A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 2Guizot, François
History
A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 2
Guizot, François
France -- History
But the success was short, and, ere long, dearly paid for. On entering
Pisidia, the French army split up into two, and afterwards into several
divisions, which scattered and lost themselves in the defiles of the
mountains. The Turks waited for them, and attacked them at the mouths
and from the tops of the passes; before long there was nothing but
disorder and carnage; the little band which surrounded the king was cut
to pieces at his side; and Louis himself, with his back against a rock,
defended himself, alone, for some minutes, against several Turks, till
they, not knowing who he was, drew off, whereupon he, suddenly throwing
himself upon a stray horse, rejoined his advanced guard, who believed him
dead. The army continued their march pell-mell, king, barons, knights,
soldiers, and pilgrims, uncertain day by day what would become of them on
the morrow. The Turks harassed them afield; the towns in which there
were Greek governors residing refused to receive them; provisions fell
short; arms and baggage were abandoned on the road. On arriving in
Pamphylia, at Satalia, a little port on the Mediterranean, the
impossibility of thus proceeding became evident; they were still, by
land, forty days’ march from Antioch, whereas it required but three to
get there by sea. The governor of Satalia proposed to the king to embark
the crusaders; but, when the vessels arrived, they were quite inadequate
for such an operation; hardly could the king, the barons, and the knights
find room in them; and it would be necessary to abandon and expose to the
perils of the land-march the majority of the infantry and all the mere
pilgrims who had followed the army. Louis, disconsolate, fluctuated
between the most diverse resolutions, at one time demanding to have
everybody embarked at any risk, at another determining to march by land
himself with all who could not be embarked; distributing whatever money
and provisions he had left, being as generous and sympathetic as he was
improvident and incapable, and “never letting a day pass,” says Odo of
Deuil, who accompanied him, “without hearing mass and crying unto the God
of the Christians.” At last he embarked with his queen, Eleanor, and his
principal knights; and towards the end of March, 1148, he arrived at
Antioch, having lost more than three quarters of his army.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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