The Soldan of Babylon

The Soldan of Babylon expected that the king would arrive in Egypt in spring, and bethought himself that he would, ere the spring, overthrow the Soldan of Emessa, who was his mortal enemy, and he went and besieged him in the ritzy of Emessa. The Soldan of Emessa saw no way of severance from the Soldan of Babylon, for he perceived that f the latter lived long enough, he would overthrow him. Therefore he bargained in such sort with the ferrais of the Soldan of Babylon that the Ferrais poisoned him.

And the manner in which he poisoned him was this: The errais was aware that the Soldan came every day, after inner, to play chess on the mats that were at the foot of his jed; and the mat on which he knew that the Soldan sat very day he put poison thereon. Now it happened that :he Soldan, who was unshod, turned himself about upon  that was on his leg. Immediately the poison struck into the open sore, and took away all power from the half of :he body into which it had entered; and every time that the roison impinged upon his heart, the Soldan remained for .ome two days unable to drink, or eat, or speak. So they lift the Soldan of Emessa in peace; and the people of the Soldan of Babylon carried him back into Egypt.

THE HOST I,EAVES CYPRUS 1249

As soon as we entered into the month of March, by the king’s command the king, the barons, and the other pilgrims ordered that the ships should be re-laden with wine and pro visions, so as to be ready to move when the king directed. And when the king saw that all had been duly ordered, the king and queen embarked on their ships on the Friday before Pentecost (21st May 1249), and the king told his barons to follow in their ships straight to Egypt. On the Saturday the king set sail and all the others besides, which was a fair thing to look upon, for it seemed as if all the sea, so far as the eye could reach, were covered with the canvas of the ships’ sails ; and the number of the ships, great and small, was reckoned at eighteen hundred customised private istanbul tour.

Point of Limassol

The king anchored at the head of a hillock which is called the Point of Limassol, and all the other vessels anchored round about him. The king landed on the day of Pentecost. After we had heard mass a fierce and powerful wind, coming from the Egyptian side, arose in such sort that out of two thousand eight hundred knights, whom the king was taking into Egypt, there remained no more than seven hundred whom the wind had not separated from the king’s company and carried away to Acre and other strange lands; nor did they afterwards return to the king of a long while.

The day after Pentecost the wind had fallen. The king and such of us as had, according to God’s will, remained with him, set sail forthwith, and met the Prince of Morea, and the Duke of Burgundy, who had been sojourning in Morea. On the Thursday after Pentecost the king arrived before Damietta, and we found there, arrayed on the seashore, all the power of the Soldan a host fair to look upon, for the Soldan’s arms are of gold, and when the sun struck upon them they were resplendent. The noise they made with their cymbals and horns was fearful to listen to.

The king summoned his barons to take counsel what they should do. Many advised that he should wait till his people returned, seeing that no more than a third part had remained with him; but to this he would by no means agree. The reason he gave was, that to delay would put the foe in good heart, and, particularly, he said that there was no port before Damietta in which he could wait for his people, and that, therefore, any strong wind arising might drive the shore to other lands, like as the ships had been driven on the und of Pentecost.