Boy Crusaders: A Story of the Days of Louis IX. Read online

  CHAPTER XXX.

  ST. LOUIS IN CHAINS.

  WHEN King Louis was led away by the faithful Segrines, and when he wasso exhausted that he had to be lifted from his steed and carried into ahouse, and when the Crusaders outside were in dismay and despair, Philipde Montfort entered the chamber where the saintly monarch was, andproposed to renew negotiations with the Saracens.

  'Sire,' said De Montfort, 'I have just seen the emir with whom Iformerly treated; and, so it be your good pleasure, I will seek him out,and demand a cessation of hostilities.'

  'Go,' replied Louis; 'and, since it can no better be, promise to submitto the conditions on which the sultan formerly insisted.'

  Accordingly De Montfort went; and the Saracens, still fearing theirfoes, and remembering that the French held Damietta, agreed to treat. Atruce was, indeed, on the point of being concluded. Montfort had giventhe emir a ring; the emir had taken off his turban, and their hands wereabout to meet; when a Frenchman, named Marcel, rushed in and spoiledall.

  'Seigneurs,' said he, interrupting the conference, 'noble knights ofFrance, surrender yourselves all! The king commands you by me. Do notcause him to be put to death.'

  On hearing this message, the emir withdrew his hand, returned DeMontfort's ring, put on his turban, and intimated that the negotiationwas at an end.

  'God is powerful,' said he, 'and it is not customary to treat withbeaten enemies.'

  And now it was that there ensued such a scene as Minieh had neverwitnessed. Almost as the negotiation ended, Louis was seized, violentlyhandled and put in chains. Both the Count of Poictiers and the Count ofAnjou were at the same time made prisoners; and the bulk of the warriorsaccompanying the king had scarcely the choice between surrender anddeath; for nothing, as has been said, but their hearts' blood wouldsatisfy the vindictive cravings of their foes; and, when the king'scaptivity became known, many of those who had formerly been mostintrepid, remained motionless and incapable of the slightest resistance.

  About the time when King Louis was put in chains, and when Bisset, theEnglish knight, was endeavouring to escape death or rather captivity,the sultan arrived at Minieh, and, without any display of generosity forthe vanquished, took measures for improving his victory to the utmost.The king and his brothers who, like himself, were bound hand and foot,were conducted in triumph to a boat of war. The oriflamme--that bannerso long the pride of France--was now carried in mockery; the crossesand images, which the Crusaders had with them as symbols of theirreligious faith, were trampled scornfully under foot; and, with trumpetssounding and kettle-drums clashing, the royal captives were marched intoMansourah.

  It was to the house of Fakreddin Ben Lokman, the secretary of thesultan, that Louis was escorted; and, on arriving there, he was giveninto the custody of the Eunuch Sahil. But, abandoned by fortune, and inthe power of his enemies, Louis was still himself. In chains andcaptivity he exhibited the dignity of a king and the resignation of aChristian, and his jailers could not refrain from expressing theirastonishment at the serene patience with which he bore adversity. Of allhis property, he had only saved his book of psalms; and daily, whileconsoling himself with reciting from its pages, he was inspired withstrength and resolution to bear his misfortunes, and to raise histhoughts far above the malice of his foes.

  Meanwhile, at the court of the sultan, everything was not goingsmoothly. From the beginning, the emirs and Mamelukes had looked withenvy and suspicion on the favourites brought by Touran Chah fromMesopotamia; and such feelings had not died away. Many of the favouritesere long were substituted for the ministers of the late sultan; and theemirs and Mamelukes not only complained loudly of this to Touran Chah,but reproached him bitterly for the way in which he disposed of thespoil of the Crusaders.

  'How is this?' asked they; 'you are bestowing the spoils of thevanquished Franks, not on the men who have borne the burden of the war,but on men whose sole merit consists in having come from the banks ofthe Euphrates to the Nile.'

  Now, the sultan's favourites were not unaware of the unfriendly feelingwith which they were regarded by the Mameluke chiefs. Indeed, they sawall the dangers of their position, and considered it politic, under thecircumstances, to reduce the influence of the emirs and Mamelukes bybringing about a treaty with the Crusaders.

  'In these people,' said they to the sultan, 'you have enemies far moredangerous than the Christians. Nothing will content them but reigning inyour stead. They never cease to boast of their victories, as if theyalone had conquered the Franks, and as if the God of Mahomet had notsent pestilence and famine to aid you in triumphing. But hasten toterminate the war, that you may strengthen your power within; and thenyou will be able to reign in reality.'

  As soon as Touran Chah was convinced that the emirs and Mamelukesentertained projects of ambition dangerous to his power, and that warwas favourable to their designs, he resolved to show the chiefs howlittle he regarded their opinions; and, without even consulting them, hesent some of his favourites to the house of Lokman, and empowered themto treat with Louis.

