the earth; swords of proved steel, and latices made of cane with iron heads,
Turkish bows, and maces bristling with sharp teeth, darts and arrows,
covering the ground, and missiles enough to load twenty waggons or
more! There lay the headless trunks of the Turks who had perished, whilst
others retained their courage for a time until our men increased in strength,
when some of them concealed themselves in the copses, some climbed up
trees, and, being shot with arrows, fell with fearful groan to the earth;
others, abandoning their horses, betook themselves by slippery foot-paths
to the seaside, and tumbled headlong into the waves from the precipitous
cliffs that were five poles in height. The rest of the enemy were repulsed in
so wonderful a manner, that for the space of two miles nothing could be
seen but fugitives, although they had before been so obstinate and fierce,
and puffed up with pride: but by GodÕs grace their pride was humbled,
and they continued still to fly; for when our men ceased the pursuit, fear
alone added wings to their feet. Our army had been ranged in divisions
when they attacked the Turks; the Normans and English also, who had the
care of the standard, came up slowly towards the troops which were
fighting with the Turks, Ñ for it was very difficult to disperse the enemyÕs
strength, and they stopped at a short distance therefrom, that all might
have a rallying point. On the conclusion of the slaughter, our men paused;
but the fugitives, to the number of twenty thousand, when they saw this,
immediately recovering their courage, and armed with maces, charged the
hindmost of those who were retiring, and rescued some from our men who
had just struck them down. Oh, how dreadfully were our men then
pressed! for the darts and arrows, thrown at them as they were falling
back, broke the heads, arms, and other limbs of our horsemen, so that they
bent, stunned, to their saddle-bows; but having quickly regained their
spirits and resumed their strength, and thirsting for vengeance with greater
eagerness, like a lioness when her whelps are stolen, they charged the
enemy, and broke through them like a net. Then you might have seen the
horses with their saddles displaced; and the Turks, who had but just now
fled, returning, and pressing upon our people with the utmost fury; every
cast of their darts would have told, had our men kept marching, and not
stood still in a compact immovable body. The commander of the Turks was

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an admiral, by name Tekedmus, a kinsman of the sultan, having a banner
with a remarkable device; namely, that of a pair of breeches carved
thereon, a symbol well known to his men. He was a most cruel persecutor,
and a persevering enemy of the Christians; and he had under his command
seven hundred chosen Turks of great valour, of the household troops of
Saladin, each of whose companies bore a yellow banner with pennons of a
different colour. These men, coming at full charge, with clamour and
haughty bearing, attacked our men who were turning off from them
towards the standard, cutting at them, and piercing them severely, so that
even the firmness of our chiefs wavered under the weight of the pressure;
yet our men remained immovable, compelled to repel force by force, and
the conflict grew thicker, the blows were redoubled, and the battle raged
fiercer than before: the one side laboured to crush, the other to repel; both
exerted their strength, and although our men were by far the fewest in
numbers, they made havoc of great multitudes of the enemy; and that
portion of the army which thus toiled in the battle could not return to the
standard with ease, on account of the immense mass which pressed upon
them so severely; for thus hemmed in they began to flag in courage, and
but few dared to renew the attack of the enemy. In truth, the Turks were
furious in the assault, and greatly distressed our men, whose blood poured
forth in a stream beneath their blows. On perceiving them reel and give
way, William de Barris, a renowned knight, breaking through the ranks,
charged the Turks with his men; and such was the vigour of the onset that
some fell by the edge of his sword, while others only saved themselves by
rapid flight. For all that, the king, mounted on a bay Cyprian steed, which
had not its match, bounded forward in the direction of the mountains, and
scattered those he met on all sides; for the enemy fled from his sword and
gave way, while helmets tottered beneath it, and sparks flew forth from its
strokes. So great was the fury of his onset, and so many and deadly his
blows, that day, in his conflict with the Turks, that in a short space of time
the enemy were all scattered, and allowed our army to proceed; and thus
our men, having suffered somewhat, at last returned to the standard, and
proceeded in their march as far as Arsur, and there they pitched their tents
outside its walls. While they were thus engaged, a large body of the Turks

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made an attack on the extreme rear of our army. On hearing the noise of
the assailants, King Richard, encouraging his men to battle, rushed at full
speed, with only fifteen companions, against the Turks, crying out, with a
loud voice, ÒAid us, O God! and the Holy Sepulchre!Ó and this he
exclaimed a second and a third time; and when our men heard it, they
made haste to follow him, and attacked, routed, and put them to flight;
pursuing them as far as Arsur, whence they had first come out, cutting
them down and subduing them. Many of the Turks fell there also. The king
returned thence, from the slaughter of the fugitives, to his camp; and the
men, overcome with the fatigues and exertions of the day, rested quietly
that night. Whoever was greedy of gain, and wished to plunder the booty,
returned to the place of battle, and loaded himself to his heartÕs desire; and
those who returned from thence reported that they had counted thirty-two
Turkish chiefs who were found slain on that day, and whom they
supposed to be men of great influence and power, from the splendour of
their armour and the costliness of their apparel. The Turks also made
search for them to carry them away, as being of the most importance; and
besides these the Turks carried off seven thousand mangled bodies of those
who were next in rank, besides of the wounded, who went off in straggling