Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3): The Turks in Their Relation to Europe; Marcus Tullius Cicero; Apollonius of Tyana; Primitive ChristianityNewman, John Henry
HistoryHistory
Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3): The Turks in Their Relation to Europe; Marcus Tullius Cicero; Apollonius of Tyana; Primitive Christianity
Newman, John Henry
Apollonius, of Tyana; Church history -- Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600; Cicero, Marcus Tullius; Turkey -- History
A contemporary historian gives us fuller particulars of the adventure,
and he too appears to have been a party to the expedition.[44] It seems
the prelates celebrated the rites of the Church with great
magnificence, as they went along, and travelled with a pomp which became
great dignitaries. The Turcomans in consequence set on them, overwhelmed
them, stripped them to the skin, and left the Bishop of Utrecht disabled
and half dead upon the field. The poor sufferers effected their retreat
to a village, where they fortified an enclosure and took possession of a
building which stood within it. Here they defended themselves
courageously for as many as three days, though they are said to have had
nothing to eat. At the end of that time they expressed a wish to
surrender themselves to the enemy, and admitted eighteen of the
barbarian leaders into their place of strength, with a view of
negotiating the terms. The Bishop of Bamberg, who is said to have had a
striking presence, acted for the Christians, and bargained for nothing
more than their lives. The savage Turcoman, who was the speaker on the
other side, attracted by his appearance, unrolled his turban, and threw
it round the Bishop's neck, crying out: "You and all of you are mine."
The Bishop made answer by an interpreter: "What will you do to me?" The
savage shrieked out some unintelligible words, which, being explained to
the Bishop, ran thus: "I will suck that blood which is so ruddy in your
throat, and then I will hang you up like a dog at your gate." "Upon
which," says the historian, "the Bishop, who had the modesty of a
gentleman, and was of a grave disposition, not bearing the insult,
dashed his fist into the Turcoman's face with such vigour as to fell him
to the ground, crying out that the profane wretch should rather be the
sufferer, for laying his unclean hands upon a priest."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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