  'King,' said the ambassador, 'I come from the sultan, to inform you thathe will restore you to liberty, on condition that you surrender to himthe cities of Palestine now held by the Franks.'

  'The cities of Palestine are not mine to give,' replied Louis, calmly;'and I cannot pretend to dispose of them.'

  'But beware of rashly refusing to submit to the sultan's terms,' saidthe ambassador; 'for you know not what may happen. He will send you tothe caliph at Bagdad, who will imprison you for life; or he will causeyou to be led throughout the East, to exhibit to all Asia a Christianking reduced to slavery.'

  'I am the sultan's prisoner,' replied Louis, unmoved, 'and he can dowith me what he pleases.'

  On hearing this answer, the ambassadors intimated their intention ofemploying personal violence; and, one of them having stamped three timeswith his foot, the Eunuch Sahil entered, followed by the jailers,bearing that frightful instrument of torture, known as 'the bernicles.'

  Now this terrible engine was made of pieces of wood pierced with holes,into which the legs of the criminal were put; and the holes were at sogreat a distance from each other, and could be forced to so great anextension, that the pain was about the most horrible that could beproduced. Moreover, the holes being at various distances, the legs ofthe victim could be inserted into those that extended them to thegreatest distance, and while the pain inflicted was more than flesh andblood could bear, means were, at the same time, used to break ordislocate all his small bones. It was an instrument of punishmentreserved for the worst of criminals; and no torture was deemed so awfulas that which it was capable of inflicting.

  'What do you say to be put in this engine of punishment?' asked theambassador, pointing significantly to the bernicles.

  'I have already told you,' replied Louis, unmoved, 'that I am thesultan's prisoner, and that he can do with me as he pleases.'

  In fact, the courage of Louis was proof against any danger to his ownperson; and he held all the menaces of his captors so cheap, that theyscarcely knew how to deal with him. At length, the sultan determined topropose terms more likely to be acceptable to the saint-king, and againsent ambassadors to his prison, with the object of bringing about atreaty.

  'King,' said the ambassador, 'the sultan has sent to ask how much moneyyou will give for your ransom, besides restoring Damietta?'

  'In truth,' replied Louis, 'I scarcely know what answer to make; but, ifthe sultan will be contented with a reasonable sum, I will write to thequeen to pay it for myself and my army.'

  'But wherefore write to the queen, who is but a woman?' asked theambassador somewhat surprised.

  'She is my lady and companion,' answered Louis, even at that momentmindful of the principles of chivalry; 'and it is only reasonable thather consent should be obtained.'

  'Well,' said the ambassador, 'if the queen will pay a million goldenbezants, the sultan will set you free.'

  'However,' said Louis, with dignity, 'I must tell you tha
t, as King ofFrance, I cannot be redeemed by money; but a million of bezants will bepaid as the ransom of my army, and Damietta given up in exchange for myown freedom.'

  After some negotiations the terms were agreed to; and the sultan notonly concluded the treaty joyfully, but expressed his admiration of thenobility of spirit which Louis had displayed.

  'By my faith!' said Touran Chah to the ambassador, 'this Frenchman isgenerous and noble, seeing that he does not condescend to bargain aboutso large a sum of money, but instantly complies with the first demand.Go,' added the sultan, 'and tell him, from me, that I make him a presentof a fifth of the sum, so that he will only have to pay four-fifths; andthat I will command all the principal nobles and his great officers tobe embarked in four of my largest galleys, and conducted safely toDamietta.'

  It was Thursday before the Feast of Ascension; and, while the King ofFrance, and the Crusaders were conveyed down the Nile in galleys, TouranChah travelled by land from Mansourah, in order to receive Damietta, andperform the conditions of peace. On reaching Pharescour, however, thesultan halted to dine with his chiefs; and, while the other Crusaderslay in their galleys on the river, the king and his brethren wereinvited to land, and received into a pavilion, where they had aninterview with the sultan, when Saturday was appointed for the paymentof the golden bezants and the surrender of Damietta. But long ereSaturday a terrible tragedy was to occur, and render Pharescourmemorable as the scene of a deed of violence, startling both to Asia andEurope. Already, while the sultan held his interview with the King ofFrance and the Counts of Poictiers and Anjou, everything was prepared;and soon after Touran Chah had left Louis and his brothers shut up inthe pavilion, they were roused by loud shouts of distress and a mightytumult; and, while they breathlessly asked each other whether the Frenchcaptives were being massacred or Damietta taken by storm, in rushedtwenty Saracens, their swords red and reeking with blood, and spots ofblood on their vestments and their faces, stamping, threateningfuriously, and uttering fierce cries.